Not a lot going on....doing a bit of organizing to get ready for our upcoming trip to Costa Rica....
The birds have finally found the bird seed that I've been leaving out. Fun to watch. That's about it! Cold here! Enjoying watching our cruising buddies exploits from afar.
Well, I was expecting a nice fluffy 1-3" snow....but what we got was just a dusting of snow and a nice little layer of ice....luckily, the power stayed on and all is well.
Pretty ice in the trees but it's already melting fast.
Brrr....I looked at the 10 day forecast here and it's chilly, chilly for a while still. Just a little over 3 weeks until our Costa Rica trip so I do have a warm outing planned!
We just haven’t done anything much that was very photogenic lately.
We did make a trip to the Asheville area to be with my mom during her chemo port surgery.
It had been snowing a little there - you can see some dusty snow on the sides of the road.
All went well and she’s in great spirits, ready to face the next few months.
Dreary day, I just waited a few hours in the waiting room. The hospital staff was wonderful and everything went like clockwork.
Because we were already making a trip to the mountains, we decided that we'd go to Duane's cousin's birthday party. Birthday girl on the right and Duane's mom is on the left. Chilly outing but she enjoyed herself!
A fun and rowdy time. We were told to bring a "White Elephant Gift" to share....so Duane dug out this Chinese horse - it was a gift from a visiting colleague back in his working days. (It was their custom to bring a gift...). It had been gathering dust on a closet shelf for 15'ish hears so was perfect for the gift exchange.
Funny - one of the first gifts chosen was not ours but a similar one! A model camel!!
But the camel was "stolen" from her. So she had to chose another gift from the table.....she chose our Chinese horse! Was all good fun. (The horse eventually made it into the hands of one of the horse-crazy little cousins running around for it's "forever home".) We're just glad to regain the shelf space!
Granny chose a warm fuzzy blanket but later "bartered" for some snuggly footies.
Marsha, the birthday girl with some of her grandkids having a special time.
Well, happy new year to everyone! We actually did manage to stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve and even popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate!
I did some year-end paperwork at the airport on New Year's Day - two jets popped in....
And we had a nice New Year's meal for good luck in the coming year. Duane had traditional pork but I had made a "tofurky" roast (assume that counts towards the superstition!)
We made a quick day-trip to the boats to do a little maintenance. Lovely day. Finally warm and sunny! All was well at the boats, they're just a little grimy because they haven't had a bath lately (we've turned the water to the docks off).
Nothing else much going on. But really enjoyed the beautiful day!
Since many of you ask about Richard, I'm sure he won't mind me sharing a couple of recent photos. This is Richard and Casey at her work Christmas party.
And here he is out fish'n!
Beautiful but chilly morning at Mom’s house
So lucky to be able to visit with both our Moms!! My mom enjoying her after-Christmas morning.
We had a fabulous evening with Robert and Taylor. Hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas today!
Merry Christmas everyone! First time in 8 years that I’ve baked a whole turkey….I cheated and used a Reynolds oven bag. Turned out perfect and tender.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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!
