my journey, destination unknown
The holiday season is in full swing here in our little hamlet of Pine Lake. This past weekend, we celebrated with our Pancake Breakfast with Santa, Cookie Exchange and Lighting of the Lake. Our house is decked with a tree, lights and pine rope. Holly, the contemporary Sirius/XM holiday music station is almost always turned…
Traditionally, the first Saturday in December is the big Holiday celebration day in Pine Lake. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, we loved being here in Pine Lake for all the fun. This year, we were again active participants in the holiday cheer! At the pancake breakfast in the morning, Chloe sat on Santa’s lap and…
As I sit here on this Sunday morning, contemplating Christmas cards, Christmas gifts and all the holiday cheer and happiness that gets lost in my stress, I struggle with ideas on how to get back to the meaning of the season. Gift buying is particularly stressful for me. I have become increasingly frustrated with stuff….
The finale of our Thanksgiving celebrations last weekend was “Light Up Blue Ridge”. Each year, the celebration has grown and grown. I suppose there is no surprise there. That’s what happens. My mom went down early to practice with the tubas. When the rest of us arrived, we had to park in the new auxiliary…
Since Camille got her pick of a fiber festival on the Saturday of our final weekend in Texas, we decided to give Chloe her pick on Sunday — the zoo! But which zoo? Chloe wanted Houston (too far), we had been south on I-35 twice already (ruling out San Antonio), so that left us to…
As I sat down to write my post about Black Friday, I remembered that I had written one in the past. And it exactly summarized what I was about to say. So, instead of reinventing the wheel, I’m simply reposting my Buy Nothing Day Thoughts post from 3 Dec 2008: On so-called Black Friday, I…
We’re always hearing about the “Tofuturkey” as the vegetarian-alternative, but for the carb-heads that we are, this Turkey has become an annual tradition at the cabin. This year, Camille baked the main bread loaf — delicious (but the pot that comes out of the oven with the loaf in it — well, the handle is…
On a whim last week, I suggest that we participate in the 2010 Blue Ridge Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. Despite no training or even no desire on my part to actually run, I thought it could be a fun way to kick off Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving morning, we headed to town earlier than the girls…
While we were in TX for two weeks at the start of the month, I promised the girls that we would do some day trips beyond Georgetown/Austin. The first weekend, we headed to San Antonio. For the second weekend, we did not take off an overnight trip, but we did explore two places new to…
While walking along our dirt road here in Blue Ridge, I spotted a vibrantly orange leaf. Seemed TOO orange. Unnaturally so. Because it was. Unnatural. The leaf itself was natural. But the color was not. Someone had come along the road and spray painted not-so-evenly spaced dots marking an underground cable. The thing is, they…
Despite my constant mantra that we will not prepare for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, Christmas came early for Chloe yesterday. Rob, unable to wait, presented her with her very own harness, and Chloe was so excited she headed up the tree using her pre-Thanksgiving Christmas gift.
As I’ve mentioned, the girls, Barbara and I visited San Antonio while we were spending a couple of weeks in Texas. While we enjoyed visiting the San Antonio Museum of Art, the Riverwalk via boat, La Villita, Market Square and the Alamo, I think my lists of things I want to go back and see…
Not only am I a day behind on my Photo Friday, I’m behind on everything right now. So it seems only fitting that this Photo Friday post be comprised of photos from our trip to San Antonio two weeks ago. As always, a few good days in one place and I’ll get caught back up…
It’s been that kind of week. I have barely managed to complete the necessary, given our crazy travel schedule (TX > home > Blue Ridge) and the brain numbing headache that descended on me today. I can hardly string two thoughts together at this point. While I’ve never been a wordsmith, I had hopes of…
We were so tired from our
My girls have been accompanying me on shopping trips since they were born. They learn fairly early on not to ask me to buy something while we are at the store, since my answer will almost always be “No.” But not always … if they have a good reason, I listen to it, but I…
While we are in Texas for an extended stay, I figured I’d try to get the girls out to see more than just Zilker Park and Georgetown…. This past weekend, we headed down I-35 to San Antonio. I was shocked at how little I recognized along the Austin-SA corridor — so much has changed! Upon…
When planning this work-related trip to Texas, I knew that the girls and I were not really ready to leave home once again. I had hoped that things would work out so I could go on another work trip at another time, but that didn’t happen. As I really wanted to take advantage of the…
Travels in Turkey, Part 8 of 12 Along with Cappadoccia and sights in Istanbul, I had one other place on my “must see while in Turkey” list, though at first I had thought to be two separate spots. Hierapolis and Pamukkale are two very different attractions, yet they share the same physical location….a combined natural…
This Monday I’m dreaming of the beach. I’m disappointed in myself for dreaming of the beach…can’t I come up with something more exciting? But no, when I imagine myself going somewhere this week, it’s the beach. As for which beach, I’m actually not all that picky. Sure, I’d like it to be clean and fairly…