Groundhog Day 2015

The day we returned from the beach to Sara and Ben's house was Groundhog's Day... and my birthday. Because of that, I got to choose where we stopped for lunch. I didn't want to eat at an ordinary fast food chain so Sara used her phone to see what was around. We stopped at a sweet little restaurant in some little town. The restaurant where we ate was in a building that was probably a department store or something in the past. We sat at a table that was maybe in an area that used to be for the window displays. We were the window display for a bit.

It was decorated in a very eclectic manner. Along the front in the window was a whole little Christmas scene, complete with fake snow.  I guess they weren't in a hurry to take it down. On another wall they had framed pictures that had Winnie-the-Pooh quotes on them. A few of the walls had words from old hymns painted on them. It was kind of sweet. Our waitress had on a t-shirt that said, "I'm not perfect but I'm forgiven." 

That may look like a tender moment between me and Mike but do you know why my hand is on his? I was holding it down because he kept grabbing my nose!

For dinner that night we were at Sara and Ben's and they cooked a delicious dinner for us. What was really sweet was that Sara went and changed into a pretty dress. The reason that was so touching was the dress had been made by and belonged to my Grandma Rose. It looked beautiful on Sara and I thought it was a sweet gesture to wear it for my birthday.

We completed the day by playing a game that was new to us, TICKET TO RIDE. Have you played it? I really enjoyed it and look forward to our next time to play it. 

My birthday was quite memorable and it just made me so happy to spend it with Ben and Sara.

Beach Photo Shoot

Our daughter-in-law, Sara, was photographer for this strange, spontaneous photo shoot involving Ben, Mike and me.

Nights in Rodanthe - Or Afternoon in Rodanthe

Did you ever see Richard Gere and Diane Lane in "Nights in Rodanthe" based on a Nicolas Sparks book? I saw it some time ago and although I can't say it was a favorite movie or anything, I DO remember loving the scenery. I remember thinking I'd sure love to see a place like that.



Well, last week-end we were in Rodanthe! It is part of the Outer Banks (OBX) and we were actually there. I mean...right there! Sara and Ben and Mike were helping me look for the house from the movie. It wasn't hard to find.  What I didn't know was that we could have rented it for our vacation! Of course, I don't know what that would have cost.

The ocean is just over that pile of sand on the right but you may notice that it isn't quite as close as it was in the movie. Click here to see how it once looked and where it once sat.

I read more about the house and learned that the house was originally built in the 1980's and had over 400 feet between it and the Atlantic Ocean. Over the years all the storms, including hurricanes, put the house in jeopardy. After the movie it was further damaged and actually condemned. It became a hazard as movie fans were going to see it and were in danger of being injured just climbing up the damaged stairs. It was going to be torn down.

A couple ended up purchasing the house and had it moved back from the ocean. They worked to bring it back to code and to replicate the way it looked in the movie. I read that the interior shots of the movie were actually shot at a sound stage, not inside the house. However, the new owners used some of the actual props and made it as close to what we all saw in the movie as they could.

This place was not actually an inn but was just named the Inn at Rodanthe for the movie. They have that sign on it still and now rent it out as a whole house for vacationers. Actually, there were many, many houses quite like it all up and down the 200 miles of the Outer Banks. Most were empty this time of year and most are available for rent, just in case you need to plan a vacation.

I still have more to tell about our North Carolina trip but it'll have to wait.

OBX Lighthouses

After church last Sunday Mike and I met up with Ben and Sara and we took off to explore more of the Outer Banks. We weren't going to be there long enough to fully explore the area so we decided to head South and climb a lighthouse. There are four lighthouses along the OBX (remember, that is the cool way to write "Outer Banks") and two of them were advertised as open to the public for climbing. We all wanted to do that. It seemed interesting and we knew the view from the top would be fantastic!

Well, even on a fantastic day such as that one, disappointments could still occur.

As it turned out, the lighthouses were NOT open for public climbing because it was still the off season. Bummer. Still, we were able to walk around outside two of them.

