The Main Page!

Starting over here with what, I hope, will be an improved and interesting “blog” from us.  Hope that you will return often to catch up and leave you comments.

On the right side there will be a “page” about my exploits into the world of painting that I hope you will enjoy.  For the past few years, I have discovered the joy and relaxation of oil paints, easels and canvas.

Right now, we are focusing on our upcoming trip to New England. For a week we will be staying in a cabin in the woods in Stowe, VT visiting with Chris, Lisa and their GKs.  From there, a short stay in Nashua to deliver a painting then off for a few days in Falmouth. Anne-Marie has been coming with us for quite a few years and we have a Tuesday tradition at Shuckers in Woods Hole for their lobster feast. From the Cape, we’ll bring Anne-Marie (GK2) back to her mom and dad then head for Ohio to see Jim’s brother and our friends Bill and Ann.

I am hoping that by the time we arrive back in NC that this heat will have abated! That should be near the end of August.

We are on the way home!

On Tuesday night, we had our traditional pool and pizza party at the hotel. The girls had a good time in the pool after we all stuffed ourselves with NY style pizza and hot wings.

When it was time for them to leave, I couldn’t help myself, and cried. I hate to do that in front of the Mattognos but this time, I just couldn’t help myself. The “blues” lasted for over an hour, driving my poor husband crazy. Even as we were packing up the car in the morning, I was fighting back tears.

From AZ, we spent the first night otr in Van Horn, TX (former home of Tommy Lee Jones). If you have never driven through TX… don’t… catch a flight! This my third time and during each of them, I pi$$ed and moaned the entire way through west Texas - there is nothing there. Today I became very thoughtful and as I looked at the sprawling landscape, I thought of women (and men) who had made the trip before us - a long time before us. Long before there were oil fields, wind farms and I10, there was nothing but Texas - and it wasn’t even Texas then! The landscape is almost lunar - if the moon has sand, mesquite trees and nothing else. Looking out the window at a scene that seemed infinite, I began to wonder if the Flat Earth Society might not have a valid point.

Then I thought again about those who made the trek more than 100 years ago. Horse power meant something very different; our car has more than the few that were pulling the covered wagon. If I get bored I can listed to my iPod; if I get lonely, I can use my cell phone; if I get lost, I can use my GPS. We’re Dallas tonight in a Hilton Garden Inn with a flat screen TV, internet, AC, room service and a nice hot shower. I’ve made a resolution… “quit-cha-bitchin.”

Blogging once again from Arizona!

Pictures of all the fun are posted on our Picasa page

We left NC the Saturday after Christmas, drove for four days and arrived at Mattogno’s the day before New Year’s Eve. We had planned four nights on the road but my desire to get through west Texas as quickly as I could, gave us one long hard day of 710 miles and almost 12 hours but in the end it was worth it

On NYE, we opened Christmas gifts then went to a children’s celebration put on by the town - a scaled down version of what was planned for the adult evening entertainment. It was provided by a group from Tuscon, Flam Chen, a pyrotechnic troupe. The girls had a lot of fun - stilt walkers, acrobats, lantern making and a brief show. Anne-Marie got her picture in the paper learning to use Pois, a gymnastic thing similar to Indian Clubs which, when used by those in the know are flaming. The kids’ had no flames!

Chris and Lisa got a babysitter for the night so the four of us went out to dinner then they went to the Flam Chen evening and we went back to hotel and crashed. It was midnight in NC, anyway..

On NYD, we just “vegged out” with Lisa and Chris recovering from the celebrations and me and Jim taking full advantage of a day with nothing planned.

On Friday afternoon, Chris took us up to Juniper Flats in the Mule Mountains (which are part of the Continental Divide) to watch the sunset. What a beautiful sight! From where we were, over 7000 feet, we could see for miles and when the sun set behind the mountains it was enough to take you breath away. The climb was a bit of an adventure but luckily it’s a drive Chris has made many times so he was comfortable with the narrow, windy, steep dirt road. I just sat in the back seat and held my breath!

Saturday morning, we all piled into the van we had rented and headed for Tuscon for a day at the Reid Park Zoo. It’s a small zoo when compared to the NC Zoo but a great size for a day trip and it’s well kept, clean and well planned out. The girls had a great time. Since the family has a zoo membership, they were familiar with the paths and the special events that occurred during the day. Anne-Marie, in particular, was waiting for the time to feed the giraffes - one her favorite zoo events.

