Mountain Musings

Celebrating in South Carolina at Brick Street Cafe

We just returned home this Easter weekend after a visit to South Carolina to celebrate my sister's birthday. Yay for birthdays and celebrations!!

One of our very special outings during the week was going to Brick Street Cafe for lunch. Tom was the dog sitter that day, so it was just us two sisters out on the town!

Just before going in we snapped a selfie at the top of that flight of steps:

The restaurant is quite eclectic inside:

And this unique bench greets customers. I learned that the cafe is famous for its Sweet Potato Cake. Hence, "Eat Da Cake" plaques were in various locations in the restaurant:

My sister Bet and I picked a table and proceeded to check out the menu:

The waitress recommended their famous chicken salad, fruit, and love muffin platter, so that's what I picked:

Here's my plate, and it was absolutely delicious! The love muffin lived up to the hype. It was filled with a dollop of raspberry jam and cream cheese and was served warm from the oven! I would definitely order this again:

And Bet's selection was a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato dill soup:

Normally, I never order dessert at a restaurant...but this time my sister had been treated to a gift card from her retirement party last year. So we were splurging to use it up!

Let's pick what flavor of cake we will order. What would you pick? We settled on the Sweet Potato, of course, and the Coconut Cake...we took them home...the slices were HUGE!

The chef who is famous for making the sweet potato cake was in the restaurant and allowed me to take her photo...her name is Miss Sue, and she told me she had been baking at the restaurant for 28 years. She's 92 and not thinking of retiring!

Here's a very interesting two-minute news clip that was made about her last year, and she tells the reporter no one likes to cook these days. But she loves to cook! And, I tell you, she's good at it!

We had a very nice birthday week all around...perusing a few unique gift shops, driving around the local area sightseeing after enjoying a birthday lunch at a Mexican Restaurant with Tom, and visiting Country Boys Greenhouse:

I hope everyone had a very enjoyable and beautiful Easter weekend! We are settling back into the normal routine back here at home and ready for some beautiful April weather to do some work outside.

~Deb

Meeting Our New Grandson in Michigan!

Happy January, 2024, Everyone!  It certainly has been a busy and happy year for us so far!

We just returned from faraway Michigan (an 11.5 hour drive plus stops from Virginia!) where we visited Hannah and Christopher and their new baby boy! He was two weeks and two days old when we arrived, and it was wonderful to see him at this newborn stage!

While we were there, we settled in for several days of some cuddling, cooking, cleaning, and celebrating!

Here's Grandpa in the nursery with Psalm 1:3 calligraphed by Hannah on his wall:

"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

Hannah seemed so excited to be a mom! So very thankful for a healthy baby!

I love being a Granny! This is grandchild #9, eighth boy!

The very grateful and proud parents--such a delightful family of three:

One of the days we were there, we celebrated Hannah's 40th birthday!! We planned to take her out on a lunch date, even though the roads were icy and snowy; and we weren't sure we wanted to tackle taking a newborn out on such a messy day!

But...we decided to think (and drive!) like a Michigander and headed out to the pizza restaurant she had chosen.

Here's the birthday girl with baby tucked away in a corner, sleeping the entire time! Success!

Hannah and I shared a Chicago Deep Dish--a masterpiece! Chicken BBQ:

We enjoyed the outing very much and were so happy that we could celebrate with Hannah on her special day!

Once we returned home (praise the Lord for safety on the roads and no accidents!), I started making Hannah's birthday meal for that evening. Here are her choices:

I had never made Chicken Tikka Masala before, but it turned out to be a very easy recipe to prepare and was delicious:

One of Hannah's favorite cakes is Hummingbird Cake...but since that's quite involved, she picked an easier substitute that was quite tasty...Easy Moist Pineapple Cake.

She's ready to blow out her birthday candles--the baby stayed content and was nursing away:

Both Hannah and Sarah decorate their homes with seasonal quilts, and Hannah had long ago asked for a Valentine's quilt. After supper, she opened her birthday gifts...and tada...I can finally post what I worked on last February now that it's gifted:

I think she was quite surprised actually and loved it! Success!

This quilt pattern is called Woven Hearts by The Pattern Basket.

