You Can Go Home Again - But You Might Not Want to

Last month we went back to St. Louis to visit friends and family. We also made sure to hit some of our favorite food and tourist attractions. For the first part of the trip, Jim and I were together for the food and attractions. Our first stop after picking up the rental car was Imo's Pizza, and we hit the one near our old house since it was too early to check in to our hotel. After eating, we stopped by Jim's old business, SWT Design, to say hello to some folks. Then we drove by the house that had been our home for 32 years. It was so nice to see that the new owners are taking good care of the 1902 beauty.

Imo's & Favazza's

That night we had dinner with Jim's former business partner and his wife at Favazza's, which is our favorite Italian restaurant in St. Louis. The next day we visited the Missouri Botanical Garden, Merb's Candies, Dad's  Cookie Company, and Ted Drewe's. We were saddened to hear that Ted had died the previous month. He was quite an institution in the area! We had dinner with another couple that night.

MoBot, Merb's, Dad's, & Drewe's

The rest of our time together passed quickly, with stops at the Missouri History Museum to see the World's Fair exhibit, looking at new SWT projects in the area, and finding a nice spot for a sunset. It was also great to see my sisters family for just the second time since she passed in 2020. We, of course, managed to get in a little pickleball as well.

Missouri History Museum, Creve Coeur Lake, MO Pickleball Club

Jim then met up with his motorcycle riding buddy, and they took off south for a few days ride. I drove out to my friend Diane's to stay with her for a bit. She has a new house out in the O'Fallon area, and it was fun to see her place. We spent time eating, walking, going to parks, and checking out the Rawlings baseball museum in Westport.

fun adventures

The fun times were somewhat marred by Hurricane Helene, which somehow managed to swing up and around to North Carolina. With all the rain, Duke Energy had to release water from the Lake Norman dam, which then flooded our lake and subsequently the lake below us. Our community was without power for about 30 hours, so of course food spoilage was a big concern. Our area was very lucky compared to what went on in the mountain region of North Carolina, however. It will take years to recover there.

My flight to come home was on September 28th, while Jim was scheduled to come back on October 2nd. But something happened to my rental car on the 28th that messed up all those plans. And it is why I may not want to go home again. I'll write about that in my next post.

High School Memories

Charlotte to Des Moines

My high school class recently had it's 50th reunion, and we flew to Des Moines for the festivities. I can remember when my mother-in-law told me she was going to her 50th and I thought, "Man, you are old!" And somehow here I am...

The flight to Des Moines was blissfully uneventful. It wasn't until we got to the Budget Rental Car counter that we encountered a snafu. I had requested a small SUV, which usually means a Rav 4 or the like. The lady told me that she had a Jeep Wrangler for me. I informed her that no, she did not because I requested a "small" SUV. She said my options were the Jeep, a minivan (are you kidding me???) or a pickup truck (seriously? I'm 5'3" on a good day.) 

I chose the Jeep, but as it ended up it was a Jeep Wrangler Sahara - one they hadn't even bothered to wash for us. It is definitely a vehicle better suited for off-roading than driving around town or on the interstate. It has a terrible ride, uncomfortable seats, and is noisy as heck on the road. While it was supposed to be a hybrid, the gas mileage we got was 19 miles to the gallon. The best I can say is thank goodness it had a grab handle so I could hoist myself up into the driver's seat. And it was cooler to show up at the reunion in that as opposed to a minivan!

We decided to stay at the reunion hotel in West Des Moines, as did our good friends Kathy and Paul. The four of us had dinner the first night with some other Des Moines friends. The next morning we were joined at breakfast by my friend Mary Ann. She and her family lived right across the street from me in Des Moines, and I often baby-sat their three kids. It was great to catch up with her.

We were excited to see that Smash Park - an indoor/outdoor pickleball and games facility - was located right across the parking lot from us. We checked it out, and even got some games in Friday afternoon before getting ready for the informal event at Felix and Oscar's Restaurant that night.

