Christmas is supposed to be joyful and holy!

My husband went into town today to do the banking today and to run a few errands and as usual to do his "socializing" with the town folk. He ran into a local clergyman who we've known since our kids were in grade school.  It is hard as men of faith with families not to then enter into a discussion about prayer and the need for more of it with current events being what they are and with Christmas upon us.

When the Rev.B talked about the holidays he expressed his feelings and we agree that this is a time for joy for light amongst the darkness and we celebrate Christs birth in a very few days. And we who grieve can rejoice because we believe in Him.

And it seems to me for those of us who do believe it is getting harder and harder to express our beliefs without ridicule if we choose to express or practice what we believe when we are in public.

For some reason it seems something as simple as the words "Merry Christmas" is cause for offense; this I do not understand.  And this was something the Rev.B told Bill he saw in one of the large department stores in the mall a few days ago.

I was speechless when I heard this story. And the actions of both of these men, unbelievable. All I will say is that I am profoundly disappointed that the Christian man failed to be Christian in his response. I'll just tell you what I was told happened and let you be the judge and you can tell me what you think in your comments.

He (Rev B) was standing on line at the store (not our town) but at the mall when the person in front of him was finished checking out said to the cashier. "Have a Merry Christmas."

The person replied. " I'm insulted that you would even say that to me!"
The customer said. " Your insulted that I wished you a Merry Christmas what's so insulting about me wishing you a Merry Christmas?"
Cashier. " Like I said you should keep it to yourself I'm insulted."
"Really?" Exclaimed the customer who was now agitated.
Quickly adding."Usually I would have to say something much worse to insult someone."
"Like go fuck yourself." Now you can be insulted" he mumbled back turned as he walked out.

Oh my goodness people can't we just be nice?!
What is wrong with you people?

You may wish me a Merry Christmas, or a Happy Hanukkah even a Happy Kwanzaa, or tell me Allah blesses me I am good with it all! Because if you love God and believe in your heart then I will gladly accept you good wishes and your blessing. I cannot understand how someone could be insulted by it.

I believe in Jesus but I respect you if you believe otherwise and I pray you feel the same about my beliefs.

I notice however in stores and in the schools they're doing a lot of the Happy Holiday wishing if anything at all. My view is it's a result of a lot of political correct nonsense that is just getting out of hand.

What say you?

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From Virginia to NY and back again..

I have to say, Thanksgiving holiday has to be the worst time to travel! But family is so important to me and I just couldn't miss Thanksgiving dinner at my brother and sister in laws or my cousins wedding. Going from point A to point B which in this case is Virginia to New York and back again is becoming a real pain in the ass and has become especially difficult for my Mom as she ages. Realistically what should be a seven to eight hour drive tops ends up being a ten to eleven hour drive due to holiday traffic. It is truly horrible.

But staying home and missing the festivities isn't really an option. Who could miss the opportunity to hang out with these ladies?

My niece Alex, my cousin Jeanmaire in blue,
my sister in law and my niece Sydney in the front left.

I like to cook and frequently host holidays and parties at my house. But my brother and sister in law do such an amazing job on Thanksgiving dinner and that gives me the freedom to have a bit of fun baking.

The picture below is a yummy new recipe of a pumpkin yeast dinner roll that I tried for the first time this year. They taste as good as they look! I got the recipe on the blog beyond kimchee. If you'd like to check out the recipe yourself just click on the blog name and it will take you to the link for the recipe. We just made one small change in the original recipe because my nephew is deathly allergic to any tree nuts and they were the ingredient she used for stems, we substituted dates.

pumpkin yeast rolls

And the wedding; I just love weddings don't you? My cousin Howie and his wife Lorraine's son Brian got married to Lauren. Young love....sigh. They are a stunning young couple aren't they? They're off to Hawaii for their romantic honeymoon and then back to New York City to their new life in their new apartment.

Lauren and Brian

And the reception was at an amazing and elegant country club on the north shore of Long Island. We drank, ate and danced the night away in celebration of this young couple starting their lives together.

Standing is my fathers sister Marie
on the left his other sister Genevieve and my Mom

I always have the best intentions when I go to one of these big family affairs to take tons of pictures, however I spent just about every minute on the dance floor dancing or catching up with family and old friends from the beach who were also guests. Oh and then there was the jerk on the dance floor but that story deserves a separate post. But I did get this picture of the Aunts! 

home or away?

With our mums set out in their usual location on the front porch and Bill busy at the task of burning leaves in the burn barrel I took a walk around the property.

