Eleven months is a long time...
I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've written anything in this blog. I don't know why...maybe because I got behind and got overwhelmed. Maybe because too many of my days seem like the one before and the one before that. But then again, I think of some of the awesome, atypical days I've had since August of last year, and I realize there's NO WAY I can think this year has been mundane.
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| When in Vermont, ya gotta love cows!! |
September...My long awaited and greatly anticipated trip to the Northeast to see fall foliage. Vermont and New Hampshire, with a brief glimpse of Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and a few other states thrown in along the way.
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| It looks just like the catalog!! |
Vermont was bucolic and pleasant, with rolling hills, dairy farms (lots of dairy farms), and beautiful lakes WITH LOONS!! Yes, I finally got to see and hear my loons!! We had good cheese, drove pretty much 3/4 of the state from bottom to top, and enjoyed ourselves greatly. We were a wee bit early for perfect foliage, but then we headed to New Hampshire and the White Mountains. The foliage there was at peak and again we drove and drove and drove, seeing as much as we could in the few days we were there. I also got to visit one of Robert Frost's homes and a loon center in New Hampshire. Talk about excited!! (I can't seem to upload some of my very, very favorite pix, so this will have to do for now.)
The rocky outcroppings of the White Mountains were very different from the peaks of Vermont, and being the mountain woman that I am, I think I preferred New Hampshire. Both states were quite lovely though. Our little trailer, Dora the Explorer, did quite well for us and served our needs nicely. This was the longest trip we've taken in Dora, and since we were outside most of the time, her confined spaces didn't bother us. In fact, she served, as she always does, as a nice little haven for us when we returned "home" each night.
I could post a million pictures of this trip, but you get the idea.
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| I never saw so many white steeples. |
Winter brought very frigid temperatures to Western North Carolina (as it did to many states), but we enjoyed it nevertheless.
A pre-Christmas visit to the Biltmore with my friends Dave and Brenda Morrison put me in the Christmas spirit,
and a visit to Denver to spend Christmas with Carol's family made for a busy holiday. My winter days were broken up by substitute teaching, with a longer stint as a history teacher for a woman taking maternity leave. This experience reinforced my decision that my full time teaching days were over, done for, in the PAST! It wasn't a horrible experience, but I realized about half way through the nine week stint that I was NOT happy with the time it took to read ahead, teach, run off papers, and grade. When I recognized that there was a good reason why I retired, I vowed this would be my last long term subbing assignment. Now I'm happy to sub on a day by day basis, taking nothing with me but my leisure book and bringing home nothing but that same book!! 
While I was teaching full time, Carol was dealing with contractors and workmen on a daily basis. The result was a beautiful new kitchen!! We still have a kitchen in the country, but we sure don't have a country kitchen anymore. It's quite lovely and we're really proud of it. That kitchen, plus a new backyard space and patio (with new plants and a chiminea) and ALL the work that goes into those projects accounts for much of our time this spring. All of these projects have definitely improved the property as a whole, however, as have the many other projects we've completed in the past two years.
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| Proud Aunt Donna with Katie |
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| Way to go, Laurie!! |
May brought graduation visits with my niece Laurie, who graduated from law school in Nashville, then my niece Katie, who graduated from SCAD as an animator. I'm very proud of both of these women and love them dearly. Way to go, ladies!!
June was...well, what can you say about the trip of a lifetime? Carol, her sister Jean and I took a land/sea trip to Alaska on a Holland America cruise. Traveling together for the first time, we found we enjoyed each others' company and liked the same sort of activities, for the most part. We started in Fairbanks, did a brief tour of Denali, eventually made our way down to Seward and started our cruise part of the trip. We had booked a room with a veranda (I definitely suggest that) which allowed us to see lots from our room AND to alleviate the feeling of confinement in a relatively small cabin. We all like the outdoors, and we had booked excursions based on that. We experienced river cruises, fjords, glaciers, wildlife galore (sea birds, sea otters, whales, bald eagles, seals, bears etc.), more glaciers, and a float plane trip to see fjords from the air. I cannot begin to tell you all that we took in on this trip. I suppose my overall impression of Alaska is that it is much more beautiful than I expected and much, much more vast. Great expanses of wilderness that are almost incomprehensible make me happy that it is part of the United States. Seward's Folly indeed!! Alaska is still WILD in many areas and I hope it is forever maintained in just that pristine state. We also greatly enjoyed Vancouver, Victoria and Vancouver Island. A highlight of that visit was Buchart Gardens, which is every bit as spectacular as people say it is. It was simply stunning. To top off our visit to Vancouver, I went to my first concert with The Fray! Thanks, Ben, for being such a good host!
So...now it's July. Where has this year gone? I have been here at Ridgehaven over two years. Two wonderful years. Two years that have brought me more happiness than I ever dreamed possible. I can't say I've "accomplished" much. No Great American Novel. No volume of poetry. Not even much reading that would be considered "worthwhile." But I'm living on a wonderful property that is nicer than I ever dreamed I could own, I have hours and hours to while away my time doing whatever I choose. I am healthy with few exceptions (even my knee is doing well now, thank goodness). I do feel old age creeping into my joints and my back muscles, but so far it hasn't kept me from moving nine million, four hundred sixty-five thousand, two hundred and twelve (more or less) wheel barrows full of rocks (don't ask), or mowing the property, or hiking a little bit.
Back at home for a while, I have these things to look forward to...a new clutch of blue birds hatching and returning with their youngsters, watching rainbows from the front porch, sitting on the new patio with a fire in my chiminea, and most importantly, Laura's wedding here at Ridgehaven in early August. With relatively few chores left to complete before that joyous time, I have only a few concerns...will the grass I accidentally killed off grow back in time...what book will I read next...when will the new season of Sons of Anarchy begin... and when will my next nap start? I think I know the answer to that last question.