Smash Park

Felix and Oscar's was packed, which meant a good turnout from our class and their guests. But it was very difficult to hear and talk to people. I did get to spend a little time with my speech teacher, Bill Springer. We found a quieter back room at the restaurant, and shared a table with a few of my classmates and their spouses.

Saturday morning we did a tour of my high school and wow, what a lot of changes! My class had 439 students that graduated in the spring of 1974. Another 30 or so had graduated early. The school had 1,200 students in grades 10-12. Today the school only has 900 students in grades 9-12. We had perhaps 3 Black students in the whole school when I was there, and that was the extent of our diversity. Today over 40 languages are spoken at Hoover, so English as Second Language classes are a huge deal. It was fun to walk the hallways again to relive memories and see all the improvements. 

Hoover High School

After the tour we went directly to Merle Hay Mall as the class had organized some play at Dink's Pickleball. Dink's is actually located in an old Kohl's store, and what a great reuse of empty retail space. Sixteen of us came out to play pickleball, and we had a lot of fun!

Dink's Pickleball

Jim and I broke off after pickleball while he sought out some billiards with Paul, and I drove to my old neighborhood. It's always interesting to go back to the house where I lived for 17 years. It stills looks really good, as does the whole area. We met back at the hotel to get ready for the evening program, dinner and music. That night it was much easier to have conversations with classmates. We had a great time, and I'm very glad that we went. We have already lost so many from our class, so it really points out how we never know if or when we will see each other again.

50th reunion

The next morning we went to another friend's house for breakfast. Steve and Michele lived down the street from us in Webster Groves for awhile before they moved away. Coincidentally, they also graduated from Iowa State University, and we have remained friends for nearly 40 years. They are one of those couples where even when you don't see them or talk to them for years, you can pick right back up where you left off. 

From there we headed up to Charles City to see Jim's sister and her family. We stopped first at the High Trestle Bridge, which I had read about but never seen. It is part of the Iowa trails system. It was very cool, and definitely worth the detour.

High Trestle Bridge

We had not been to Charles City since Jim's mom died. It was hard to go knowing that neither Lorraine or Jerry would be there to greet us as they both died within months of each other in 2020. But it was good to see family and friends in the area and catch up with all of them. A couple of cousins even drove down from Minnesota to see us, which was fantastic. We also drove around town to see all the beautiful murals that have been installed since we were last there.

Charles City Murals

The visits to Des Moines and Charles City prove that you can go home again. It just might look a little different from the last time you were there.

Still Waters

 Last weekend we finally had the opportunity to take our kayaks out on Mountain Island Lake. It's been quite a while since we've been able to do that. But the lake was calm, the heat wasn't too oppressive, and we didn't have anything else scheduled for the morning.

There were so many birds out! We put on our Merlin app, and it quickly picked up the sound of over a dozen different birds (including a wild turkey!) We saw a flock of geese, several herons, osprey and egrets. The water is a little high right now, so we were able to get back into some coves that are sometimes too shallow even for a kayak. It was a beautiful and restful adventure.

Mountain Island Lake

Escape to the Beech

Our friends purchased a condo in Beech Mountain, North Carolina recently. They invited us up for a visit last weekend. We have stayed in the complex where their unit is located in the past. It has nice views of the mountains and ski lift, and has an indoor pool and tennis/pickleball courts. It is walking distance to a playground, dog park, small grocery store and several restaurants.

We watched as our friend played pickleball in a tournament on Friday at the Beech Mountain Club, which is a really great facility. We have played there before with some other friends who have a membership. The rest of the weekend we hiked, played Mexican Train and just enjoyed the company of a really fun couple. While it did rain a bit, the temperature was nearly 15 degrees cooler than what we left behind, so that was a welcome relief in August for sure. What a great natural area less than 3 hours away from us!

Beech Mountain, NC

The weather has broken a little bit here. Today the high only hit 82 degrees, but what I love most is the fact that it gets into the 60s at night. It's wonderful to sit in the screened porch in the morning and drink my hot tea while catching up on the news. 

