Christmas trip to the mountains

We drove to the mountains instead of flying this time because of the high winds! 

For the first time, we were able to attend Grandma's Christmas gathering that she's been doing the last few years at Golden Corral.  It was very nice - got to see lots of my cousins and aunts/uncles!

Grandma is doing well - look closely at her shoes!

I've enlarged the photo so you could see.  They are just fabulous!  They look like Dorothy's slippers.  Grandma said she likes them because they're so comfy and festive.  Yes!

After a few words - we all mingled and ate.  And ate way too much, of course!  I chatted with Grandma a bit - she wanted to know if Robert was still driving her Subaru - and of course, he is and loves it still!

We stopped back by Duane's folk's house for another visit - Granny took me out to the garden to load up on veggies as usual.....yummmmm - I'll have turnips tomorrow with our family's Christmas dinner!!!  Oh, and look at that beautiful Carolina Blue sky in the background!!

Little trip to Atlanta

Dick bought a new airplane!!!  It's a Citabria - similar to the one he had many years ago, but this one is much newer and nicer!!

It was at an airport just south of Atlanta - and we took him down this morning to pick it up!


Notice something odd about this photo???  Duane and Dick are up front....I'm happily in back with my Kindle.  The flight was super-smooth and I read the entire way...(I flew home so Duane could take a nap, by the way!)

Here's Dick's new plane - a 2009 Citabria Scout....very, very nice!

Fueled and ready to depart.

We had a quick lunch and then back in our plane for the trip home. The airport is on the left - the Atlanta Motor Speedway is on the right.   Nice location, but the airport itself is not very pilot-friendly.  Oh well, we really didn't need anything so it wasn't an issue.  Nice smooth flight home on a sunny December day!!

Cardinal Air Christmas

Another successful Cardinal Air Christmas party!  

Sorry for the blurry photos - I turned the flash off hoping to reduce the "irritation factor"....but the photos didn't turn out nearly as good as they usually do.  Oh well....no one was blinded by flash in the making of this blogpost!

All the usual suspects....

And some are more suspect than others!!!

And there was a band, of course!!!

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Skinny Dipping

Sorry to just copy something from the internet, but I just thought this was too cute!

An elderly man in Louisiana had owned a large farm for several years.

He had a large pond in the back. It was properly shaped for swimming, so he fixed
it up

nice with picnic tables, horseshoe courts, and some apple and peach trees.

One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the pond, as he hadn't been there for a while, and look it over.

He grabbed a five-gallon bucket to bring back some fruit.

As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee.

As he came closer, he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his pond.

He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end.

One of the women shouted to him, 'we're not coming out until you leave!'

The old man frowned, 'I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the pond naked.'

Holding the bucket up he said,
'I'm here to feed the alligator...'

Some old men can still think fast.

Trip to the metal recycle business

This weekend, we did some cleaning in the garage - we had an old metal desk that we got surplus from CP&L back when we lived in New Hill...it ended up just being another place to throw junk. So, we loaded it up in the pickup and I made a trip to the local metal recycle place. You may recall that my last similar trip ended up with me in the emergency room for stitches....not so this time. I made a clean get-away with a few bucks for my trouble. Fun to watch the huge magnet/crane lift the 200 lb desk like it was a fly.

Lost and Found!

Diane gave me these cool "snowflake" earrings years ago....they are my "go-to" winter/Christmas jewelry. I don't know, there's just something about them that says "festive". The other day I got home from work and noticed that one was missing from my ear. Bummer! I had been to lots of places - the grocery store, the gas station, two airports, etc. I did a quick check of the car just to see if maybe it was there. Several days went by and no luck. Then, this morning before work I was cleaning out the dishwasher. I noticed a "twinkle" in the bottom of the tub. Yep - it was my earring - all shiny and fresh!!  Wonder how it got there???

State of Brass (NC State Brass Quintet)

Wanna hear some complicated brass music? Duane and I attended Robert's "State of Brass" concert Sunday...well done! (Robert is on the right, of course...)

Hushpuppies!

It's that time of year again! The first weekend of December, our buddy Lonnie always holds his "customer appreciation" day. That means I cook the hushpuppies to go along with his bbq and fixin's! Forgot the camera in the car for the first few hours...but as usual, a great time and great food!

Cute Quote

Quote of the day - from an internet "forward"....worth sharing, though....

