October 2023 - Hendersonville, NC

September came and went fairly uneventful other than the semi-annual deep cleaning and a short overnight visit from Plish and John who had come up from their condo in Calabash on their way to a visit with their niece and family in Simpsonville.  No pictures...just nice memories of time spent with long time friends.  Aside from cleaning, Fall calls for a trip to the NC mountains and the apple orchards.  Bob suggested an overnight stay so we didn't feel rushed sight seeing. We traveled to Hendersonville, about 80 miles from us, but over a two hour drive because of the winding mountain roads.  Downtown Hendersonville with its boutique artisan shops was teeming with tourists, so we stopped at a couple of orchards, then traveled west along Hwy 64 to Franklin, NC and spent the night there before going home the next morning.  The fall colors and scenery made the trip worthwhile.

One of the roadside apple stops.

And a field of sunflowers as far as you could see.

 

August 2023- Litchfield Beach

 The house feels empty without Roscoe.  We needed to lift our spirits.  Sun, sand, surf, and salty ocean breezes might help, so on August 20, we headed south to Pawley's Island where I had booked a 4 night stay for us at The Litchfield Inn.

We stopped in Georgetown, about 45 minutes from the hotel, to have a seafood lunch on the river walk.

Our room was in the hotel tower on the 4th floor with a balcony and beautiful view of the ocean.

The only trouble was we had to wait over an hour for it to be ready, and when it was, the elevator (not plural mind you) to the upper floors wasn't working.  The hotel clerk "forgot" to mention this when we checked in.  Most of the hotel staff had already gone home, so we and several other guests had to schlep our luggage up flights of stairs.  Two good things came of it:  while waiting to see if the elevators would be fixed, I met a woman named Myra and her sister, Jane, who grew up in Seneca.  Myra now lives in Pendleton, about 20 miles from us, and we've been "cell pals" since getting home.  The other was that we were comped one night's stay.  However, it wasn't the best start to a therapeutic getaway.

But, with the sunrise came the promise of a better day with glorious views of the beach from our balcony.

The hotel had two pools on either side of the reception room:  one for kiddies and one for adults who could enjoy lunch and drinks at the poolside cafe.

And we did just that.

The next day was overcast and not the best beach weather, but we decided to sit by the shore anyway. 

Our hotel room is the second from the left on the 4th floor.

I do believe I was the first one to come up with the idea  of photographing your feet when we went on our first cruise in 1996.  Maybe it should be called the foot selfie? 

The air can our chairs were too damp for me to feel comfortable, but Bob braved checking out the water.

Now this is more to my liking....enjoying a morning cup of tea on the balcony.

The sun did finally break through.  Bob and I decided to stroll through the Hammock Shops on Hwy 17.

The village has about 25 specialty shops...

Lots of big, old trees... 

and beautiful fountains.  The original hammock store opened here in 1935 by the brother-in-law of the designer of the first rope hammock.

We had spent our days driving around Pawley's Island, stopping in shops up and down Hwy 17, eating lots of seafood.  One night we met Paul for dinner in town.  He seemed to be doing ok, but there was an in my heart seeing him without Jay.  On our last night, we had another seafood dinner at a restaurant here on Murrell's Inlet.  We headed back home the next day, but I would certainly like to vacation again at Litchfield Inn.  The day after we got back, David came to stay for two nights while Amanda was at a bachelorette gathering with her friends in Georgia.  He was going to bring our boat back up, but he noticed the trailer had a flat, and it was too late to fix it before he had to take off.

July 30, 2023 - Our Hearts Get Broken

 

Our beloved Roscoe died.  He suddenly developed respiratory distress and died in my lap on our way to the emergency veterinarian hospital in Anderson.  We firmly believe our vet had prescribed a medicine he shouldn't have been taking.  We didn't realize it until after he was gone, when Bob started looking into what happened.  We have filed a request for an investigation with the veterinarian licensing board into the doctor's practices.  It will take at least 6 months to get a ruling.  He was Bob's buddy.,,, a sweet little guy, who didn't deserve to die when he did and the way he did. We miss him more than we could say. 

June and July 2023 - Garage and Porch Makeovers

 Bob was very busy these two months removing the old green automatic garage door and installing a double house door, adding a new facade around the door, screening the porch, and painting the porch deck, shutters, and front door.  Whew---a lot of work!  I helped with painting the porch posts, but by the time I was through, I had a carpal tunnel and an arthritis flare-up which lasted two months.  What a wuss!

Here is the beginning of the frame needed for the new door.

Our neighbors Wayne and Clayton, Bobby and Bob managed to put in the new door.  Bob put up the stone surround, and voila, easy as pie (not) a new look!

The porch in the process of being painted white covering the old red brown wood stain.

Handyman Bob installing screen. Good-bye birds, bugs, and wandering cats.

Green shutters will now be black...

and the green door white.

View of the finished porch from the back...

and back view.  We love sitting out here at "beer o'clock"  watching the birds feeding and frolicking in the bird bath.

And I forgot to mention he also repainted the small back deck and big pool deck!!
 

