A Walk in the Woods

I am very blessed to live in a place where I can walk out my backdoor and be in nature. I love hiking with the dogs. I almost never see another person. It's peaceful and I have the opportunity to clear my head. My usual trek is to head northward to a little creek. Sophie always jumps in and hunts for tadpoles, even in the winter. Then we continue to the powerline right of way. It's been mowed recently, so it's easy to walk. From here we either turn left and head toward Mt. Gilead Church Road and cut across Bam Bam's house (actually, where his house used to be--he and the house are long gone). OR, we go right and pick up an old logging road that takes us to another creek and a bridge. The logging road is grown over with young long leaf pines and the bridge is about to collapse. There's one more route we sometimes go...we head east on the logging road that is right behind the house. It runs behind all the houses on our side of Hudson Woods Road. Where the road forks, we go left and follow it to the end. It's a pretty good road even now because the people on 4-wheelers use it sometimes. There are a couple of deer blinds that some hunters built and abandoned. They're falling apart. There's also a little shed of sorts that appears to be a fancier deer blind. I never see any hunters, but my walks don't occur during prime hunting hours. I know there are a lot of deer out there. I see their tracks everywhere. And Sophie manages to locate and roll in their poop. Disgusting. She can't help herself. I try to get outside when the weather is good. The best hiking time is late fall to mid spring--after the undergrowth has died down and before the spiders start building webs everywhere. Dad used to spend a lot of time wandering around in the woods surrounding his house. Now I understand why.

He's still the cutest baby in the world

D.C. Trip and the White House

Nov 14, drove to Ft. Belvoir to see Bertie and family. Hung out for awhile and then went to an AirBnB in the district. It was pretty nice and much cheaper than a hotel. In the morning, up early to take Uber to the White House. We lined up outside at 8:15 and at 8:30 we went through the first checkpoint. They just looked for our ticket. Next security checkpoint they took our driver's license. My birthday on the DL and birth certificate don't match, so there was a bit of a hold up there. Then we went to the next checkpoint and showed our DL again. Then into the building and through the metal detector. After that, we just wandered through the east wing. Self-guided, but there was a docent in each room. The room were beautiful, of course and there were portraits everywhere. So much history! Afterwards we wandered out and found a really cool coffee shop/cafe. I had herbal tea and a fantastic pistachio cherry pastry. Then, Uber back to the AirBnB. It was about 8 miles and took 30 minutes. The traffic!! We stopped at Wegman's and picked up lunch for both of us and Bert. The boys were in school and Milo was in daycare. We chatted a bit then headed back home. We really enjoyed it. Next time--we'd love to stay longer.

NASA Open House

My brother invited us to the Open House at NASA's Langley facility, Oct 21. We met at his house and took the shuttle. He packed lunch for everyone so we wouldn't have to deal with the food trucks. It was cold and windy and VERY crowded, but very interesting. That evening, Kyle cooked dinner and we had a karaoke jam. Also there for the festivities were Johnny Mac and his family and later my old friend Carol. Lots of fun. My brother, like Mom, really enjoys entergaining a bunch of friends and family.

Fall Fest and a cute pumpkin

Yesterday was the BCBSNC Fall Festival on the Durham campus. Food, fun, live band and a chance to see other humans. A good time was had by all. Also, a picture of my sweet baby and his older brother. Getting ready for Halloween.

Carrboro Music Festival 2023

Mike's latest line up of the Blusterfields played the Carrboro Music Festival at Lanza's Cafe (the old Looking Glass Cafe). Beautiful day! although a little bit warm and sunny for an outdoor gig.

Cutest baby in the world

Outerbanks, a wedding and a hurricane

Bertie was in a wedding in mid September. Her friend from elementary school got married and had the ceremony on the beach at Kitty Hawk. I went along to watch the boys. I drove up on Thursday. Driving my little Honda Fit over those long bridges in the wind was quite a thrill. We stayed in a cute cottage. Friday morning we went to the beach. Hurricane Lee was way off shore, but the waves were wild. It calmed down on Saturday so the wedding went on as planned. My brother, his wife, his daughter and her husband dropped by. As well as my oldest friend in the world, Carol. It was wonderful to see everyone. We all left Sunday morning. The drive takes about 4 hours, maybe a little less. It's an easy drive now that hwy 64 is a straight shot. It was a fun weekend, but as always, it's good to be home.

