Visitor from Norway

A very good friend of ours recently came to visit us in North Carolina.  Although a relatively short visit of a couple of days, we ended up having a super time.  Here are a few photos from his visit.

Relaxing at home.

A photo at the top of our property.

Velkommen å våre huset



It doesn't get any better than this.





Anticipation is written all over our faces.  Bring on the pig roast.



Trying to get the chef to reserve a special section of pork.



Are you hungry now?

A great picture that Chris took of a homemade crab ball
while we were vacationing at Chincoteague Island, Virginia.

Soo-ee

On the road again. Had a great meal yesterday

at the Pig-N-Whistle.

Story goes... that back in England, way back

when, signs used to be simple so folks that

couldn't read would be able to understand.

Hence, pig meant that "meat" was being served.

And whistle was a way to refer to your throat,

thus stop in and "wet your whistle".

Well, here we are in modern day times

ready to quench our thirst and stop our

rumbling stomachs. Chris had the catfish

special, along with white beans and coleslaw,

and I had the BBQ special with baked beans

and coleslaw. Good eats!

Boaters Beware

You know how sometimes you are traveling
around with your spouse and you take turns
photographing your adventures, then a kind
stranger comes along and offers to snap a
photo with both of you in it...Well, buyers
beware...nice photo, heh?


Fortunately, he realized his mistake. See honey,
I told you we would have some fun on this trip.
We rented a canoe at Cascade Lake, NC. What
a pleasant 2 hour adventure we had. Our goal
was to paddle down to a place called "Hooker
Falls", no not where a lady of the night gets her
high heel stuck in the crack of the sidewalk, but
this...


Proof that we had fun....


After, we went into Brevard and had a nice lunch,
and met this interesting fellow on the bench. He
owns the Chocolate Shop behind him. Story goes that
he had no desire to run a chocolate shop, knew
absolutely nothing about how to make chocolate,
but managed to end up running a successful
business. Something about an "odd couple"
leasing the empty shop from him, with the
intent on running a chocolate shop, set it up
with all the equipment, then supposedly got
another calling from higher above and split
town. Well, this guy's daughter bought him
a book on how to make chocolate and after
692 attempts at making chocolate that was
edible, he was in business. Willy Wonka, eat
your heart out! Didn't see any little men with
green hair though, rather disappointing one
might say.

Country Living 2010

Bounty from our garden this year.
Gourds galore and some tomats
big and small!


Miss Country 2010 with her tea towel sash
and her bounty. World peace and sugar-free
children are her wishes for 2010.


A visitor to our utility shed. Hopefully, he
will snack on a few rodents and stop scaring
the bejesus out of those who stop by the shed.

Father's Day cake

I woke on June 20th to a nice surprise. Chris
had baked a Father's Day cake, topped off with
a few yellow cherry tomatoes from our garden.

Signs of Spring!

Signs of Spring are ever present these days, the
Farmers Markets are in full bloom. Here's one
on one of the local college campuses.



Although there was plenty of yummy things to
buy here 's what we ended up purchasing. We
have not opened yet, but Chris had a sample and said
it was delicious. This will make a nice snack, maybe
on one of our walks thru the "Cove".



Another sign of Spring, our flowers have
started to bloom. Here we have some large
Irises that are growing on the side of our
stone steps leading up to the house. Our
neighbor just gave us several trays that were
full of herbs, now we just have to get them in
the ground. Will show you those later.


Fresh strawberries anyone! These came out
of our strawberry patch. We had some
neighbors over today to test them out. Add
a scoop of Ben & Jerry's Vanilla ice cream,
and BAM, life on the farm is good.


Did someone mention strawberries? Hey,
wait you forgot something! .....
Moi' - (that's 'me' in french by the way!)

Across the Globe and Back - Part 3

Well, here we are approaching some ancient

ruins out in the middle of nowhere. I can just

hear the roar of the approaching Army's soldiers

and horses.

A close up shot of the fortress...

Large columns used to line the path to the

fortress, only a few are left standing.

