Potato Soup

I snapped a photo of the table yesterday just because I thought it was cute (and because I don't set the table much anymore and wanted to use my tureen!) Mom beat me to the punch with her potato soup post!

Why is it that snow = hot chocolate and/or potato soup? I made this potato soup and cornbread for Richard and Miranda (I'm trying to be good and ate a bag of steamed veggies w/soy sauce....)

Snow Day!!

For once a forecast was close to correct! About 7pm last night, it started to snow - continued thru the night. When I got up this morning, 6 or so inches - and luckily, no ice accumulation. By mid-morning, an inch of sleet had fallen and pressed all our lovely snow down with a crusty layer.


I'm staying inside- it's coooolldd and windy now!!

600 posts!! and this is a stinky one!!

I started this crazy thing in September of 2006....lots of "nothing" has been discussed, hasn't it? Onward we go - second star to the right and straight on till morning!!!

First I'll show you something NOT stinky...it's Friday and I'm "Home Alone". Therefore, I got to cook some of my sprouts. Duane doesn't care for them.....This dish is just mung bean and lentil sprouts, shredded cabbage & carrots, sweet pea pods, pickled ginger. For a sauce, I warmed up some soy sauce, powdered ginger, peanut butter, and Splenda.

Yum - it was really good. (I also had some left-over baked tofu). I'm trying to be good - St Martin is rapidly approaching! Oh - Diane and I started a workout routine in her basement. Hope I can stick to it with my "workout buddy".





Now for the "Stinky" part:

We were long overdue for a septic tank pumpout. No problems, but it has been 10 years at least since we had it pumped.

I called the local fellow that I see driving down the road in this catchy (and VERY clean truck)...if you can't read the sign on top it says - "Caution Truck May Be Transporting Political Promises"....



And the side reads "It Happens - We Pump It"....guess you've got to have a sense of humor in that business!




Hard-working guys - they made quick work of it - even had to dig down 2 feet to get to one of the tanks. It was certainly worth a couple of hundred bucks - not exactly something you can do yourself!!

Book Club!

Last night was book club at Lindy's house....always a good time. Good discussions about the book this month - "The Help" - lots of issues and a enjoyable, if disturbing, book. The discussions always tend to move about in tangents, much good fun - and a fabulous cherry brownie concoction - and, of course, the wine!!!!

Happy 21st Birthday to Robert!

Robert's big day was yesterday! We went to the Flying Saucer - a pub that is known for it's 100's of beers. It was nice and special...even though it was a little LOUD!



Richard and Miranda joined us and had a good time - even though I couldn't get him to behave for a good photo!




Robert ordering his first legal beer. Oh what to choose ...


Let's try a big India Pale Ale....yuck - I don't like that flavor, but he enjoyed it.

Quick trip to the boat

It's been sooo loonng since we've been to the boat! The runway is soggy plus there is a massive rainstorm headed our way - so we decided to drive (ugh) down. Not too bad - just over 3 hrs.

Found the boat just like we left her! Safe and sound, just a minor amount of bird doo-doo to remove. Gorgeous day - although I would prefer about 30 more degrees of warmth! The heat pumps are still struggling (6 hrs later) to get the temp in the interior above 70 degrees. Since they use sea water as their heat exchanger - and that sea water is very chilly, it's not working as well as it usually does. The interior temp was 48 when we got here!



We took Richard's metal detector with us over to our new piece of earth to locate the corners. They were marked earlier with surveyors tape, but we wanted to find the actual iron posts. We weren't entirely successful, but it was a pleasant walk anyway!



We'll swing back by NC State tomorrow evening on our way home - to take Robert out for his 21st Birthday!!! I remember where I was 21 years ago right about now....it was a happy but not exactly pretty time! Happy Birthday, son.


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Avatar Again!

Amazing the difference a weekday movie viewing makes!!

Since I didn't get to see all of the movie last weekend - and Bobbi, my friend from work wanted to see the movie....we decided to go yesterday.

Here's a shot of the theater - EMPTY!

We went to see the 2-D version of Avatar - the 12:30 matinee....since the theater was empty, we got to choose the best seats - high up and in the middle.

Th 2-D version did not make me sick at all - but I must say that it probably wasn't as good. I enjoyed seeing the parts that I didn't the first time (amazing how much of it I was either gone or had my eyes closed the first time!)

So, if you go, I'd say see the 3-D version and sit up high!

Just a pretty sunset

Not a lot going on around here - just back to work/school. I was at the Asheboro airport for a meeting last night. I thought the pretty sunset was worthy of a quick photo.

A movie and dinner!

Rainy and chilly today...ugh....

We joined our friends from the airport last night to see Avatar in 3-D. Great movie, even if the story line is a bit far-fetched. It is fantasy, right?? I said great movie - although I didn't see every moment of the movie.....it made me very seasick!!! I should have listened to my mother who said she had heard that it made people sick! Unfortunately, we were almost the last ones into the theater and had to sit in the very front. A terrible place to see any movie, but really bad for the 3-D ones. After closing my eyes a while - going to get a real-sugar Coke - I finally went to the top of the steps and sat there for about 10 minutes. MUCH better. Wished we had gotten there a half-hour early for good seats!