Last night was a Super Blue Moon. The moon is called "super" when it is closest to the earth and thus appears larger. Typically a season only has three full moons, but summer 2024 has four of them - thus the "blue moon". Our cloud cover parted in time for me to snap a picture of it. Gorgeous!

Super Blue Moon

Debby Downer

When we looked at retirement locations, we both agreed that we did not want to live near the coasts. We didn't want to have to worry about hurricanes and all that comes with those. We were also happy to leave the tornadoes of the Midwest behind. So we settled in an area just northwest of Charlotte.

Well, the joke was on us! Our first fall here there was a tornado warning. As our house is built on a slab, there is no basement. We hadn't considered tornadoes here, so we searched for the safest spot in the house to hunker down during the storm. That ended up being our laundry room. Fortunately no tornadoes have touched down anywhere near us, but it is still scary when the warning comes.

We also did not expect to get the backlash from hurricanes here. I'm not sure if being by the lake exacerbates weather conditions or not, but Tropical Storm Debby brought us crazy winds and rain. We watched as the trees out back bowed to the wind (though none fell down), and the rain pelted our plants and house. We received 7 inches of rain in a 24 hour period on Thursday. It was crazy.

We only lost power for about 45 minutes, but many people were without for hours. Roads were flooded, trees came down and the area was just a general mess Thursday into Friday. 

I guess there is truly no where you can live that is without perils of some type. It has just been surprising to see the weird weather here. But the view makes a lot of the other things seem forgivable.

calm after the storm

More Lip Service

My dermatologist was able to squeeze me in to have my lip zapped on Wednesday. Even though that is my favorite pickleball day, I just wanted to get on with trying to get my lower lip healed. Even if that meant making it worse to get better.

I'm no stranger to the torment of liquid nitrogen (cryotherapy), having had many spots frozen on my skin over the past 30 plus years. But I have never had my lip treated with it, and was warned that it would hurt and look bad for at least a week. I figured that was one way to help me along with my class reunion diet - less likely to eat if your mouth hurts, right?

It did, indeed, hurt like a son of a gun when she froze the two spots on my lip. It brought tears to my eyes for sure. Maybe that's why it's call cryotherapy? But once that settled down, the pain has not been bad at all. It is difficult to eat without bumping the sores, and my lip looks horrible. It looks so bad that when I had to do some errands yesterday, I wore a mask. There was no reason for the people in the bank or stores to have to see that mess. I'm hoping it looks better over the next few days, and I'm really praying the zapping does the trick. The doctor did warn me that sometimes it takes two tries! 

The best news I got at the doctor's office is that my biopsy from July 29th came back negative. So at least I don't have to schedule an ED&C for the spot on my right shoulder. Now if the lip behaves, I won't have to go back there until my 6-month appointment in January.

lip cryotherapy

Friendly Visit

Some friends from St. Louis came to visit us last week following a conference they attended in Asheville. While it is always a bit of work to get ready for guests, it also motivates us to quit procrastinating and get some jobs done around the house.

National Whitewater Center

It was fun to show them a bit of what we love about living in this area. First and foremost is our house, with the lovely view of Mountain Island Lake. While it was a bit hot, looking out back at the lake is always refreshing. 

We took them to the U.S. National Whitewater Rafting Center, as that is unique to Charlotte and a short drive from our house. The Center is a 1,300-acre outdoor recreational and athletic training facility for whitewater rafting, kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking and ice skating.

There are also numerous trails for hiking in addition to biking, aerial sports including an obstacle course, and multiple zipline options. Newer additions include a dog park and Wildwoods, a play area for children. The Center has a decent cafe, and we had lunch there while watching the activities on the water course and the zipliners flying by above.

The second day we drove up to Grandfather Mountain where it was at least 10 degrees cooler than the Charlotte area. At one point the temperature dropped to 68! Unfortunately it was cloudy, so the view wasn't as stellar as it normally is. It also started to rain, so we got back across the metal bridge in case of lightning. We stopped at a fun restaurant for lunch before driving back to our house.