June 2023 - Blairsville Outing

 Needed another change of scenery.  Pet friendly Copperhead Lodge with a pool and spacious quarters in Blairsville, GA, sounded like a perfect getaway, so we reserved  3 nights.  Mother Nature must not have known our plans to enjoy the mountain scenery because it poured every day we were there.

The skies opened up within 45 minutes of our being on the road, making for very poor visibility and driving conditions.  We hoped it would clear by the time we got to the Lodge.

The pool was closed for the season, and so was the dining room and bar.  In fact, the place gave off vibes like the hotel in The Shining.  However, the room was clean and spacious, although there weren't any chairs.  Luckily we had brought our two camp ones along.  We found out later the place was up for sale, which explained the lack of amenities.

We still ventured out when it looked as though there would be breaks in the rain, so that we could enjoy sights such as pigs on a roof...

and antiques and teak boats at The Pickers Market where we had been on past visits.

We also stopped at Granddaddy Mimm's Distillery, founded by Tommy Townsend,  the great grandson of the area's famous moonshiner Jack "Mimm" McClure.  Townsend had come upon his great grand's original moonshine recipe and still uses it, although he admits he does "pay a few extra taxes" than his GG did.  We didn't take the tour, but Bob did buy a bottle of Granddaddy's Georgia Whiskey.

We were following a road heading back to the main highway when we came across this newly fallen tree, so we had to u-turn and find a different route.  Guess that's what GPSes are for.

In various shops and restaurants around town, there were signs to honor veterans, such as this one outside a hardware store.

And for hot dog lovers, too.

And after a day in the drizzling chilly rain, it was delightful to soak in a hot bubble bath in the room's jacuzzi tub, albeit I needed help getting out because the suds had made for a very slippery slope. 

May and June 2023- This and That

 This post is just that...this and thats.

Bobby and Valerie invited us for a picnic lunch on their boat.  Bob had things to do at home, so he didn't go, and Valerie doesn't like her picture taken.  Thus, this solo of Bobby at the dock at the bottom of his back yard.  The three of us went to a secluded lagoon on the lake, anchored,  and ate our lunch.  The weather was  beautiful weather and it was a pleasant outing with pleasant companions.

I was very proud the way these two "no knead" baguettes came out, one plain and one with everything bagel seasoning...and they were as delicious as they look. 

Unbeknown to us until it was very obvious something was wrong with the porch light, wrens had worked their way into the fixture and built a nest. Eventually, little ones hatched safely and they flew the "coop".

Bobby and Valerie held a 3 day yard sale, mostly to help Jenna sell items she had in a design shop booth she rented for a year.  Owen was there to man (boy?) the cash register and offer free lemonade to those who stopped by.  I hadn't seen him in a while, so it was good to spend some time with him and to see his smiling face. 

What's this?  you might ask.  A trencher.  And what is it for?

The last of the French drain project.  Bob realized it would make short shrift of digging this stretch of ground.  With the drains and encapsulation of the crawl space, which Bob hired professionals to do, we no longer have the excess water under the house.  A recent inspection by our air conditioning tech confirmed it was completely dry under there.

End of March Early April 2023 - Back to New Jersey

I should have planned it better to be back in NJ for Easter and cousin Carol's milestone birthday (which I won't announce to the world), but for various reasons, we left here March 30th, and returned home April 5th, leaving NJ at midnight and driving straight through except for a quick hour's catnap at sunrise.  Once Bob was on the road, he just wanted to get home.

   First night's stop on the way up was at Ft Chiswell in Max Meadows ,Virginia outside of Wytheville.  It was a pleasant campground.  There were large koi in the pond...

and a lot of cows in the pasture.  The next night we stayed at the Walnut Hills rv park in Stanton, VA, but a severe storm was brewing with gale force winds, so we hunkered inside.

The storm passed, and the next morning we set out once again.  We stopped in Frackville (although we had vowed to avoid the town at all costs the last time we were there) for fuel and breakfast.  At the diner, Bob noticed the cover to the a/c unit on the camper had come loose in the winds and was almost falling off.  So, in the drizzling rain, he climbed on the camper roof to secure the top as best he could considering one of the bolts had blown away .  Needless to say, I held my breath the whole time he was up there.  Figures it had to happen on April Fool's Day.  

But, we made it to Mahlon Reservation in Milton, NJ, where we've camped in past years, safe and sound once again.

Sunday, we went to Adele and Michael's house where we met up with Joey, Barbara, and Carol 

Joey and Barbara recently bought a vacation home in Laurel, DE, but they came up to see us, which was wonderful.

Monday, on our way to the cemetery, we stopped at Third Ward Park to let Roscoe stretch his little legs... 

and to enjoy the beauty of the fountains and remember fond moments at the park in years gone by.  Later we met up with Plish and John for lunch at The Grand Saloon on Van Houten Ave and after that, we all stopped at Polonia, a Polish deli near School 13, for kielbasy and the dried mushrooms which are needed for Christmas Eve's traditional kapusta soup. 

Tuesday we spent a few hours at Carol and Nelson's house to visit with them, Matt, and Uncle Mickey...

and to say so long until the next time.  However, we won't be RVing.  When we got back home, Bob sold the monster truck and camper.  : - (