Thoughts of my family on Long Island are heavy on my heart as I stroll amongst the woods. Leaves gently falling all around me and it dawned on me Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

 front yard

The weather here has been more like shorts and t-shirt weather for the past few days but nothing good lasts forever and rain is in the forecast. I can't help but notice all those little things that make fall such a beautiful season.

Pine cones strewn on a bed of pine needles on the ground, trees gone to seed. It really is a sight to see and it's all right out my back door.

This Thanksgiving Bill, Mom my cousin Jeanmarie and I will be heading up to New York to my brother's house. It was actually their turn to have Thanksgiving here with us but we have a family wedding the next day so they're having us two years in a row.

seed pods from an ash tree

How about you? Will you be spending Thanksgiving at home or will you be going away like us?

pain pain go away

This is the first piece of mail we have received relating to the holiday season, sigh....

from my kitchen- Irish Soda Bread

St Patty's Day had always been a special day for our family, if there isn't a party then we'll usually find one or go to the parade or a street festival. This year, Bill, Mom and I are going down to Charlotte to my cousin Jeanmarie and  her husband Hans house for a  party. 


Did you all know that I was actually supposed to be born on St Patty's Day, but I came early? 


Anyway,  when I spoke to my cousin last night we agreed that my contribution to the party would be the Irish Soda bread. You know how I love to bake, and I have such a good recipe anyway, why wouldn't I? Hans will be cooking the corned beef and cabbage, Irish beers will be flowing as this adult only party. 


I'd decided to share my recipe for Irish Soda bread with all of you so that you can have it in advance of the holiday. Try it, you'll like it very much it's the best I've ever tried. 


And if your looking for the recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage, go visit my friend Liz over at A NUT IN A NUTSHELL, since apparently great minds think alike!
celtic symbol attribution

      Irish Soda Bread

INGREDIENTS:

4 c sifted flour
1 1/2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 c sugar
1 c raisins (or cranberries for a nice change)
2 tbsp melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups buttermilk
1 tbsp caraway seeds

DIRECTIONS:

Mix dry ingredients. Mix butter, eggs and buttermilk. Stir into dry ingredients. Use a 2 qt pan (like a pyrex) because it works the best  since this batter is rather moist. (it may be necessary to add more flour). Don't forget to put the cross on top with a knife..

 Bake at 350 degrees for 1.25 hours.

sharing gifts at christmastime- a guest post & cookies

There is no sweeter gift during the holidays then being with family and friends; so when my blog friend Melissa asked me to do a guest post over at blog her blog MaMe Musings I jumped at the chance. She is a great person, a wife and mother of twins Drew and Emily and I know if you visit you'll just love her, her blog and her wonderful sense of humor. 


Writing this post for her and getting a chance to meet new people is such a big treat for me.Today I get to share some what goes on at Christmastime with my family and friends. So please pop over and say hi and show Melissa and I some love.

And speaking of sweeter....the recipe I'm sharing with you today is one of my favorite holiday treats. Not only are they fun to make but they are yummy to eat. A big plus is they keep for as long as a week so those of you who'd like to be baking and are short of time and crazy busy ( sound familiar ) then you might want to try these out. I promise you'll love them!

Christmas Sugar Cookies   

Ingredients

·         3 c. all-purpose flour

·         3/4 tsp. baking powder

·         1/4 tsp salt

·         1 c. unsalted butter, softened

·         1 c.sugar

·         1 egg, beaten

·         1 tbsp. milk

·         Powdered sugar, for rolling 

Directions

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If the dough has warmed during rolling you can place it back in the fridge for 10 minutes to chill.

 Cut into desired shape,( I usually do rounds) place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. (I even stack two with a little cut out filled with jam and nuts for a little extra something something during the holidays.)

 Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar or ice as desired. These cookies will store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

 Did you come visit me and read my guest post? Don't forget!


 And enjoy the cookies, they're the best.

trying to get back in the grove of blogging

Hi everyone!

I'm back from vacation; actually I've been back for almost a week. When I left for New York and then Barbados my husband and I agreed that I would leave my computer and there would be no blogging. Vacation would be for relaxing and alone time, not for me writing and socializing with my blog friends. I have to be honest as much as I needed a vacation and time alone with hubby,  I kinda worried about how being away from my blog would feel. How was I going to survive without my laptop without the interaction. I think I was really heading towards a bit of an addiction problem. It was time to step away from the computer!

