Mom is at the boat for a visit!!!

Mom is making a 1083 mile visiting circuit a bunch of relatives!  What fun!!

It's our turn to host her - started with a nice evening meal of She-Crab soup made with the last of my  Bahamian crab claws and Mahi-Mahi/tuna on the grill.

Then today we had a leisurely breakfast and got ready to depart on a little sailing trip.....just out into the river and down to Oriental.

Arrived and anchored just outside the crowded little Oriental anchorage.

Dinghied into the dock and had a nice meal at M&M's restaurant.

Back in the dinghy for a little ride over to Pecan Grove to check out Glory Days and Island Girl (previous boats we've owned, side-by-side in the marina).

Sojourn anchored beside the bridge in Oriental.  A little choppy but Mom was a trouper getting on/off the boat.

Had a fun, fast downwind sail back to the home dock - passed a few pretty fishing boats on the way.
Beautiful almost-fall day.

Settled back at the dock - relaxing evening.

Back at the boat

We're back at the boat for the first time after Hurricane Dorian.  No damage to the boat except one of our very snuggley fitting instrument covers apparently blew off.  Last year for Hurricane Florence, I had removed all the covers.  This year, I apparently forgot to do that.....I guess I'll be ordering a new one.  We keep the covers on anytime we're not sailing to reduce the sun damage to the instruments.

Beautiful sunrise this morning, calm day but the mosquitoes are out in force for some reason  - strange since it appears that the area is extremely dry.

We have a bunch of limbs and debris to clean up....and we're both suffering from a yucky head cold.  May not accomplish as much as we wanted to.

Looks like the storm water came up onto our entire lot, bringing other people's dock boards and lots of leaves/pine needles.    Our concrete dock is holding up like a champ!  (Knock wood).

Back to the boat

All packed up at home, dinghy in tow.  Back to the boat to "un-hurricane-ize" it! 

Trip to Rensselaer

We flew to Rensselaer, Indiana to attend Duane's Uncle Paul's funeral.  He was 86 years old and lived a very full life!!

Here is a photo of Paul and Christine when they visited us in Boca Raton in about 1992.   We had a great visit with Granny/Cordy, Paul/Christine and Maxine.  The boys were just toddlers, visited the Everglades, had a great time with them.  He was a great guy and his huge family is the nicest you could ask for.

Took off in a bit of a hazy morning.   Over the southern foothills.  Trip time is about 3 1/2 hours.

Getting closer to Indiana the fields start standing out.

Downtown Rensselaer.

The Mooney parked at the Jasper County (Rensselaer) Airport.  A great country-airport, basically in the middle of a corn field!  Friendly manager and good fuel prices!

Had nice visits with the family.  Great to see so many of them that we haven't connected with in several years.

We stayed with Laurie and Frank - all the "McCraw kids" in one place.  So nice of them.

We needed to get to the airport early because there was some weather moving in from the west.  Said our goodbyes and had an uneventful flight home!

Pumpkin

Just getting the "list" whittled down at the house for our planned departure in just a little over 5 weeks!  The list is getting pretty small.

Tonight I used some of the Candy Roaster pumpkin to make a savory soup.  There's just a hint of a fall chill in the air so this was very seasonal!

Deck work

We left the deck at the house  with half new, half old decking boards.....

Time to finish up that project.

Off with the railings, new deck boards placed....

Working our way around the house, some new railings as well.

Ticking off the list of "house chores" before our fall departure!

Long weekend trip home

We had the McCraw reunion on Sunday and we spent the weekend at Mom's.

On Saturday, we visited our friends that have the big boat washed up on the road in the Abacos.  They have a summer home in Lake Toxaway, just a short drive from Mom's house.

Here is Will and Rita - such nice folks!

Their lovely summer home tucked away on the shore of Lake Toxaway.  Even though it's about 40 minutes from my childhood home, I can't recall ever going there.....

Their view of the lake.  We sat out on their patio, had a wonderful lunch and caught up on the "news" from Scotland Cay.  Rita is flying out Monday to see the damage firsthand.  They do have some photos from a caretaker "on island", so they know that their house is damaged but probably repairable.  Good news, we're keeping our fingers crossed for them!

Like in the Abacos, Rita does some lovely gardening!!  Of course, some of our veggies at lunch were from the garden and fantastic.

They kindly invited us to go for a ride around the lake in their power boat.

The lake is lovely - and a mix of 60's style ranches right next to "Mc-Mansions".  Everything is neat and tidy.

Was a great afternoon with them, and we hope to hear from Rita about the Abacos in the next week or so.

After Lake Toxaway, we went to Duane's folks for visiting and a nice dinner.  They feed some "stray cats" that are pretty close to pets.....and they also feed a family that's not quite feline....

And on Sunday, we attended the McCraw reunion. 

The obligatory family photo.   Amazing we corralled everyone!

 A pretty good turnout!

And great food in abundance, of course!

Back to Mom's house....she really has it looking nice!

 Flowers all around!

The new pool deck obviously saw lots of use this summer.

Pretty, almost fall view from the house.

Mom asked Duane to prune the apple tree sprout....it's left over from the old apple tree stump that fell a year or more ago.  She's just pleased that there will soon be a new apple tree in the same spot!

And lastly, I went home loaded down with goodies from Keith and Denise's.....the Candy Roaster pumpkin will be baked and then frozen.  Jams, pickled okra, pickled beets....yum!

And what looks like the last of their sweet corn. 

And wonderful tomatoes!!  A great trip, lot's to do in one weekend!

Home stuff

We're in that home/chores then back to the boat cycle. 

My sis commented that we have such good neighbors - yep. 

After Duane got the "tar wagon" covered up with tarps, he borrowed John's bucket truck for a little while longer to clean out the gutters on the hangar.  This time, there were no pine trees growing in the gutters!

Then we borrowed the White's bob-cat to spread some mulch from their property.  (They've got a big pile of mulch from their tree removal that they want to get rid of).

And the next day we were up for more mulch - so borrowed John's Kubota tractor.

 Here's a "before" photo of the side yard "natural area"  AKA "the area that won't grow grass".

And later that day - everything around the house has a nice thick (and free $$) coating of mulch!  Thanks neighbors!