Sweaters

I wore a sweater to church yesterday.

I am going to wear a sweater tonight (a nice, bold green one with a yellow camisole underneath - going out to watch some football - go Green Bay!).

There was ice on my car last night when I left my friend's house after a party.

I am not ready for this...

Land of cotton

Sunday morning, bright and early, I hopped on an airplane and flew to North Carolina to visit my sister and brother-in-law. My parents were also down visiting, so I got to see them, too. Our first stop was a restaurant where we ate pulled pork with Carolina style barbecue sauce. That was tasty. We then headed out to Morehead City and Beaufort on the coast. That evening we took a walking "Ghost Tour" of Beaufort, the third oldest town in NC. The tour included a lot of stories about people who died and now supposedly haunt the town. The famous pirate Blackbeard was a regular of the area and they believe they found what is left of his shipwreck just off of the shore. There were a lot of 17th century homes in town, one that still has a working outdoor kitchen. Since it was a ghost tour, we naturally had to visit the cemetery. The Old Burying Grounds has graves from the 18th century and later. We went back he next day when we could actually go inside. I find old tombstones very interesting. Many of the names seen all throughout the cemetery were names on the outside of the old homes all around it. This town, a tourist retreat for us, is where generations of families lived and died. The whole area was rich with history.

On day 2, we also took a ferry out to Shackleford Banks, a short little boat ride away. 400 years ago a ship was caught in a storm and dumped its cargo to lighten the ship. That cargo included ponies and ever since then there has been a herd of wild ponies on that little island. We spent almost two hours on the island and my parents and I did not see any ponies. My sister and brother-in-law have a better sense of direction than I do and were able to find a few of them. We all enjoyed looking for seashells along the shore on the island. Growing up on the West Coast I never saw such beautiful shells in such good condition and I never actually liked looking for them. This time was different, however, and we collected quite a few that we left with my sister at her house.

Dinner that night was seafood. I like seafood in moderation. That is to say that I like to eat it a few times a year. I felt adventurous and wanted to try a lot of different things, so my sister and I shared a two course seafood feast. It had tuna salad, shrimp salad, shrimp, clam chowder (Carolina style, which is different from any that I had ever had before), soft shell crab (the whole thing, no less), fried fish, fried oysters (I don't recall eating oysters before in any manifestation, so that was new) and fried scallops. The restaurant was called Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant. We all found that amusing. The food was fantastic.

Day 3 included a trip to the maritime museum, a little bit more shopping, and the drive back to the Raleigh/Durham area. On that ride home we took a slightly different route than we did getting to the coast and enjoyed a scenic drive. Along the way there were several cotton fields. It reminded me of how very different the economy of the South was from anywhere I have ever lived. They still grow the cotton, but harvesting is nothing like it was and the large plantations are merely hinted at today.

We stopped by my uncle and aunt's house on our way to my sister's house (they live quite near each other) and visited with them for a few minutes. Their daughter and her family live down there as well, so we watched her son's baseball game and then went to her house for some dessert and social time. The kids played on their Wii and we enjoyed watching them. My sister and I boxed each other on it. After a close encounter with being knocked out, I kicked it up notch and just did defeat her. That was a workout. I think I'm going to use the Wii I am babysitting for a friend as an exercise program now!

Wednesday was primarily the trip home, and what a trip it was. Weather all along the coast was a little bit stormy and that caused airport delays. Part one of the trip was Raleigh to Philadelphia. The airplane was late arriving in Raleigh and we boarded about 30 minutes late. Then we sat on the ground for an hour because they were backed up in Philly. As we approached Philadelphia, they were still backed up, so we got to circle for a bit. When all was said and done, we were 2 hours late arriving. My connecting flight to Binghamton was actually cancelled (I would have missed it anyway), so I got to go talk to customer service and get a new flight home. The only way they could get me into the area that night was to fly me into Syracuse (that's 80 miles away but where I tend to fly out of most of the time). I got home nearly 4 hours later than anticipated, very tired, but very glad to be home.

Since then it has been back to work and life as typical. The fall colors are here but starting to go away. Right now they are still beautiful. It makes being back from vacation that much more bearable ;).

There and back again

My trip to California was good. I didn't really see many people (so nobody should feel left out), but I was able to get some rest and spend good quality time with my dog, which is always important ;). I went through a bunch of stuff I left at my parents' house. I was, I confess, not surprised by how much was there and how much of that was junk that ended up in the garbage.

My latest challenge is helping my parents set up a new computer with two monitors. It's a good thing I'm used to doing telephone tech support. Sometimes it comes in handy. I am rather accustomed to walking people through things that I just can't see. The best part is that some of what I'm giving instructions for I have only done once before. I really do enjoy it! I'm a geek; what can I say?

Preview of coming attractions:
Coming soon to an airport near you (if you live in Raleigh, NC)! October 21-24 is my next little vacation to see my sister & brother-in-law and my parents (who are also visiting them during that time). I anticipate seeing other family there, including an uncle, aunt, cousin, etc. I think we're going to my cousin's son's little league game, which I always enjoy. I think we are also going to spend one night on the coast. It will be a quick trip, but full of good things.

I clearly can't stand staying put for long, since I will be going to Rochester for a concert on Nov 4 and will stay up there for the night rather than driving back in the wee hours of the morning.

News story of the day:
Pa. woman cited for yelling obscenities at toilet in her home
(Can't easily put a link in for it using this browser, so I'll try to remember to update it later, but here it is in the good old fashioned copy & paste linking method: http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071016/NEWS01/71016033)

Moon Over Slight

One of my projects while I am here in CA is to go through all of the junk that I left behind when I moved. Fun, huh? There is quite a lot that really is junk, or decent stuff that I just don't want. However, there are a few things that take me down memory lane.

I found a poem I wrote when I was in college. Given the content of the poem, I wrote this in my first semester of college - Fall 1999. I was sitting in my dorm room (that's the second from the end in Hotchkiss Lower Back on the side with Slight-facing windows; the right-hand side of the room if looking in from the hall...) studying. I can tell it was late in the semester because I hated going to the night class by then and it was already dark out by the time I had to go to class. The class was The Development of Modern Europe. I got a C- on my very first major assignment in that class, which probably had something to do with my aversion to it. Welcome to upper division classes, kid! The only thing about that class that I look back on and remember positively was that there was a young man in the class named Dan who walked me back to the main campus every week. He had to meet the shuttle to the off campus on campus housing (you TMC folks know what I'm talking about!) anyway, but he didn't have to wait for me. Something small but meaningful. Anyway, I will share that poem...

"Moon Over Slight"

As I look out my Hotchkiss window,
I see the moon over Slight.
To a student so weary of study,
It should be a wonderful sight.
Darkness was made for our rest
And work to be done while it's light,
So why do I have class right now
When the moon can be seen over Slight?
This poem is sadly the best
I can manage before tonight's test.

So there you have it. I never again took a night class as an undergrad because I hated it so much. I had to take them in grad school, and we can tell how long I stuck with that nonsense...

Auntie & Niece

Talia

Need I say more?