David had the last two weeks off for vacation.  The weeks went by way too quickly and Monday he will be back at work.  We spent some time traveling as you know, but we are glad to be back to home sweet home.

Here is what has been going on the last couple of weeks:

We got to spend some time with David’s brother and sister-in-law, Bill and Terry.  We had so much fun with them and they taught us how to play Dominoes.  I intend to learn to play it better and challenge them next time we see them. Hope it won’t be so many years before we see them again.  They talked about bringing their four grandchildren to visit us next summer to meet our grandchildren.  Hope it will happen.

We walked the beach. Oh, how I love the beach and the wildness of the ocean.  This particular beach was almost deserted except for a very few people.  Met a girl walking her lab puppy and I had to pet it.  Guess we will be getting that new puppy next year.

We took a ferry ride.  It was windy.  Can’t you tell?

We stayed in motels where the maids folded the towels in decorative ways like these.  They looked like little shirts.

I really loved this carpet in one of the motels.

We  saw several barn quilts that weren’t on barns.  They are really popular in the south.

We passed this truck carrying all these chickens that were probably heading toward an untimely end.   I felt really badly seeing them all packed in like that when I know how wonderful my girls have it.  I told my girls when we got home they should be very happy that I am their owner.  They live a very spoiled life.  If they could only see how the other half lives.

We drove very curvy mountain roads.  This is really one road that met itself.   The little car on Garmin was spinning out of control on the curves.

We saw so much beauty in the North Carolina mountains.

We walked through a really old cemetery.  I’ll have to tell you about that some time.

We passed cotton fields.  One time in Texas we passed a cotton field and I got out of the car and went and picked a few bolls that I brought home and put in a quart jar that I labeled “quilt starter.”  I am sorry I stole those cotton bolls.  I still have them if the farmer wants them back.

We ate at several hometown restaurants.  This one was in Tennessee.  They served the most decadent desserts here that we had to eat ice cream with them to cut the sweetness!

We kept finding these little soaps in antique stores and by the end of the trip I had collected quite a few.  They all smell so good.  I like using homemade soap as I think it is better for your skin.

 

Of course I bought some fabric.  I really didn’t plan to, but some of it just jumped into my hands.  In one antique store they were selling rolls of fabric for a quarter.  A QUARTER.  Well, I would have been crazy not to have bought some. We also bought a few other things in the antique stores, but we were really trying not to overspend as we really don’t need anything more in our house.  Really.

I bought this batik fabric to make a skirt but I evidently didn’t look at it closely in the store because when I got home I noticed it had snails on it.   Do I really want to wear a skirt with snails on it?  We shall see.

When we finally arrived home David and I hurried and made some soup because we had starved ourselves on our trip.  Ahem.  Actually, I just found this recipe for soup like the Zuppa Tuscana we love at Olive Garden and wanted to try it.   It was better, I think, and made a huge amount.  Enough for several meals.  David and I laugh and say I make better coffee, bisquits and now soup than any we had in all the restaurants.  Why do we need to travel?

I was so glad to see Phoebe, Freedom, Pininnah, Jemima, Dorcas and Beatrice.  I think they were glad to see me as they rushed to the gate to meet me.  They now have free range in the garden area and have really been scratching up a storm.

Bonnie still sits watch.  One day before we left for our trip we were sitting by

the firepit and I saw movement in the chicken pen and it was Bonnie in there.  I had forgotten to close the gate!

Bonnie wasn’t interested in the chickens, however, she was looking at what they were eating.  She knows the hens get scraps every once in while and was looking for something good to eat.  I was so surprised that she didn’t even try to catch a chicken, thank heaven. I still won’t let her have free run of the coop, though.

All in all, it has been a wonderful two weeks.  We reconnected with some family we don’t see very often and had a great time together. We got to relax some and slow down and isn’t that what vacations are for?   Now to start planning our next vacation.

Whoops, I must go get David out of the stocks.  Bye.