Grandfather Mountain

On the way back we drove through a couple of cute little mountain towns. Once back on the highway south, we found a produce stand on the side of the road. I was able to pick up a peck of peaches. After our guests left, we made thirteen and a half jars of peach jam. There is a lot of sweetness in our future!

peach jam

What's Up, Doc?

biopsy

Yesterday was my regular six-month checkup with the dermatologist. She froze one spot on my right cheek that has been continually peeling. Unfortunately, she also saw a spot on my right shoulder that she felt should be biopsied. That wouldn't have been too bad except it is right where my bra strap sits. I am highly sensitive to any adhesives, and I've yet to find any bandage that does not make my skin break out in an itchy rash. While the wound doesn't necessitate a bandage, the fact that I have to keep it smeared with vaseline and its location make it impossible not to keep it covered for a few days.

But I was most interested in hearing what the doctor thought about my lip situation. I showed her a photograph from when it looked its worst, and she does not think it is due to cold sores. She believes it is severe lip damage. I don't know what caused it to react so extreme as I wear a big-brimmed hat if I am going to be outside, as well as Z-Block on my lips. 

She wanted to use the liquid nitrogen on my lip, which she said would hurt and look bad for about a week. As we have company coming today, I did not have her do it. She said just schedule it when it's convenient for me. When would that be? When is it convenient to have your lip look awful for a week, and have issues eating and drinking??? In the meantime she called in a prescription for an ointment that should at least make the lip feel better until I can get that done.

Our community brought in a gal from the Carolina Raptor Center yesterday afternoon to talk about their organization as well as raptors we might see in our area. She was great and very enthusiastic about her job. What I wasn't expecting is that she would bring three birds with her. She also had talons, a small skull and bird wings to show us. It was a wonderful presentation, and well worth missing our normal Wednesday pickleball session.

Carolina Raptor Center

Read My Lips

It's now five weeks that I have been dealing with lip issues. My bottom lip is much improved, no question. But it is still sore and sensitive. I have my six month skin check with my dermatologist on Tuesday, so I decided to wait it out to see what she has to say. Hopefully there is just some prescription cream I can put on to finally heal it up. I'll also be hoping that she doesn't see anything that needs to be burned off or biopsied. We have guests arriving on Thursday and I don't want to have to deal with any of that while they are here. Fingers crossed...

The dog days of summer have certainly been here. We had excessively high heat here, like a lot of the country. We were in a drought, but this week brought us some much-needed rain. It was great to get a break from the daily watering of our outdoor plants. The temperature has also been a bit cooler the past few days.

We so enjoy having the lake out our back door. The other day we watched an eagle fishing. He caught such a big catfish with his talons that he could not lift up out of the water. Instead he channeled his inner Michael Phelps and did the breast stroke across the lake. When he got to the shore, he rested and had himself a feast. My camera lens isn't long enough to capture an image that far away, but it was certainly something to see. Fortunately I can always get a nice sky picture from my backyard.

Mountain Island Lake

Lip Service

damaged lips

Ever since we returned from visiting our daughter in Los Angeles last month I have been having a problem with irritation on my lower lip. Because I wore a wide-brimmed hat and use Z Blok on my lips, I was surprised to have any issues. To be fair, my lips are always sensitive due to prior sun damage. With my history of 19 skin cancers to date, my dermatologist had suggested a couple visits ago that I put a chemotherapy cream on my lips due to the sun damage. I've used the cream once on my forehead with dreadful side effects, so I did not jump on that suggestion. I don't know how you would eat or drink during that treatment. 

Regardless, my lips have gotten worse over the past two weeks, to the point where I was indeed having problems eating and drinking. My usual Carmex didn't help, nor did Vaseline or Aquaphor for lips. Concerned that I might have an underlying infection going on, I called my dermatologist first. She is on vacation, so they suggested I go to my primary care doctor. She also is on vacation, but one of the other physicians could see me last Tuesday.

