Janet, thank you again for hosting us. Your home was beautifully decorated and your hospitality was appreciated by us all.
It was wonderful to have so many gathered and we missed those who couldn’t join us.
Click on the picture to see a slideshow or the caption to look at individual pictures. I also took a little video snippet to remind us of the happy sound of our family gathered.
We also had a great time in Cranberry with the “kids” there. Thanks Lindsay for hosting us for dinner and Bobby for breakfast Thanksgiving morning.
We look forward to having everyone together for Christmas
Closed in 2010 for renovations, historic Pullen Park in Raleigh, NC reopened today. Founded in 1887 this 68 acre park is one of many reasons Raleigh is considered one of the best cities in America to live. The City of Oaks is a city with an abundance of charming parks. But if you like a little nostalgic charm with your park, you’ll love the 1911 carousel. We had the pleasure of meeting Lisa Parr who had lovingly hand painted the animals on the carousel. Beautifully done, Lisa. Not enough? How about a cute little train you can ride around the scenic lake and park grounds? See it all in the video. Then plan your trip to the 16th oldest park in America.
What’s better than a beach? A beach with friends. This weekend the Walshes graciously hosted us at their new beach house. Caswell Beach is located just below the mouth of the Cape Fear River between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach. I appreciated that the homes on Caswell Beach were behind the dunes and not sitting right on the water. If you’ve got three minutes to chill with me, check out some of the fun and food we had as well as some scenes from the beautiful beach.
As the weather cools, North Carolina becomes a wonderful place to be out on the water. This morning was no different. I took the boat to the far end of the lake. A friend told me there was a dead tree where an osprey was hanging out down there. I bopped on down. No osprey. I started shooting pictures and zigging and zagging my way back. Nearly back to the dock, an osprey flies overhead. I pull out my camera, hit zoom, and see the low battery warning just before the LCD goes black. Looks like the hunt will continue.
Later in the morning, Joy and Moku went with us on the boat. After his back surgery he isn’t allowed to jump. After I tied off the stern line I opened the gate to pick Moku up and put him on the dock. He wasn’t having it and squirted past me only to fall in the water between the boat and the dock. He had to swim under the dock and over to the “beach” on the other side to get out. He is fine, but Joy and I are both recovering from heart attacks.
We’ve got internet at the lake now. So, I’ve been able to enjoy working on my computer projects without ever going home. Other than one very quick run back to the house to pick up something I forgot, we’ve spent the holiday hanging out by and on the water. Saturday morning, I did my usual morning photo boat ride and then spent the day playing with the pictures on the computer. After being undercover for nearly a month of thunderstorms and a hurricane, the seats were covered with mold. Joy took a deep breath as she went out with me on the boat and cleaned for an hour. By the time the boat got back it was looking bright and new. Sunday we went up to the club house for vespers service. Joy enjoyed zipping around on her waverunner. Our new friends at the lake (and from Pittsburgh) joined us for a slow long tour of the lake on the pontoon boat, and hung out with us sipping wine as we watched a great day disappear into night. If you’ve got three minutes or so, watch the video below to see some of the things Moku has seen at the lake this weekend.
Thanks to his own hard work, the family had a beautiful venue in which to celebrate Paul’s birthday. He built a privacy fence around the backyard, landscaped, and added a spa. Sarah set the table outside. The setting reminded me of those old Ernest & Julio Gallo advertisements where their family is at the table out in the vineyard. Only my family is better looking of course.
“Hey good lookin’. What you got cookin’?” Yesterday, our church community group got together for an afternoon dedicated to one of my greatest interests – FOOD. Chef Kyle came into the Deakles home and showed us how to prepare three entrées. In turn we showed him how to eat three entrées. It was an awesome afternoon well spent. But apparently all that food contributes to memory loss. I forgot to step on the scales this morning.
Enjoying playing with my camera’s settings. The gardenia picture was composed to allow space on the left for icons on my desktop when I use it as a background.
Even at 14 years of age, Rhapsody of the Seas is a good looking vessel. She was clean and well-maintained. On our Alaskan cruise, we opted for the stateroom we had envied on previous cruises. This was our first time in a junior suite – and it was sweet. Our center aft balcony provided us 180 degree views of everything our ship passed. The balcony itself was quite large, possibly 10′ x 14′. Underway, our deck was in the lee of the ship providing us with as much shelter has could be expected in outdoor Alaska. But most of the views could have been enjoyed from our nice little indoor sitting area. This was the first time we did not go to the Atrium pool to read. We did see many others enjoying that space as we passed through on our way from the Windjammer cafeteria to our stateroom. But that stateroom was just too attractive to leave alone.
At the 6pm “main” seating, we had great company. A cute young Mexican couple, both software engineers working in Houston; an Orange County Ph.D. candidate, his Columbian wife, who worked in medical software development, and their toddler; a Scot who had taken up citizenship in his long-time home of Australia and his Filipino wife; and a recently retired couple from Hong Kong whose children had taken over their import business. One of our favorite parts of every cruise are the wonderful people with whom we have a chance to talk. We also had the chance talk with two people from outside Oxford, and three generations of Cubans now living in Miami, during different meals in the Windjammer.
There wasn’t much rain falling when the ship reached port. Given that Ketchikan averages about 14.5 ft (4.4 m) of rain per year, that was something for which to be thankful. While the portion of Ketchikan at the higher elevation in town looked much like a working class Pittsburgh neighborhood, the lower portion that services the cruise ships consisted of attractive little tourist shops.
As we wandered into this section, Joy noticed an inclined tram suggestive of The Incline in Pittsburgh, and we started to make our way over there. That is how we discovered the little market area in the video. The Creek Street markets sit on stilts along the creek (where else?). Until 1953 it had served as the red light district in Ketchikan, but today shoppers find Alaskan art, fish, and souvenirs. One shop had a model train with the engines from the White Pass & Yukon on which we had just enjoyed a tour. What a great toy train that would be to have under one’s Christmas tree!
As we worked our way back to the ship, we stopped in a shop, Barnaby’s Old Town, where an Alaskan Malamute lie on the floor accepting shoppers’ tokens of affection. The shopkeeper told us the story behind the totem with the whale on the bottom. Joy continued our tradition of buying Christmas ornaments on each cruise by picking a totem pole ornament there.
By the time we got back to the ship, the rain was really coming down. But frankly the only impact that had on us was that Joy would hold her umbrella over my camera when I tried to take a picture.