This first lighthouse is the Bodie Island Lighthouse. There was a lot of water around it (well, duh?!) and a lot of birds. There were also a lot of birdwatchers hauling around giant cameras and tripods.  Close enough for the birdwatchers to hear him, Ben said to Sara something like this, "This is why I can't go anywhere! The Paparazzi are always there." Funny guy.

Bodie Island Lighthouse

Sara and Ben must have outrun the paparrazi.

We continued on down the skinny piece of land called the Outer Banks/OBX.  The road looked to have been plowed as sand was piled high on each sand. Some places the highway was this skinny...

No, we didn't get a helicopter ride. This photo is public domain, compliments of Wikipedia. The crazy thing about driving along that highway was that, although we knew that we had ocean on both sides of us, much of the time we couldn't see it because of those piles of sand on each side of the highway. Not to worry, we parked from time to time and filled our shoes up with sand as we climbed over the sand to play on the beach. It was worth filling our shoes! 

These beaches just go on and on and on.

Mike Skipping Stones - Hard to Do With Waves Coming In

Sara and Ben

(I love this photo)

We stopped at another bird reserve and followed an interesting path that had been 

tunneled through the scruffy brush. It was pretty cool.

Aaaah, Ben and His Ladies

I was going to tell you what was going on with me here but I actually can't remember.

From there, we moved on to Hattaras Lighthouse. It is known for its diagonal stripes. Actually, all 4 lighthouses along the OBX are painted differently. That way, ships at sea would know where they were by recognizing the designs on the lighthouses. Although the gift shop was open, the doors to climb up inside were locked until April 1.

But, Ben wanted to climb a lighthouse. We didn't let him. That kid has been climbing things since he was 8 months old!

There were deer all around the grounds there. We see deer all the time in 

Wyoming but these seemed different, more petite.

Speaking of wildlife...

I am not sure which little village we ate at as they kind of ran together. It was a little seafood place but after I sat down Mike pointed out this guy behind us.

I am not a big fan of animal heads hanging over my meal but this one was just weird. Here we were, out in the ocean, far from Wyoming. There hung a Pronghorn. Many people may not know this but 80% of the world's pronghorn live within a 200 mile radius of our town in Wyoming. Many live right in our town. Some of them hang out on the lawn of our church! I asked the waitress about it and she said her boss had gone hunting in Wisconsin or Wyoming or somewhere. I guess it was one of those "W" states, huh?  

Well, I'm going to stop for now but check back tomorrow because I have a photo of a special house to show to you.

Dolphins at Sunrise

Last Sunday morning I couldn't sleep in. I'd listened to the waves for much of the night, so happy to know we were right there by the ocean. One thing I really wanted to do was to see the sunrise on the ocean. I finally got up and went out on our little deck. Although the sun had not yet risen, it was already getting pretty light out. I listened to the waves, which were pretty big by then, and just felt so happy. That's when it happend!

Dolphins!

Lots and lots of dolphins!

They were really close to the shore. In fact, I worried they might beach themselves. I couldn't believe I was seeing dolphins right from our room. I quickly dressed and made my way down to the beach, soon joined by Mike.  Although I never got any photos of the dolphins (they slip through the air very quickly), we enjoyed them for quite some time.

I can't tell you how beautiful it was but I'll try to give you an idea with photos.

Do you see the bird in this one? A dolphin had just jumped below it, almost in the spotlight of the sunrise.

Joy.

Looking at all that water, seeing the sunrise there...I felt so humbled.

Mike came up to me with his cell phone showing me the most perfect verses for the occasion. 

From Psalm 8

1 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 

2 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 

3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 

4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 

5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 

6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 

7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, 

8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 

9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

I think I need to give you more...

Well, that sure didn't do justice to the beauty and the feeling we were experiencing. I guess you will have to use your imagination.

Finally, we went back into our hotel and ate a nice breakfast with Ben and Sara in the hotel restaurant with another full ocean view.  It was a wonderful start to our day.