After asking me a lot of questions and looking at my lip, he feels that this is just a cold sore. While I admit that I do get those on occasion, they are always on my upper lip and I have never had them spread across the entire lip. It also did not start out with the usual tingling sensation I get when a cold sore is coming on. He prescribed Valacyclovir, which is a drug used for cold sores and also shingles, chicken pox, etc. You only get four pills and take two at a time, twelve hours apart. He also said to use Abreva on my lip.

My pharmacy did not even get them in until Wednesday afternoon, so I took the first dose at 5:30 p.m. Sadly I was awake early enough the next morning to take the next two at 5:30 a.m. Unfortunately, this medicine works best if you take it just as you experience the first symptoms, and I was already two weeks into my ordeal.

The good news is that I did not suffer any side effects from the drug. That's good to know for the future when I get another cold sore. But while the lip definitely looks better, it is still not 100%. I have not been going outside during the day at all as I don't want to experience a setback. The doctor said if it didn't get better, and for sure if it got worse, to let them know as it might turn out to be a different kind of infection. I'll probably see how things go over the next few days before I make any decision on the next steps.

Smithsonian National Zoo

We drove up to Springfield to be with our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter for the long holiday weekend. Virginia always has clever signage along the interstate, and this trip was no different. Way to get across the point to not drink and drive, Virginia! 

Virginia road signs

National Zoo

Because it was so hot and our granddaughter is still pretty young we mostly stayed close to the house, going outside early in the day to let her play with her splash pool and water table. But on July 5th we headed out early to go to the National Zoo. My husband and I had not been there before, and it was the little gal's first time as well. Until we arrived I had no idea that the zoo is part of the Smithsonian, which explains the free admission. You just have to pay $30 to park.

Even though the temperature was pretty high, the humidity was low which made our time there bearable (pardon the pun). It also helped that they had many mist sprayers available, and some of the exhibits are inside as well.

We have been to a lot of zoos, and this one was pretty nice even though the pandas were sent back to China. They are supposed to get a new pair sometime later this year. Apparently the two countries have worked out their differences, at least as far as pandas go. 

National Zoo

orangutan

My favorite exhibit, though that seems like too small of a word to use, was the orangutans. They have two separate enclosures, but to get from one to the other they climb overhead on cables called the Orangutan Transportation System, aka the O-Line. The visitor walking path is directly below part of the cabling systems, so you definitely don't want to be standing there when one goes (literally) overhead!

Overall, we had a great time in Springfield with our family. And of course it is always a pleasure to spend quality time with our only grandchild.

July 4th in June

fireworks

Our community of Mount Holly has their 4th of July fireworks show on the Thursday before the 4th, which meant that the fireworks this year would take place on June 27th. That seems pretty early, but that's how they roll here. We decided to go to see them since the weather was not too hot.

But some residents of our community were going to go to Muddy River Distillery at 7:00 that night. Muddy River is the oldest legal rum distillery in the Carolinas. It used to be in Belmont, but the owners purchased the oldest mill in Gaston County and renovated it into a beautiful bar and event space. It happens to be located in Mount Holly, which is great for us as we love their rum.

Muddy River Distillery

We parked on Main Street around 6:20, and walked the short couple of blocks to the distillery. A food truck was there so we grabbed dinner and settled in with rum cocktails. Then our neighbors began to arrive, and we ended up with about 14 people there. It was fun to catch up with everyone.

As it began to get dark, we walked back to our car, grabbed our chairs and some water, and crossed the street to the Mount Holly Community Garden parking lot. It was a good location on a hill, and we had a nice view of the fireworks. The best part was that afterwards we were able to make a quick u-turn on Main and head home. No traffic jam for us this year!

Mount Holly fireworks

For the Birds

We have had some fun bird activity in the back yard recently. It surprised the heck our of me when this sharp-shinned hawk landed on my bird bath for a drink. Then he hung out there for awhile checking things out. He came back the next day as well.

sharp-shinned hawk

While typically the goldfinches congregate at my finch feeder, they have found now found our coneflowers. Both the females and the males love to have a snack with those. Hopefully they won't beat the snot out of the flowers as they have done in the past.

goldfinches

It Never Rains in California

Manhattan Beach

"It never rains in California, but girl don't they warn ya..." I thought a lot about the song lyrics to the 1972 song by Albert Hammond while on a recent trip to the Los Angeles area to visit our daughter. Since she lives in a one bedroom unit (as the landlord calls it but it is really a loft with no doors), we decided to rent a two bedroom, two bath home on Manhattan Beach through AirBNB so she could stay with us.