Getting back to this blog has been a lot harder than I though it would be and I am really surprised. Maybe it's just that things have been busy here. Driving back from NY is tiring, then there's the unpacking, grocery shopping, social obligations- I had a Christmas dinner party this Friday night for my  girl-friends. (you'll be able to read about it soon in a guest post I'm doing for Melissa over at MaMe Musings)

We headed up to NY for Thanksgiving and had a very nice time there with my family, my brother and my sister in law do such a wonderful Thanksgiving. The night after some of our cousins and my Aunts Gen and Marie and Uncle Doug came over for a little get together since we hardly ever get to see them no that we live out of NY.

My camera was acting really crazy for some reason and I didn't get many pictures; Santa needs to bring me a new one especially since I put pictures on my blog on a regular basis. But here are a few pictures of us hanging around my cousin Mickey at the kitchen table. (This picture is some cousins a few friends who are like cousins, my Mom and my aunt Marie towards the back.) He's been doing a genealogical search on our grandfather who died when I was about seven. Frankly we didn't know very much about him other than he was from PEI Canada and French. My cousin has now traced the family back to the 1600's. We were all really fascinated by what he found, I just wonder WHO we'll find when we take this further!

Aunt Gen & Uncle Doug

My Uncle Doug and my Aunt Marie who was sitting on the other side of the table are preparing to celebrate their 5oth wedding anniversary next year, isn't that great? Marie is my fathers (he passed almost 20 years ago) and my Aunt Gen's youngest sister. I was informed by my cousin Barbara that there's a party in the works. The two options for the happy couple are a small intimate party and a large one, part of me hopes the kids choose to have a large celebration so that we can travel up and share in their special day. Scratch that; as much as I'd love to spend the day with them since I was only three when they had their first wedding and didn't get to go, I hope the kids give them a perfect day- whatever they want.

After a late night hanging with the family Bill and I got up at the crack of dawn and headed to Barbados. My brother Gerard it should be said was a real sport and drove us up at JFK at the crack of dawn!

What to hear about my Barbados vacation? Check back in a day or two,OK!

I missed reading all your blogs while I was gone. I promise to try to catch up. Let me know if I missed anything important or earth shattering. Glad to be back!

make me laugh monday- we'll sleep anywhere!

Today I'm linking up with my friend Kristen at a little something for me for her Make Me Laugh Monday Meme.

If you have a funny photo(s) link up and share it!

With our traveling to NY for Thanksgiving and then going directly on our vacation to Barbados. When I return I'm having a dinner party so the house needs to be ready. So we decided to decorate for Christmas early this year- really early. The nativity on the table amongst a bunch of other decorations and I went off to do some decorating around the house.

This is what I found when I returned to the room!

My cat Linus, comfortable with about 1/4 of his large cat body squeezed into the manger; snoozing!

Apparently my cat's will sleep anywhere. My husband went into the downstairs bathroom the other day. He was saying that he kept on feeling as if someone was watching him when he was doing his business. We're empty nester's who could it be??

This is what we found; or I should say who we found! This is Cheetah, he decided to make a bed out of the hammered metal bin that I keep my hand towels in next to the sink. He's apparently stealthy (notice how he blends) not to mention how he's a tiny bit curious about peoples potty habits!

Do you have pets and do they do funny things too?

Thanksgiving plans & a peek at the past

I received my yearly nosy cousin e-mail today from Kathleen, who is obviously my....cousin. duh! She sends it out every year to friends and family to find out where we'll all be for Thanksgiving. She loves to know what we'll be eating and who we'll be eating it with,  because she loves us and because ...she's nosy!

We ( my husband, my mom and me)  are taking a road trip to NY to my brother and sister-in-law's for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure what we'll be eating there this Thanksgiving but I know it's gonna be great. My brother is some cook!

I have Thanksgiving at my house usually every other year- sometimes more!  Here's a few pictures that I dug up from a few years ago that I thought I'd share. I know I have tons more from other Thanksgiving's but to keep it simple I've decided to stick with showing you one year.

1.Matthew and his Aunt Denise  2.my nieces Sydney, Alex and my granddaughter Jillian in the leaves
3. Matthew and my godson's Gerard modeling their butts 4. Me (Jen) and my brother Gerard getting ready to carve the turkey.

1. Me (Jen) and my son Matthew on the phone. 2. Mom ( Mary ) and my niece Alex having a hug. 3 Matthew and little Gerard playing Frisbee in the driveway. 4 Bill and our niece Alex enjoying the day out on the deck.

