Christmas is Coming

It's fun sitting around the house and enjoying the Christmas lights. But, it sure is hard to take pictures of them! This one of the foyer turned out nice.

I especially like our lava angel on the floor of the family and our fiber optic angel on the mantelpiece. They are mesmerizing!

I was happy the new ladder didn't collapse on me this year while I was putting up the 12 foot Christmas tree! It isn't easy to decorate such a tall tree, but I intend to derive all the joy I can from it for the next month! It makes the prettiest room in the house even prettier!

Bridging to Home

We took the eastern shore route home from Bath yesterday. It included two bridges over the Chesapeake Bay, one by Virginia Beach, Virginia, and the second one by Annapolis, Maryland. Both crossing went smoothly, and we enjoyed staying off I-95 the entire way home. We did it in 7 hours and 15 minutes, with a distance of about 390 miles. It was 15 minutes shorter than the western route on Wednesday. The car fire on Wednesday might have skewed the results, however. We'll have to try again sometime!

We listened to Whistling Prairie, our favorite bluegrass Christmas band all the way home.

Coda was happy to see us, and there was just enough light left when we got home to take her for a walk.

While Coda and I went walking Ed finished up the last touches on our outdoor Christmas lights. We're ready for the holidays!

For the Birds

Ed and I started the morning with a long walk along a dirt road through fallow cotton fields interspersed with a few copses of trees. We ran into a few duck hunters. Fortunately none of them shot at us!

We ate lunch in Belhaven at Spoon River. It was a quaint building with a great menu. Very upscale for a backwater town (no offense intended).

We drove to the Pocosin Lakes Wildlife refuge in search of birds. We were hoping jumping in front of the camera would scare some up. (This was Rachel's idea. She's the youngest of the bunch.)

Jumping didn't help, but driving to the other side of the lakes we found thousands of tundra swans in the water, as well as in flight. It was beautiful. Listening to them trumpet was also a unique experience.

We got back to the beach house in time for sunset on the pier. You have to hustle to do this in the winter, as sun sets about 5, but it is totally worth it! Another perfect day in the Carolinas!

A Sound Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day dawned bright and beautiful on the Pamlico Sound. It was so nice we had breakfast on the lanai!

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Then we drove over to Goose Creek State Park for a pre-feast walk. The park had some extensive trails through the woods and along the water. If David and Rachel hadn't known the way out we'd still be wandering around in the park.

While the turducken cooked we went for a sail . David let me take the tiller. When the wind picked up I turned it back over. I was afraid I might capsize the boat!

It was still light out when we reconvened on the porch for Thanksgiving dinner. We have so much to be grateful for, including family that we can enjoy spending time with! Thanks David and Rachel for letting us come to your little paradise on the river to celebrate the holiday!

P.S. Turducken is really good! Maybe a new Thanksgiving tradition?

P.S.S. 20,000 steps today! Hooray for long walks!

Road Trip

390 miles in 7 1/2 hours. That's how far we came today. It was all a pleasure in Ed's comfortable Genesis.

We tried to avoid traffic by staying off of I-95 as much as possible. Unfortunately, there was a considerable delay on the I-64 due to a car fire on the opposite side of the road. We were lucky we were going east!

We arrived at my Brother, David's, river house in Bath, North Carolina, just in time to go out on the pier before dark.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset over the Pamlico River.

We had a double treat, as the full moon rose behind us.

We had a light evening meal of baba ganousch and dates wrapped in bacon with fried bread, followed by chocolate tart with ice cream. OK, it was supposed to be light, but really wasn't.

We were hoping to be hungry going into Thanksgiving tomorrow. David picked up a Turducken breast, and we're pretty excited to try it tomorrow!

Happy Anniversary!

Ed and I spent our anniversary putting up our Christmas decorations. We don't have time next weekend, and are hosting a party the first week of December, so it had to be done. We didn't finish, but getting the 12 foot tree up is always a major triumph!

Ed worked on the outside lights, which were a series of strings of lights that didn't work. Always lots of fun!

We ended up with some good cuddle time at the end of the day. We lit a candle, ordered hamburgers and watched Bones on TV. It was a great way to celebrate 34 years together!

Book it with Harold Frye

I forgot to post our latest book club review! Last Monday we met at Panera to review The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye. Suzanne liked the pilgrim in the title--she thought it had a nice Thanksgiving sound. She hosted it at Panera, as her house is undergoing a transformation to natural gas, which means she hasn't had heat for 4 months!

We loved the book, and thought it had lots of interesting discussion material in it. It was about aging and forgiveness and tolerance. A great first outing by a new author! Read our reviews at: http://www.whistlingprairie.com/merry-prairie-road/http://bookitsisters.com/the-unlikely-pilgrimage-of-harold-frye/.

Coda goes to the Vet

Coda had her annual checkup yesterday. She gets really excited to go, then remembers how scary it is when she gets there The vet asked if we ever brushed her. Yes, but apparently not yesterday! We gave her a good brushing today. I wonder if that will last till next year's appointment?

It's a Wrap!

We finished the mixing, mastering and producing of our newest Christmas CD and sent it off to be printed! Hopefully, in a few weeks a big stack of them will show up magically on our doorstep!

If you'd like a sneak preview, here is a link to Merry Prairie Road:

http://www.whistlingprairie.com/merry-prairie-road/ If you can't wait to start listening to Christmas music, get your fix with Whistling Prairie, our favorite Christmas band! We think you'll like it!

Greener Pastures

Today was Bamby's last day on earth. The farm has been sold and will change hands next week. Bamby was 30 years old and had had a wonderful and pampered life. She was a world champion Morgan horse in her youth and spent the rest of her life lording it over the rest of us. She knew who she was!

Lenny let her eat as much as she wanted of that delicious Senior feed for breakfast today.

Lockey, who has helped with the horses quite a bit, joined us for one last barn mucking!

Mr. Genes and Bali watched Bambury get led out of the barn and said, "Can we go, too?" The answer was, "No!"

We said one last goodbye with Ed, Sissy (Carol's niece), Alice (Carol's sister), Lenny and Lockey. The vet did a wonderful job and the end was quick and peaceful. The rain was a fitting backdrop to a melancholy event.

Flu Shot

Ed and I both got our flu shots at Sam's Club this year. Talk about one-stop-shopping! It was my first in many years, but Ed is a pro and smiled throughout. I did not!

Ed had an eye doctor appointment yesterday at noon. So, we made an afternoon of it and had lunch at Sam's as well!

Church and Temple

Saturday we had a practice for the Primary program, followed by pizza in the gym. The kids were great and ready for prime time!

In the afternoon Ed and I went to the temple, where we enjoyed the colorful fall mums at the entrance.

On the way home we treated ourselves to yummy Thai Cuisine in Olney with the Smiths and Gadberrys. The day ended up being a physical as well as spiritual feast!