Pittsboro, NC

We were staying with my sis-in-law and baby brother....they treated us to homemade biscuits and gravy with Beyond Sausage.  Was a real treat!

 The main reason for the long weekend visit was for Duane's mom's 88th birthday.  She was pleasantly surprised by our visit.  Doing great!

 

 

After a fun afternoon of pizza, conversation and ice cream cake, we convinced the siblings to pose for a family portrait with everyone there.  Not too often does she have all 4 kids in the same  room!

 One more night of visiting and then a dreary, rainy drive back to Pittsboro.

Mills River, NC

 Mountain visit started with a dreary drive down I-40.....

We had a potluck dinner at my mom's house....chatting with lots of folks in my childhood home!

 

Dinner included some Bahamian lobster bites! And way too much other fun food.  

 

The lovely matriarch!  Doing great!

 

Lots of posed shots - my sis and niece-in-law (is that a thing??)

 

My mom of course!

 

My sis and sis-in-law

And Duane and my sis-in-law being silly while relaxing.

Good fun on a rainy weekend!
 

Traveling to the mountains

 Just thought I’d check in….traveling to the mountains again this weekend. We’ll celebrate Duane’s mom’s 88th birthday and visit with my crowd too. Nothing much photogenic lately….

North Myrtle Beach to Pittsboro, NC

 We continued to be fairly lazy putzing around N Myrtle Beach.  Had several fun meals out - waaaayyyyy to much fried food but it was really yummy!  Can't do that every day!

 

 Pat and Diane have lots of fun places there....golf carts at two houses.  So we road those around a good bit.  I snapped this photo of Diane at the wheel of one of the golf carts as I was driving so it wasn't a good photo.  But good fun and we had perfect weather.

 

 

 They've bought a new house on a pretty lake right in N. Myrtle.

 

They're just starting to figure out furniture and fittings.  It's going to be a fun place to visit as well!

And I have to show you the turtles!  There are dozens of them - not snapping turtles.  Apparently some of the residents feed them....we had nothing to offer but they were there begging.

 Back at the condo, the beach was getting busier.  We're just at the start of "on-season".

Fun to watch the happenings at the beach.  Parasailors being pulled by a little offshore.  Lots of planes towing banner advertisements for local pubs and such. Never a dull moment!

Out to eat one more time for my birthday!  Was a wonderful impromptu beach visit.  So nice of Pat and Diane to invite us!  

 Now back to some more mundane things like dentist visits and lawn mowing in Pittsboro!

N. Myrtle Beach, SC

 Still hanging out in Myrtle Beach.....another nice long beach walk.  Not very busy as it's still just off season.  Pat says this beach will be wall-to-wall people from Memorial Day on....

  

Fun to just drive around....lots of "beachy" establishments.  Very colorful.

 

And we passed one of the many putt-putt courses we used to frequent with the kids when we flew down to the North Myrtle Beach airport just for the day.  Fun that a lot of things haven't changed over many years.

 

North Myrtle Beach, SC

 We had a nice dinner out with Pat and Diane at Boardwalk Billy's.  We'd never been before and it's loud and busy!  Good food and service.

It’s our anniversary today!  44 years❤️

 

And this is what we did for most of our honeymoon at Topsail Beach....way before it was a popular hangout.  We were such babies!

 

North Myrtle Beach, SC

 Pat and Diane invited us to come to N. Myrtle Beach for a few days....since we didn't have other plans, we took them up on their kind offer!  Just threw some clothes in a bag and headed out.

We're staying in the condo that they rent out on the 14th floor overlooking the ocean.  They're in the same building on the 6th floor.  We arrived to find the fridge stocked with a few cold beverages....very nice of them!

 

After a nice visit in the evening, we went out to Fat Harold's Beach Bar to see Pat doing some shag dancing.  Nice crowd but definitely on the "older" side, haha.  Pat did give me a little dance lesson but I continue to have little-to-no rhythm!  

 

 

 This morning the sun was shining and a nice breeze flowing.  The beach was a little more occupied but not crowded.  We went out for a nice breakfast with Pat.

  

We went for a nice long stroll up the beach.  On the way back we stopped for a light lunch.  It's "bike week" here so there are a lot of motorcycles around.  A bit noisy but otherwise not a problem.
 