Sunday has no pictures for you to see - I had the camera to catch the excitement on the girls’ faces but never got the opportunity. We were prepared for a well thought out day of geocaching… maps, coordinates, GPS and goodies for the cache. It was cold and windy in the high desert but we were ready to go. After the first couple of disappointments we were pretty sure the day was going to be “bust.” We looked at about five or six sites, walked though rocks, thorny bushes and cacti and returned home empty handed, chilled to the bone and hungry. I wonder do people actually find things? Did somebody take the caches from the sites we looked at? Are we unable to read directions accurately? I dunno…

Kids are back to school today (Monday) and tomorrow will be our last day in Bisbee and we head back Wednesday morning. One last thing before we leave… our traditional pool and pizza party at the hotel the night before we leave. The folks at Hampton Inn are so gracious and let us just party as long and hard as we want. (more…)

If you have read my previous post, you already know about the trip to Akron. After leaving Jim’s brother, we headed first for the Air Force Museum in Dayton. There are some pictures of vintage planes on our Picasa page

From there, we started the drive to Arizona. We had a really great steak one night in Oklahoma and the rest was pretty much driving! We left Dayton on the 24th of July and arrived on the 27th. As we drove into Sierra Vista on the way to Bisbee, it was easy to show Jim exactly were we were headed. There was a monsoon rain and the big gray sheet hanging directly over Chris and Lisa’s house! When we arrived, their road was washed out and lightening had just hit the gas station at the end of the road. Slogging through the mud we had hugs and kisses all around. Our first day involved shopping for new bikes for the girls. Lily decided, for some reason, that she didn’t want a two wheeler - she wanted a scooter.

Then we had a birthday party for Anne-Marie and Lily who had birthdays in June and July before we had arrived.

Auntie Shana and Uncle James arrived on Monday and we started our week of touring and fun.

One of the first things was to jump into the pool! The weather was great and the storms that had been forecast for the week all disappeared and were replaced with sun and heat - and “no-see-ems” - those evil little gnats that love human blood.

We toured Old Bisbee, swam some more, went to Tombstone and saw a reenactment of the gunfight at the OK corral, swam some more ate some really great food the Chris and James prepared for us and swam some more. All too soon, it was time for James and Shana to leave for Tuscon for James’s conference.

The day after they left, Jim and I took the girls for the day and we shopped for some back to school stuff, had a treat of DQ ice cream for lunch, played some mini golf and visited the museum at Fort Huachuca. All in all, it was a great day!

It was, sadly, also our last day in Bisbee. We left Sunday morning to start the trek home. Neither of us were looking forward to the drive through Texas. Although I’m not absolutely sure, I think Texas is about 10,000 miles wide at it’s widest part. If you have the opportunity to take that trip and are facing Pecos, TX, drive right through!!!! We had to stop for the night - had to because we “hit the wall.” Once checked into the Quality Inn, I had to run to the car to get the two picnic blankets I keep in the trunk - one for me to sleep on over the bedspread and another as my cover. The place was… well not too clean. I have to admit that it was not quite as bad as the night we spent in Belle Glade, FL. (Remember that? It was the only motel in town and we were the first patrons to take a room for the entire night not just an hour.)

The next day was the longest drive (600 miles or so) ’cause I was determined to be out of TX and sleep in LA. A very good idea! The next two nights were well spent and Pecos was a distant memory. Now we are home and the car needs an oil change and a darn good cleaning after the 5600 miles we put on it over the past 2 1/2 weeks.

We, of course, took pictures and you can see them by copying this address and pasting it in the address bar.

http://picasaweb.google.com/home?tab=mq

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

Day three of this summer’s road trip. We left on Saturday morning and arrived here in Canton about 5pm. We checked into the Hampton Inn, looked for a quick meal - and glass of wine - and headed for bed. Sunday we went to visit with Jim’s brother, Walter. After going to lunch, we saw Jim’s nephew, Al and his son, “Little” Al. They work together in Al’s transmission shop and build and race sand dragsters. I couldn’t resist the temptation to climb into “Little” Al’s car - I should have. It took a stool and a lot of prodding, pushing and contorting around the roll cage BUT, I did it! Once in, I was not in a hurry to get out. I made them promise that there’d be no picture of that process since it involved exiting the cage butt first.

Jim made plans for Sunday evening to meet a fraternity brother he hadn’t seen in 45 years! We met for dinner at the Harbor Inn in Portage Lakes, OH. It was as if they had been seeing each other all along except that this time they had kids and grand kids to talk about. It was a lovely evening and we had a good time.

On Monday, we visited again with Walter and saw Jim’s niece, Bobbi, and met her (new) husband. After a day of seeing folks, we went to Harry London for my supply of “Buckeyes.”

We did have a wild storm which hit, of course, just as we started to drive to dinner. It rained so hard that it was like driving in a blizzard - the rain was white and thick and scary.

