Weekend at home -

 

Despite the wet weather much of the weekend, we still enjoyed being

 here at home. Both of us addressed 'paperwork' in its many shapes

and forms. Bob worked on his, sorting and shredding, at the kitchen

 table, while I spent several hours at the dining room table working 

on a new pocket sized 'password' book. 

Life's very important small books. Yes, I do have two Passports

being a duel citizen of the United States of America and the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

My Moleskine book is something I can't live without, especially when

 traveling which I plan to do again some day! The former version had

 become a disaster, just a muddle of usernames, passwords, 'secret 

questions', phone numbers for everything and everyone.

Health, travel, computer, iPhone, family, online shopping. . . . . 

pages and pages where it took ages to locate what I was searching

for at any given time.

My new book has a bright red cover - not only makes it easier to

 find but more cheerful to look at!

The Mourning dove visited alone - I'm hoping so much that its mate is still around.

Same squirrel came daily to the porch all weekend - acting like a fluffy

 vacuum cleaner as it gathered and gobbled more bird seed than the birds!

Mrs. Northern flicker is such a beauty!  She and her mister appear to be

 best friends with the bluebird family as they all wait their turn at the

 suet feeders.

Our bluebird family continued to be extremely active in the inclement 

weather, especially Sunday morning when as many as four perched

 together along the flag pole getting soaked but not at all concerned by

 the often heavy rain.

Here it is, Monday again and we have sunshine.

Off to walk soon before the sun goes down and the air turns cool.  

The remainder of the week looks quiet and will be getting colder

toward next weekend. We are scheduled to receive vaccine #2 on

Sunday when there's a possibility of snow - fingers crossed it will

not impact our second visit to the hospital parking lot quite early on

Valentine's Day!

Enjoy your week dear friends.

Puttering and pottering about -

My little place of peace and happiness was constructed in the back garden.  

Nothing fancy, now almost twenty years old but still standing strong and sturdy. 

It has electricity to run a heater or fan, but not water. A gathering place for everything 

garden-related. . . . . . .plus anything waiting to be rehoused, sold on, given away, 

taken to the thrift shop, thrown away etc. I probably should re-paint the exterior

 but can't bring myself to cut down the climbing akebia and ivy!  

The floor I painted and stenciled long ago with blackberry vines is fading. . . . . but 

is still visible enough to allow me to recall all those hours on my knees - I could 

never do that now!

This window was so dirty - now I can even see my neighbor's camellias still budding.

On a sunny, cooler day this week I spent about four hours out here.

There was not a lot to throw out, it was mostly taking items into the kitchen to

 wash, vacuuming every surface, and reorganizing storage space.

 Many of the china pots, birds, lanterns, bowls of shells etc. will be moved 

outside to the baker's rack and table on the back deck, or into the gazebo, 

now that the pollen season is just about over.

The gazebo is my other 'home' where I can enjoy the garden views,

the birds at the feeders, an afternoon cup of tea, an early evening aperitif,

supper as the sun falls silently in the west behind my chair, and now the 

weather is warming - even writing my posts and reading yours.

Bluebird nest box and akebia vine on the potting shed wall.

We haven't been shopping in over a week but need to make a

quick run tomorrow morning for salad greens, veggies, milk etc.

We will pick up a dozen fresh eggs pre-ordered from our local 

Farmers' Market which reopens tomorrow for the season.

Strict social distancing and loads of rules in place.

Then we'll head back to the nearby roadside strawberry stall

for more of those delicious berries - strawberry shortcakes 

have been a real treat on several evenings.

Good wishes for your weekend.

Doesn't every day feel like a weekend day now?

Some changes will soon be coming in places with lesser

known cases of COVID-19 - unfortunately not here though.

I'm expecting things to continue as they are for a while longer -

'rather safe than sorry' might be the way to go.

Stay well, be strong dear friends.

Weekend odds and ends -

Another weekend, and this one has started off well with sunshine and 

warm temperatures.

A robin has been sitting on the head of a garden statue outside the window 

for over 10 minutes, singing non-stop. He stopped as some dog walkers

passed the house but didn't fly off, then just puffed up and started his melody

again. . . . . . . such a lovely sound early in the morning.

 I'm kitty sitting for the coming week as Nala's person, our neighbor, is heading to Maine. 

Nala is easy to care for and, as it's warm, I'll be putting her out in the screened porch 

during the daylight hours which makes her a happy cat. . . . . . . . she'll be watching

plenty of these critters below. . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . . .in my back garden yesterday, this female squirrel made short order of

 the only suet cake I had left - note to self, buy more if/when I go shopping again!

My 'snowdrops' are in full bloom now.

These are actually Leucojum aestivum 'Summer Snowflake", member

of the Amaryllis family of bulbs. Thankfully deer resistant hardy perennials.

I baked a loaf last evening so had good toast and marmalade for breakfast today. 

Can't say there's really anything I enjoy more to start my weekend morning - a good 

slice of crunchy toast with butter. . . . . and of course thick cut Scottish marmalade.

Stay well, be happy, and enjoy your weekend.

Other than taking our neighbor to the airport later,

I think we'll be staying close to home.

Coastal weekend. . . . .

Friday afternoon, crossing the Intracoastal Waterway - looking quite calm

 despite the heavy gusting winds. I always love crossing the bridge 

knowing the island awaits, ever changing from the weather along this coast.

The ocean almost looked like a moving landscape of snow and ice with the

 churning waves glittering in the sunlight.

