SCENES FROM SAPPHIRE, NC

Signs of fall on a hike with ak's mom




One of the many waterfalls of Horse Pasture River





More beautiful moving water




Wonderful nature





8th hole water hazzard; reflected trees





Butterflies alight on the flowers of our bedroom porch




View from our porch; Mt. Toxaway in background




Our totally SWEET rental-we ripped it up on the mountain roads





JGlow totally lacking in form & finesse at the driving range, as well as having some serious hair issues. I do like my outfit, though.


Prose to follow later-funny stories :)
Til then, peeps...

ALIVE AND WELL....

Brandon and JGlow playing....don't you love my beach attire??!!


Susan, me and Kim


The ODU gang












...hey y'all! (can you tell I've been spending a lot of time below the Mason-Dixon line??)
Just wanted to post some additional pics from Nags Head to placate the blog posse until I can get the most recent NC pics together along with the usual prose regarding our most recent adventure. It's been a bit crazy getting back into the swing of things....we're still sniffling, but overall the health status in the treehouse is much better :)

...more soon...later, peeps!

KIDS + TECH & WEEKLY UPDATE

Pictured right is my sweet-sugar godson, Nicky. I headed north to Langhorne last week to pay a visit to my Greek Meatball. Of course I had my mini Canon camera with me, and Nicky loved playing with it - he thought it was a phone at first, and kept putting ut up to his ear and saying hello, then to my ear for me to say hello. There was lots of giggling during this :) Then I could almost see the light bulb going off in his head as he turned on the camera, then took the 2 "in your face" portraits of himself, then turned the camera around to view the pics on the screen. Forget giggling-Nicky totally did a freak "look what I did" tribal dance while whooping. The dance was slightly off balance as he was recovering from the 2 recent flashes that went off in his face!


My camera is actually very hard to turn on, so his mother and I were completely amazed at his dexterity. I also remember watching the mini-Pinf working the laptop like it was an extension of herself, and my 12 year old cousin Alexis who regularly kicks Ak's butt on the Playstation, or their PSP's. Ak and I are amazed at the capacity kids have for absorbing the tech-they have no fears, and don't get all that fustrated if something doesn't work right the first time. And they have those tiny little hands and fingers!!!



Nicky is crying because I am leaving - talk about pulling heartstrings!! He knows who I am, and we almost have him calling me "Nouna" , Greek for godmother. If you ask him where Nouna is, he points to me, or the picture of me in his room. It gives JGlow the warm fuzzies :)



Tough week in the treehouse...both Ak and I came down with sinus infections. The week has been filled with tissues, soup, antibiotics, Mucinex, nasty cough drops, Gatorade...it is a DNA nightmare over here. I am craving a cheesteak badly, but fear I would suffocate while trying to eat it. I can't rememebr the last time air actually came out of my right nostril! I think we are finally on the mend, though, and hope to attend the Guthrie Invitational on Friday.

On Monday morning, we are flying to western NC (Lake Sapphire) to surprise ak's mom on her 70th birthday. She is currently peeved with us, as we are "sick" (literally!) and cannot make it down....she thought we were flying down Saturday. With the help of her best friends, Pinky & John, who also have a home in Sapphire, we are going to shock the hell out of her!! Pinky and John are having a birthday cocktail party for her Monday evening, then taking her out to dinner. We will be at P & J's from 4pm, and will hide and pop out when they do her birthday toast. I hope we don't give her a heart attack.

Later, peeps.

NAGS HEAD - The Saga of Ernesto, a broken foot & a runaway UPS truck

Akjn arrived in Kill Devil Hills, NC on Thursday afternoon. The drive was easy - Route 13 the whole way, and we encountered just a slight drizzle as we left VA and entered NC.
This is our college buddy Dre's (Andreas) house that we stayed in. It is awesome-cathedral ceilings, multiple decks off the back of the house, a huge screened in back porch, and central A/C that was buried at 65 all weekend.




Ernesto hit us early Friday morning around 2am, and thrashed until 6am. There was lots of lightning, thunder and high winds. We watched as much as we could from Dre's crow's nest, before having to get inside from the stinging rain. Very cool.
This is Nags Head beach on Friday at about 2pm. The sea was angry, my friends! All of the red 'No Swimming' flags were out, and the beaches were deserted.
The weather wasn't that bad - great breeze. Perfect for some shopping activity-akjn love the surf stuff, and the stores did not disappoint.



Saturday at the beach - glorious!!! That's Kevin, just in from surfing some 6 ft waves right in front of us. His mom is Susan, the blond bending over, and his wife, Kim, is in the lower right.
Susan and her husband Reeves live in Nags Head in the summer, then head to Isla Mirada in the FL Keys for the winter... not too bad at all.

They were amazing hosts who we pretty much hung out with every night. She had one fridge just for champagne, so you know JGlow had found her heaven.



JGlow and Kim, taking in the sunset while sipping the bubbly at Susan & Reeve's. Just fabulous! Kim could totally hang with the pollyanna girls - she is hilarious! Most of the college buddies wives are lame ... I think it is because those girls didn't go to Old Dominion ... we've got something they don't.

Later this evening, Kim and I teamed up as the only girls playing blackjack with the boys and won the whole pot ... $4.00!
I totally drunk-text messaged CNN, too!



JGlow and Brandon, Jeffe's boy. He is totally animated...running right into the ocean with no fear, talking all kinds of nonsense, walking up to strangers on the beach and talking nonsense to them, etc. He's a happy little guy, and very friendly.








Sunday was another beauty! We headed to the beach again (a record for akjn), and enjoyed watching Dre and Kevin surfing 8 footers. Then Kim noticed that Kevin was kind of floundering and drifting in the water...all of a sudden Dre was swimming after him along with 2 old ass lifeguards, a guard on a jet ski, and a guard on an ATV on the beach. Once he was on the beach, it was obvious that he had done something to his right foot. We headed to the hospital, conveniently located across the street, where it was determined that he had broken the top of his foot and all of the bones leading to his toes, would need surgery, pins, blah blah.

Note to readers: this is the start of surf season, and Kevin & Kim live 2 blocks off VA Beach-this was not good news.
We got Kevin back home and pumped that boy full of percs and pale ale, and we all hung out and watched the pictured sunset together. We were all glad that Keving was going to be okay. Drinks went down very easy and very fast that night for all of us.

Monday-Ak picks up Kevin so he can lounge in the back of the Lex, Kim drove her car, and I drove Kevin's totally rad black truck back to VA Beach. It was a funny convoy. Ak and Kevin looked like 'Driving Miss Daisy' from the back. We hung out with them for a bit at their casa, then got on the road and headed home. Another easy trip, knock on wood. For as much as I complain about living here, it was so good to be home, and throw open all of the windows. You can't say enough about sleeping in your own bed.

Tuesday-back to the grind: an appointment with mama, laundry, unpacking, grocery shopping to restock our fridge ... seemingly normal. Oh no, of course not! At around 3pm, we get a call from Dre in NC, saying that while Kim was driving Keving to see the orthopedic surgeon, a UPS truck with bad brakes hit a car, which hit them, and their Jeep rolled 3 times. Thank goodness, they are okay ... very bruised & so sore, but okay. Poor Kevin was laid out in the back of the Jeep with no seatbelt, so he just hurts everywhere. The guy in the first car may not make it.

Summary: An unforgettable weekend, with a storm, old friends, new friends, and good times. Then something happened that made akjn step back and take stock in the importance of our friends. Friends are the most important ingredient in this recipe of life.

Peace, peeps.