Mike & I found a sweet little congregation with which to worship. Mornings just don't get any better than that one! What a great start to what turned out to be a great day.  More tomorrow!

OBX

Our second day in North Carolina was sooooo, so exciting! I had recently become rather fascinated with the Outer Banks. If you are cool and in the know, you spell it OBX. You needed to know that.

The OBX is a long, skinny strip of land that runs about 200 miles long. It looks like land that broke off of North Carolina and part of Virginia. It includes places you've heard of.... Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Hatteras Island, Rodanthe and more. It is somewhere I really wanted to visit and last Saturday that dream came true!

We had about a 3 hour road trip to the OBX.  We crossed some long bridges, including one over Alligator River. We saw lots of swampy places that I didn't want to wade through!

We stopped for lunch on Roanoke Island, eating in the little town of Manteo. Andy Griffith used to live in Manteo and so did my brother and his wife for awhile. That's interesting, isn't it? It is a charming little place. This time of year a lot of places were closed but we enjoyed ourselves all the same.

Our Oldest Son, Ben

Ben and Lots of Seagulls

From there we crossed more water to head toward our hotel in Kill Devil Hills. That is actually the name of a town. I read that rum or gin or something alcoholic was once referred to as Kill Devil. There used to be a lot of pirates in the area and there was something about the alcohol being hidden in the sand hills there.

Before we got to our hotel we stopped at a state park where we could wander through sand dunes. This was not far from the sand dunes where the Wright Brothers made the first flight. I'm telling you, we were surrounded by history.  It was a fun place to wander after having ridden in the car for awhile.

Our daughter-in-law, Sara, got a little ride from Ben. 

I'm not sure how he knew where he was going.

The rest must have done her some good as she was pretty light on  her feet after that!

 I love that Sara has such a great sense of fun and adventure!

It was a place of unique beauty.

 There were weird piles of sand.

 It was really a unique place.

 It felt very much like a dessert but when we got up high on the dunes

we could clearly see that we were on a skinny strip of land with

ocean on both sides of us. 

I loved it!

We had to stop and empty a lot of sand out of our shoes but we were soon moving on to our hotel.

I almost burst into tears when I went out on the little deck off our room and saw 

how close we were to the ocean!

That is exactly what I wanted, an ocean view!

From Forest to Hockey Rink

Mike and I just returned this week from a wonderful vacation in North Carolina. We went there to visit Ben and Sara, our son and daughter-in-law. We had a great time there! I took a lot of photos, not all of which turned out quite as I'd hoped. Still, I have some good ones to share.

We always enjoy pleasant hikes near Ben and Sara's house and that was our first order of business. These photos were taken as we were walking into Duke Forest. It was pretty cool and windy but still so pretty and I was so happy to be with Ben and Sara. Their little dog, J-rake, led the way when allowed. I was impressed when Ben called out, "J-rake, Caboose!" That cool little dog stopped, walked backwards a few steps as we walked forward and then walked behind us all.

I enjoyed this area where the layers of grasses, little evergreens and then bigger trees lined up in order. The contrast was pleasing to me.

Just a pretty, crisp day and a stroll with our far-away kids. I felt so happy.

Later that evening we went to see the St. Louis Blues play the Carolina Hurricanes. We're talking hockey here people.  I'm not exactly a hockey fan but I was pleased we got to attend as I AM a Mike fan and this made him very happy.  I don't know that Ben and Sara are hockey fans in general but they seemed to have fun. For some ridiculous reason they felt  that since they live in North Carolina, they ought to cheer for the North Carolina team. They are lucky we acknowledged them at all!

The hockey game started right off with the St. Louis Blues making two goals. For those of you who follow hockey, you know that sometimes those games can go a looooooong time without a score. As it turned out, it was a pretty exciting game and I had fun as well.

And, yes, the Blues won!

I'll stop here for now but the vacation got even better the next day!

