Brief Escape

Hubby and I spent Thanksgiving week on the Outer Banks of North Carolina . . . specifically in a secluded soundfront cottage by the name of Cat's Meow in the village of Frisco. The time away was desperately needed, as it had been three years, I believe, since our last vacation. Twas a peaceful week of napping, eating, hot-tubbing and shopping. Below are a few pictures...

Our cottage in the trees ... this is the sound side.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse--not a level shot, is it?

Sunset over the sound...

The sound - so close!

Cool trees beside "Cat's Meow"

Isn't this neat?

The driveway to our cottage - super secluded!

Windsurfer...there was LOTS of wind on Friday.

Til next time ~~

Good Morning, Morning~~~

The sun has risen on another day, and I pray the Lord will give us a good one.  And if He chooses otherwise, I pray He gives us the strength and peace to handle whatever comes our way today. 

 

Early Evening Rambles

Rural beauty is not limited to daytime.  I wish I had a "super camera" to show you the wonderful starry skies here, but I'm doubtful that mere photographs would do them justice.  Instead, here are a few photos taken at sunset taken a week or two ago. 

 

Okay, so I'm not a prize-winning photographer, but I love sunsets - always have. 

  

Let's go to the Fair

Granddaughter Katie and I enjoyed a warm autumn afternoon at the Dixie Classic Fair Saturday (the 10th). Oh, the wonderful sights, sounds and smells of the fair!  It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of it all.

Katie wanted to try the rides - and not the "baby rides," either.  I was hoping for somewhat sedate ones so that I could ride with her.  It's been quite a few years since I'd ridden anything more than a "bench" on the carousel.  So, off we went into the midway area.  We managed to get past the "step-right-up" hawkers and came to the first "ride" that I remembered loving as a teenager - the Himalaya.  It looked innocuous enough and I thought Katie might enjoy it.  Have mercy.  The poor child went straight into a panic as soon as the ride began.  You'd think there would be a gradual building of speed on the thing, but noooo, it went straight into hyperdrive speed which, of course, threw her into me.  The poor thing was terrified and fighting the physics lessons being forced upon her.  I finally convinced her to just come over next to me instead of trying to fight it and she loosened up some when she realized we wouldn't be hurled to a neighboring state.  She even learned to scream woooooooohoooooooo (or something similar), which helped release some tension.  It's a good thing we chose not to eat anything before taking on the rides.

After that particular introduction to the Strates midway rides, Katie was happy to walk a lot before trying another ride.  I believe she was a bit skeptical of Nannum's decisionmaking skills.  Truth be told, so was I!  It's funny how the long-term memory of rides-gone-by kicks in once you experience the g-forces of just one of them.  I persuaded her away from the Tilt-a-Whirl and Spider-type rides, remembering how her mother reacted to those many years ago.  I was feeling badly-slash-guilty and so decided to sacrifice my fear of heights for a mostly smooth, slow ride - the ferris wheel.  Urf.  She loved it!  My stomach did not.  I can still feel the car rocking every time the wheel stopped, but the big-eyed look of awe on Katie's face made this ride worthwhile.  A lady and her daughter sat across from us - reminiscing about the rides the daughter rode as a child.  Shoot, the daughter was barely a teenager, but Katie chimed in about the caterpillar ride.  Too cute.  The lady pointed to mountains behind Katie and me.  No way was I going to turn around to look, and I settled for my view of the concrete mountains known as good ol' downtown.

After the ferris wheel ride ended, Katie was stoked.  We walked a bit more, trying to decide what to do next.  "Would you like to ride the ferris wheel again, Nannum?" she asked, eyes twinkling.  I do not resist twinkling granddaughter eyes.  So, back we went to the ferris wheel, and I encouraged Katie to sit on the other side of the car so we could see the mountains this time - which were very lovely.

Two young teen girls shared this ride with us.  Here's a photo of the shoes of one girl.  Too cute.

 After a pizza lunch, an underwhelming animal show, a haunted house ride and several trips around the midway, we headed for the gigantic slide, carousel, petting zoo, several critter barns and a cotton candy stand.  Katie picked out a toy for her little brother and an inflated pony for herself somewhere along the way.

 

Check out the t-shirt on this guy. "Will trade wife for tractor."

Colorful rings for sale...

Got a carrot?

After many long, fun-filled hours, we said tired goodbyes to the 2009 Dixie Classic Fair and headed home.  Nannum went home and happily collapsed.  Katie went home and played chase with her little brother for an hour, I'm told.  Ah...to be young again!

Stay Tuned...

