Friday Fragments

 

 

TGIF!  Although truth be told, I’ve been confused all week as to exactly what day of the week it is.  But our recycle bin is out on the street for pick up, which tells me that it’s Friday. 

 

DD & DSIL celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary yesterday, which meant Nana had some T-time.  Took them to swim lessons (for T#3) and swim team practice (for T#1 and T#2) … stopped by Dairy Queen for dinner on our way home.   

 

 

The library called that the Season 9 DVD is in … watched the first disc while quilting (about 2/3 of the way done).  Speaking of NCIS, the Season 10 opener was a little disappointing … my initial reaction was that it was not the best episode but still pretty good … but after watching a few Season 9 episodes, I quickly realized that trying to compress 4+ months of story line into an hour just didn’t work … it would have been far more satisfying had they fleshed out the opener, particularly the Ducky story line and the Tony-Ziva story line.  And maybe reworked the ending.  Still, I’m looking forward to Tuesday night.

 

 

Since I’m getting closer to finishing up my wall quilt and closer to piecing my next quilt, I think today’s the day to go sewing machine shopping.  I noticed, when piecing together my wall quilt, that my machine just doesn’t have the horsepower to stitch through seamed areas … I literally had to pull the fabric through … resulting in inaccurate seams and bunched-up stitches (making it virtually impossible to rip out those inaccurate seams).  All I use my machine for is sewing … quilt piecing, a little garment sewing, some garment repairs.  Do they even make plain old sewing machines any more? 

 

 

DH is looking forward to going with me … not because he’s interested in helping me select a new sewing machine … no, he’s interested in the prospect of lunch at Firehouse Subs just a few miles up the road from the sewing machine shop. 

 

 

We got a little more rain overnight … good for our newly-planted grass seed. 

 

 

I mentioned here that I was looking for a beach print to hang above our fireplace … I found one that both DH & I love … and it was taken in Hilton Head, our favorite beach destination!  It’s been shipped … I cannot wait to get it framed and hung.

 

 

Not only am I having trouble remembering what day of the week it is, I am really having trouble with what day of the month it is … I am convinced that it’s about the 15th, not the 28th. Where did September go??? 

 

Wednesday Hodgepodge

It’s Wednesday … aka Hump Day … aka Hodgepodge Day!

1. The Wednesday Hodgepodge this week falls on John Chapman's birth date.  He's more famously known as Johnny Appleseed...what's your favorite variety of apple?
I prefer a tarter apple, one that’s very crisp.  I like Jonathans and Granny Smiths.  I keep meaning to try a Honey Crisp … everyone I know who’s had one raves about them. 

2.   When did you last say 'ick'?
I cannot remember, but I’m sure I’ve used “icky” when with the Ts.

3.   Do you think there's a generation gap?  Explain.
Sure, I think there always is a generation gap.  Our outlook or perspective changes as we get older … I think there’d be a generation gap between ourselves in our teens and ourselves in our 40’s or 50’s.  So why are we surprised that there’s a generation gap between teens and their parents? 

4.  What's on your computer screen saver?  Do you leave it alone or change it often?
I use Windows My Picture Slide Show for my screen saver … so I’m regaled with pictures of the Ts.  I don't change it ... since it's a slide show, it's always a little different ... and since it's of the Ts, I never get bored.  Each one of my grands, at the age of 2-4 or so, has loved to sit on my lap and see the pictures … and I think Nana has enjoyed that every bit as much as the Ts did.  My wallpaper is also a picture of my Ts ... I change it whenever I get a more current picture of all 4 of them together.

5.  If you had the attention of the entire world for two minutes, what would you say?
Jesus loves you … trust Him.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  That promise is for YOU.

6.  Four fashion trends to try this fall are-brocade/jacquard (fancy printed fabrics), peplum, lace, and printed pants...which of these four would you be most likely to wear?
I don’t know that I’ll be wearing any of those.  My taste in clothing has always run toward the traditional … think Lands End, LL Bean, etc.   
 
7.  What can make your bad day better?
My Ts.  Even just looking at pictures of them will brighten my day.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
We had a storm front move in ‘round about 4:00 yesterday afternoon … and the local stations devoted the next 3 hours to covering the storms.  I was worried that they’d extend their coverage into prime time, but thankfully they restricted their coverage to the commercial breaks so I didn’t miss a minute of NCIS.  whew!  

Today’s forecast is for more of the same as far as rain and storms are concerned.  DH reseeded the lawn yesterday just as the front was moving in … perfect timing.   

Tuesday Trivia

 

Yesterday was just “one of those days”.  By the end of the day, I was exhausted and had a splitting headache.  A good night’s sleep has restored me … and I’m ready for another day … thankfully today looks to be a lot less chaotic.

 

We’ve had an awful lot of thunder in the last 6 hours … but almost no rain to show for it.  We’ve got rain in the forecast for these next 4 days … hopefully we’ll actually get some accumulation at some point.