NO MATTER HOW BIG AND BAD YOU ARE, WHEN A TWO YEAR OLD HANDS YOU A TOY PHONE,
YOU ANSWER IT! 

Apparently, I don't get to "Make a Difference"!

It had been a while since I had donated blood to the Red Cross. I had gone to a "mobile" blood drive a year or so ago, only to be told it was a 1 1/2 hour wait. So, when the nice Red Cross lady called asking me to schedule an appointment a month or so ago, I thought that sounded like a good idea. So, at 10AM sharp this morning, I signed in, read all the documents they require....got my sticker and was shuttled to the next station.

Got my blood pressure, temp, etc. documented....and the worst part of the whole thing for me - the dreaded finger stick to test for iron deficiency!

The next stage is to answer all kinds of questions to determine if you've been exposed to AIDS or the mad-cow disease.  I, of course, pass those with exceptional ease!  The last questions were about your recent travels.  In the past 12 months I have been out of the country 3 times - the Bahamas, Taiwan, and the Turks and Caicos.  Guess which one disqualifies me??? 

The one I wouldn't expect - the Bahamas!  Actually, it's because we visited the Exumas - they are a malaria risk.  Most of the other Bahama islands are not on the "no-donate" list.  I can't give blood for a year!  Who woulda' thunk it????

Thanksgiving at The Joneses!

Our family was invited to Miranda's folks house for Thanksgiving this year - Richard had to work 24 hours on Thanksgiving Day, so we opted for a Saturday meal.  All the usual trimmings - very nice.  Gotta love Miranda's new haircut!!!

We even played a fun game of cards...

I didn't manage to get a group shot - but also in attendance was Robert and Miranda's brother Stephen.  A wonderful relaxing  evening!

Turks and Caicos Trip

Off we were for a short trip to a new island!  This time it was to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos.  It's a small British Territory south of the Bahamas.

Sharon and Buddy's plane from RDU met up with us in Charlotte for the final 3 hour flight.

Rented a little car - note that I'm sitting in the passenger seat - Duane is driving...took a little getting used to!!

The island is pretty small - so we were to our home for the week pretty quickly. It was a 2 bedroom condo that was just beautiful!

The view from the condo the first morning thru the screened porch.

What followed was day-after-day of heading to a different beach...it was windy and the umbrella was kinda mis-behavin'...

Wandering down the beach, Sharon spied this pretty specimen!

A few of the days were cloudy and stormy-looking.  Still beautiful!  And, no, we aren't inclined to do the para-sailing....

Next day, different more-deserted cove.

If you look closely, there are specks out in the middle of the photo.  The bay is so incredibly shallow, you an walk for what seems like forever in clear, waist deep water on a powdery sand bottom.

I won't bore you with too many food shots - but this was a local restaurant serving "cracked conch, rice & peas, fried plantains, and lobster fritters".  Yum.  The diet starts now.

Buddy and Duane in their normal positions, books in hand.  The dark stuff on the beach is just some seaweed leftover from Hurricane Sandy. 

This is the view from a restaurant we ate at overlooking the Chalk Sound.

The lovely couple!!

Another view of Chalk Sound....not sure the color in this photo does it justice - it was even prettier than the photo!

Several days, we found deserted shelters and other items on the beach to sit on....here I'm sitting on a couple of cement blocks propped against a shelter in front of an abandoned building.

Here's the abandoned building - looks like it's a hotel, about 1/10th finished.  Anyone want a business opportunity? 

We saw some odd things while on the island....one of them was this fellow on a horse.  We were sitting at a restaurant on the deck overlooking the water.  This guy rides up on the horse - and a waiter goes out to him.  A minute or two later, I see the rider getting out his wallet as the waiter approaches - with the bottle of beer!  The cowboy sat there for a good while on the horse, sipping his beer.  Hmmm, I think that's the ultimate drive-in for a beverage!

Different day, different beach.....Sharon found a hammock....

We spied this large yacht going into the nearby marina....

And this lovely vessel - Aiyana - had to "hold" while exiting the marina since the channel looked very narrow.
I looked her up - you can charter this 82' beauty for $35,000 per week. 

I was napping....and as I woke up, this was my view....so I decided to try to capture the feeling.

Speaking of the motor yacht....a little while later, we went over to the marina to a nearby restaurant and we saw a tanker drive towards the yacht.  Looks like they fueled the yacht directly from the tanker.  Boy, I'd hate to see that bill!

Different day, different beach!

Our last day....

Snapped one quick group photo before heading to the airport!