I was down on the other end of the runway this afternoon - and Lindy invited me to harvest some greens & veggies. Here are the last few peppers - the days are getting shorter so I suspect the "summer" veggies will wither away soon.



She has oregano and a couple of varieties of basil...they've gone to seed, but I can use them anyway.




And here is my favorite - fresh greens. This is chard and arugula. I chopped this up and stir-fried it....yum.

I got more photos of the balloon from Diane's camera - and since I'm not usually actually IN the photos on this blog - I thought I'd include a few.

Here we are holding the opening to keep it from collapsing while it filled with air. The fan is on the left and is blowing ALOT of air into the balloon.



Here Duane is "feeling my muscles".....see how incredibly helpful he is being??


Another pretty shot of the balloon.

I had promised balloon photos - here they are. My neighbor, Dick is the one who supplies us with many of the lovely veggies during the year....he also just went and got his balloon pilot certification out in Arizona, I believe. He ordered this balloon custom built (I don't really know, but they are probably all custom built....) His wife, Lindy, designed the balloon's color scheme.
He had just come home after picking up the balloon. He called and asked if we wanted to come help blow it up the first time at our airport.....so of course, we did. These are the photos I snapped - Diane took a bunch also - I'll post again when she sends me her photos.


Here is Dick and Randy (Dick's partner in another airplane and a lot-owner here at the airport). This is the actual balloon envelope - in a really large bag - it weighs a couple of hundred pounds.
They just started "dumping" it out in a long string.
Until it was all laid out.
It was huge!!
The straps had to be connected to the basket.

First, a large fan blew cool air in to start the inflation process. I was holding one side of the opening out until it was tight.
Once it was mostly full, it was really quick to rise after the heat was applied.
It was getting dark - the photo doesn't do the colors justice.
Here's a view from the basket looking up with the burner on - it was loud!!
Same view with the burner off.
He pulled a cord which opens the top - and it starts to collapse pretty quickly.
Then the process is reversed to put it all back in the bag - note that the whole neighborhood was out helping by this point. Boys & girls and their toys!!!

OK, so it's a really slow news day.....nothing much going on- just dry, hot weather still....amazingly - my flower-beds are still very pretty!



I will admit, however, that I have been watering these regularly. Since we're on a well (a very strong well, I might add...) we are not subject to the county water restrictions. No-one is allowed to water the lawn or wash cars now. Bummer...since I never do either - no big deal to me!!


Stay tuned tomorrow - our neighbor that grows the wonderful veggies - is coming back to town with a hot air balloon! Should be beautiful!

We're back from our trip to Appalachian State and to Hendersonville...I forgot to take the camera out at the McCraw reunion, so I don't have any pictures from that!

Cordy told me to pick some "little pumpkins" from his garden - aren't they festive? The butternut squash will, of course, be eaten!

We had a nice tour of ASU - the kids went off on their own for a little while to explore. It was actually chilly! A nice change from the 100 degree days!

Then it was on to mom's for the evening - had a good time playing in the pool and Richard & Dahlia spent a good bit of time in Keith and Denise's hot tub.


Nice photo of Aaron and Denise...
also a nice one of Mom in the pool
Couldn't pass up a neat rose shot!
The pool was chilly also, so we "stoked" the fire (Mom also had the propane heater going - last chance for a swim this year!)
Always have to include a cute puppy shot!

You know your life if mundane when a new appliance makes you giddy!

Here's the 22 year old refrigerator - bought in 1985 when we moved into our house in New Hill. It still runs, but the ice maker doesn't dispense and the fridge door doesn't close too well. It needs new door seals (at $150 per side!) - so I've talked myself into a new fridge (from our local appliance dealer in Siler City - gotta support the locals- especially when they give you the same price as Lowe's!)


Here's the new one - same size - modern features. I'm happy.

Nothing much going on - except it is really, really, hot!! and DRY!

Our grass is all brown and I am trying to keep the flower beds watered. We're on a well, of course, so we don't have any water restrictions. All of the municipal water supplies are struggling - they're always in the news talking about the fines people are having to pay if they get caught watering their lawns. We just let ours die down - hey, weeds or something green will grow back next year!!

As I've been cleaning out/rearranging the new office, I ran across an old disposable camera. It said "exp 7/2004". So I sent it off to have it developed - by-the-way - something I haven't done in quite a while because of the digital cameras!

Turns out it must have been a camera Richard took with him to Boy Scout summer camp and on our trip to Key Largo/Key West - in 2004, I believe. Here are the highlights - the rest are photos of kids at camp that I don't recognize. Thought the first one was particularly appropriate for a Boy Scout camp:



Big foot = Big Fish!


90 Miles to Cuba!!


On some back street in Key West - I recall parking the car and walking around the old part of town with the kiddos - not their favorite activity as I recall!!

I'm on dial-up at Siler City today, so I can't upload much!

I found these wonderful cubes at the grocery store the other day - I love them! They're like bouillon cubes but I don't think they are quite so salty. And they appear to be vegan.


I particularly love the cilantro cubes. I often want something Mexican - but don't want to run to the store to buy fresh cilantro. (and when I have it - it seems to go bad in just a day or so.) A couple of these cubes, fresh tomatoes and some sweet onions and you have a "mighty fine" salsa!

I know it's been awhile....here we are on the way over to Ocracoke last Thursday for our Labor Day weekend.

The crew is getting ready to watch John Wayne in "The High and the Mighty". I had borrowed the DVD from a friend (since I had recently read the book). I enjoyed the book - and I expected a lot from the movie. Well, it was 2 1/2 hours of probably The Duke's worst movie....the crew will remember that I suggested it for a lonnnnggg time!


When we travel by airplane or boat to Ocracoke, we always rent bikes to get around. Works off a little of the calories (but not much, I suspect!) Here Sharon and I are outside Howard's Pub.

This is most of the "group" - Sharon and Buddy's friends that come to Ocracoke every year. A nice group! We enjoyed getting to know them a little! (We're kindof hard to see at the back of the table.)

Just chilling one night at the Jolly Roger.


Sharon's apparently sleepy....
The girls chatting at the hotel pool (Pony Island).
The boys chatting at the pool - note the segregation!!

Here is little Luke with the "silly string". They had a ball with this!
Oops, someone "got" me!
Oops, someone REALLY got Buddy!
Sharon and Buddy relaxing later on the boat.

We left Ocracoke at first light - it takes a lonnnggg time to get 45 miles back to Oriental at 6 knots!

This series of photos is as we left the channel - about a minute total.










Kindof pretty, I think. The "pink sails" didn't seem to be too much of a "warning" as the poem goes. It was a lovely, sunny sail back to Oriental!