Miss you, Blog

I don't have much to say these days, but I did want to introduce Jonah, and also tell you what a wonderful pup Bogey has turned out to be. He's my buddy. I have missed him so much. My sister visited for three weeks and fell in love with him, too. She can't walk much, either, so we did a lot of catching up.

Jonah is growing in leaps and bounds and is 21 lbs at 9-10 weeks old. He's adorable, but turns into a Tasmanian Devil at times which means crate time.

The Maine trip wound up being a bust. Beautiful because we hit the leaf season, but crowded with tourists (guess others are saying the same about me--I'm a tourist) :) Returned home two weeks early. Just not my style to travel dragging things in and out of motels, not sleeping in my own bed, and no place to sit by a fire, and stay in one place for a few days. Oh well, the trailer went to a nice couple who send me pictures of their camping trips. I sure miss it, though.

My son, John, is taking the truck so I'm going to buy/lease a Honda CRV EXL after Christmas. I can still get up into the truck, but it's difficult, and it's difficult for my sister and my friends, as well. Judy is coming down, again, in the spring so I thought I'd rent a cabin in the woods and we could take a few days and go there. If everything goes right, I'd love to take her to Charleston, as we had planned. She hurt her back so she couldn't come with Susan and me, and she's always wanted to see it. We'll probably only spend a couple of days--enough to get a taste of it on guided tours and schooner trips like last time.

The latest adventure was during an unusual snowstorm (for Georgia). A tree branch fell on a wire and set my breaker box on fire. I had a whole house surge protector, but it was glowing red. I called 911 and was ON HOLD when it burst into flames. I got the dogs out of the house and then threw one of the switches and it exploded (I was prepared to move as fast as I can in the event that I wasn't electrocuted). The firemen would not let me stay in the house so I've been squatting at Susan's house since Sunday (she's so good to open her doors to me). Because it was in the basement not much visible damage was done, but until the breaker box is fixed and electric on, I won't know if I lost any, some, or all of my appliances. More fun to come.

So, I've been busy with electricians, insurance, and the power company--none of whom seem to be able to coordinate with each other. I'll take that back. The insurance company, so far, has been very good. I have a 2K deductible, but they promise they will cover everything. I think I have the kind of policy that replaces appliances as if they were new.

I miss reading blogs but seldom get my computer out. In fact, I've been on it more since the fire than I have in a year. I keep saying I'll get better at reading blogs, but I've been in a funk. Hope anyone who still checks is doing great, and I wish everyone happy holidays and wonderful times in the New Year.

Where Have We Been?

On Highways and in bed too tired to blog.

Today we were in Nantucket. What a beautiful place, and a lovely ferry boat ride over and back. They have many benches only feet apart so I walked between them, took pictures, and sat down to rest. The day was beautiful--perfect degrees and clear, beautiful, blue skies. Marie is younger and very able so I told her to enjoy the day and walk to see what she wanted to see. As I was sitting on one bench I thought, "Who would have thought that I would be in Nantucket without Rich? He would have enjoyed the ferry ride and people watching."

Tomorrow we will spend in Cape Cod so I can rest one more night before continuing up the coast and so Marie can see 6A which she was told is a great drive out to the end of the peninsula.

I'll make all you RVers happy. I HATE having to go in and out of motels. I like sitting outside in the evening by a fire and having everything in its place in my trailer. Those days are over for me so advise you all to enjoy them while you can.

I do have some good news, though. Susan's puppy was born, today. Big litter of 12 puppies; 7 males and 5 females. We don't know which one is hers, yet. She has been waiting for a long time and her main criteria is temperament. The Mother and Father are beautiful dogs so some of the puppies will be show quality. Susan is just happy to have a healthy dog with a good temperament like Lizzie and Jack had.

That's about all I can think to say. I just haven't been moved to blog. I can't really say what's wrong with me. The pictures are only a taste of what Nantucket is--just what I expected--very, very pretty and so quaint. I had hoped to see more.

One of Many Churches

Watching the "Fast" Ferry Begin it's journey to Nantucket

One of the first things we saw as we were docking

The John Kennedy

Our Ferry

Taken from afar

Arriving

First Glimpse of Town

From the smallest to the biggest, each dwelling has its own charm

How nice of him to spread his wings for me

Reminded me of Charleston Gardens

As I took this picture I thought, "How beautiful it must have been on the island before telephone wires and signs

Was I standing on a hill?