Retro Post...I Sometimes Forget

I posted this in March of 2011. I love this poem and for those who missed it, I really wanted to be certain to publish it again.  (I changed the photo as the original photo was a stock photo. This is one I took myself.)

I Sometimes Forget

I didn't write the following.  I found it probably 6 years ago, printed in a church bulletin for an advent service I attended.  It really spoke to me that night.  I stumbled upon it this morning and thought it was perfect following the blog about fear that I posted yesterday.  I would give credit to the author but no name was attached to it.  I hope the poem touches you as it did me.

 

In the dark,

I sometimes forget the light will come, the stars will shine.

In the rain,

I sometimes forget the sun will come out, the land will be green and fresh.

In the rush,

I sometimes forget how to slow down, how to be still.

In the noise,

I sometimes forget the quiet will come, peace will return.

In the loneliness,

I sometimes forget you are always here, you are holding me.

In the cold,

I sometimes forget who warms my heart, who holds my soul.

In the fear,

I sometimes forget to trust in you, to lean on you.

Forgive me, God, for not remembering that laughter will follow tears,

Joy will follow the sorrow, healing will follow the hurt,

Day will follow the night, because I sometimes forget. Amen

Retro Post... Women Supporting Women

No, I am not going to do retro posts every day this month, but I am going to indulge myself this way off an on throughout the month. I hope you don't mind. I wrote the following in March of 2011.

Women Supporting Women

Two things happened yesterday.  Both involved the interactions of women and it made me ponder the power we have with our most simple actions and words.

I received a phone call from a friend, always a nice thing.  We worked together at my last job and I so appreciate that she keeps in touch.  We had a nice conversation.  However, she did tell me that another woman had mentioned my name, blaming me for a problem she had caused herself.  It was just one sentence but it really caused a flood of negative emotions in me!  I wanted to do something!  I wanted to write the woman a strong letter!  I stewed about it for an hour or so.  Why would she do this?  What had I done to make her want to make me look bad?  Who else was she talking to?  Were people believing her lie?  I am sorry to say that I allowed this news to really sour my afternoon.

Then.... I went to Bible Study.

What a contrast!

Our little group had decided we wanted to offer encouragement to someone.  So, as a group, we decided to offer encouragement and support to a woman locally that we knew was under a lot of stress.  Most of us didn't really know this woman but she is an administrator of a healthcare facility that has been having a lot of problems lately.  We knew that she probably felt she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders right now.  In fact, we ended up deciding to spread the love and we are planning small ways to support not only her, but two other women who work with her.  We enjoyed talking about the little things we could do to let them know we are supporting them, without judgment...women supporting women.  Even just the planning made us feel good.

As I'm thinking about this I'm remembering other times when just a few words changed someone's outlook, if even only for a few minutes.  We have so much power! 

I watched a pharmacy clerk yesterday as she was preparing my order for me.  I've interacted with her many times before and she's always seemed a bit sad and maybe a little pinched, like she was tasting something bitter.  I'm a little scared of her.  She had a new haircut, though, and I was silently admiring it.  Finally, I decided to just do it, blurt out what I was thinking, "You've got a new hairstyle.  I really think it looks nice."  That's pretty much all I said but you should've seen the change!  Her eyes shot up and she looked right at me.  I don't think she ever did that before!  She smiled!  She tentatively reached her hand to her hair and smiled again.  It was a beautiful transformation to see.

We need to support one another, not discourage.  So, just remember, you have a lot of power!  Please use it wisely and for the good!  ...And use it often.

Retro Post... Homesteaders

This is day 3 of my retro posting. In case you missed my explanation, I am going through posts from my first year of blogging. This is another from February 2011.

