Love Fall!

Sonny and I have been making little day trips for the past couple of weeks.  Last Saturday we drove to Ronda, NC to Raffaldini Vineyards.  Sonny is not a wine drinker so this was a big deal that he went without complaining!  Although, he did sneek a beer in while we were there!  We took our own chairs and sat outside enjoying the beautiful views of the vineyards.  It was a beautiful day and we were able to enjoy a nice lunch from a really good food truck.  Looks like these grapes are ready to be harvested!

Yesterday we drove up to Hendersonville hoping to get some apples.  Didn't see any for sale so I think we are a little early for the apples and the fall foliage - another couple of weeks.  We ended up having to make a little detour along the way.  We stopped at QT for a bathroom break and Sonny happened to look at the tires.  We had a screw in one of the tires so we found a Discount Tire store and got it fixed before heading west!  We had a great meal in Hendersonville at a German restaurant.  The restaurant is a favorite of Sonny's.

We found this brewery with chairs and table outside so we stopped off and enjoyed a beverage.  The last time we were in HendersonvilleI love ( a year or so ago), this was called Sanctuary Brewery!

Hendersonville is another town that has these painted bears!  They are going to be auctioned off later in the month.

I love fall!  So, I have been having fun making a few fall cards using the Gather Together stamps and dies.

I'm debating if I should color those pumpkins.  I sponged color lightly over the Very Vanilla cardstock and then used the "splatter" stamp in Soft Suede.  I also sponged Soft Suede on the edges of the piece.

I love using the Plaid Tidings 6"x6" designer paper.  I die cut the leaves in Copper Foil paper, Cajun Craze, Cinnamon Cider and Rich Razzleberry.

Again, a good use of the Plaid Tidings designer paper!  Leaves are die cut from Mossy Meadow, Cinnamon Cider and Cajun Craze.  I used Wink of Stella on them.

Memorial Day Weekend in Maryland

I hope you enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend.  I did.  We drove to Maryland to visit Ashley on Thursday, returning home yesterday (Tuesday).  It was so great to finally see her again!  We did a lot of work in her yard Friday, Saturday and Monday!  Her yard just looks beautiful with all kinds of flowers in bloom.  We filled up 5 big trash cans with yard waste plus also putting a lot in her compost pile in the back yard.

Back yard with Clematis growing up the fence as well as honeysuckle.  Peonies in bloom too!

The back of her backyard is like a jungle!  But there is a path to the compost pile behind all those trees.

It's nice to sit in the swing after a long day of weeding!

More peonies and waiting for the hydrangea to bloom.

We had to borrow the neighbors trash can to get all the clipping in.  

This is right next to the street - lilies, ivy, lavender ....

Ashley laying down mulch.  Someone just dumps a big load of mulch at the end of the street for anyone who wants it.  Sonny wheeled the trash can down and filled it up several times.

Honeysuckle - so pretty!

Peonies are so beautiful.

On Sunday, we took a break and met a friend of Ashley's at Cobbler Mountain Cidery in Virginia.  Everyone was practicing social distancing so it was great.  We took our own chairs; Debbi brought her dog and we enjoyed yummy ciders.

The cidery used to be a winery but now only makes ciders.  It is a family run business on their 90 acre farm.  There were a bunch of campers (primitive) all over the place enjoying the beautiful day.

The only drawback to the whole trip was my fall!  Every time I go to Ashley's, it seems I do something to injure myself!  When she was in Hawaii, I fell down a couple of steps and fractured my ribs.  Another trip to Hawaii, I got knocked down by a giant ocean wave and had a huge hematoma on my hip - right before it was time for me to leave and sit in the airplane in pain for too many hours.  This time, I slipped in the shower and fell out of the shower backwards hitting my back on the side of the tub.  Of course this was the Monday night before driving back to NC on Tuesday.  I'm loving my ice packs!  (And no alcohol was involved!!)

Fun times!

Today is my last day in Maryland.  It has been a great visit - a little sightseeing and a lot of just visiting and chilling with my sweet daughter.  We're going to try to arrange another visit in April and bringing Sonny with us then.  Ashley has several small projects for her dad around the house and it will probably be time to work out in her yard!  Right now she has daffodils just starting to bloom and a whole bed of Lenten Roses right outside her office window.  I cut some and put them in a vase but her cat keeps trying to eat them!

Here are some pictures from my visit.

Sunday at the Korea Memorial - one of my favorites.

Reflecting Pool 

Vietnam Wall

White House in background

A stop at Old Ebbitts Grill 

Monday (President's Day) - Ashley took Marianne to the airport about 6:30 (while I slept!).  That afternoon Ashley and I drove about an hour to this cider brewery in Virginia.  It was a beautiful place and we loved the cider!!  We did a tasting and then enjoyed our picnic lunch with a pint.

This is Corky!  He became my friend and kept sitting up on his hind legs begging for me to give him a piece of cheese or a cracker!

We took Courtney to the cider brewery on Saturday and she fell in love with it too!

Yesterday Ashley and I had a creative day!  After church, we went out for breakfast and then came back to her house and made cards.  I can't tell you how many Paper Pumpkin kits she has that she hasn't done more than open the box!  So we tried to remedy that!

Ashley worked on the July Picnic Paradise kit.

I worked on the April Sentimental Rose kit.

Getaway pictures from Outer Banks

I just returned from a fun trip with my daughter, Ashley.  I drove to the Outer Banks last Thursday and Friday.  I spent Thursday night in Durham with one of Ashley's friends who was there for work and on Friday I finished the trip (with Claudia in the passenger seat!) and joined Ashley and another of her friends, Debi, in Kill Devil Hills.  We were there for the Alternate Routes Getaway Music Festival which was a lot of fun!  It was sweet of the girls to include an old lady like me and it made me feel young again (that I could hang till after midnight each night with them!)  The music was good and the weather was perfect!  The music started about 6 each night and different groups performed for about 1 1/2 hours each night.  Here are a few of my favorites.

He is with the band, Red Wanting Blue which I had heard when we visited Ashley in DC this summer.
Listen HERE for my favorite song of theirs.

Brendan James was my favorite .... and he is so cute!!

Guitarist for Alternate Routes

On Saturday, we took the wild horses tour and it was super.  I expected to see the horses on the beach but they were mostly off the beach and up where the houses were.  How would you like to have horses grazing in your back yard and going into your carport to leave a ton of poo!!  That's what they do!

Can you see her pregnant stomach?

Another fun thing we did was in Kitty Hawk.  I had read a book a few years ago by Nicholas Sparks, called Every Breath which had a mailbox in the story called Kindred Spirits.  This mailbox is in Sunset Beach, NC and was put there about 35 years ago as a place to stop and share stories.  There is a similar mailbox in Kitty Hawk called The Little Red Mailbox.  The goal for the mailbox is for anyone who comes to the beach to write a message of love and hope, or you can read the messages others have written ... which is what we did.  Inside the mailbox is a bound journal and a pen - an invitation to anyone who wants to share their thoughts.

We visited the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in Corolla before doing our horse tour.  We didn't climb to the top though.  I have been having knee problems a little bit and didn't want to chance it.  So instead we wandered around the grounds and in the gift shop.

Claudia, Debi, Ashley and me

View from our hotel balcony - not bad!