Last Days at Kure Beach for Awhile

We spent our last full day at the beach house exploring again. This time we took a trip to Southport and then Bald Head Island which is only accessible by ferry -- in fact to get from our house to the island, the quickest way involved two ferries going and two ferries coming back. Bald Head Island has no cars on it and people get around on foot, by bicycle or in electric golf carts! This is the lighthouse which was close to the ferry terminal but which time prohibited us from visiting!

This is a view out to the shoals at the end of the island. This is one of the three places designated as the graveyard of the Atlantic because of the number of shipwrecks on the 150 sandbars there are here.

This is a view mid-island from the back of the moving golf cart where I was sitting with Debi.

This was the view out to the sandy beach -- very peaceful here and beautiful beaches.

This is the broken down golf cart! This was no major inconvenience except for waiting for them to bring another cart. Luckily we were on our way back and not at the opposite end of the island. Our two resident mechanics couldn't fix it as it was a broken switch.

A Day at Airlie Gardens, Wilmington NC

There is wisteria growing wild everywhere around here. All the woods have these purple vines adding a lot of color!!

This is a view into the tulip beds at Airlie Gardens. It was just beautiful.

The day started with a bit of rain and some tornado warnings but we were missed again! I did get to see lightening out over the ocean which is one of my favorite things. So with rain, a trip to the NC Aquarium was again in order! I did notice some different things this time and it was packed again which I think is wonderful! Kids must have vacation this week down here.

After a quick lunch and the clouds disappearing, we headed to Airlie Gardens to see if we could still see the azaleas. Last week was the Azalea Festival which is Wilmington's largest yearly event. We had even ventured down to the River to see some of the festivities on Sunday after Bill and Debi arrived. I did want to see the gardens though and they were definitely worth the wait! We left about 15 minutes before the park closed!

This is a closeup of some of the beautiful azaleas that were all over the gardens.



These were the Spring Gardens at Airlie.


These were what I called orchid azaleas as the flowers were huge and looked like orchids close up.




This was a pond with trees hanging over covered with Spanish moss.



This is Debi's dog Arliss, a yellow lab who refuses to walk down stairs so he had to use the elevator! After one ride on the elevator, he decided he didn't want to walk up stairs either and so insisted upon riding up on the elevator as well!

These are the two labs that visited with Bill and Debi, Arliss and Daisy. Both preferred to take the elevator down for their walks or a potty break!

I LOVE North Carolina!

This is looking up the street from the waterfront in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina.

We have spent the past few days entertaining my younger sister and her wonderful husband!! I should say they entertained us!! Not only did her husband take over the kitchen and all cooking, but my sister cleaned, did laundry and made many useful suggestions as well as purchases to help maintain this house!! I am ahead of the game now!! You couldn't have better guests!

We had one horrendous day of rain and fog almost the whole day but that was just to prepare us for the wonderful days afterwards! Yesterday we got to downtown Wilmington before the crowds descended for the Azalea Festival which is the main tourist event for the year! I don't know whether downtown Wilmington is always this nice, but it sure was yesterday!!

Wilmington is actually a seaport on the Cape Fear River which meets the Atlantic Ocean just three miles from my beach house. Downtown Wilmington is just beautiful and very reminiscent of Savannah to me. There are fewer shops right on the river but lots of nice restaurants. There is a boardwalk that goes right along the river for about a mile (it was just extended) lined with restaurants and about a block east on Front St., there are a number of shops as well as more restaurants. You could see the vendors setting up for the Azalea Festival right across the street from the boardwalk. We had no trouble finding parking which was nice. We walked the boardwalk and Warren and Bill spent their time watching the Coast Guard try to bring in and dock another of their very large vessels. It was a bit of a comedy of errors according to the guys and provided them with a lot of entertainment.

Bill spotted the USS North Carolina docked on the other side of the river and suggested we go over there for a better look. We stopped at Subway and picked up some sandwiches for lunch and had a picnic over there (did I say the weather has been glorious!!).

We watched a huge oil and chemical tanker amble down the river to go out to sea with its load dumped at the pipeline that is in Wilmington. It looked amazing on this relatively narrow river!

This was the Jo Oak with the tug boat that had just aided its turn in the river.

Today was even more beautiful than yesterday so we all headed to the beach to soak up some sunshine!!

Warren and Lisa spotted a diving duck a little ways down the beach which I had to try and photograph. After a number of tries, I finally got one where it wasn't diving and Lisa got a couple before it flew away. We identified it later as a Bufflehead which is a pretty common duck but not one I had seen before! I have also seen numerous house finches with their bright red chests -- they are redder than the New York purple finches we get at home.

Here is the silly Bufflehead riding a wave. He spent most of his time diving for food though!

