A familiar scene

Today's pic is of my mom, but it could just as easily be of me.
Sitting on couch? Check.
Cat on lap? Check.
Netbook open and ready? Check.
Crafty project in hand? Well, after a 4 week hiatus, I returned to knitting a sweater this week. I suppose that's a long way of saying "check".
And although you can't see it in the photo, I assure you that the TV is definitely on.

Hey. I'm a multi-tasker.

Such an exciting life I lead, yes?

Momma's First Wedding Show

Thought I'd give you all a little up-date on Mom. She has declared the wedding show a great success! She had a great time showing off her wares. Her booth was situated next to a bakery that was handing out free samples of cake. When I heard that, I knew she would be fine. People have to look at something while they eat that cake, right? So why not take a gander at Mom's kaleidoscopes? Sure enough, it worked. Mom said that she & Helen did not have a single spare moment the whole time. They talked to tons of people & a number of them were particularly interested. One of the organizers of the show even heard a couple of guys (grooms perhaps?) talking about Mom's work in the hallway. "Did you see the kaleidoscopes? Dude, you gotta go back in there and check 'em out. They are so cool."

Photos provided by Storybook Wedding Photography

I'm especially happy for Mom for putting herself out there. We all know how scary that can be! It takes a lot of bravery even in the best of times. However, I think it may have been a little bit more difficult on Mom because of the timing; Today marks 5 years since my grandma - my mother's mother - passed away. Mom says she's coping okay. She decided to combat the blues by thinking about the beauty of the beach along the Outer Banks and the week we spent there in May. So in honor of Mom, here are a couple beach pics from that week. I hope she enjoys looking at them between additional viewings of "Nights in Rodanthe".

Memory Card Month - Day 18

This weekend my mom is taking a big step with her company: She is participating in a wedding show! She has a booth at the wedding show in Catoosa where she will display her kaleidoscopes, necklaces, and other items that she makes.



Today while I was scanning through my memory card, I stumbled upon these photos of a piece I commissioned from Mom. It's a Christmas ornament in honor of Travis and Veronica. I sent my mother V&T's wedding invitation, some confetti from their rehearsal dinner, and pressed flower petals from their wedding reception. Mom took those items & incorporated V&T's wedding colors (orange and blue) into this beautiful ornament.

Here's hoping some people at the wedding show appreciate Mom's work and she gets an order or two. Or ten!

Waterfalls & peeps

Ray next to Hooker Falls. Heh.


Tim triumphantly standing in front of High Falls. Love it when that man gets goofy.


It was REALLY hard to get to the base of these falls. Harder still to get back up to the trail again. I sprained my wrist while pulling myself up on a hunk of tree. Yes, my wrist! It really hurt!
I shall now pause while some of you pat my head condescendingly.

Note that I have lost 20 pounds since this photo was taken. And I'm posting it anyway! See, Mom? No one is safe! Not even me!

Lake Lure & Chimney Rock

Exactly one year ago, Mom, Dad, and Ray were visiting us, so we did what we often do with company and headed out of town. On this trip we stayed at Lake Lure, a beautiful little area at the base of the mountains in western North Carolina.

For many years, this area was most famous for the site featured in the above photo: Chimney Rock. To get to the top of the rock, you have to ride an elevator that was built into the mountain back in the 1940s that travels up the equivalent of 26 stories. Thank god for that elevator. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to hike up to the top of this thing.

Back in the '80s, a little film called "Dirty Dancing" filmed a few scenes in this area. You know that scene when they're practicing the big lift in the water? That's Lake Lure!

I did not take this last pic, of course. I stole it from a random site on the internet. As I was writing up this post, I heard that Patrick Swayze died today. Such a sad, strange coincidence. Thanks for the fabulous dancing, Patrick ... and for taking Baby out of the corner, of course.

