Banjo and Guitar

We met the guy in the site next to us tonight. His name is Randy and as luck would have it, he picks the bango. We had a nice campfire and he came over and joined David to play some really nice music. Here are some photos and a video. I couldn't get a video of them because it was too dark so instead focused on the campfire like we did at Thanksgiving. Randy can really play well. It was a very enjoyable night.

David on guitar and Randy on banjo playing "Rocky Top"

Weekend Trip

We spent the weekend in Wilmington, NC visiting our son Jordan. We left Friday right after David got home from work and drove straight thru arriving just before midnight. Jordan was moving into a new apartment so Saturday was spent helping him move. David went to Jordan’s house to help him load everything in the truck and I stayed behind. It seems that when David arrived at Jordan’s house he was greeted by the vicious dog of one of his roommates. The dog, a Doberman/Pit Bull mix, lunged at David and took a nice bite on his upper thigh. OUCH! It actually tore thru his jeans and broke the skin, drawing blood. Fortunately for David he didn’t see the dog coming. A few years ago I was viciously attacked by a neighbors German Shepherd and I did see it lunge at me and had night mares for a long, long time afterward. I still have scars on my arm from that and panic anytime I see a German Shepherd. I can certainly identify with what David went thru. It is not a pleasant experience. Later in the day we went to dinner with Jordan and Elizabeth and their friends Tom and Blanca then off to see Jordan perform in the Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet. On Sunday morning Elizabeth invited us to her apartment for breakfast. Not only is she adorable but she is a great cook as well. I sure hope Jordan realizes what a special girlfriend he has. Millenni was happy to see Jordan’s dog, Sasha, again and they played while we ate breakfast. We said our goodbye’s and decided to take a drive to the beach before leaving. We wanted to check out Carolina Beach State Park but all the campsites are way too small for our RV. So small in fact it looks like they can only accompany tents or small pop-up campers. Since we were on the coast we drove on to Kure Beach and Fort Fisher where I took some great photos. It was so cold and windy on the beach. It was great seeing Jordan and Elizabeth again. It was also nice to see Jordan acting again. He hasn’t done much of it lately and he is so talented. He recently auditioned for an upcoming movie staring Ben Stiller and actually got one call back but didn’t hear from them anymore so guess he didn’t get that one. So that was our weekend… travel, dog bite, moving, dinner, Shakespeare, beach, visiting and more travel. Overall it was a fun weekend, with the exception of the dog bite of course.

Elizabeth and Jordan

two storks

seahawk

the beach at Fort Fisher

i found these interesting

a feather in the sand

a seahawk standoff. this little guy was in the middle of the road

i love live oak trees and enjoyed the pattern of limbs and shadows

Kure Beach Pier

Kure Beach, North Carolina

Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. David and I are not very traditional when it comes to holidays. As far as Valentine's is concerned we feel we express our love to each other on a daily basis and don't need to rely on just one day of the year. It all seems so commercial anyway. I do however love to decorate. When we had a house I always decorated for the various holiday's and seasons. Now that we have streamlined everything I only kept some of my small decorations that are lightweight and don't take up much space in the RV. I also have an assortment of flags. I take my little flag pole everywhere we travel and put up a flag. Here are my Valentine's decorations. The little plaque is hanging on our front door and the flag is in the front yard of the campsite we are currently occupying.

American Goldfinches

I looked out the window this afternoon just in time to catch two American Goldfinches eating thistle from my little finch feeder sock. I grabbed my camera and took a couple of photos thru the window. I tried to gently open the front door to get a clearer photo but they flew away as the door opened. Hopefully they will return. They both appeared to be females still wearing their olive green winter coats. I saw a bright yellow male a few weeks ago so went out and bought the thistle sock and hung in the tree where I had seen him. Today was the first time I had seen any visitors. It is always a delight to see new birds stopping by. There is a big blue heron here at the campground but I have yet to see him. He stops by the lake to go fishing and a lot of the campers here have seen him. I am holding out hope of seeing him and getting a photo before we leave here. One couple who have a campsite right by the lake have promised to call me next time he shows up. In the meantime enjoy these cute goldfinches.