So my friends, in honor of my dear cousin Kathleen I going to ask because I'm nosy too, it runs in the family! What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Are you staying home and cooking or are you going out? What special people will you be spending your holiday with this year?

no more books?

I love to read; or I should say I used to read a lot, the accident and subsequent death of the kids changed my ability to concentrate so my enjoyment for reading has diminished greatly. Now alas reading has become something I hardly do, so I blog instead. And on a rare occasion I find a book that I can get through then I am grateful with a capital G. Suggestions would be appreciated on any good reads, I'd like to try making a renewed effort to do some book reading again.

My house is a readers house that fact cannot be denied, look at the bookshelf on my balcony.

Now lets look at the down side to this book shelf.  It is so huge you need 

                                            this and this to clean it.

And guess who does the cleaning? Moi.

It's filled with books and other stuff, many of the books I've read many times over, they are like old friends.


My two guest rooms have a stack of books by the bed side, the bathroom has a basket of reading material and then there's my cook books too.

Like I said old friends.

But the other day I'm not sure what possessed me, I went ahead and did it, broke the ice and made my first holiday purchases. You might ask what it is that would make this last minute shopper extraordinaire shop in October? And what in the world this has to do with books!?

When you have grandchildren who have a lots of everything it becomes difficult to buy them cool gifts for Christmas. Last year we got them the greatest sports watches in bright colors like red, lime green, khaki and blue! 

They do love to read but I wonder if I'm doing the right thing here, I love seeing them with real books. Then again if Kindle's with encourage even more reading then I think getting them their own reader. This is me trying to convince myself I made the right decision in buying them. And there's always the fact that their Mom my daughter gave their purchase her thumbs up!

Kids in this generation are such techies -nerds, and my guess is the kids are going to be thrilled with their gifts.   I have to admit however that this was a hard purchase to make because of my personal love of books, and because I'm a bit of a dinosaur. So tell me dear readers, do you own a reader or are you a book person?  Would you buy a reader for a pre or teenager for Christmas?

tell it again hans for the 238th time

Hans in my parents kitchen Christmas 1986

Years ago my parents always had Christmas at our house. My grandmother (Nana LeClair) lived with us so all the family would gather on Christmas Eve for Santa and then again for Christmas dinner. The house was filled with all my Aunts and Uncles and their children from my fathers side; upon occasion Mom's side would join the madness; her side was smaller, quieter only two sisters and their families.

As my cousins got older and occasional boyfriend or girlfriend would enter the mix only to become a family member if love bloomed. My cousin Jeanmarie who is my eldest female cousin on Dad's side was the first to bring a boyfriend that I can remember.

His name was Hans and they later married. Hans had emigrated to this country from Germany and was very polite, quiet and unassuming which is important to understand. Our family was LOUD and there were a LOT of us. For dinner Mom and Dad would set up these long banquet length tables in the living room and we'd all sit and eat a family style meal which was home-made by my parents.

As everyone was being seated my cousin Jeanmarie lagged behind in the kitchen to use the powder room. Hans waited for her in a chair outside the door; I presume he was to shy to go in with the family without her. It should be said that our family doesn't do shy therefore they don't understand it.

Mom found Hans sitting alone on the chair, not knowing my cousin was in the bathroom and said to him. ( and I'm paraphrasing here) "You, what the heck are you sitting there for dinner's getting cold?" "Get your rear end in the living room and eat, go on. And when he didn't move she said. "Well what are you waiting for?" Then Jeanmarie came out of the bathroom and they went and ate.

Poor Hans never got over his encounter with my mother.

EVERY SINGLE time we get together for any occasion or a holiday he tells that story. He'll say, "Did I ever tell you the story about the time that Aunt Mary yelled at me when Jeanmarie took me to that first Christmas?  They've been married forever over 40 years so that's how long I've been hearing Hans tell it.

Tomorrow we're heading down to Charlotte for Hans' 70th birthday party shhh it's a surprise! I know at the party he'll tell it again, with a glint in his eye as he say " Aunt Mary yelled at me......" and my Mom will do an eye roll and laugh as will everyone else. Maybe there might be one or two people who haven't heard the story who will get their first telling! For the rest of us it's number 238.

And Hans, he's is no longer that shy guy he was years ago, he's older, wiser, funnier, kinder, LOUDER, and I am happy even proud to be a part of his family and I'm happy and proud he's part of mine.