 

Tonight’s the night!  Season 10 of NCIS starts!  After watching back-to-back episodes all summer (Seasons 1-8 on DVD and half of Season 9 on the DVR), it’s going to be a loooong wait between episodes now that I’m watching live. 

 

I repurposed a large framed print above our fireplace when we moved in, but I’ve been wanting to switch that to something else … it really isn’t “my style” any more,  but I just didn’t know what to put up there in its place.  It finally occurred to me that I’d like to put up a beach print … I’ll love having a little bit of the beach here in the living room and it would definitely say that this is Nana & Papa’s house! 

 

I don’t know if it’s the overcast sky or the crazy day yesterday, but I’m feeling pretty lazy this morning … need to get myself up and going. I’m going to make a pot of white chili today … and maybe a loaf of pumpkin bread, too.  I fall.

 

The Weekend Wrap-up

 

 

Seems like just yesterday was Friday, the start of another weekend … and now it’s over.  Time really does fly. 

 

This past weekend was a quiet one here at Chez Nana … purposely so because we’re still getting settled back into our routines here.  I did a decent amount of quilting on my wall quilt … I’m maybe a little more than halfway done … it’s amazingly slow going.  Given the fact that it’s only 42”x42”, I thought it would quilt up more quickly than it is … but there are 400 half-square triangle blocks to be quilted, so I guess it’s not too surprising that it’s going more slowly than I anticipated.  But what I do have quilted so far is looking pretty good.

 

I attended a Pampered Chef Party Saturday afternoon, hosted by a neighbor.  She lives about a block away, so I don’t know her as well as I’d like (she’s still working full time, so I don’t see a lot of her).  I ordered a manual food processer (I have a larger electric one, but it’s so big and unwieldy that I just never use it). I also got a delicious recipe for chicken salad (i.e., a salad with chicken) … I think maybe we’ll have that for dinner this evening. 

 

I finally got the laundry from our trip all caught up.  I have to confess that it took longer than usual because I’d start a load in the morning, get busy with other stuff and not remember to put that load into the dryer until late in the day … takes a long time to get caught up on laundry when you’re only doing one load a day.  ha!

 

Our weather has confirmed that fall has officially arrived.  We had lows in the lower 40’s (39 Sunday night), and while that’s been a little chillier than I’d like (it’s chilly in the house in the mornings, but I refuse to turn on the furnace just yet so I bundle up), the highs have gotten into the upper 60’s, so the days have been nice.

 

Friday Fragments

 

 

It’s Friday again, the week is coming to an end, the weekend is in sight, and it’s time for some Fragments.

 

I’m still doing laundry from our trip … I’m beginning to think that it’s going to take as long to do the laundry as it did to take our trip.  ha!

 

 

I started recording NCIS Season 9 rerun in the middle of July, and I’ve been watching them while quilting … I won’t have seen the entire season, but I should be caught up enough when Season 10 begins next Tuesday.

 

 

Wednesday afternoon DH and I got some work done out in the yard.  We put in a fence for our pups when we moved in … before the lawn was established.  A couple of the gates didn’t have quite enough clearance to swing open easily, so we’ve been talking about removing a layer of sod to create enough clearance for the gates … since we are going to need to do some reseeding this fall, we thought this would be the perfect time to work on the lawn around the gates.  Even 2 days later, my arms, back and legs are still sore. 

 

 

Our new headboard (for our new bed) was finally delivered yesterday … and the headboard is too tall … covering up part of the pictures.  Even though I’m working on a wall quilt that will go on that wall (instead of the pictures), I had to move those pictures up 5 inches … it just bugged me no end to have the headboard covering up part of the pictures. 

 

 

We like to pick up puzzles as souvenirs of our trips, and we hit the mother lode of souvenir puzzles in the Outer Banks … I think we’ll be set for puzzles to work this winter.  We’ve got one started already.

 

 

I’ve been invited to two neighborhood Pampered Chef parties this weekend … figures – I just added several items to DD’s order from a Pampered Chef party she attended. 

 

 

Fall starts tomorrow, and our weather will be cooperating with highs in the upper 60’s … perfect weather for a pot of chili and some pumpkin bread  … and some quilting. 

 

Vacation Recap

We visited 10 states and crossed over 17 borders on our 10 days away from home.  Sounds crazy and busy, and while we did do and see a lot, we managed to get in some relaxing as well … we passed through 5 of those states on our way to/from, spent a night on the road in 2 of those states, and only actually visited a “mere” 3 of those 10 states.  Doesn’t sound so crazy now, huh? 

We stopped for the night in Lexington, Virginia in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.  As we hit the road Monday morning, we saw a sign for a scenic view turnoff … unfortunately we were in the left lane passing a semi and unable to take the turnoff. There was another one a few miles down the road (at a lower elevation) … we took it. I’m sure the view was even more spectacular at the higher elevation, but it was quite beautiful even at the lower elevation (my picture doesn’t do it justice, trust me).