An American Goldfinch enjoys eating from the thistle sock

Two American Goldfinches stop by for a visit

Bluegrass Music

Last night we drove to the nearby town of Chesnee, SC to meet up with my Mom, step dad, and cousin, Irma. We went out to dinner then to a bluegrass show. On the second and fourth Saturday's one of the local establishments puts on a bluegrass show. It is a donation only event and each time a different band plays. Last night we were treated to a group called The Blue Ridge Rounders. What a delight! The typically play the "old time mountain music" which is really nice. I grew up in western North Carolina so I am familar with this type of music. Not only is this group very talented musically but they are also funny and entertaining. We had a fun 2 hours. Looking forward to going back again while we are still in this area to check out other groups performing there. Here are a couple of photos I took last night. One is of the group and the other is of a cute caution sign hanging on one of the doors in the venue.

the Blue Ridge Rounders performing

I loved this sign! We need one of these for our campsite!

The Squirrel and the Corn

Oh what a funny site! I was sitting at the computer workstation and happened to look up and saw a little squirrel running from the squirrel feeder over to the woods with a cob of dry corn in his mouth. He quickly scampered up the tree and I lost sight of him but it was hilarious to see this little guy running with the entire cob in his mouth. I reached for my camera to take a picture but he was much too fast. He was already out of sight before I even got it turned on. I bet he thought he had won the lottery with such a big treat! I'm not sure how he managed to get the cob out of the feeder but he did. Normally the squirrels just eat the corn thru the feeder but this little one was greedy! How cute!

Ewww....

When we moved from Pennsylvania in January 2003 I hoped I would never see it again. It is one of my least favorite things and after having to deal with it every winter since I had been born I was more than ready to never have to see it again. Yes, I am talking about that awful four-letter S word… SNOW! That day in Pennsylvania when the movers were loading our belongings into the truck we had 14 inches of the white stuff on the ground and more falling. It is not news to anyone who knows me that winter time is my least favorite time of the year and I really, really do not like cold weather and snow. In the years since we left Pennsylvania we have chosen to live in warmer weather climates. First to Atlanta, where it does get cold and we even had a couple of flakes of snow fall one day, but it has an overall much milder temperature during the winter months. From there we moved to Austin, Texas where the winter time weather typically only lasted a couple of weeks of temps dipping down into the 50’s. Imagine even calling that winter! That was plenty cold enough for me though. We spent two years living in Austin and never saw any snow and only one day with some ice that melted within hours. So we are currently in South Carolina and this morning woke up to snow on the ground and big flakes falling. Oh my! Not again! Yes it was true, it was snowing and sleeting. As daylight came the snow stopped and turned to sleet then freezing rain before stopping. As I write this we are in between snow storms as another is predicted to hit later in the day. YUCK! We only got about 2 inches of the white stuff before it turned to rain and made the snow mushy and very wet. Hopefully we won’t get anymore. I must say I have found some good in the situation. The birds are out in full force! I really love watching them and among the usual titmouse and chick-a-dees, today I am also seeing some beautiful cardinals and bluejays. They look especially magnificent with the snowy background. I also made a tiny snowman and have him sitting on the picnic table. The birds have been checking him out. Since I am stuck inside I am spending the day organizing the kitchen “junk drawer”. I’m making a custom tray for everything to have its place and be a little more tidy. Got to do something to keep me busy on a cold, snowy day.

this was the scene in our front yard when we got up this morning

a little squirrel plays in the wood pile and snow

feeding time at the bird buffet

the squirrel checks out the little snowman

a big blue jay scopes things out from the tree

that sure is a small snowman!

a female cardinal visits the birdfeeder

a tiny snowman!