Thursday.  The weather is amazing  for this time of year!  It's been close to 70 every day this week giving us time to enjoy the morning sunshine on the patio as well as time to catch up on last minute garding chores.  Thanksgiving feast is long gone along with turkey soup, leftover pie and sweet potato casserole.  (All delicious, by the way.)  I did not do my usual marathon Black Friday shopping this year, but have rediscovered the joys of cyber shopping at stor...

Sunday. We are definitely spoiled by our normally wonderful North Carolina weather.  Our last 4 days of rain have seemed endless, and, when the sun came out this morning it was cause for celebration.  Everything is still a little damp, but the sun and warmth made it feel more like spring than fall. 

It was nice to take a drink o...

I have to admit that until the  Nor'easter hit on Thursday, Nov. 11th, I always thought a Nor'easter was something only Maine fishermen experienced.  Actually, we thought it was kind of funny to see eastern Virginia and North Carolina going into a panic over a little rain and wind.  Plans were announced for tunnels closing, businesses and homes in Norfolk and Virginia Beach started blocking doorways with sandbags, weather news began broadcasting a...

Thanks to my granddaughter, Jennifer, I pulled out boxes and bins of yarn I've been saving for years.  Jenny and I found some neat crochet hat patterns on the internet and spent a day together working on our respective projects.  I forgot how much I like crochet, and hats are great, easy and quick projects.  Although neither one of us got our project completed that day, I went wild in the following week as you can see from the pictures below:

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Thursday.  A perfect day to visit Brookgreen Gardens and enjoy the sculptures, fountains, gardens and butterflies. 

We've been enjoying our days volunteering as hosts at Atalaya as each day brings new visitors and some interesting conversations.  Last Saturday there were 3 weddings at the park:  one on the beach, one on the lawn outside Atalaya and one inside Atalaya in the courtyard.  It's been fun seeing the wedding parties come in to take pictures, and interesting to see the differences in the people.  Our day did get a little hectic, though, as there w...

I've always been fascinated by reflections in water and the coastal waters, marshes and ponds offer many opportunities for viewing them.  Yesterday we arrived at the ponds along the causeway just at the right time.  Roseatte spoonbills and woodstorks were feeding and preparing for the night in the shallow water near the causeway.  The light enhanced their colors and still water was a perfect mirror.

Even though we've been working most of the days since we arrived here, we've had some time to enjoy the beaches and bird watching . The water is 86 degrees!  Way too warm for the Atlantic!  We did go swimming a few times, but the water has been sandy and a little murky.  I don't know if it's because of the hurricane and storms off shore or if this is the norm here.  It's a great beach for kids, though. The water is so shallow and has been extremely ca...

Well, we're all settled into our volunteer site, which, it turns out, is very nice.  It has a couple of trees for afternoon shade and is in a quiet part of the campground.  We did our volunteer training on Thursday, including a tour of Atalaya, the former winter home of Anna Hyatt Huntington and Archer Huntington.  Anna Hyatt Huntington was a world renowned sculptor who specialized in animal sculptures.  She was married to Archer M. Huntingto...

What a busy summer it's turned out to be!  It was wonderful to spend some time in New York at Brian's, then in PA with Linda and Ted for a few days.  The cool weather was a welcome relief from North Carolina's summer heat.  We have a wonderful neighbor who mowed our lawn and watered our flowerswhile we were in New York, and Jeff checked on the house and garden every week.  It's so nice to be able to leave our place in such good hands!

Saturday.  Saling along Route 90 at the the Route 90 Garage Sale is a summer institution in central New York, attracting large crowds who browse along miles and miles of sales on the last weekend of July.  We started in Homer and followed the route up through King's Ferry and then along Cayuga Lake for about 50 miles until we came to Route 20 near Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge.  It was a great day for it --warm and sunny with a refreshing bre...

We left North Carolina little more than a week ago and headed north hoping for relief from the heat and humidity.  We are not disappointed!  When we arrived in Pennsylvania to visit our friends, the Atkinsons, the weather was cool and breezy.  It was so nice to sleep with the windows open and have the fresh night air blowing in.  Richie and Betty are wonderful hosts, and it was great to catch up with our old friends.  It was a special treat to see their daughter, D...

 It's hard to believe that I haven't written in my blog since May.  I think that joining Facebook has distracted me from the more important things in life!

Bill and I spent May and June working on our lawn and garden.  Bill spent a lot of time working on his little vegetable garden, but had a losing battle with the ants that ate his crop of peas and some of the tomatoes.  Our cucumbers produced a bumper crop, however.  By the time we were ready to le...

Monday.  Showers all weekend had us confined to indoor activities.  I set the camera on a tripod by the dining room window in hopes of getting some good shots of our bluebirds.  Aren't digital cameras wonderful?  You can snap, snap, snap away all the pictures you want and never have to print them if you don't want to. 

Bill is slowly getting the RV ready for some summer ...

Friday.  Suddenly both of our cell phones dinged with new messages -- pictures of Stephen in all his Junior prom finery. 

The bluebirds have settled into their new home.  After the rain this morning, they happily hopped around the lawn near their box picking up bugs and grubs.  In the process, t...