I know I know

It's about flippin' time ~ I know.  I am getting very very lazy with this blog aren't I!  It seems to me that we don't do much that is "blog worthy" these days ... we just sort of putt putt along singing a song.  When we were out west we did something exciting every day, we met people every day who had terrific stories (remember Matthew in Pahrump, NV! - he WAS the best) and I have really "longed" for a good people story lately.  Which is not to indicate, in any way, that I am bored, but we just have NOT had a good people story in a long time.  

So, with that said, above is a photo of an out of the way National Forest beach area we found when we were in NC visiting Joshua, Trisha and Connor (not to mention Mickey and Thunder).

While we were going down the mile and a half road to the beach area mentioned above (we were truly headed to find the ferry to "the other side" - and NOT on the road to this beach) the dirt road backed up against a "development" of fairly new (10 years or less?) homes.  One home had children (well I assume it was children, fortunate enough to have this great "tree house" behind their home - can you imagine having this place to escape to when you were a kid?  I hope they realize at some point how fortunate they are/were!  I had a great little house (aka "playhouse") behind my home in Montpelier, VT when I was much younger (oh so much younger) that I have very very fond memories of, so I guess I have a special place for kid's escapes like the one above.  I think every kid needs such a place ... I was fortunate enough to have one, way back then, when times were oh so very different.  Come to find out (my "baby sister" lives not too far from there now) that "playhouse" was torn down many many years ago ... 

Anyway, enough with that trip down memory lane ...  While I was getting my gray covered ("only her hairdresser ~ and anyone else who reads this blog, knows for sure) last week, Rick took Sir down to the beach in the first photo for a bit of R&R .... thankfully, Rick took some pictures ~ one above!

 

While we were in NC it included the Easter weekend.  As I may have mentioned earlier, we stayed at a fabulous, terrific and wonderful Moose Lodge (our first Moose Lodge stay ~ what a great one to "start" at! Newport, NC).  

Above is a photo of one of the Lodge members "hiding" eggs for the Easter Egg Hunt on that Saturday morning ~ gosh it was fun ... I loved watching the "hiding" and I really enjoyed watching the kids "hunting" for them - especially the younger (4 years and under) - they were so cute!

On Saturday, we had "Easter dinner" with Joshua, Trisha, Connor, Larry and Sheila (Trisha's parents and the greatest grandparents I've ever seen).  After dinner we colored Easter Eggs.  I never did coloring eggs like this with my boys when they were young, but I did question Joshua about it and he reminded me that when he and Chad were young we put some plastic sort of sleeves on the eggs and put them in hot water to shrink the sleeves and that was their version of coloring eggs "back then".

Anyway, this is how eggs are colored "these days" (how the heck did I get so old that I use terms like "back then" and "these days"?).  You put water and vinegar in these little plastic "cups" with a tablet of whatever that turns the liquid to a particular color, then you put the egg in the "little plastic cup" for a few seconds and ..... TAH DAH ... a colored egg!  Imagine that!!!  WOW - how did this happen to me?  I LOVE IT (by the way)!

Richard, in his photographic mastery, took the one above ~ isn't it TERRIFIC .... a pair of "thinkers"!  I loaded about 150 photos from our stay in NC from the camera to iphoto a few days ago, then loaded a couple more days of photos from Washington DC and just went back through the NC Easter ones to do this blog post and came across this one ~ I just LOVE it (thanks Honey).

Above is, obviously, the Master of egg coloring himself ~ minus tonsils and adenoids but with the addition of (is that proper grammar Moelicious??) tubes in his ears ... Is he just too darned cute or what!  I can not, just can NOT, believe how big he is getting ... he is truly  being his own person, just so himself, with this great (well to his parents maybe not always so great) independence .... I love to see the changes, but it so distresses me that we see him only two or three times a year.  He is such a joy and so, so much fun ~ I love to watch Connor and Rick together .. such "free spirits" just hanging out and enjoying each other and the "challenges" each sets.

Okay, onward we go .....  when we left Newport (Havelock), NC area, we headed north towards Washington, DC. ~ we stopped for two nights in Petersburg, VA because, among other things, it was about the 200 mile "marker" from where we left NC, and heaven knows we can't travel much more than 200 miles in a day.

Along the way we passed the building above (among others) that just "worked" for me - remember that tin roof thing I've got?  One might ask why the heck I live in a "house" with a rubber roof, but what the hey .. I've just got this "thing" for tin roofs, small buildings with tin roofs!  The one above just needs someone to truly LOVE it ..... Sadly, I'm afraid someone would not love IT, but perhaps love the land and tear "it" down ........ UGH ...

All along the journey on Sunday, and all the while we were in NC, we kept coming "across" all this gorgeous wisteria.  I never realized how invasive this plant is.  I just thought it was a beautiful spring "vine" with fabulous blossoms that smell just terrific.  Check this out ~ I figured out that it is truly a vine, a creeping, crawling vine ~ DAH, do you think? ~ and is really invasive ... well down here anyway.  Is it this invasive in New England or is that such a different "zone" that perhaps it doesn't have a chance to be so invasive?  All I remember about it there is that one of the mechanics at the elevator company I worked for (about twelveteen lifetimes ago) would bring it into the office and it smelled wonderful, and when I would go for walks in the evening (those were the days and about 20 pounds ago) when Rick was "napping" before heading off to work, I would go by a property that had a couple wisteria trees (what I thought were trees anyway).  But look at these photos, the stuff is growing all over and all up the surrounding trees (who knew)!

So with ALL that said .... we got to College Park, Maryland on Tuesday ~ where we are scheduled to be for a week (much to Rick's displeasure, because the sites are really close together and the "campground" is so congested ...).  But since I've never been to Washington, DC he is being very "tolerant" .... 

Our niece Elisha (Flo) flew in from upstate NY on Tuesday evening to spend a few days with us (sadly, too few) .... Rick and I are thrilled to have her here with us ... Sir Arlo, on the other hand, is just beside himself .... 

He has a new "best friend" ... he has to check (I am serious) where Elisha is before he will do anything ~ eat, go for a walk, turn left, turn right  ..... follow ..... whatever ~ none of it matters unless he knows where HIS Elisha is ... if he has that squared away in his "brain" well then he will do what he is "suppose" to do .... but it is ALL about his new best friend Elisha right now.

Flo, I am so glad you were here with us ... see you in Dec/FL!

As for the blog ... stay tuned ... I've loaded about a gazmillion Washington photos ....