Homesteaders

This is a picture of my great grandma, probably taken in the 70's.  This is pretty much how I remember her.  I was a teen-ager when she died.  I remember being sad but as I think back, I don't really remember having a lot of interaction with her.  I saw her only as she was then, an old lady.  I don't remember her being terribly cuddly or warm but she was always nice to us.  I do remember her Southern accent with a voice that stood out in a crowd.  We didn't have any cute name we called her.  In fact, I remember that we called her, "great-grandma".   It seems strange now that we didn't call her anything warmer or shorter.  I wish we'd called her Grandma Rhoda.  Too late now.  I'm sure at the time she was wearing this dress,  I probably just thought of it as an old lady's dress.  Today, as I look at this picture, I'm thinking, "Is that Orange Paisley?!"  

This is her in her younger years.  She and my great-grandpa were Wyoming Homesteaders.  They left North Carolina and arrived in Wyoming on an emigrant train.  My Grandma Rose was just a baby at that time and the homestead was so far out in the boonies that Grandma Rose was an adolescent before she ever got to come into town! 

Now, I am awed by what they did and how their life was.  I wish I'd had sense enough as a child to ask her questions about her life.  I really know nothing of her life before Wyoming.  I've heard stories of their homestead years but not from her point of view.  What was it like to live in a drafty log cabin on the Wyoming prairie?  How in the world did they provide food for all their children during the long winters?  Was she ever scared?  Did she ever have a moment to herself?  Did she have a chance to have fun or was her life always a struggle to keep up?  What about her faith?  How much contact did she have with her family in North Carolina?  Who helped her when she gave birth?  What was her grocery list like when my great-grandpa went to town maybe once or twice a year?  How did they make money?

So many questions.  Too late.

Retro Post... Life Interrupted

It is my birthday! Happy day to me!

I am continuing my self-indulgent trip back in time, posting reruns. In commemorating 4 years of blogging, I want to go back and pluck out some of the posts I enjoy most. This post explained a bit more about how I came up with the name for my blog. I wrote this in February 2011.

My Life Was Interrupted

I am attending a Women's Bible Study at our church.  We are about to complete our study of Jonah by Pricilla Shirer.  It is not the first time I've studied Jonah.  It seems each time I go through  it I get something new from it.  Pricilla started right off talking about how Jonah's life was interrupted.  That caught my attention in a personal way...

My life was whirling along just as I'd planned in early 2010.  I was working as an oncology nurse and absolutely loved what I did.  Yes, it was hard and stressful at times but I found such satisfaction working with these people.  I was up close and personal with people who were often discovering they were able to draw upon a strength they previously hadn't even acknowledged.  It was beautiful.

Then, early last year I got sick.  That's not supposed to happen!  I am a caretaker!  I was treated.  I got better.  I got sick.  I was treated.  I got better.  I got sick.  I went to the hospital.  I was treated for a long, long time.  I got a bit better.  I got sick again.  You get the idea.  Each time I got better, I returned to work.  Finally, it became apparent that I needed to give up the job I loved, at least for now.

MY LIFE WAS INTERRUPTED!

So, what now?  Maria (my daughter) and I came up with a plan to build on a little home business idea.  I'd made and sold a few pieces of jewelry before but was always too busy to really do much.  But now, we've made all sorts of things!  We've had a lot of fun and I've really enjoyed being creative.  It's been such a joy to be with Maria and Cordelia (grandaughter) so much.  There are many good things about it but I still fretted that I needed to get back to taking care of patients.  I thought that was my calling!

Through this study I've felt myself becoming more relaxed about the changes.  One of the things that bothered me was that being an oncology nurse felt like a ministry to me. I felt it was God's plan for me.  Well, it was, but maybe not forever...or maybe not again for just awhile.  Now, I realize that it doesn't have to make sense to me, but it is important that I just trust God to lead me to what his plan is for me.  It's humbling and it has been a bit hard on my ego, but it has been a growing experience for me for sure!  I don't know where it's going from here, but I know who is in charge!

The title of this blog, Only The Manager, is a result of this study and my life's interruptions.  God is the owner of my life, I am only the manager.

I bet you've had interruptions as well.  I'd like to hear about them. (That sounds strange to write since I have only 1 follower right now, but who knows?)