May you have a long life Hans, keep on telling that story. I'll be glad to hear it for the 238th time, Happy Birthday

being with my peeps on easter



front left to right grandson #3 cousin J
back left to right grandson #1 cousin L, grandson #2

I am laboring at my husbands computer to write this post- its like wearing someone else's shoes- not the right fit! It feels funny sitting at a desk!!. My laptop screen  isn't lighting up and one of the hinges snapped.  I think its time for a new one, now all I have to do is figure out is how to get my files on to the new one when I get it. ( I know I know I never backed up!)  I can see a faint outline on the screen so I know it's working. It's a good ole gal but another repair bill isn't in my future. So I guess we'll be sharing for a while until I get a new one and figure out what to do about my files.

In the mean time here's what happened over the Easter weekend...

So I had a wonderful  extended weekend with my family, most everyone arrived here on Thursday night so the festivities started early. Although the cousins did hit a bit of traffic coming from the north- not the ones from the south thought- they all arrived here safe and sound and without the hastles of traffic.

Friday was pretty much a relax and catch up on what was new in our lives while my cousins sons played video games and played with the cats. Did I forget to mention that my son also arrived on Thursday as well? The guys spent hours outside in the sunshine throwing Frisbee, football and baseball with the boys since the weather was really very nice.



from right to left H, Chef G , grandsons #1, 2 cousins L, grandson #3 cousin J



Saturday we all headed up to Richmond to see the Picasso Exhibit, my daughter, son in law and the grandsons met us there. We had the kids dust off my Aunt Winifreds wheelchair for Mom so she could join us since she's on a cane and the walking involved would be way to much and we were on our way. Needless to say, the five boys didn't see the Picasso's, although the VMFA is free the Picasso was $16 per child and that rather costly. My cousins husband stayed with the boys and the rest of us staggered our time into shifts so the children could enjoy the rest of the museum while we viewed the Picasso's. For me it was overwhelming, and we walked  thru 11 different gallery rooms displaying his art according to the year he produced the pieces displayed. Starting at 1900  straight thru 1956. There were prints, paintings, photographs, sculpture, drawings- I really could have spent a week in there but only spent an a bit more than an hour and a half since our tickets were timed.



My cousin H at VMFA



Needless to say I can probably speak for my daughter her husband and my cousins that the right choice was made regarding the children who are all under the age of 13. Picasso who is brilliant had many pieces of art on display that were of a sexual nature. To say it plainly; the man likes breasts and other parts of the female anatomy and it was probably a good call that the kids weren't exposed to so many pieces of art with that subject matter.

Then it was back to the house for more food, boy did we eat! And my cousins husband is a chef so it isn't to shabby to have his help in the kitchen. My Grandson # 2 loves to cook and be in the kitchen and he and Chef G spent a ton of time together cutting and chopping on Easter Sunday after we got home from Mass. We even gave Grandson #2 his own knife which is blue since he's taking cooking lessons for Mother Day with my daughter; isn't that a great idea for a mother and son to do?

My cousin C and her son L had to head out early so that he could get back to Charlotte to spend some time with his Dad later Sunday. My kids- son in law headed out of here on Sunday after dinner since it was back to work for them on Monday, and they are all in public service, one county, one state, one federal. The grandsons were exhausted I came to find out since I was late nights here hanging with the cousins in my den for boys sleep over time. My cousin H and her husband Chef G and their son headed out on Tue to go back to PA.

It's safe to say, my husband and I are pretty tired right now, but always pleased to be with our family. I hope you all had great family time as well over the long weekend.
Do anything interesting? Eat anything fabulous? I'd love to hear about it!

Easter company and Picasso

Picasso 

My cousins are coming for Easter this year, three from the Phillie area, two from Charlotte add to that our immediate family of two of our three kids; our son our daughter and son in law the three grandsons and my Mom that totals fourteen. Other than my daughter and son in law they are all sleeping here from Thursday thru Sunday or a combination of those days, arrival times tend to stagger. We'll be busy bee's for days on end and even though everyone is helpful because they're family I have to pace myself and not to overdue.

We're ready for everyone to arrive, the house is arranged- the beds are made, whose sleeping where have been  calculated- Mom has three bedrooms  at her house as well but everyone usually stays here in order not to bother her to much as she's getting on in years. We've done all the shopping for the food, drink that is necessary to feed the masses. Everyone should be happy except for my cats, they don't care for the noise, so they'll sneak in after dark and get in the bed with us.

The Easter bunny has been notified that the children will be here Easter morning so candy and Easter eggs will be delivered- hidden here and not at their empty homes- that would be tragic!