Yours truly in an archway...
Do you see any Romans/Turks

rolling over in their graves?

The group decided to climb up to the top of

the fortress. Did I mention it was almost

100 degrees outside?

So about half way up the hill, we ran across

this sign. Sorry to say we didn't see any

acrobats or barefooted priestesses running over

hot coals. Good thing this trip up the mountain

was free of charge....

Of course, along the way was your standard,

everyday, run of the mill amphitheater...

Lunch anyone? We went native with a loaf

of fresh bread, olives and some really salty

white cheese.

Yours truly again at the top....

And what a view it was at the top. You can

only imagine what an elaborate entrance

it may have been back in the day.


After the climb back down it was off to a cold,

mountain spring fed swimming pool out in the

countryside. This facility was also out in the

middle of nowhere. Hands down the cleanest

water I have ever experienced in a pool. Can't say

it is the coldest water I have been in, that would have

to be the time I jumped in the water above the

Arctic Circle (refer to one of my older postings).

We ran into this little fellow outside the pool,

looks like he could of used a quick dip in the

pool...

I always find it interesting to take note of

signs in foreign lands, and here we have a

familiar shape. And yes, stop we did.

The ride back to the base was interesting,

here's a nice snapshot of one of the local

means of transportation...

I managed to snap this one... someone was

having a bad day! Fortunately, no one was

hurt.


And I rarely pass up an opportunity to

capture a photo of a flag...

My next posting will wrap up my trip across

the globe. "Food" will be the theme.

Across the Globe and Back - Part 2

Part 2:

As you can see by the photo below, I am still

in Qatar and "Americana" has spread to all

corners of the globe. First of all, I apologize

for the quality of some of these photos, as I

took a lot of my photos from a moving car,

most on the way to my next airport.

Ahhh, nothing like a Turkish coffee to increase

your heart rate early in the morning.

And nothing like a local Turkish beer to

dust off those weary, traveler blues after

multiple flights.

One day on our way to one of the local

historic sights I started snapping some

photos of the local village. We stopped

in this local village to grab some

supplies for our lunch that day. I wasn't

sure how the locals would have felt about

me getting out of the car and shoving the

camera in their face, so I rolled down the

window and surripticiously snapped a few

of the local scene from the back seat. I

think the owner of this bike is a supporter

of a Turkish football club.

Here's a typical scene played out throughout

the countryside. I saw tons of men sitting

outside shops, smoking, joking and lazily

watching the day go by. Of note, very few

woman were out and about.

A local fruit stand. You may see a theme here,

something in particular was definitely in

season while I was there.


A local man hawking his goods...

During our journey we hit a toll booth and this

character happened to catch my eye.

Certainly an enterprising young man.


And here he is returning to his spot,

"one" item lighter.


And when I get to "Part 3", we will talk about

some of the ruins I got to see during my trip.

Here's a sample...

Across the Globe and Back - Part 1

I recently had the opportunity to travel to the
Middle East. I am back in the US now, but still
on a different time zone. It just so happens that
my body clock said it was time to wake up
at 3:30 am this morning. So, what better way
to spend the wee hours of the morning than putting
together "Part 1" of my travels.

It did take me over 20 hours to get to my destination,
but just so you don't feel too sorry for me, here's the
lobby of my hotel. Kind of cool to see the locals
in their traditional dress at the check-in counter.

After a long journey and cramped quarters on

multiple planes, it was great to climb into this

monster of a bed.


You know you are in a high class hotel

when you see one of these. And no, it is

not a drinking fountain for all of you

Crocodile Dundee wanna bees.

Here's the view outside my hotel room...

One of the many mosques....


Took a walk around town and snapped this

photo...

OK, now back to reality. This was my next

accommodation...

Woohoo, bunk beds! And dang it, if I didn't

get stuck with the top bunk. Climbing up that

thing at my age, believe me it wasn't pretty.

One of the local road signs...

Who says they aren't civilized????

Well, there is more to the story. I'll continue

this blog when I have some more free time

on my hands.