 

Since I haven't posted since Christmas, I need to post a photo of the seasonal quilt I also gifted to Sarah when they visited for the holidays. She had asked for a patriotic quilt. This one is called Stars and Stripes by Thimble Blossoms.

Since I forgot to take a photo while they were here, here's Sarah in her home displaying her quilt:

While we were visiting in Michigan, we grabbed a chance to see Christopher's family. They invited us over for a very delicious meal and a sweet time of fellowship. Here are the Michigan Grandaddy and the Virginia Grandpa during the hymn singing time:

The baby's first outing over to the grandparents' house:

The Aunties:

The Uncles:

The Michigan Grandma and the Virginia Granny....hot chocolate and hymn time:

What a wonderful trip...seeing Hannah and Christopher again...and especially our newest grandson, the best gift this Christmas!

It was a privilege to be able to pitch in and help with taking down the Christmas decorations, various household tasks, and treating Hannah to some at-home girly spa activities. 

Celebrating Hannah's birthday was also a great highlight of the trip! And renewing our friendship with the in-laws was, as usual, a fun, fun time!

One last snuggling session before leaving:

Thankfully, we made it safely home before this happened the next day! That's just windblown drifts against the glass door...but still!

Thank you Hannah and Christopher! We loved being there!

~Deb

A Visit Back to My Hometown ~ South Boston, VA

Last week we made a trip back to my hometown of South Boston, Virginia. It's where I lived for 28 years of my life...before Tom came along and whisked me away to other various locations in Virginia. I've loved living in this beautiful state.

The main purpose of our visit was to check out Granny's headstone engraving in the cemetery there...it's almost been two years since the funeral when we traveled to South Boston.

I guess it was a good thing we checked! The death date was not engraved. So we spent some time checking into the matter with the funeral home, filling out paperwork at the headstone place, and paying to have the work done next month. Sadly, it turns out the engraving was not prepaid as we thought.

We had contacted friends in South Boston to see if we could stop by and visit while we were in the area. It was great getting to see Carolyn and Garnett again and catch up on each other's lives.

I loved strolling around her yard seeing her flowers, landscaping, and her fully-decorated She-Shed.

The guys talked together while Carolyn and I strolled and talked:

And here's Carolyn standing in front of her She-Shed...which actually seemed like a Tiny House! It was furnished and adorable inside...perfect spot for ladies' teas and bible study gatherings.

Here's the She-Shed located next to their garage--just a beautiful setup. I loved the birdhouse, fence, and roses growing there to the right of the shed, with all the pebbles and stepping stones:

Sitting area inside the shed/tiny house:

One wall's decor states: Love grows best in little houses like ours!

I sure loved looking around at all the special things she had inside, and it got me hankering to renovate my garden shed...not to this extent for certain.  But a little sprucing up could help!

Let's go inside the main house now...here's the eye-catching front door! I love this green color! Do you remember the post where I painted my She-Shed door yellow? Find it here.

And the beautiful table-setting she planned for us:

The welcome chalkboard on the table in the background:

Each place setting included a different scripture card for us to read aloud after the meal. Menu: Chili with baked potatoes and all the toppings, cornbread sticks, and apple cider:

Take a look at the dessert glasses, which was a coffee latte with pumpkin spice whipped topping and moose tracks ice cream, topped with a leaf cookie:

Carolyn truly made everything so very special for us! Thank you, sweet friend!

One of the activities while we were there was touring Berry Hill Mansion/Resort. It's located directly across the street from Carolyn's house and is a beautiful property.

The website has lots of inside photos of the mansion if you're interested in booking a room!

After spending the night in South Boston (not at Berry Hill), we went on our way bright and early and headed south to visit my sister in South Carolina for the week.

Wish I could show you pictures of our days there...but we were all so busy, no pictures were taken!! Tom was a handyman for her doing tons of activities which involved changing an extra bedroom into her craft room and installing shelving and rearranging the entire room. Now that she's retired, she has time to be creative!

It was a very productive week, and I'm so glad we went and especially glad that we stopped by South Boston before heading to her house. It was an enjoyable and needed week away!

~Deb

To Michigan and Back!

        

Been traveling...

 

The last week of September we packed up and headed to Michigan to visit Hannah and Christopher for the first time since they were married last September, 2022!