Tuesday morning it was up and out and heading for Amish country. Some of you laughed when said that we were going to get Heinie cheese. I know, doesn’t sound real good but… yummy!

As of 3pm Tuesday, we are in the Hampton in somewhere near Dayton and planning a visit to the Air Force Museum tomorrow. From there, we’ll be starting our trek south west towards Bisbee

Last night Martin and Janice arrived for an overnight visit. This morning we met at the famous “Dot’s Diner” for breakfast before heading to Tombstone to play tourist.

Behind Dot’s is the tackiest trailer park in the country, called Shady Dell. They have Airstream and a few others that have been restored and decorated in a tacky retro style. Each is available for rental and they even have a special “Bridal” unit.

From Dot’s we stopped at The Big Hole to take pictures before getting together with Christopher for our tour. The Big Hole is the old copper mine in Bisbee and the home of Bisbee Blue, a beautiful turquoise that is darker than most because it is veined in copper.

Then it was off to Tombstone… through the tunnel and over the desert for about 30 miles. The town’s slogan is The Town That’s Too Tough to Die - compared to Bisbee whose slogan is The Town That’s Too High To Care.

There is an unrestored section - the real Tombstone - a ghost town…

Just past this is the OK Corral and a restored version of an Old West town.

NOTE: I figured out how to fix the pictures for easy viewing. Click the cursor on the first pic, it will enlarge and moving the cursor the the upper right will give you a “next”option.

I am staying about 35 miles from the kids’ house at Fort Huachuca. With Lisa’s mom at the house and all those unopened boxes, I decided to give them some space. These pictures will give you an idea of the beautiful view from my window. It is especially wonderful at sunrise - which I saw at 6:15 this morning.

Driving back to Bisbee, I finally got a look at one of the blimps that hover over the desert looking for people crossing the border illegally.

Marissa is especially enthused by the scenery. On her first night here she came running into the house for me to get my camera to take a picture of a sunset. She has decided that while she is living here she will never run out of scenery to paint.

On Sunday evening, we had an ice cream party ans Pat and his daughter, Autumn came down. Pat is Chris’ boss and lives just three houses away. He and Chris became friends while Pat was working in Northampton and the friendship moved to Bisbee. In an interesting turn of fate, the house that Chris and Lisa are in is the house that Pat grew up in. It was Pat’s dad that built the BBQ it in the pool yard and all the rock gardens around the house.

Chris and Pat…

The girls…

Ellen…

Maura…

And the ice cream buffet Yummy!

NOTE: I figured out how to fix the pictures for easy viewing. Click the cursor on the first pic, it will enlarge and moving the cursor the the upper right will give you a “next”option.

We finally arrived at Chris ans Lisa’s new home on Thursday afternoon around 1:00. The trip was long and we got here very tired. After the first night in Atlanta, we were just short of our destination goal every night so on Wednesday we pushed and drove 13 hours. We wanted to get into Bisbee early in the day - time to relax and spend time with unloading the truck.

Now to the drive… After Texas, I developed a keen understanding of exactly why Thelma and Louise chose the “exit” they did. Good thing there was not cliff in my path.

Through “The Lone Star State” all one sees on I 20 are wind farms

and oil rigs

and, of course, the dessert

Once into New Mexico and Arizona there was a noticeable difference - mountains… big, rocky, snow capped mountains.

Been trying to help Lisa and Chris get settled in a little. The bedroom for the girls is all ready - they arrive in Tuscon at 11:30 tonight. Some of the clothes are unpacked. We’ll be taking care of the rest when we can. I can’t wait to see their excitement in the morning. This last month must have been really hard for them. This is the front yard of the house that they are coming “home” to.

Everything in the yard can hurt you! Seems like nothing grows without a needle of some length or width sticking out of it.

This is their view from the front door…

What you can’t see in the yard (good thing!) are the javalinas, the jack rabbits, the coyotte or any of the creepy, crawly, slimy things. The javalinas come during the night and feast on the prickly pears.

Will add more later about Bisbee which is very interesting and the surrounding mountains, copper mines, border patrol agents, etc. Till then…

For Lisa and me, Sunday the 17th was day 1. Lisa’s trip actually began on Friday when she and her brother, Nick, left Northampton. They had not gone very far before a sheet of ice blew off the top of the truck and smashed the windshield of the car which they had in tow.

They made it to just south of Harrisburg Friday night and arrived Saturday afternoon in Wake Forest.

Saturday night we all went out to supper at The Golden Corral then back to the house with the Metcalfs where Lisa played with Nathan and Sophia and showed them how to make a teepee out of newspaper.

