Mother-Daughter weekend

Daughter Jenn received a Birthday & Christmas gift certificate to the Peaks of Otter Lodge. She could have asked any one of her numerous friends to join her, but instead, she asked me! She chose to make it a Mother-Daughter weekend outing. I was honored! She even planned the outing with things I like to do. Things like photo opportunities to practice with my camera, antique & flea market browsing in Bedford, and time spent walking and hiking...just enjoying the outdoors. Saturday was a warm (for February), sunny day to do just that! 

The Peaks of Otter Lodge consist of a main building, with a dining room view of Abbott Lake, and  the Peak, and three, two story units, each with a view of  Abbott Lake, and the Sharp Top Peak.
This is a view of the lodge units from the loop trail on the other side of Abbott Lake:

To get to the lodge, we took the scenic, Blue Ridge Parkway route. That is we took it as far as we could go, before encountering a road closure, and having to back track to the nearest exit.

One of our stops along the Parkway, was Otter Lake:

Which included this man made water fall:

A view of the Sharp Top Peak from the loop trail around Abbott Lake:

The Loop Trail around Abbott Lake:

We also took a hike up the 'mountainside' to the Johnson Farmstead. The house was closed for the winter, but we were able look around outside:

After enjoying dinner at the lodge dining room, we retreated to our room for the night.
But we were not alone. We discovered that we were sharing the room with stink bugs! By the time the lights were turned off, we accounted for nine... two dead, five evicted, and two on the ceiling out of reach.

While Saturday was sunny and mild, Sunday morning was cold and snowy.Before checking out, we enjoyed a window side view of the snow fall while eating breakfast at the lodge. ...Jenn probably enjoyed it more than I did, as I was somewhat anxious to be on our way before the roads became snow covered.

It was a most enjoyable weekend spent with my daughter!





planting bulbs

It was the last week of November, while Thanksgiving was being celebrated, and Christmas preparations were under way. That time of the year when the buzz words were 'Black Friday', and 'Cyber Monday', I found myself planting spring bulbs. I hadn't planned on planting any bulbs this fall, but while shopping for mundane household stuff, I took a detour to the garden center to browse in the Christmas shop. A look about to see if there was anything out of the ordinary being offered this year, and check for decorating ideas. I didn't find anything all that  exciting. However,  instead of exiting, I found myself drawn to the non Christmas section. There it was. The spring bulb display with clearance price tags! Wow! Packages of bulbs that retailed for $6.98 were marked down to $1.75.  Hummm...the planting time range is from October to November for our area, and it was still November with nice fall weather.  The temptation was too much!

Time to plant! It was a wonderful therapeutic afternoon spent digging in the dirt.

All the packages came with this 'Guaranteed To Grow' label. Of course that is only if those small printed details on the back are followed. Hopefully, planting the correct depth, amending my poor soil, and using a bulb fertilizer will bring good results come spring.

A fall Outing

 Traveling narrow, twisty roads...most definitely off the beaten path...Sharon and I enjoyed an outing to the area that I grew up in. It was a warm sunny fall day.
It included...
A walk across this swinging bridge...

Time spent along the edge of the river...

And...

A workout of a hike up the mountain, behind my parent's home, to this pond...

It was a most enjoyable fall outing, shared with a dear friend.





  

Summer into fall happenings

Time for an update!
 It was a busy summer.  Along with the invasion of grasshoppers that made it impossible to garden or enjoy any outdoor activity around here, there were a number of other frustrations and disappointments. But I choose to focus on the fun times and blessings!

A  fun outing with Sharon, a dear friend, included a close up encounter with this deer.

Then there was the most wonderful, big event of 2011  for our family. An event that took lots of planning and preparing for.

(photo of Lora & her Dad by Lora's friend  Morgan)

Daughter Lora's wedding to Matt on October 8th.

But first there were the bridal showers...this one hosted by the bridesmaids.

 

The yummy cakes were made and decorated by daughter Jenn, the Maid of Honor. She also made the cake stands with help from her Dad.

This wonderful wedding event took nine months of planning, with lots of last 'minute' things to do.

One of those tasks was making the centerpieces for twenty-seven tables. Lora wanted lanterns with candles, surrounded by flowers.

These, however didn't go quite as planned. Lora's colors were a vintage lilac-(lavender), Sage green, and Ivory. The plan was for the flowers to be a lavender colored lily. The florist showed us the most beautiful lavender lilies with cream edging, which we ordered. Unfortunately, the florist unable to get them, substituted white ones instead. A disappointment!  With light ivory tablecloths and sage green napkins I was planning on lavender colored flowers. But, with the wedding less than two days away, there wasn't enough time to find a lavender substitute. I had to overcome my disappointment and work with what I had.

Centerpieces aside, it was a warm, sunny October day, the wedding was beautiful, and all went well.