(Note:  Don't forget that if you want to see the pictures with more detail, just click on them. )

We pulled in to the Outer Banks, North Carolina mid-day Monday … just in time for lunch outdoors with a lovely view of the ocean.  

Our hotel was right on the beach … we had a view of the ocean from our balcony.  The dunes in the Outer Banks are HUGE … we were on the second floor, and the dunes were so tall that they blocked part of the view.  Still, it was splendid to be able to sit out on the balcony and watch the sun rise.

Our first full day in the Outer Banks was Tuesday.  We decided to start with a trip north to Duck and Corolla.  We wanted to take a wild horse tour, but at $78/person, we decided that we’d pass.  Instead we settled for “wild” horses of a different sort. 


We did stop to visit (and climb) the Currituck Beach Lighthouse.  I do have a fear healthy respect for heights, but I didn’t do too badly at the top … as long as I didn’t get too close to the railing, I did ok.

Day Two (Wednesday) was going to be our long day … we headed south to visit Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island.  We weren’t able to visit Bodie Island Lighthouse as it was undergoing renovation … but we did visit (and climb) Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.



We drove further south, intending to visit Ocracoke Island, but by the time we got to the ferry, the wait was at least 2 hours with a promise of another 2 hour wait for the return … it was late enough in the day that there just wouldn’t have been enough time to see all that we wanted to see in Ocracoke … so we turned back.  Our long day wasn’t quite as long as we had expected.   

We decided instead to get an earlier start on Day Three (Thursday) and visit Ocracoke Island.  We saw the lighthouse (not open for climbing).


We also visited the British Cemetery (where we saw the graves of 4 of the 37 sailors lost when a German U-boat sunk the HMS Bedfordshire off the coast of Ocracoke Island May, 1942 during WWII). 


And since we weren’t able to see the wild horses of Corolla, we had to stop to see the wild ponies of Ocracoke on our way back to the ferry.

Day Four (Friday) included visiting Jockey’s Ridge, the largest living dune on the east coast.  It’s a popular spot for hang gliding and kiting. 



I would have thought that our legs would have been in better condition after climbing a couple of lighthouses, but that climb up Jockey’s Ridge was not an easy climb … but the views were worth it.  Once again my pictures just didn’t do the views justice (couldn’t be because of the photographer, could it? ha!).

The highlight of Day Five (Saturday and our final full day in the Outer Banks) was our visit to the Wright Brothers Memorial.  It was interesting to learn that the actual first flights took place in Kill Devil Hills, not Kitty Hawk like I learned in school.  At the time, Kitty Hawk was the nearest Post Office, so reports of the flights originated from the Kitty Hawk, so that many mistakenly credited Kitty Hawk as the site of the flights.   

We checked out Sunday morning and headed north.  Our first stop was at Fort Story, Virginia, where we saw New Port Charles Lighthouse and Old Port Charles Lighthouse (which we were able to climb).  We had to go through security to get onto the base … provide photo ID, vehicle registration card, proof of insurance, pop open the trunk and the hood, open all 4 doors, etc. … also got a sheet of what not to do while on the base.  It was quite an experience … but worth it when we got to the top of the lighthouse.




We continued north, crossing the Chesapeake Bay using the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (with its two tunnels).  At the mouth of the first tunnel, there was a pullover, where I got a picture of the two Port Charles Lighthouses that we had just visited and of the opening of the tunnel.



We drove along the Virginia coast to Assateague Island where we visited (and climbed) the Assateague Island Lighthouse.  We thought it should have been called Mosquitoes Lighthouse … we had never seen so many mosquitoes in one place EVER! 



We finished our trek north in Ocean City, Maryland where we sampled some of that state’s finest delicacies … crab cakes. 

Monday morning we drove up to Fenwick Island, Delaware … with plans to climb Fenwick Island Lighthouse, but off-season visiting hours started on September 1 … open only on the weekend … so we had to settle for just a visit.


Right in front of the lighthouse is the Transpeninsular Line marker … marking the dividing line between Maryland and Delaware. You probably can't see it very well, but it has the coat of arms of the Calverts on the south side and the coat of arms of the Penns on the north side. The line was accepted when surveyors established the borders between Maryland and the land grants to William Penn (Pennsylvania and Delaware), thus resolving the long-standing dispute between the Penns (Delaware) and the Calverts (Maryland).


We had checked the weather forecast, and severe storms were forecast to hit the east coast Tuesday, the day we were planning to head back home.  Rather than risk driving through terrible storms, we elected to pack up and head home after lunch … given the reports we saw Tuesday evening after we got home, I’d have to say that we made the right choice.

We had a wonderful time, but it sure feels good to be back home.