While we were in the house all toasty and warm, Kenny ad Nick worked on the car. Since the glass had started to cave in, Kenny brought his shop vac and cleared out the pieces that he could. Then they covered the mess with a tarp, cardboard and, of course, duct tape.

Bright and early Sunday morning, Lisa and I waved good-bye and started off for Arizona.

Driving was actually pretty easy. After filling up at Sheetz, we headed for I540, I40 then I85 determined to get to just past Atlanta before getting some sleep. We decided on lunch at a truck stop and what a lunch we had. I ordered a simple country fried steak and was served enough for two - count ‘em 2 - very hungry truck drivers.

Back on the road and headed for Atlanta, it soon became obvious that we were headed into some pretty nasty weather. Jim and Chris were in touch by cell warning us that the radar seemed to be getting more and more ugly and that the worst of it seemed to be headed straight for Atlanta - as were we. Finally, after hearing one more tornado warning, we decided to get a room and wait it out overnight. Our plan was to get to sleep early and be up and out by about 6:30-7 to try to beat Atlanta’s rush hour. We were checking in at a Hampton Inn in Commerce, GA just as the first of the rain, thunder and lightening hit.

As luck would have it, there was a Longhorn Steak House just on the other side of the hotel parking lot. After the worst of the storm (we never got the hail or heavy winds) seemed to have passed, we decided to walk over to Longhorn for a little supper and a BIG ‘OL glass of wine. If you are traveling though GA on any given Sunday and want a bit ‘o the grape, be aware… Commerce is in a dry county. In it’s place, though. the chocolate mousse was really good.

Our waiter also gave us what we hope was a good piece of information. He said that we shouldn’t leave before 8:30. Even 6am would put us in the middle of a very unpleasant Atlanta rush (?) hour. So, we’re gonna stay up late, have a relaxing morning, eat a nice breakfast here at the hotel and leave sometime after 8:30. That’s the plan. Check back in a day or two and see what actually happens…

Just a reminder. Clicking on an image will enlarge it in a “lightbox” and clicking on any of the underlined/highlighted words will link you to that site.

This weekend we decided to take ourselves on a mini tour of North Carolina wineries. Some people have the impression that all of the wine produced here is from Muscadine grapes and hardly worth the effort. Well, we were pleasantly surprised to discover the truth about the wines of the Yadkin Valley.

Our first stop (well east of Yadkin) was in Mebane at the Iron Gate Winery.

Making this place interesting is the fact that it’s owned and operated by a woman - one of the very few that is. It’s a nice facility and during the year they have quite a few events… concerts, dinners, murder mystery nights, etc. She produces a special bottle for the holidays named “Blessings” which, apparently has a good following.

Our plan needed to be modified a bit when, after leaving Iron Gate, we were stuck for over an hour in a back-up caused by a huge accident. With at least an hour’s ride ahead of us, we thought it best to head right for the hotel. Along the way (in keeping with our tradition) we found ourselves in the middle of a blinding rain storm somewhere near Pilot Mountain. (If you never seen Pilot Mt. it’s one of our creator’s really strange expirements - a really big hill with a top hat.)

Once out of the traffic and weather, we headed for Dobson - reservations at the Hampton Inn at Shelton Vineyards. Shelton, one of oldest wineries in NC, is absolutely beautiful and worth the trip even if you see none of others in the area. We tasted the Shelton wines at the tasting bar at the Inn and each was very good. On Sunday morning we had reservations for brunch at the vineyard’s patio restaurant and it was as delicious as the property is beautiful.

After brunch, we headed out for a day of further tastings, First stop, Black Wolf Vineyard.

Like some of the others, they have added a small bistro as a further attraction for visitors. Although we didn’t eat, the wines that we tasted were great and we left with a couple of bottles (as well as out souvenier tasting glasses).

Next on the “tour” was Flint Hill Winery.

The history of the house and farm and the great tasting wines makes this one of our favorites. Again, with more newly acquired glasses and a couple of bottles, we were back on the road.

Our last stop for the weekend was at West Bend Winery ( I forgot to take a picture). Although there is no bistro and no spectacular scenery, the wine we tasted was outstanding! Our favorite, Les Soeurs, a family reserve Cab that’s not available at the retail level, only at the winery. Our bottle has been tagged and will be saved for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Too good to be a “Tuesday night” wine. BTW, they also have a great little chocolate bonbon that’s wine filled - yummy!

Time then to go home. We will be doing this again! Oh, if anyone asks why someone would buy a North Carolina wine, have then call us. We’ve become big fans.

One more thing… did you see that our Bo Sox clinched this weekend? GO SOX!!!!