It was a lovely place just one block from the beach with nice ocean views from the large deck. But what I didn't realize was that the whole area would be shrouded in fog all morning the whole week. I had only checked the weather for LA (my bad!) and packed accordingly. It was a good ten degrees cooler in Manhattan Beach, and without benefit of the sun it seemed even cooler. I only had one pair of jeans and a nice pair of slacks with me, so I had to launder those to get by.

Outside of the gray, though, Manhattan Beach was a great place to stay. It's very walkable, with grocery stores and restaurants to choose from. We were lucky in that our house had a garage, so our daughter could park her car there for the days we wanted to head out and play tourist.

We spent time in downtown Los Angeles visiting the museums, went to Huntington Gardens (my favorite place to visit) and sat down for High Tea there, took the ferry to Catalina Island and played some pickleball. It was great to spend a week with our girl and celebrate her birthday. That doesn't happen too often anymore.

Scenes from Los Angeles

I Love a Parade

The annual Mount Holly Lantern Parade is in October, but the lantern making crew here at Imagery has already been working since the beginning of April on ideas for our entry. This year's theme is "The Fantastical World of Flight." Our small brainstorming committee came up with lots of ideas. Since we are in North Carolina, the Wright Brothers immediately came to mind. But we felt that was too obvious. We tossed around Dumbo, Casper, the Jetsons, Aladdin, Tinkerbell...

We have a large number of volunteers who, while they may never come to help build the lanterns, love to walk in the parade. So we wanted something that could involve a number of walkers. We also take great care to engage the children on the parade route, because they are so enthusiastic. Having minions and 101 Dalmatians in the past were big hits! We have taken first place in community entries all three years we have entered, so we feel some pressure to do something bigger and better.

lantern construction

We finally settled on Santa, his sleigh and reindeers. The sleigh will be five feet in length, and each reindeer four feet in length. We are also building lantern gift boxes, lollipops, and probably candy canes to really make a statement. Down the road we will ask the parade organizer if we can be the last entry in the parade. Just like in the Macy's Parade, we feel Santa should bring up the rear. Who cares about Christmas in July - we have Christmas in June going here!

What is Memorial Day?

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

Every year when Memorial Day comes around it is amazing to see how many people do not truly understand the significance of the day. Most commonly they seem to think it is the time to thank all veterans and/or those currently serving in the military. In fact, it is a day to mourn and remember all the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the armed forces of our country.

That distinction made me wonder about whether my 3rd great-grandfather Andrew Hungler should be honored on Memorial Day? Andrew enlisted in the US Navy in August of 1864, where he served as quartermaster on the USS Milwaukee. The ship supported the Union forces during the Mobile Campaign as they attacked the Confederate fortifications defending the city of Mobile, Alabama in early 1865. On 28 March 1865 the Milwaukee struck a mine and later sank. All of her crew members were rescued by the USS Kickapoo.

However Andrew came home from the war later that year as a cripple. The cause was listed as rheumatism, which they said he contracted on the ship. There are extensive medical records of Civil War soldiers, and they show over 160,000 cases of acute rheumatism, and acute rheumatic fever was known to be the main cause. Heart damage from this disease is common, and indeed Andrew succumbed to heart failure in 1869. He had been bedridden from the time he came home from the war.

So my question is, on Memorial Day do we honor our military men and women who died as a result of their time in the service? It seems to me that we should as in Andrew's case he would not have gotten rheumatic fever had he not been on a ship during the war. But the answer is no - Memorial Day is only for those who died during their service. I'll honor his memory on Veteran's Day instead.