Milo was a perfect angel. Such a good baby.

Being goofy

David and James

First day of school

On their way to the bus to go to their new school at Ft. Belvoir.

Quick Visit with the Bostons

Just an overnight stay with my daughter and family in August. I needed to see my baby boy. He's so cute...and such a good baby. The older boys were doing great. Summer is almost over, school starts soon.

Milo

He is just too cute.

Baby is here!

Milo was 2 weeks early. Born June 16. But, still a good size and weight. He's a sweet little boy...sleeps a lot.

The Other Me

This is Mike's great grandfather's wife, Anna Nicholson...or maybe a great-great grandfather. I'll need to check on that. Anyhow, this Anna was born in NC in 1797 andd died 1870. And here is Mike's mom and dad's grave marker's at New Garden Friends Meeting cemetary in Greensboro. Also his maternal grandmother's grave.

My Brother

Quick trip to Williamsburg to visit some family. We looked at Yorktown--just a brief drivethrough--I plan to go back when I have more time. We also went to old Williamsburg. After all the cold weather we have had lately, this had to be the hottest day of the year, of course. Then to a Greek festival for some terrific food. Kyle also cooked lunch for us. Grilled fish. He's an excellent cook and a busy housekeeper. What a wonderful son-in-law. Here's a picture. There's a definite family resemblance.

Lego Expo

Spent some time Saturday afternoon with the grandboys at the Lego Expo in Raleigh.

Here I am having a heart-to-heart discussion with Legoman.

NC Museum of Art

Took the day off and went to the museum with some friends from church. It was such a nice outing. We wandered through the exhibits then had lunch in the museum cafe. We have several more day trips planned for the year. I'm very blessed to have a job with a flexible schedule so I am able to enjoy these diversions. I'm getting a small taste of retirement!

This is a selfie at one of the displays.

Here we are! The Golden Girls!

Had to go visit the boys

They have moved off of Andrews AFB to a housing area outside of Ft. Belvoir, VA. It's great. They are close to shopping and since they are technically "off-post" there is no need to go through security every time we want to visit them. It's a much nicer place, although a bit smaller, lots of kids in the neighborhood and it's about 30 minutes closer. At least we don't have to drive through D.C. anymore. The boys will finish the school year at Andrews and next fall they will go to the neighborhood school. I'll be back up there the end of June to babysit and to wait for the arrival of grandson number five! Very exciting.

A dog's life

A warm spring day, a walk in the woods and a mud puddle. That's all Sophie needs to find her bliss. There were even some tiny tadpoles in this puddle which was a bonus. Every day is the best day of her life. I only wish I could go through my life like that.

Happy Easter 2023

The boys were invited to the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House.

Back to SC

Had to make another trip to SC. Fortunately the weather was good and it was an easy drive. It's about 4 hours to the temple in Columbia. On the way back we stopped at at a strawberry farm. It looks like a good strawberry season this year. SC is a couple weeks ahead of us. We'll have ripe strawberries in a few days. I saw my first hummingbird today. Hopefully he (she?) enjoyed the nectar and will be back soon.

Lunch with some friends

Met up with some ladies I used to work with for a nice lunch at Baby Moon Cafe in Morrisville (near the Airport). It's always a treat to get a good meal, but especially nice to share some time with people I love. I have been blessed to work with some phenomenal people over the past several decades. Unfortunately, I've lost touch with most of them, so it's important to make time to reconnect.

Another Temple

Road trip yesterday to the Columbia, SC temple. Quick visit to go to the church distribution center and Deseret Bookstore. Beautiful weather and a nice easy drive. Took about 4 hours each way. This temple looks a lot like the Raleigh temple. The theme for Raleigh is the dogwood tree. The theme for Columbia is the palmetto. I think it's a lovely idea to use local themes for the temples. I am picking up my new eye glasses today and getting car oil changed. WooHoo. Living large! My life is so exciting.

My Temple

Here's 2 different views of the Raleigh Apex Temple in Apex, NC. It's only 25 minutes from the house. Before this, the nearest temple was in Washington, DC. It's nice to have a temple practically in my backyard. I've got a new temple partner now, so we go every Wednesday morning. It's a special place and I am so glad I can go regularly.