Eastern NC State Softball Tournament

This week starts the Eastern NC State Softball Tournament.  Both of my granddaughters made Allstars and will be participating!  This year it is in Beaufort County - which is right next to us.

We are, also, excited that it is only about five miles from our farm in Washington, so we have a place to "hang out" between games.

I still need to get a battery charger that actually works, but here is a picture from last year.



Madison with help from sister, Bri, holding Southeastern Regional Winner's Trophy

 Pitt County usually does well in the tournaments so I am hoping that both my girls and their teammates (12U and 8U) have a successful tournament.

We, also, have a niece, Amelia,  that lives in Bath that will be playing for the 12U team.  It should be a fun week!  Good luck - Madison, Bri and Amelia!!!

My Recipe for Summer

Now that the weather has gone from cold and wet to hot - I have decided the following is my recipe for summer!  (Also, I got the new "Our State" in the mail yesterday and it talks about "building a summer.")  So, here goes . . .

A little softball. . .

OK - A lot of Softball!

A graduation to attend

Some end of the school year events (You know that happens BEFORE summer officially begins!)

A trip to the mountains, of course!!!

As well as the beach. . .

And, if I am lucky - another trip to the mountains. . . to spend time with my family

and, perhaps, a visit to a historical site.

Wish I had a picture of our garden available - since we usually spend a lot of time in it.  However, there is plenty of time to work on my recipe for summer since it is only May!

Alpaca Day

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit an alpaca farm here in Pitt County.  Heidi, the owner, showed us around, gave us a history lesson and told us how alpacas came to be in the US.  She, also, told us a little about the alpaca and their personalities.

My husband, Mike, was interested but so ready to go into the fence to visit Heidi's alpacas!  Soon, he was leading Mordecai around the pen!  I like animals from a distance, but I got brave and walked around with Mordecai (the head alpaca!), too.

Heidi gave us a lesson on needle felting using alpaca fiber - and I loved doing it!  So, I have already started a project using some of the fiber from Heidi's alpacas.

Heidi's farm is called Celestine Ridge and is great to visit!  However, you need to give her a call first - 252-753-5751.

Snow! Twice in one day!

My friends, Kathy and Betty, rode with me on Saturday to a class at Sharon's house in Raleigh.  Actually, we were taking two classes - to start a new project and work on round two of our Bunny Mat.

However, it started snowing in Raleigh around 11:30 and it did not take long to cover the ground.  So, we hurried and picked out the wool for both projects "lickety split!"  It was beautiful driving home in the snow, but by the time we got to our favorite hot dog spot in Clayton the snow had mixed with rain.

By the time we got to Greenville around 2:15, it had stopped snowing and the temperature had reached 43 degrees.  I fell asleep on the sofa about 3:45 but this is how everything looked 45 minutes later.

The back of my house

My son forgot to put his motorcycle in the garage!

The front

My street

It was nice seeing the snow cover the ground twice in one day!

Happy Chinese New Year!

My two Chinese friends from ECU, invited us over today for authentic Chinese food that they made for us.  Also, they played a video that one of them had taped showing the celebration at ECU on Sunday to celebrate Chinese New Year.  Unlike us, here in the US, their celebration runs for many days.

They, also, told me that this is the Year of the Snake  - a very good year - since the snake is smart and powerful.  I thought 2012 was good, since it was the Year of the Dragon.  However, I was informed that though the Dragon is powerful the Snake is much smarter, therefore, he has more power.  I hope they are right and that we have an awesome 2013!



This is a picture of one of the young participants at the festivities on Sunday.  Sam told me that the long sleeves are very typical of "costumes" from Tibet.

Happy Valentine's Day

Monday night, I helped my youngest granddaughter, "Bri", "BeeBers", "BriBri", "Li'l Bow-Wow" or simply  "Brianna" address Valentine Day Cards for her classmates.  The guys got Super Heroes and the girls got Disney Princesses - both got matching pencils.  How cute!  However, I still love the old ones!

Happy Friday - Almost Valentine's Day

Sometimes it's hard to know what season I am in - last week we had ice and this week it is raining!  At least we are not going to get all that snow!  The best thing is that it is Friday!

Here are some pictures of my office to show all the seasons/weather we have going on:

My Poinsetta is still looking Christmasy.  See the cutout snow flakes on my window and the rain on the outside?

More snow flakes - and the ECU practice football field in the background and the stadium beyond that.

Valentine cutouts hanging from the door.

We even decorate the exit sign!

Wall of hearts!  We would cover the power box but "they" won't let us!

A snowman surrounds our peep hole.

Away from the office - this is a picture of our beagle puppy, Missy.  I took this a couple of weeks ago.

Mike playing with Missy at the farm in Washington.  People were running off the road trying to see what was going on!

She might be little, but she likes to be in the middle of everything!