North Carolina, Day 1

Sunday Jan 29.: Catty Sunday

Having found Wayne, or been found by Wayne, saturday afternoon EST, I was taken back to their house where I got to meet two dogs and four cats and Patty. I was rather weary, and after I had cleaned away some travel grime they took me out for dinner. The most notable event was that they wanted to see my ID to serve me beer (more funny than anything else. I didn't have my passport with me, but our general amusement seemed to convince the waitress).

Sunday we went off to Carolina Tiger Rescue, where Wayne and Patty used to volunteer.

Where is my banana! 

Graveyard

Dining table

I went through several frustrating months of anxious hunting for a dining table last fall, before I finally, by chance (I was venting my frustration at a salesman in a shop that was closing) found the perfect table - custom made for me. The size I wanted, and without the modern "squareness" (thick square legs and thick square edges) that I didn't like. Slightly slimmer, in oiled oak, it has been sitting wrapped and legless in my hallway since the end of january.

Today I finally got around to evicting the old ugly ikea-"wood" table (now hiding in the balcony until I can get rid of it), and getting the new into place. Also rolled out the rug which has been waiting for the table for months. Two chairs are still in bits and pieces but they will be in place later today.

New, and rather grey, kitchen/dining area (the chairs have grey fabric covered seats).
Unfortunately it matches the weather today...

Sunrise as seen from my kitchen window this morning

Guest Blogger: Wayne

Saturday, Jan 28.: Waiting for Silme

OK, it is 28 January 2012 and it is 5:45 pm and I am waiting at the arriving passenger area where I always wait for Erik. Planeload after planeload of people keeps arriving. I keep checking the board for arrivals and departures and it suddenly jumps from “On Time” to “Arrived”. I wait through two more piles of people and no Silme. Finally I ask someone at a ticket counter. International flights arrive at an obscure spot buried behind the luggage carousels. OK, I am supposed to know this? I run down there and arrive at a weird seating area with some very tall, very secure doors and wait with a lot of other people who look as “anticipatory” as I look . . . I guess. Me? I am about to jump out of my skin with excitement. All the years of looking and pushing (yes I have pushed at times since 1982) focuses on this one event: The arrival of the first cousin in our family from Norway to visit our family in the USA since 1886.

So, who is counting? Me. I waited and watched as the doors opened like a Transporter from the set of Star Trek and person after person “materialized” through those doors. Would I recognize her? Would she recognize me? How do I greet her? Do I hug her? Shake her hand? Turns out she likes to sit in the plane until the last passenger has deplaned. Then she makes her entrance. Thanks Silme.




It turned out to be so easy. She was grinning at me because I had missed her arrival. She was all the way down the ramp (20 feet from me) while I was talking to a guy who recognized my tee shirt with “woodturning” on it. He was, it turned out, taking a class from our teachers when we learned woodturning. How did I recognize her? She had the same silly grin on her face that I did. I got my hug and then awkwardly asked Silme to let me say one more thing to a fellow woodturner. Then, taking her suitcase I proudly led her to the car and took her home to my family (my wife Patty and two dogs and four cats).

We were off on a four-day adventure of showing her our home, our hometown, our friends, our favorite place to eat (Gulf Rim in Hillsborough, NC), my tiger friends Rajah and Kaela (Carolina Tiger Rescue in Pittsboro, NC), and our woodturning “hobby”. Sadly, we had to hand her off to another friend in Charlotte for her trip to Florida for more friends. Eventually she would wind up experiencing my son Erik’s adventure in southwest Texas in his 1959 Ford Ranch Wagon and 1951 Kozy Coach Trailer. We did not want to let her leave. This will happen again.

North Carolina: The Pets

Quick update from the trip

More to come later, but here are the few photos I shared in Facebook during the trip - in inverted order. So, just to recap: Visiting relatives in North Carolina, road trip with my friend Carol down to Florida to visit more friends, then I flew out to Texas to spend a week there. Got lots and lots and lots of photos, which will slowly but surely appear here during the coming month or so.



Erik gave me a shooting lesson (and took pictures of it).



Our "rig" as the RV-people called it. Hot girls, huh? :)
We seemed to be a tourist attraction on our own with that couple! (59 Ford and 51 Kozy Coach)

Hot boiled peanuts (cajun spiced). Served by my friend Jeannine when I was in FL and my new favourite thing.

On the road

Jan 28th - Feb 3rd: North Carolina, had a great a time visiting cousins. Feb 3rd - Feb 6th: Florida, having a wonderful time with C&J!! Yet to come: adventure in Texas w/ E.