Mountain Musings

Hosting Family Friends!

Our Labor Day cookout was a very special time spent with friends stopping by on their way from New York to Atlanta to Oklahoma to Texas and to who knows where next!

Long time readers of the blog will remember our friend Erich who worked with Jonathan at the airport for a few years, attended our home church, took mountain hikes with us, ate meals around our table, and sort of became an honorary member of the family.

See the post where his family in Texas came to visit us here in Virginia back in 2009. And then part of his family visited again earlier this summer.

Well, this was extra special because Erich visited with his wife and now seven children!

One of our excursions while they were here was stopping by Natural Chimneys close by. Here are the Chimneys from a distance! Impressive.

Tom posing with Erich. It had been at least a decade since we'd visited here:

I think the kids enjoyed exploring inside the walls of the chimneys:

Then we proceeded to our main destination, Reddish Knob, located on the border of Virginia and West Virginia state lines. Great views!

Here I am with Tom enjoying the top of the mountain at Reddish Knob:

Erich, Beth, and their newest baby:

Exploring on his own!

Playing at the top of the mountain:

After we drove down the narrow road to get back to civilization, we enjoyed a nice picnic lunch at Wildwood Park, and Jonathan was able to join us on his lunch break from work:

Afterwards Erich treated us all to Smiley's Ice Cream!

The temperatures were extremely hot in our area these days they visited, so the kids enjoyed some cooling off time on the Slip 'N Slide:

Very excited children:

Then the day arrived that they needed to continue on their journey. We sure enjoyed hosting them in our home!

Sunset the day they left:

~Deb

Happy 43rd Anniversary to Us!

Well, I promised a post about...two old people at the beach...and here we are, celebrating our 43rd wedding anniversary! Two weeks ago we were enjoying some time away walking a somewhat empty beach each day and watching the waves.

We had debated about what to do for our anniversary this year...a day trip in Virginia? A quick overnight someplace close? Or even...a trip to Michigan to visit Mackinac Island, one of the places I'd suggested as a possibility and would love to go to one day...and then afterwards we could visit Hannah and Christopher in Michigan.

Well, we ended up at North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina...a place we had vacationed once years before when Granny and Hannah were with us.

This time of year was a perfect time to go...with kids back in school and the beach deserted:

View from our room:

One of our activities was going on a dolphin watching tour. Here we are getting ready to board:

We enjoyed riding on the boat on an absolutely beautiful day:

Yes...we did see dolphins! When the tour guide asked if there were any questions, I asked, "Do you ever see them jump?"  Answer: "Rarely. Not like you always see in dolphin shows."

The captain and tour guide thought this siting below was excellent. I'm thinking they should put this picture on their brochures and website instead of jumping photos! Ha.

Another most interesting activity was taking a wildlife and nature cruise. I think it was my favorite activity of the trip.

The covered boat was perfect on a hot day, and there was a very enjoyable breeze on the river. The tour guide gave the best narration we have ever heard on a tour...interesting, knowledgeable, and humorous.

We explored the cypress-lined Waccamaw River on this wildlife river tour. The peaceful scenery was very nice! We saw osprey and their nests, heron, egrets, and many turtles sunning themselves. No alligators, although the guide was looking for one!

Other fun activities included mini-golf, eating at fun out-of-the-way places, riding the Sky Wheel, treating ourselves to ice cream, and spotting a fisherman catch a shark on the beach!

Here's Tom at River City Cafe...one of those dives that ended up having excellent food:

And here's Deb at Fenderz on the way to our destination. It was fun trying out new places:

This shark that was caught by an excited fisherman was thrown back in:

The Sky Wheel and a view from inside our gondola:

A lady on the beach volunteered to take our photo:

And Tom wrote in the sand for our anniversary as he's done in past years...a heart and Happy 43rd. Aww....:)

Blast from the past...here's Tom on our 25th anniversary writing on the beach in San Diego:

Another blast....even I got in on the act...writing in the sand "Deb loves Tom."  This was on our honeymoon 1980 in Chincoteague, Virginia:

And the honeymooners holding hands over the writing in the sand...those were the days of youth--wow, 43 years ago! Great memories looking back over those long ago photos this week:

Well, it was a very nice anniversary trip! And on the last night we were there, someone even set off a fireworks display on the beach outside our window to send us off:

~ Deb

 

Next Up:  Hosting a Family of 9

Killing 5 Birds With One Trip!

  
This idea started hatching back in the spring....

I kept thinking of a gentleman from back in my hometown of South Boston, Virginia, whom I knew had just turned 94 years old this year. I kept thinking and thinking that I really needed to go see him this summer.