Not quite sure whether this is a solitary or spotted sandpiper. It was a bit smaller than the willets with more distinctive coloring. I liked the justaposition of the bird against the waves breaking in the background.

Of course, it wouldn't be a picture day without one of George! This is George cuddled up to Lisa's cat Yahi. It was just one continuous furball. It is impossible to get pictures of Cheney as he is just too black and the camera doesn't recognize him!

North Carolina Aquarium and Fort Fisher Historic Site -- Random Sightseeing!

Saturday was just drenching rain, so Lisa and I decided to do some inside sightseeing and so drove down to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. It is about a mile and a half from the house and usually we would walk, but not Saturday!

The Museum was really crowded (note to self -- don't go again on a weekend) which surprised me as Fort Fisher isn't in a large metropolitan area for sure!! The museum is designed so that you can get an idea of the area in which you are living or visiting. The theme is the Cape Fear River area and the marine environment it goes out to. There are some other fauna represented as well though.



This is a young loggerhead turtle. The loggerheads return to the beaches where they were born to lay their eggs.





This was one of the gigantic lobsters they had but the coloring was so pretty. I liked the patterning on the back of the very young turtle above as well.


This is one of the local quails which was at the aquarium -- in fact quite a few of them walking around the conservatory.

This is a wood duck which is the only duck that nests in North Carolina! Now that was a surprise!

Sunday was another matter as the skies were the bright cerulean blue that I love although it was really windy! Lisa and I again decided to do the tourist thing and walked down to the Fort Fisher Historical Site which is right before the aquarium. My intent was really to see the beaches down at the end of the island which I did! I will probably head back down there in the next couple of days as there appears to be just big deserted beaches that stretch forever. The fishermen have returned also so the fish must be back!

You can see the blowing sand well in this picture. Lisa and I liked the blurring effect it had.


This was looking down the beach to the wide open spaces south of the Ft. Fisher Historical site.

There was quite a bit of surf as well as many whitecaps. We saw surfers later at our beach access.

This was again an illustration of the blowing sand giving the beach a really strange quality (although pretty stinging when it hit your skin like sandpaper!)

Our Newest Featherweight Fanatic!

Years ago, I met many of my friends on an internet group called Featherweight Fanatics! The Featherweight (FW) is an old Singer sewing machine which is wonderful for doing any kind of sewing. They are practically indestructible and are beloved by quilters. Well, one of our new kitties has picked this as his favorite sleeping place. Needless to say, not a lot of sewing is getting done now!

This is George, the quilting kitty getting ready to sew.

All tuckered out, he falls asleep hugging the sewing machine! This must be my cat!

Indulge Me -- New Grandbaby and New Kittens!

I mean, really, what could be cuter than new kittens and a new baby!!

This is George, one of the two new members of the clan! Lisa came down from Charlotte with him, our other adoptee and her two kitties. She had a car (and her company car at that) full of cats for sure but they were all relatively well behaved!

George is your typical orange tabby -- Mr Purrsonality Plus! He is already into everything, has done some strange things to my computer and is intent in knocking everything off the coffee table before he crawls up on my lap for lots of affection!

This is our other kitty who really doesn't have a name yet as his "given" name (Butterball) just doesn't fit!! He needs to be coaxed out from under the bed but a few pets from Lisa or I will do that easily. I am sure he will be more sure of himself in a couple of days. He is a beautiful very affectionate cat as well!!

This is of course my new granddaughter at a week old. She appears to be smiling here and has already won over her parents' hearts!

Here she is sleeping in her little moose outfit!

We don't know where the monkey chair came from but it would be something her grandfather would have bought her!! Doesn't she look sweet!

Life is good down here at the beach although it is a challenge to keep four kitties appeased while Lisa is off to work!!

I have been finishing up the three I spy quilts and also started work on my next more non-traditional quilt.

A Visit to Holden Beach NC

It was a lovely day for a drive and an old high school friend John invited me down to visit in Holden Beach which is about 15 miles from here as the crow flies but you have to cross water via ferry to get there so it takes about an hour and a half. We had an absolutely lovely day and caught up on life in general. We lived kind of parallel lives as he and his lovely wife Marilyn have two daughters just about the same age as my two daughters with similar personalities and drives. It has been a long time since I have spent any time with anyone from high school (after all our next reunion is the 50th). When I had originally shared some emails with John, I remembered him very well from high school as he was one of the nice guys. It wasn't clear to me until this visit why I remembered him so well. We were in a special advanced group of kids put together in junior high school so we were probably closer to this group than any other and remembered many of the same people.

The picture above is one I "stole" from John's Facebook posting. His wife Marilyn took it of us with the ocean in the background at their lovely home.

The day was topped off with a lovely video phone call where I got to see my new grandchild in action!! She is beautiful! Technology is just wonderful!Can't wait to get out to Seattle in a few weeks now!