Live and Learn....Ad Nauseum

 

When I took the above photos a week or two ago, the thought had occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, this is ragweed.  But, I thought, it's such a pretty "wild flower," and look at the wasp enjoying the blossom.  Oooh, let's see how close we can get!  Time passed, and just for the heck of it yesterday, I went to ask.com and typed "What does ragweed look like?"  Sure enough, I had been within inches of the dreaded weed, with my persnickety sinuses, at that! 

I always feel a day I've learned something is a good day, but why couldn't ragweed be gnarly and a putrid shade of brownish-green? 

Til next time ~~

Prepare for Tractor Overload! First Annual Cows and Plows Event...

Nothin' like a Saturday afternoon nap with your tractor(s)!

 Rides for the kiddies...

For $100, a bunch of folks could take a riding tour of a farm!

Big Blue Tractor!

I don't pretend to know what this is, but it was the first one built!

 

 

 

 Aren't these cute?

 

"Wasted Days & Wasted Nites"

This one's named "Weezer."  I think it was a 1950 model.  Its owner rode it around a bit after this was taken.

Tractors everywhere - and a cute little riding mower, too.  Awww.

Okay, so I didn't see cows, but suspect I would have had to take the $100 riding tour of the farm to do that.  There were lots of tractors and implements and antique engines and roasted ears of corn to munch,  homemade ice cream, muscadine cider, a quilt raffle to enter (which I did), various crafters hopeful for a sale, and a few camera-shy Shetland ponies.  I'm thinking this first Cows and Plows event was a success.

Mount Pilot, as Andy Would Say ...

If the sky is clear and you know where to look, you can see Pilot Mountain from this spot on our road. If you ever watched The Andy Griffith Show, you'll recall the characters talking about "going to Mount Pilot."  Well, there you are.  I digress (somewhat often).

In the foreground of the shot above, the late summer sun warmed this field of wildflowers one Sunday afternoon as all sorts of bees danced among the blooms. It's too bad still photos don't capture sounds; I remember the buzzing was quite loud, kind of like the string section of an orchestra warming up before a performance!  Very nice, so peaceful.

The very next day two very large mowing monsters leveled this lovely field.  Why?  There are no homes immediately bordering it, and as scarce as bees have become in our area, I wish they'd at least waited until the flowers had finished blooming.  I suppose mowing is a ritual of civilized man.  I'm not so sure civilization is all it's cracked up to be - not when a "perfectly good field of flowers" is mowed down at its peak.  Men and their gigantic mowing machines.  I can almost see them snorting and beating their chests as they raced with each other to see who could cut the wider path, etc. (Okay, that made me giggle, admittedly.) 

Lesson d'jour...take time to cherish God's many gifts and blessings, and do what you can to preserve them.  I suppose knocking the guys off their mowers wouldn't be very civilized, but then again .... 

Til next time ~~

Turtle Crossing

I discovered this little guy/gal hot-footing it across our road just before sunset Monday evening, so of course I had to slam on my brakes for a middle-of-the-road photo shoot.  I know, I know - don't quit my day job.  I tried to get him/her to pose for me, but all I got was a bored turtlish stare.  Since my car was still running and darkness was fast approaching, I took these two photos and decided to help the little critter across the road. After all, the flash on my camera had probably half-blinded the poor thing, at least temporarily, and as much as I like my neighbors, I feared a good ol' boy might squish the turtle before its little pupils could readjust.

Remembering past attempts by turtles to bite my fingers off, I took a deep breath, approached this one from behind and slowwwwly lifted it just far enough for a brief airlift.  Just about the time its little turtle feet cleared the sun-warmed pavement, the diminutive turtle hissssssed with what I imagine was all its might.  Needless to say, the gentle airlift darn-near became a turtle hurl, kind of like a small-scale shot put event!

"Ungrateful brat!"  I said, as I sat him/her down in the grass.  It had the audacity to hiss again!

In any event, I finally got my turtle crossing pictures.  No creatures were harmed in the non-filming for this blog; and only one was hissed off.

Til Next Time ~~                                                                                                                                                 

Around the Bend...

The last weekend of Summer 2009 is winding down.  To say I rejoice at the prospect of cooler temperatures is an understatement.  No doubt the farmers are happy to be finished, or nearly finished, with their harvests, and I am hopeful they have profited nicely.

A glance outside my window this afternoon reveals the rusty red dogwood leaves are ahead in Mom Nature's race to don her dress of many colors for autumn.

The days are growing shorter, too!  Before long I'll be driving home from work in the dark - my least favorite aspect of fall-slash-winter.  My rambles then will pretty much be limited to early mornings or weekends.  Those who know me, really know me, realize that means weekends, thank you very much.

So, folks, just around the next bend is autumn, and I want to savor every delicious sensory gift that comes along with the changing of seasons.  Now that I think of it, I need to see if there are any muscadines left.  I know of a special friend who's never tasted them before, and I plan to remedy that situation!

Til next time...