Background: his family and my family growing up used to go on vacations to the Smoky Mountains together in the '60s. He and his wife lived up the street from us for years, attended our church, and has remained a very dear friend after his wife passed away.

Now he lives with his daughter and son-in-law in the Tidewater area of Virginia. I remembered how much my mom "Granny" always wanted folks to come see her and visit. I think she would like the fact that I made this trip to see him.

Tom and I enjoyed catching up with Nathaniel...lots of memories! In fact, he drove the getaway car for us after our wedding reception!

Donna, his daughter, prepared a delicious meal for us to enjoy while there, and I brought home a new recipe--Pineapple Pretzel Salad! Here's Donna and her husband Allen:

I like to picture where folks live when I think of them and pray for them...so it was especially good to visit their home. We are saying goodbye to them here and were so thankful it worked out for us to visit!

Well, once we planned an actual date for this trip, Tom and I started brainstorming and wondered who else could we visit while on our jaunt and schedule them in.

He wanted to get together with a former co-worker in Williamsburg who is also now retired. And I wanted to get together with former neighbors who lived in our subdivision when we were there in the '90s.

Amazingly, the details for these visits came together!

Here we are with Dale (former co-worker) and his wife Kristin. It was quite an enjoyable lunch time at New York Deli! Hey guys, our place next time!

And listen to this very fun unexpected surprise!! A long time friend, whom we knew from years of homeschooling together, happened to be eating in the same restaurant and spotted us...she came over to say hello and found out about our two-day excursion to the area and invited us over to her house on our way back home after we'd visited everyone else.

She ended up being the 5th bird we killed! So to speak...LOL!

Here are our former neighbors....Harry and Anne, whom we visited next. Harry just turned 95 this year and needs some prayer for recovery from some health issues.

Harry and Anne were in our neighborhood bible study and took over leading the study when we moved away. We have kept in touch these last 22 years since we've been away from Williamsburg!

It was good to see them in person again and catch up on each other's lives.

 

Next on the docket for an impromptu meetup were our dear and long time friends, Fred and Chris. We met at Scoot's BBQ over in Gloucester and, of course, loved every minute of our time together!  Sorry no photos yet of this get together!

Okay...5th and final meetup. Christine and her husband, Darryl, whom we met at our first home school meeting in 1992 when we first moved to Williamsburg. In fact, Christine came over when we moved in and brought us a Welcome to Williamsburg cake! So very thoughtful!

On this visit she furnished snacks to tide us over for our journey back home, and of course, there was a pound cake--her specialty!

And here we are on the swing before saying goodbye and wrapping up our trip:

What a whirlwind fun time! I absolutely loved it all! Thank you to all our friends for spending time with us!

I think that was a very good idea indeed!

~ Deb

 

Next up:  Spending our 43rd Anniversary at the Beach!

Teas, Brunches, and Overnights!

I've enjoyed lots of getting together with friends this summer...celebrating a birthday, reconnecting after many years apart, and hosting missionary friends overnight.

My friend Jean celebrated a birthday last month, and I was invited to her surprise tea given by her daughter. The table looked very inviting and exquisite when I arrived:

All the ladies seemed to enjoy this special occasion. Here's a quick photo of me with Jean after the party:

My friend Adrienne and I decided it had been waaayy too long since we caught up with each other. I knew her back in 1988 and 1989 when we were in the same homeschool group together when we lived in Charlottesville.

We moved away to Williamsburg soon after....and we never kept in touch. Just recently we connected again and met up at Stella, Bella, and Lucy's for brunch.

Here I am with my friend after enjoying 3 hours of catching up! It was a good time!

Kim and Annie are friends that we knew before we got married 43 years ago!  They have been missionaries in Papua New Guinea for years, working on translating the Bible into the Tami language. They are back in the States for a few months before returning to Ukarumpa and recently stopped by for an overnight.

Kim and Annie serve with Wycliffe Bible Translators, and it's always a joy to see them again and hear an up-to-the minute update on their work there:

More adventures with friends are on the docket for later this week! Stay tuned.

~Deb

Giveaway Winner Announcement!

Today is August 1st and time to draw the name of the winner of either the oregano or rosemary from the Mountain Musings garden!

I used a Random Number Generator at 9pm this evening, and this is the comment that was selected:

Hello from Surry County, North Carolina. I usually read your blog from our home in Texas but we are spending the summer in the NC mountains (much better than the 🔥that Texas has experienced these past few months!)

Posted by: Nancy | Monday, July 24, 2023 at 05:29 PM

 

Nancy, I'll email you for your mailing address. Let me know which of the spices you would like me to send you....or....if you would rather I pass your spice on to another commenter.

Congratulations! And thank you to everyone who left a comment!

~Deb