For Susan and Jonah and Josie

Thelma and Louise Take Off

I decided that I would treat myself to a trip to Maine for the month of October. I was fortunate to have an old friend (who I was going to visit in Utah with the trailer) agree to come along with me. Marie and I get along like two peas in a pod with similar likes and dislikes. She has a lovely disposition and sense of humor so I'm glad we decided to go together.

I'm still licking my wounds from the sale of my trailer. I HATED packing for this trip, and getting into the motel was a PITA. Had I been by myself, I probably would have been headed home tomorrow--my back was just unbearable until I was able to lie down. We didn't stop along the way, but we passed a little church nearby on a service road on the way to the motel and I asked the gentleman at the desk if he could tell me how to get to it, and he did. So, what was going to be a picture-less blog or no blog is now a short blog. We are in Wytheville, Virginia. I went the speed limit, we stopped for lunch, and we were six hours on the road. I "think" the driving is going to get easier now that we are off 85 which was murderous with trucks. We had some (not bad) construction slow downs, but on 85 going south there was a terrible pick up truck fire. We just hope no one was hurt.

So, short and sweet...here are the only photos from the day. The church was adorable and so well kept. The door was open to everyone. We met one local man who pulled up with his little dog friendly fella. The man behind the desk at the motel is the grandson of the man who built in. He passed away. Now the young man takes care of the church and grounds.

This is Marie.

Highlands NC

My daughter, Susan, and my daughter-in-law, Laura and I decided to take an overnight mini vacation to Highlands NC. Rich and I used to go quite often many years ago. It's a get-a-way for many Floridians and Atlantans because it's always 15 degrees cooler than Atlanta in the summer.

The ride up (and back from Highlands to Dillard) was interesting because I forgot to change my navigation avoidances (back roads, etc.) on my GPS. Garmin is losing my business after many years because I have noticed many local directions are dead wrong. I guess since new cars are coming with their own GPS systems, they have gotten lazy. At any rate, I've bought my last one. While the girls will swear I was making wrong turns (okay, one), the ride home was proof that a change in the navigation preferences fixed everything. I rarely drive anyone anywhere so I do go back roads, which can be interesting, I'll admit. Laura is from the New York City/Jersey area so the dirt roads were a surprise, but she took them like a trooper. Susan, not so much. We were deep in the woods part of the time back from Highlands to Dillard where we stayed at the Dillard House. We had a very large room with a place to sit out. It was in a newly renovated section of the hotel. They had not renovated the toilet, however, and didn't leave enough towels in our room. Laura, the negotiator, thought we should have free breakfasts for the inconvenience, and they accommodated us.

Outside the back door of our room

Pretty girls, huh?

Using my walker helped me a lot and allowed the girls to wander through the shops that line the streets of Highlands. Plus, the town has a lot of benches to make it comfortable for people to rest (lots of husbands waiting for wives shopping in the boutiques). I enjoyed sitting when I needed to and watching everyone having a good time. I happened to sit on one bench and this was directly in front of me. Not bad, but I thought it might be a little more interesting as a photo.

It's just a pleasant place to be with all the little shops and restaurants.

We stopped to relax for a while at a wine store and some good conversation. Then after some more shopping we went to dinner at Paoletti, a lovely Italian Restaurant. We highly recommend it. I remembered the pretty churches in town.

This one used to have a pretty red door. I wondered why they changed it.

Highlands is very dog friendly (water bowl at every shop and dogs in the shops), which made Susan very happy since she's planning to take her dog everywhere when she gets him or her. The Dillard House also welcomes dogs overnight and there's plenty of hiking opportunities. There are horses and chickens, etc. and hiking trails. It's actually a farm and petting zoo, too. Rich and I have been in Highlands in all seasons, but I particularly remember spring when the woods were full of Rhododendrons. We had taken Lizzie there which is why I wanted to see if it was still a place to get away with one's pup.

The weather was cool and we had a short rainstorm that cooled us even further. Very pleasant weather. It's a good people watching town. There are shops for dogs, pretty jewelry and clothes.

Anyone know what these are?

I remembered that Rich and I had been to all of the many waterfalls in the area and some cliffs. We didn't have time to hunt for the cliffs, but we did make it to Dry Falls. You can walk under them. The water was deafening at times.

I took a lot of videos of the falls. Just love the sound of rushing water. I'm a bit tired and probably should have waited until tomorrow to write this, but I'm glad that I can take short trips, once in a while, to have something to post about. Lifted my spirits. 😊