Battle of the Oldies but Goodies

Cresswind versus Imagery

Last Saturday the pickleball club at Imagery participated in a tournament at Cresswind, another 55+ active adult community in the Charlotte area. This is the second time we have played there, and it always such a fun time. They have four permanent pickleball courts, but their tennis courts are striped for pickleball which gives them eight additional courts. We have never hosted them because we just have two permanent pickleball courts. We can only add an additional four pickleball courts by taping out the two tennis courts here. 

The weather was perfect with blue skies, light winds and temperatures in the mid-70s. The clubs were broken down by sex and skill level. We played the same team two times, for a total of six games. It was competitive and fun, and my partner and I won four of our six games. Our two losses were to the same team, and they went on to win our division, so we felt pretty good about our performance.

At the end of the day, we all just love the game of pickleball. We are blessed at this stage of our lives to be able to participate in the sport, have fun, and make new friends. Pickle on!

Thoughts on Mother's Day

Mother's Day

Mother's Day always brings mixed emotions. For me the day has always been about my mom, and later my mother-in-law. Even when I became a mom in 1985, I stilled viewed that day as being about the two most important women in my life. My mom died in a car accident in 1989, and my mother-in-law quietly and lovingly patched the hole in my heart. Since she is now gone as well, it is a bittersweet day.

Both of our children live pretty far away from us, so I did not see them on Sunday, except through FaceTime. God bless technology and the capabilities it brings to help us keep in touch. My husband made me breakfast, and then we later picked up lunch and ate it at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte in their botanical garden. It was a beautiful day, and many people had the same idea as us.

UNCC Botanical Garden

Later Jim grilled steaks, and we enjoyed a nice dinner in our screened porch. We went outside after it got dark in an attempt to see the aurora borealis, but old aurora did not make an appearance. Apparently people in our neighborhood saw it on Friday night, but we missed it.

Dallas Park

Gaston County held a household hazardous waste collection on Saturday at Dallas Park. We have been collecting used batteries for awhile, and I thought it was a good opportunity to get them out of the house. It was beautiful Saturday morning, so we decided to take the 35 minute drive to the park and dispose of the batteries.

We were the only ones pulling into the drop off location at the time, so all the employees rushed to the car to get our materials. Several hustled to the back of our SUV, expecting me to pop open the back for them to unload items. I felt really bad just rolling down a window to hand them a plastic bag partially filled with batteries. I think they were quite surprised and disappointed.

After the drop off we drove through the park. What a surprise it turned out to be! It has three ponds you can fish in or walk around, a couple of playgrounds, a splash pad, ball fields and tennis courts, an equestrian center including a camping area, and numerous pavilions. Especially of interest to us were the numerous historic building located there. There was a history of each one listed, and a QR code you could scan to see photos of the inside of each building. 

The beauty of the park made it worth the drive to properly dispose of our batteries. I hope to be able to take my granddaughter there the next time they come for a visit.

Dallas Park

Charlotte Douglas International Airport Tour

On Wednesday thirty-six members of our community took a tour of the Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). As one of the top ten busiest airports in the United States, CLT always has some construction going on. Right now a new terminal is being finished up, and it will have seven gates for Delta Airlines and three gates for other airlines. Construction is also underway for a new public viewing area that will include a playground, picnic area and space for food trucks. The biggest project is a new runway, the fourth for Charlotte and the only new runway being built in the US right now.

Most of us on the tour thought we would be looking at the inside workings of the airport, but in fact that was not the case. They put us on two buses so we could see the massiveness of the airport holdings and get a closer look at the control tower and out buildings, including the original airport terminal building. We also parked by the runway and watched some planes take off and land.

The tour was interesting, and I hope we go back for the other tour which does include going inside the terminals. They are also getting ready to open the Sullenberger Aviation Museum in June. A Smithsonian affiliate, the museum will house artifacts of importance to North and South Carolina aviation history. Of special note is the "Miracle on the Hudson" collection, which will include the actual jet that landed on the Hudson River in 2009. The plane was headed to Charlotte on the day it made its emergency landing, which is why the local museum received the exhibit. That would be another fun field trip for us to go on.