It was a long anticipated visit to see how they were settling into married life, seeing the way Hannah had decorated and set up her new home, visiting our oldest grandson while in the state, and participating in a virtual baby shower for the little boy Hannah and Christopher are expecting in December!

This will be our 8th grandson...who joins our only granddaughter!

It was so fun seeing Hannah work in her own kitchen and enjoy all the special touches she planned for us:

The first day we were there was extra special! We traveled 2-1/2 hours from Hannah and Christopher's home to visit our grandson, and it was wonderful to see him again! He's certainly a tall cool dude!

First activity...treating him to lunch out!

This was our first time at Zingerman's Deli, and it was all very unique, including all the freshly baked bread on display:

Great sandwiches, great fellowship, and a wonderful fall day out!

Our second planned activity was heading to a local park to geocache...a favorite thing to do outside to enjoy the nice weather:

On the hunt...for the first geocache. Success! Grampa spotted this one under the bridge:

Next...2nd geocache involved some rock climbing. Unfortunately, this was a hard one (or destroyed one) and could not be found:

The third and final hunt for the afternoon was a micro-geocache and was found magnetized to the iron posts of this bridge:

Time out for some photos with Grampa and Granny along the route:

We finished up the afternoon by visiting an apple cider mill where we enjoyed apple slushies, apple cider, and apple donuts!

The next day was Hannah's virtual baby shower for mostly our church ladies here in Virginia, hosted by her sister Sarah and Sarah's mother-in-law, Victoria (both long distance in Georgia).

So here's the setup in Hannah's living room. Since no one was attending in person, everyone sent their gifts either via Amazon or the postal service. Before the party started, I was responsible for opening all the boxes which had arrived and putting the gifts into gift bags for ease of Hannah opening during the virtual shower and to look prettier.

The hostesses were great and went beyond expectations with sending us decorations and also sending each family attending a gift card to buy their own snacks for the party. It was like everyone was really attending and eating snacks together!

Hannah planned the menu for the two of us with her gift card...and she prepared the food and set it out as if we had a crowd with us!

Looks like a lot of eats for just two of us! Although Tom and Christopher popped in for the snacks. :)

And here's the setup for the folks on-screen to participate virtually. What a great way to include long distance friends!

Here's Sarah, one of the hostesses, on her end of the computer (sorry blurry), testing out various baby boy party backgrounds to set the stage for the online shower:

I was so glad that I could be with Hannah while she opened gifts....we were a party of two!  Thank you to everyone who attended and sent gifts! And thank you to the marvelous hostesses, Sarah and Victoria!!!!

One evening Hannah and Christopher hosted a campfire cookout for us, and Christopher's family came over to visit. We sat around the campfire til dark, and then everyone went inside for a hymn sing before saying goodnight:

On our last night there, we went down to the pier and saw the sunset at Lake Michigan. This was such a beautiful evening:

And here we are with our loved ones:

Looking forward to their little one making his appearance in a couple of months:

Well, all good things must end. Our long awaited visit had come to a close. Hannah wanted a final photo of us in the early, foggy morning before we drove off:

On our return trip to Virginia, we made plans to stop by and see friends in Indiana from over 25 years ago when we were in church together in Newport News. Thanks Pat and Gail for letting us pop in and say hello. Great visit!

We absolutely loved our visit to Michigan and can hardly wait to travel back again!

~Deb

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!

More Birdhouses by the Woodworker!

Tom had such a good time making birdhouses with the Georgia grandchildren earlier this month, that he decided to make a couple more...for our grandsons in Maryland!

So...he whipped them together in time for our trip this past weekend to visit them and to help celebrate little J's 4th birthday.

After finding out the boys' favorite colors from their dad, he started painting the roofs:

Everything's looking good, and we hope the boys will enjoy watching birdies make nests in their own special birdhouse, complete with their initial:

Presenting the birdhouse:

And here's the other grandson's birdhouse, all installed side-by-side on a tree close by a viewing window for the boys to watch the comings and goings.

It turned out to be a wonderful 4th birthday party with turtles and snakes and all sorts of interesting creatures for all the kids to touch and handle. This Granny stayed far away!

That was our Saturday! We don't get to see these boys often, so it was a treat to visit even for a few hours!