It all worked out fine - we all went to PF Changs for a nice meal afterwards.




Lovely Lindy with the desert that her husband so kindly ordered. Note that Dick is sitting to her right with his arms crossed like he's not going to eat any of it.....I can assure you he did.... Fun!

A little spot of land near the boat!

Thought I'd share a map of a little lot we recently purchased....no immediate plans, but someday you might visit us there!!


Map of lot near the marina



If you look at the map, Google didn't put the little "A" in the right place. It's actually the space between two houses on "Possum Place" just above the road name.

And someone should be shot for naming a road Possum Place.......

A Little Lobby-ing

I had to set the alarm to get up early (gasp....I very seldom have to do that!!) I had a meeting at the RDU airport early....pretty driving across Jordan Lake.




Destination was the NC DOT Aviation Division.....gotta lobby for those scarce FAA funds!!!

Holidays are officially over!

No photo today! I got up the courage......and stepped on the scales.....

Not anywhere near as bad as I thought - just 4 extra pounds.

Now the St. Martin/St. Maarten shakedown/exercise/diet begins!!!

More from Lake Norman

Robert used his cooking skills to make some really good fajita's for a late lunch. They were yummy and everyone enjoyed.


Later we had to put together a puzzle, of course!


And even later, Debbie treated us to some great lasagna - even made me a version with chicken - very good! Notice a theme? Lot's of good eats, for sure!


It's still very chilly here - this is a photo of the lake this morning from the back porch. The thin ice is all the way across our little canal.

Relaxing at Lake Norman

Having a nice, relaxing time at our Lake Norman retreat for the "McCraw family holiday". Cold here, as it is most everywhere on the eastern half of the U.S.


The view out the back of the house over Lake Norman. This would be a wonderful place during the summer to swim/boat/fish. Richard is planning on some cool-weather fishing tonight.


The house is really large and set-up for large gatherings....perfect.



Downstairs is a game room - everything you need, plus more!

Winding down from the holidays

Finally got around to taking down the Christmas tree last night....packed all the goodies away in my new "Christmas Boxes" (thanks Mom!). Kindof weird to see the corner of the room all un-cluttered again!



Off to Lake Norman to the "McCraw Holiday Gathering". More from there, I'm sure!

Back in N.C.

We caught the "last plane out" of Chicago last night before the snowstorm. Lucky that we did because they are having all kinds of air-traffic delays today.

This is one of those silly photos they snap of you when you entered the San Francisco Zoo....the kids thought it was dorky...but I thought it was pretty cool!

Last San Francisco Day....

Last day....we had to pack it full! Because Richard had been sick for a few days, we saved the Alcatraz / Fisherman's Wharf visit to last. Up early and out to Alcatraz. Sadly, Richard decided he wasn't up to it.


We bought our Alcatraz tickets and wandered down the waterfront area waiting on our "boarding time" for the ferry. I enjoyed the huge Christmas tree that they haven't taken the decorations from yet.


Efficiently boarded the ferry for the short trip out to Alcatraz.



Did an "audio tour" of the island. Very nice National Park. Miranda here, worried that they might lock her in....very small cells - lots of history. Nice to see once.


Cool view back towards San Francisco - amazing just how close it is. You can see the currents and eddy's in the water, though. It definitely looked like a swim across would be impossible.



Richard perked up mid-day so we went back to the apartment and picked him up. Next on the agenda was to visit China Town. A neat district of "real" Chinese vendors and restaurants. It had a good vibe like some of the streets we've seen in China.



The kids enjoyed some sightseeing and shopping.



After a nice meal at the "Four Seas" restaurant in China Town, we went down to Fisherman's Wharf. Sharon and Buddy had told us to look into the "Penny Arcade" museum. We found it and we all enjoyed it very much. Lots of old timey arcade games. All in working order. Many were all wooden. I even did a "peep show" - you cranked a lever and viewed the "peep show" thru a view-finder. HAHA - the ladies looked like they were from the 20's - and they were fully clothed - showing just a BIT of leg!! Funny.....

Richard found a game that you shot at the little ducks as they rolled by....



And they both did this silly "shock" game. (It was really just vibration, not shocks).




A nice finish to a nice vacation. The kids fly home tomorrow - sadly, we're heading to Indiana for Duane's aunt - Maxine's funeral. We'll be home Thursday.

Even more San Francisco!

Today was ZOO day! We went to the San Francisco Zoo - a very nice one. The animals all looked sleek and healthy.




A nice gorilla family. At other zoos I've been to, the gorillas often look unhappy. Here they really did look like they were just a big happy family. The little one was sooo cute.



Pretty flowers all around - succulent - almost like cactus.



HaHa - Richard needed help up off the bench.....


This is the closest Miranda got to a "Pachyderm" - there were rhinos but no elephants.....



We visited "Twin Peaks" - which are two 900 ft. hills overlooking San Francisco. Beautiful view.



We all had to pose for the photo-op.....



Robert was clearly pleased.....




Hahaha - it was windy!! (A bit of a wild hair day!!)