 

 

Pittsboro, NC

 We're back at Pittsboro, still sorting thru boxes of "stuff" from the boat.  Amazing how many varieties of sunscreen and bug repellent were stashed in various spots on the boat....add that to the quantities I have at the house and it equals too much, haha.  

Robert invited us out for a late Mother's Day dinner at a sushi place in Cary.  I couldn't resist the "food photo".....

 It was delicious and we enjoyed a nice relaxing visit.  

 

 

Mills River, NC

 Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!

Duane's mom wanted to go to Strawberry Hill in Chesnee, SC so we loaded up and drove about 45 minutes to the family attraction.  Had a nice diner meal before meandering thru the country-store fresh market. 

 

It was not terribly crowded....

 

Lots of beautiful strawberries!

 

And other assorted goodies.

Shopping done and full bellies....driving back to Hendersonville some distant mountain views.

 When I got back to my mom's house, I found her busy in the yard pullling weeds.

 And then later cleaning the pool....glad she's setting  a good example for me!

 

Mills River, NC

 Visiting our Moms for Mother's Day!  

I enjoyed dinner out with my mom....she's doing great. 

 Beautiful day....view from Mom's house.

  

We'll have a nice visit with Duane's mom today as well.   

Pittsboro, NC

 We've been having fun catching up with folks...Jerry and Donna were passing thru the state and they stopped in for a visit!  

Fun chatting and had dinner together before they headed back to Oriental.  Good times!

 

 

Pittsboro, NC

 We went out to eat with Robert last night.  Was fun catching up with him!  Duane said something silly so we were laughing when he snapped the photo. 

 We'll be off to the mountains for Mother's day....

Pittsboro, NC

 We spent the last few days getting the boat cleaned up - and ready for a yacht broker to come aboard....we have decided it's time to sell Sojourn and do a lot of travel by other methods!!  

It's amazing how much "stuff" is on a boat....so I won't bore you with photos of boxes and crates of stuff.   We're sorting thru it all and trying to figure out what to do with all of it.  (Some stuff is left in the trailer  at the boat in case we need to make repairs or anything while it's for sale.)   I don't expect it to be a quick process as I'm not really sure how the boat market is right now.   Right now, we've got a couple of trips planned in May to the mountains.  Then the entire month of June into July will be in the Pacific NW touring there.  I'll keep you posted!

Oriental, NC

We're just hanging at the boat....organizing and cleaning.  Duane was out mowing and had a pully on the mower fail....we couldn't find the part locally but there was an outdoor equipment dealer about 45 minutes away in Newport that had one in stock.  So we took a little road trip.

Good fun because it involves a ferry ride!  And bonus points because we arrived about 3 minutes before the ferry was scheduled to depart and drove straight on....

 

 Always fun to see the other ferry cross paths in the opposite direction.  Kinda hard to see but the river was bouncy with some pretty gusty winds.

  

We stopped for a quick restroom break at the ferry terminal.  We noticed a drink machine selling this can called "Liquid Death" - upon closer inspection it is simply canned water.   Weird choice for a brand name!!

 

 Uneventful and successful pickup of the lawnmower part.....

Back to the ferry dock - lucky timing again!  We drove right onto the ferry for the return trip.  

More cleaning and mowing in store.  We really know how to have fun!
 

Oriental, NC

 Back at the boat....

Duane replaced the broken hardware for the mainsail.

 

We raised the main to check to make sure all was well after the replacement part.  Was nice to shake out the reef lines that we had in from our sail from the Bahamas.

 

 

Beautiful sunrise this morning!!  Lots of organizing and grass mowing in the future.

 

Pittsboro, NC

 Getting things ready to go back to the boat...Duane's been servicing equipment and remembered that the sun cover for the lawn mower was sun-damaged  last fall.  Time for a new one.

Here is what the cover I made from a tarp looked like a couple of years ago.

 

 

I brought it in the basement and used a seam ripper to take it apart.  (It was literally falling apart in places due to sun damage...)

 

Then out to the hangar to whip up a new one!  Just laid out the old one on the top of a new tarp.  Used a Sharpie to outline the pattern. 

 

I took some "notes" on where to sew in the seams.

 

 All ready for sewing. Pretty simple really, just bulky.  Precision is not really required. 

All done, ready for the hot summer sun!

 

There are webbing straps underneath that holds the cover in place that aren't visible.