~ Deb

Spring and Early Summer Happenings ~ Part 1

Hello everyone! If you happened to stop by the blog recently and read the post just before this one, you'll see there's a new way to sign up for email notifications whenever there's been a new post. Hopefully if you did just that, you were notified that this new post is now up and live! Would you be so kind as to let me know it worked?
June found us on the busy roads headed to Massachusetts to visit friends for the first time in their new home. We have enjoyed many visits with T & D here in Virginia over the years, so we were looking forward to traveling to a new place to visit them.

While we were in the area, they took us to Plymouth...and we saw the Mayflower 2 in the harbor. It was a beautiful day, as you can see:

Here are our friends, T & D, with the Plymouth Rock structural canopy in the background:

This next photo shows what's under that canopy...Plymouth Rock, where the Pilgrims first landed!

It actually doesn't look very impressive, does it?  Have you ever been to see the Rock?  You can read more about the story here:

Our friends took us on a very informative historical tour of the area, and we enjoyed it all! I could post so many more pictures!

We also loved spending time at their home and seeing T's flower gardens and being with D. in her kitchen. She planned some great meals while we were there! Thank you both so much for the wonderful visit!

We also were in Massachusetts for the wedding of our nephew...so after leaving T & D's we headed to the weekend wedding festivities. Our son Micah flew in to attend, so that was a treat to see him there:

The happy couple...

I'll post just one reception photo which shows Tom with both of his sisters and brother-in-law enjoying the table conversation after the wedding. Always a fun time seeing family members:

While we were away, the garden was growing! And we came home to some wonderful veggies!

We've had a bumper crop of cucumbers and yellow zucchini, and the tomatoes are just coming in. Yay for gardens!

I've also been harvesting and drying rosemary, oregano, and basil and jarring it for using and/or gifting. I'm trying my best to do the exact same things that Hannah would do if she were still here managing the garden. :)

Who wouldn't enjoy cooking with a jar of fresh aromatic oregano?! My kitchen is smelling like an Italian restaurant!

Here's a treat for you....if you've made it this far reading our blog...leave me a comment telling me where you're reading from and share something encouraging or an answered prayer request that will make my day.  I'll draw a commenter's name on August 1st and send you a jar of oregano or rosemary (your choice) from the Mountain Musings 2023 garden!

(And if you grow your own and have no need for oregano or rosemary, still comment and let me know you're out there and share a story.)

~ Deb

Next up: Spring and Early Summer Happenings ~ Part 2 ~ Grandchildren, Birthdays, and Birdhouses

Attending The Chief End of Man Conference ~ Ridgecrest, NC

We left Georgia last week reluctantly, knowing that it would be awhile before seeing the grandchildren again.

But we weren't headed home! More adventures ahead!

We traveled to Asheville where the annual family bible conference is held that we attend. This year's theme was The Chief End of Man.

Here's a view of the main meeting room where all the keynotes and singing took place. This photo was taken during one of the breaks between sessions (credit: C F). The attendance this year was almost double that of last year's, and there were lots of first-time attendees: 
One major highlight of the conference was getting to see our daughter, Hannah! She and her husband Christopher traveled to the conference from their home in Michigan. It was wonderful to catch up! So this momma was able to see both daughters in the same week!

Here's Hannah reuniting with two ladies from our church who were at the conference:

In the dining room there are lots of chances to connect with other folks attending--you can take your chances on who you'll sit with or make a date to meet them there.

Here are friends from SC whom we always see at the conference. It was great to eat with them and enjoy their company!

The Michigan contingent below:

We met this newly married couple for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed the conversation! We invited them to come visit us in Virginia this summer...won't that be fun if they can come?!

This Oklahoma couple has been coming a few years, and we usually see them each conference...we enjoyed a brief hello with them between sessions and loved seeing their granddaughters' pictures on their phone (we Grannies always have time for that!):

Another dining room shot...the meal we were able to grab with Hannah and Christopher!

Hymn sing in the amphitheater one evening (photo credit G F):

Our Spring 100 (family/extended family) walking group met for a short walk and a photo while we were all together at the conference (photo credit S S):

Hannah wanted a photo of "just us" while we were there also:

The conference was an excellent time for Hannah to see her friends from church here in Virginia. Here, she's enjoying some time spent with these three sisters:

Next year's conference will be held the end of April, 2024, with a theme of Making Disciples. Will we see you there?

(Credit: G F)

~ Deb