Pittsboro, NC

 After the late night party yesterday.....we needed to walk off some of the food!  Went to our favorite nature preserve a few miles south of home.  Beautiful day but chilly!  Not alot going on otherwise.

Pittsboro, NC

 We invited friends from the neighborhood over for a little Christmas party!  It's been several years since we've had everyone over so long overdue.

I spent most of the past couple of days preparing some treats.

Kindof fun to get back in the "groove" of land parties!

Pulled out all the liquor bottles from the closet.  We really don't drink the hard stuff at all so it's a good thing that liquor doesn't go bad with years-long storage.

Was so nice to have lots of time to visit with the neighbors....so often we just trade pleasantries at the mailbox or such.

Pat enjoying himself as usual - and Gretchen/Ben brought the newest member of the Eagles Landing neighborhood - Otto.  Sweet little boy!

I think everyone had a good time - we said goodnight to the last folks around 11:30pm so we had lots of visiting time!!

Pittsboro, NC

 My sweet sissy knitted me this lovely headband. I just realized that she must have picked the yarn color to match my salty, reddish hair! 

I never knew how warm a simple little band could keep you!

Columbia, SC

 My side of the family all assembled at my sister’s house for our family Christmas party. Everyone drove at least 2 hrs as we’ve gotten pretty spread out geographically. Great to have everyone together. 

 As usual, waaaaayyyy too much food.

 

 After welcome hugs and catching up, time for some snacks!  Nephew and his lovely family.

 Sweet sister visiting with nephew and his wife  

 

 

 Great-grandma took the kiddos and doggies out for a little leg-stretching.  Beautiful but chilly day.

Duane and Robert solving some world-problem!

Sweet nephew and his wife.

The adorable matriarch!

My handsome brother!

Getting ready for the "evil Santa" gift exchange.

Exchange in process.  Lots of stealing of gifts!  Good fun.  A really good visit!

Columbia, SC

 We spent the day relaxing and visiting with my sister and brother-in-law.....first to a yummy lunch at the Blue Marlin in downtown Columbia, SC.....the a nice long stroll Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Gardens.  They are members so we got in free!!

Lovely place....since it was so chilly, not crowded at all!

 

Who are those old folks??

The Saluda river bridge.  Supprisingly fast current since I thought it was fairly flat terrain.

 

The botanical garden part was not very attractive since it has gotten below freezing here this year.....  I'm not a huge fan of the idea of zoos, but this nicely done.

 

I'll let you just page thru the photos.  The animals all looked extremely well fed and cared for.  They did look a bit bored.

Back at home, our cruising buddies would be happy to see that we are continuing the "chicken foot" dominoes game night.

And we got in a bit of prep work for tomorrow's family party.  My sis had bought a little gingerbread kit......good fun trying to assemble it.

And we did have a few "fails" like this one where the house tumbled down.  Never fear, we rebuilt it and so far it's standing tall.

Going up the stairs to bed around midnight.  Fun times!

Columbia, SC

 We’re at my sis’s house in Columbia,SC for a holiday weekend. We noticed that their trees have not lost many leaves….most of our trees at home are bare.   More tomorrow!

Pittsboro, NC

Yesterday was a very changeable weather day....very rainy and warm early....then the temps dropped all day....clearing the air and letting some sunshine peak thru.

 

Pittsboro, NC

 Being at home this winter seems to mean getting sucked back into the business pretty often. I’m not complaining….. just different. 

A bit of airplane activity on an otherwise yucky day. 

Plane from Akron, Ohio  

And this plane is stuck at the airport waiting on a repair part.  It has a huge fancy camera pod system in the belly to take aerial photos.  It does not have passenger seats.  

Pittsboro, NC

 Colonoscopy this morning so no photos😀😀😀. All is well, good for another 10 years. So glad that’s done!

Pittsboro, NC

 It’s really beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!  The 40 year old ficus tree had served as the Christmas tree for  most of the kiddos teen years. Fun to have it back in service.  17 degrees F this morning.  Crazy!!

Pittsboro, NC

 It was time for a long overdue "spring cleaning" in the kitchen.  Just a jumbled mess of food stores.   Everything came out of the cupboards and I wiped down the shelves.

Then most everything back into the cabinets in a much more orderly fashion.  I did toss a few things that won't be used.

Similar treatment to this side of the room.....lots of "almost" discarded kitchen gadgets on this side.  Stuff that's been stuck away with the idea "I might someday want that" but hasn't been touched in 10 years.

I know it doesn't look that much different but I did toss several items that I truly won't ever use again.

Just general tidying for the rest of the room....

All done - much better "feel".

Pittsboro,NC

 I needed to run some errands today. On my way I saw several of these huge military aircraft flying fairly close to the ground.  It looked closer when I was driving!!

I stopped at the recycle center and was shocked to see a dusting of snow!!!❄️  I haven’t seen snow in over 8 years!!

And as I went west the snow got a little more widespread.  Ok. I’ve seen snow. Ready for spring now!!!