Charlotte Airport

North Carolina Road Trip

Woolworth store in Greensboro

Earlier this week we decided to see some of the other local sites available near us in North Carolina. On Monday we drove to Greensboro, where I had pre-purchased tickets to the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. It was at the F.W. Woolworth's counter on February 1, 1960 that four black North Carolina Agricultural & Technical College freshman conducted a sit-in at the whites-only counter of the store. They did this to protest segregation, and refused to leave when denied service, staying until the store closed. Their non-violent protest sparked a movement across America.

The above is just one part of the museum, and we were not allowed to take any photos inside. As a photographer, it was hard to hold back from taking a picture of the actual lunch counter inside the museum. But our tour guide was excellent as he led us through the various rooms and exhibits. Though I learned a lot of information in history classes growing up, it was totally different to experience it through the museum and Darren's story-telling.

We had lunch in town and then visited several of the beautiful gardens in the area. We found the street art to be interesting as well.

scenes from Greensboro

We left Greensboro later in the afternoon and headed to Asheboro, where we spent the night. On Tuesday we drove the short distance to the North Carolina Zoo. On the zoo's website they suggested you avoid coming towards the end of the week as that is when the school kids come. Much to our surprise (and the zoo's, apparently) the place was teeming with kids. It was not the experience we were looking for as the sidewalks were nearly impassable with the crowds, not to mention getting close to the exhibits was quite difficult.

Nevertheless we persevered, and enjoyed the nearly five mile walk to see the different areas of the zoo. We would very much like to go back when our granddaughter gets a little older to share the experience with her.

North Carolina Zoo

A (not so) Total Eclipse of the Sun

83% eclipse of the sun

Yesterday a solar eclipse traveled across America. We were headed back from visiting our son and his family in Virginia, and did not think we would have an opportunity to see any of the eclipse. Charlotte was to get only a little over 83% totality at any rate. Surprisingly traffic was light on the interstates we traveled on. I guess everyone was clogging up the highways on their way to total eclipse sites, so the east coast was in the clear.

The moon eclipsed the sun around 3:11, and we were home in plenty of time to see what 83% gets you. Our next door neighbor was in her back yard with out of town guests, and they had extra glasses for us to borrow. Someone even had the protective cover for the phone lens, but I was quite unsuccessful in capturing any photos with my iPhone. It was fun to watch the moon in progress, but while the light dimmed a bit, it was still quite bright out.

In 2017 we had totality where we lived in Missouri, and that was an amazing experience and quite different from what occurred yesterday. Then it got completely dark out, the birds stopped chirping, the night insects began making noise, and the streetlights came on. I guess because we were able to take part in the one seven years ago, I was not in a rush to drive many hours to see the one this year.

On Island Time

Folly Field Beach

Last week I drove to Hilton Head Island to meet up with a good friend from St. Louis. Diane has a timeshare on the island, and invited me to join her. When I picked the week I wanted to come, I did not realize that it was going to be Easter week. Hoo boy, was the area ever crowded! Traffic was heavy on my drive down and very stop and go once I got close to Hilton Head.

While the weather could have been better, there were still plenty of activities to keep us busy. With all my skin cancer, I'm not one to sit out on the beach anyway. Though I do like to walk it in the morning and evening to catch the sunrise/sunset colors on the water.

Folly Field Beach sunrises

A weird occurrence that I have seen every time I have come to this area is the abundance of jellyfish on the beach. Since they are not really fish, it is more appropriate to call them jellies. Usually I have just seen one jelly here and one jelly there, but this time there was a large grouping of them on the beach by our condo. I guess that jellies travel in "blooms", and they can be washed up on shore together. I wondered what happened to them once they are on the beach, and then in the morning I saw seagulls eating them. Turtles also like to consume jellies. The circle of life...

Folly Field Beach jellies

It was wonderful to get away for a week and spend time with Diane as I only get to see her every couple of years or so. It was a rejuvenating time for both of us.