We chose the scenic drive along Bogue Banks Island - part of the 

Crystal Coast - through the beach communities of Emerald Isle, Salter Path, 

Pine Knoll Shores and Atlantic Beach . . . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . . . stopping to take a few photos of the churning Atlantic along the way.

The remains of one of the piers shortened during the most recent damaging

storm along the North Carolina coast - powerful Hurricane Florence in

 September 2018. 

It was a cold 'hang on to everything - blow away the cobwebs' day with quite

 ferocious winds, but sunny and enjoyable to be out in the fresh air.

Hope your weekend is enjoyable.

So many figs, and garden visitors. . . . . . . . . .

The large green bowl was overflowing after Bob gathered the ripe figs early
 yesterday afternoon.

He must have picked at least 4 pounds.

Thankfully he was done prior to torrential rain accompanied by scary thunder and

 lightning right overhead around 5 PM. Our power went out, and stayed out for about

 an hour apparently caused by downed trees.

Later I shared bowls of figs with two neighbors, one who stopped by to get them

 after the storm passed. We three sat on the front porch enjoying a drink and

 watching many birds at the feeder, while awaiting electricity so I could bake this

 for supper. . . . . . . 

 . . . . . . . caramelized onions, chopped Kalamata olives, sliced manchego cheese

 and the just-picked figs, layered on a flatbread crust and dusted with a

 touch of Sicilian dried oregano.

Enjoyed a slice of this along with a bowl of chilled cucumber gazpacho made earlier

 in the week - then frozen. First time trying that and have to say it worked perfectly,

 tasted fresh and of course was definitely well-chilled after thawing. I have frozen

 several bags of this summer soup and am glad to know it will be ready for more

 hot days ahead. . . . . . . . . without all the preparation. 

As for garden visitors, the birds still flock to the feeders and cardinals actually come 

in large groups, especially now the figs are ready for eating on the nearby tree - they

 love them!

I notice their colors are faded at this time of year compared to winter and spring. 

The male above is more orange than red now. . . . . . . and the female below also 

seems much paler.  

This is a young blue jay and his feathers are a paler blue than the adults.

 He's been coming to this birdbath early each morning for more than

 a week - just stands on the little rock looking out into the world, sipping a drink

 now and then. I can walk by and he stays there, sometimes for half an hour

 or so, not bothered by anything. Later in the day he returns - these pix I took in

 the afternoon - and stays a while, again drinking and cooling off.

Hope your weekend is special. . . . . . enjoy the magical moments, and may

they be abundant.

Downtown into Outer Space!

Well, total weekend relaxation didn't quite happen after all, especially Saturday, when suddenly my day became full of wonderful hours, including outdoors and walking around downtown in sunshine and warm temperatures - so different from the previous weekend of snow and ice. We headed into town after reading in the newspaper there were exciting things happening at the Museum of Natural Sciences, namely, Astronomy Days, and it would be a chance to meet a real astronaut! We were ready and out the door for this one. . . . . .along with everyone else and their children from a 50 mile radius most likely. It was all fun.

Just a small part of huge crowds out enjoying perfect weather on Saturday - the line inside this museum was long for the presentation we went to hear - given by the amazing Christina Hammock Koch, one of NASA's newest astronauts. A North Carolina woman, and graduate of NC State University, she is one of just eight most recent trainees - apparently picked from a field of 6,372 applicants! We were absolutely blown away by Christina's hour long presentation, and all she has accomplished. Just learning what the training consists of was an eye-opener - such as piloting the T-8 Supersonic jet plane, learning the Russian language, swimming dressed in complete astronaut gear, and so much more. Because she also spent a year stationed at Palmer Station in Antarctica (which I viewed briefly from the deck of the expedition ship I sailed on in 2013), her stay included an over-Winter where temperatures dropped to -150F (-101C), I was also captivated by stories of her time there, and viewing her videos and slides. Christina's dream now is to be part of the Mars landing planned for the 2030's!

Leaving the museum complex, and yes we do have wonderful museums here, and we should come visit them more often, we headed through town, stopping here (below) to get a few photos of a favorite house nestled in between the huge modern buildings of the State Government complex.

The Heck-Andrews House ~ Built in 1869

Second Empire Style

Needless to say there are many stories and published articles on this historic

 downtown property. This is a favorite recent one of great interest as it shares 

 fabulous interior photos which until now we never were able to view.

 Click here for the story > HECK-ANDREWS House

Owned by the State for the past 30 years, the exterior was restored at a huge cost, 

however, they put the property up for sale not wishing to spend more public money. 

The house apparently sold last week and the new owners will now, hopefully, 

complete the massive job of interior restoration. 

This is a beauty too special to lose to a wrecking ball.

Speaking of houses. . . . . .  .another stop was a favorite garden center located at the old train station downtown - loved the birdhouses, and I need a new one! Already a great display of beautiful pottery - these brilliant blue ones are gorgeous. Gardening is still a favorite hobby but unfortunately getting more difficult with my back problem. Filling lovely pots raised on a table is much easier than getting down and digging in the dirt - know what I mean?

Last but not least by any means - there were plenty of very pretty blooming

 Spring flowers on offer. We are in for a run of Spring-like days here - temps. 

reaching 71F today. Hello and welcome to February.

~~~~~~~~~~oh, and as for Sunday, I did relax a bit by staying away from the laptop - cooking, going through family photos, and later watching some TV, including that really surprising episode of Downton Abbey!  Anyone watching Mercy Street? If so what are your thoughts on that show. We're finding it interesting from a historical point of view, but rather gruesome seeing how archaic medical facilities and treatment options were during the American Civil War.