Memory Card Month - Day 12

Points of interest
1. This is my 301st post! Wee!
2. Multiple readers have mentioned to me that Babies on Spikes looks mighty tasty, despite the name. Who'd a thunk it?
3. The previous 2 photos were from the Garden of Eatin' at the Durham Farmers' Market. In case you were wondering.
4. Today's photo was taken exactly a year ago. It features my mom on Wrightsville Beach, staring out on her beloved ocean.
5. I think I tried to post this photo last September, but that's when PhotoBucket & Blogger stopped cooperating so well & everything went wonky.
6. Mom told me last week that she didn't want me to post any photos of her during Memory Card Madness. But you know what? I'm an ADULT now, Mom! And I can do whatever I want! So there!!!
7. Ummmm ... love you, Mommy.

A Challenge (and Tiff's Visit - Part 3)

Happy September, everyone! I love this month. It's an invigorating time It always makes me think of new challenges & fresh beginnings. In honor of that feeling, I'm going to attempt a little something. I'm going to try to post at least one photo on this blog every day for a month. I have TONS and tons of great pics that I've taken over the last year that have yet to grace the pages of this blog. I might as well share them, right?

To start out this month of photos, let's look at a few more pics from our trip to the beach with Tiff.

A nighttime shot of the beach and the full moon from our balcony.

There was a 15 minute fireworks display that night, too, but none of my photos came out well.

Parasailing! Maybe someday someone will agree to do this with me.


This was Day 2 of swimming, also known as the day we learned that Tim's hair EXPANDS after it has been in contact with salt water. Wowza!


Chillaxin'. As the kids say.


Digging holes in the sand. Why, you ask? Why not, we say.


No vacation is complete without a trip to an ice cream parlor.


Home again, home again. Thanks for driving us to the beach, babe!

Tiff's Visit - Part 2

Tiff stayed with us for a whole week and it was great. We spent a few days just hanging around here together, but then we hit the road so we could spend some time at the beach. We had trouble finding a place on the water with vacancies for the 3 of us (teenagers aren't allowed to stay in a hotel room alone). Luckily, Tim poked at the internet and found a suite for us in Myrtle Beach with a balcony and a great view.

Tiff sent a pic of our view to her aunt. The aunt's response: "You suck!" ;D

We decided not to do very much in the town of Myrtle Beach. As far as we were concerned, the only point in going there was to play in the water. Tiff hadn't seen the ocean since she was 7 so it was about time we fixed that.

Tiff's Visit - Part 1

Nope, not dead. Just busy! Once again, we've had loved ones in town. Are you sensing a theme here? This was the 3rd time this summer that we've had family staying in our guest room. It has kept us busy, but in a good way.



This time we were blessed with the presence of Tiff, my 15 year old second cousin. That would make her Tim's second-cousin-in-law-by-marriage ... or something like that! I've known Tiff since she was very little. Although she's always lived in Kentucky, she went down to Oklahoma a few times to spend Christmas or part of the summer at my parents' house. Tim first met Tiff 2 years ago when we all went to Florida for my parents' big 40th wedding anniversary celebration. Tim & I ended up spending almost every day hanging out with Tiff & we got along like a house on fire. We simply had a blast together. Tiff felt like a mish-mash of Tim's & my personality all wrapped up in one package. The 3 of us ran around the Disney parks, swam at Typhoon Lagoon and the resort pool, played word games as Tim drove us everywhere, and on and on. There was a lot of giggling. And a lot of ice cream. It was great.

This spring when we went to Kentucky at Easter we tried our best to get in touch with Tiff so we could see her, but wires got crossed and it didn't work out. We were crushed. So when Tiff called us this summer and told us that she had permission to visit us & stay at our house, we were over the moon! Hooray!

Tomorrow I'll post some pics from our week together. In the meanwhile, I need to finish reading a book that Tiff recommended to me. Tell you more about that later ...

A British Invasion

First, let me pass on my belated thanks to everyone who wrote or called to say that they liked the video. I know my contribution was extraordinarily small, so it was sweet that so many people were so complimentary and encouraging. Hopefully in the coming months I'll have more little successes to report. Fingers crossed!



I didn't get to thank you all earlier because I've been a busy little bee. We just experienced our 2nd wave of family this summer. Tim's dad, Ken and Ken's friend, Pat, came all the way from England to spend some time with us here in North Carolina.



They were in the state for nearly 2 weeks. They spent the first few days at the Yearly Meeting of the Quakers here in NC, then they stayed with us for a spell. This was Ken's first visit to NC and Pat's first time in the United States, so there was a LOT to see, but we tried not to overwhelm them too much. We spent a couple of days in the mountains ...