Everything has gone according to plan pretty much except I'll have to make a quick trip to the doctor tomorrow morning, for a check of my leg. It pretty much hurts more now than it did when I fell at the beach. I have a feeling I've developed an infection called (cellulitis) where my leg scraped against the stair and could use some antibiotics.

Other than the usual eat, drink and gab fest we are adding a bit of culture to our holiday this year. On an exciting note we are heading up to the  Richmond Museum of Fine Art to see the Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris.  There are 176 of his pieces of art; his finest personal collection on display there. I've been dying to go since February but we've decided to put it off so we could all go together- it runs until May 15th. in the event any of you are interested in visiting Richmond to partake. I'll probably write about it after the family clears out I anticipate it will be an amazing experience. Everyone that I know who has gone has been moved deeply by it.

I hope that all who read this blog along with your families have a wonderful Easter filled with love. And we will do the same but  as always we will  remember on this fifth Easter since their death;  how much we love and miss Gretchen and Eric who are always in our hearts and never far from our thoughts.

Gretchen & Eric

-post card- we ' Duck 'ed down to the beach!

We left for our beach holiday about noon Saturday and did a leisurely drive to North Carolina, that amounted to about a three and a half hour drive. Before all the family arrives for Easter the following week we figured we deserved a little pre-rest and relaxation. Do you like our logic? Our destination the small charming town called Duck NC. This area the north part of the Outer Banks and is rather narrow from  the Currituck Sound to the beach. To walk from one to the other isn’t all that difficult although we didn't do it ourselves, the reason for that is farther down in this story.

shops on the sound

 

There are cute little shops in Duck, there are tons of restaurants dotted all over the community many with decks and docks. Of course all serving sea food, some with a Caribbean flair, most any type of cuisine can be found as well. This is a community that services a large tourist trade there are ice cream shops, kite shops, hammocks, t-shirts, antiques, crafts, books, coffee shops, just to many shops to mention, but you get the idea.

view of the resort from the beach

We checked into our resort and the view is beautiful, the walk to the beach is do-able and the beach is nice. The weather was in the 70 to 80 range the whole time we were there, but I’m getting ahead of myself a bit. We did a bit of shopping few a few essentials and were happy to commence with some relaxation.

decks of the uppers condos

The complex are these three story cedar shingle multiple units and they are everywhere on the property. All the units have decent size rather nice decks, fireplaces, kitchens and as many as three bedrooms. We however were unlucky enough to be placed on the third story, which equals 40 stairs. Five different sections of multiple steps winding your way up, it has its benefits though, the view is beautiful. 

view of homes next to our resort

So Sunday morning we decide to go to Mass, you guessed it…. we got all the way down and I took a fall on the bottom section. My foot slipped on the mold of the deck step and I went down like a ton of bricks. My leg, butt-pelvis, shoulder blade, and arm are such shades of black, blue, purple, and green. I will promise not to post any pictures of my wounds, take my word it’s not pretty!! 

  

resort beach

A little fall didn’t keep me down however, sitting was more painful than walking anyway. I’m strong boned so I was pretty much back to normal in a day. We went to the beach daily, I have to say there were plenty of troopers that actually braved the water and were actually swimming. The water is way too cold here in April for me.

calm seas today

We pretty much planned each day’s outing for one meal in a restaurant, usually lunch. I would rather be browsing in and out of the shops in the warm afternoon sun and eating at an outside café then eating dinner out. So that was our pattern for this vacation. Then we’d go back to the resort and cook dinner after visiting the beach and we’d eat a nice meal  on the condo’s deck and share a bottle of wine or have a few beers. It was very relaxing!!

beautiful beach front homes

On our last day we drove over the bridge to a town called Manteo- Roanoke Island, “the lost colony” and browsed in the shops. Again, another quaint town with shops, shop owners and crafts people selling their wares in shops and galleries by the docks, that are lined with the most beautiful boats.   We very much enjoyed the company of an elderly couple who were at the next table from us while we had lunch. He like my father was from Brooklyn, NY. We enjoyed a lively conversation and reminisced about our former home New York, he too now lives in the south-Virginia.

Manteo

All and all it was a lovely holiday aside from the fall. I only have one other tiny little regret (or maybe it was a blessing) about our vacation and that was the fact that the resort didn’t have free Wi-Fi. They did have a service available but they wanted something along the lines of $50.00 for a week’s internet service. Frankly that was just a bit excessive for something that most places give for free now a days. What I can do with my smart phone really is minimal so that’s why I didn’t post anything until I returned and I apologize for that sincerely. 

I hope you enjoy the pictures and hearing about our week at the beach...