... and a couple hours by the ocean ...



... but most of our time was spent somewhere in between.



Not to worry. We let them relax some, too. Movies were watched. Card games were played. Chocolate chip cookies were consumed ... and buttermilk biscuits and homemade ice cream and every variation of tea imaginable. Sounds like a good vacation to me! If it sounds good to you, too, just let us know. Our guest room awaits!

OBX with the fam - Part 5

Before I get into this post, I'm going to ask my regular readers to do a little something for me. Just a tiny little something.
1. Turn towards northern England
2. Smile and wave
Thanks! You just gave a warm welcome to the newest reader of this here blog: my father-in-law, Ken. Glad to have you here, Ken!

Now some more photos from the Outer Banks.



Yes, I've been dragging this out too long, but time has been slipping through my fingers. It's been a whole month since our week at the Outer Banks. Hard to believe! But you all will indulge me as I share just a few more photos, won't you?

Here's a pic from the top of Corolla's Currituck Beach lighthouse. I've heard people describe the Outer Banks of North Carolina as "The Ribbon of Sand". This is why. Off to the left you see the Atlantic Ocean. To the right, there's the Currituck Sound.



Mom and I bravely climbed the steps up the lighthouse, despite Mom's fear of see-through stairs. Luckily, we survived unscathed! Hooray!


Now back to the beach.

I have discovered that whenever Tim and I go to the beach, we have a little ritual that plays out along the water's edge. First of all, Tim steps out into the cold water while I stay back and take some pictures.



Then Tim assures me that the water isn't that cold. My toes tell me otherwise, so I stay on shore and use my camera as an excuse.



Tim ventures out deeper. Occasionally he turns around to give me a big smile that says, "This is fun! And a bit cold, but fun! You should join me. You'll love it. G'wan now. Put the camera aside and get out here!"



And I don't know why, but that totally melts my reserve. He just looks too darn cute and happy out there. Besides, we're at the beach! What's the point if you don't actually go out there and get in the water, right? So I venture out. In this case, I handed my camera off to Mom and Aunt Fay, who chose to remain under our beach umbrella.



Wimps.

Here is Tim's big tip for surviving the cold of the vast, open ocean: Embrace the cold. Just accept that the water is going to be freezing. In fact, imagine that the water is so cold that it will literally freeze your toes solid. Then when the water hits you, it won't feel quite so bad after all. An interesting strategy.



My survival strategy incorporates Tim's advice, but I also like to lift my arms in order to keep them dry as long as possible. I also yell, "YAAAR!" whenever a wave hits me. It's kind of a cross between a battle cry and a squeal. But it works! Want proof? On this trip I was the first in the family to completely submerge myself in the ocean. Long hair and all. Take that!

Tim, our own Pied Piper of the Sea called others into the ocean, too.






This was a really nice vacation. The family enjoyed it so much that we're planning to do the same thing together next year, probably further south so we can enjoy new area attractions. Can't wait!

OBX with the fam - part 4

Yes, I have more photos to share from the beach. This time I thought I'd feature the wildlife ... some of it a little more wild than others.

A real live starfish! Cassie touched it and everything.


I guess this is some species of gull? Maybe? It was a lot bigger than most of the birds on the beach.


Numerous times a day, a line of pelicans flew low right by the house. Dad called it Pelican Patrol. Unfortunately, my timing was terrible when it came to the pelicans. They always seemed to fly by just as I shut off my camera! This is the best pic I could snag of Pelican Patrol. Hope you had better luck, Dad.


This dog is named Honey. She likes to wear hats.


Crabs on the beach at night. Note that each one of these is bigger than your hand.


Crabs found in our pool during the day. Yes, in the pool! Five of them!


Run away, little crab. Run far, far away!


One afternoon we hired a guy who drives a monster bus - yes, you read that right - to take us to see the wild horses. There are no proper roads up there, so only 4x4 vehicles that can handle the sand are allowed.






The horses are allowed to roam freely in this 12-mile stretch of the island. There may be no roads, but there are still plenty of houses.


Monster bus! Woo!