Carrie and Company

After Sabbath dinner of lasagna, spinach salad, green beans, garlic bread, and blueberry cheesecake, we enjoyed visiting with "the Ryans", Carrie and Jaclyn. Carrie is up to her usual tricks in this picture.

Last weekend Jaclyn invited us to supper on Fri. night (the corn chowder and cornbread were scrumptious) where we met Jonathan and Kelly who we'd heard so much about. They threw the surprise engagement party for Ryan and Jaclyn awhile back, and even included Ryan and Carrie whose engagement came just the week of the party. So Sat. night Jonathan and Kelly (who are also getting married this summer) came over for pizza and played some games with the crew. It was fun getting acquainted with them.

We're loving Carrie's new game - Settlers of Catan. Sunday morning after our workout at CA's weight room, Randy and I played a round with Carrie and Ryan, that Randy cleaned up on AGAIN.

It was only 27 degrees outside so we wimped out on the outdoor walking, as we did most of the week before when it was down to 10 some mornings on the thermometer here.

Renee & Stephanie Visit At Last!

It was so nice to have Renee and Stephanie here on Sabbath, Jan. 19. We can't even remember when she was last here when we were too - we know it was well over a year. Since then, lots of water has gone under the bridge - household moves for both of us, kids got engaged, new job for Ken, etc.

Stephanie is enjoying her assistant dean task force position at Pisgah so much this year. We sure do miss having her around here. But it's good to know she'll be back next year to continue her Social Work degree.

Our First "Wintry Blast" of the Winter

We're so hopeful that this beautiful snowfall we've had this evening of 2 or 3 inches will last overnight so we can get some daylight pictures tomorrow. (10:20 p.m. and we found out we're out of school tomorrow!) It started around 7 and quit around 10 or so. You have to get out to take pictures while it's falling down here in Tennessee or it'll be too late. It's so gorgeous. Too bad it started falling after sunset - it makes getting good pictures trickier. But Randy did a great job I'd say, eh?

Hike to Sunset Rock

We hiked with Ryan and some of his friends up to Sunset Rock on Sabbath afternoon, January 5. It was great weather for it.




Jason, expounding on ?

One More Fine Day at the Beach - our last

Mom and Coleman came out Friday again to visit, and so did Tom and Ken. After lunch together, we walked down to John's Pass.


This was the day the "blobs" were all over the beach that all the beach combers were asking about - nobody seemed to know what they were. Maybe it was whale blubber from the sperm whale that swam into this beach area Sunday that they killed on a beach nearby a couple days later, since it was sick - not really, just my wild imagination kicking in. It was hard - not like a rock, but not gelly like.

We stopped at the John's Pass pier to watch the action and saw more dolphins.

Look at this cool bird I found perched on the railing - I'll keep this one on my life list.
It was a bittersweet sunset, since we knew we wouldn't see it happen again in this beautiful setting for a long time.

Mom, Coleman and Ruthie watching the sun sink almost into the Gulf.


Two "yellow birds" spent their last day together for a few months probably, till Ryan & Carrie's wedding - it sure was nice being together for the holidays.



We got up at 3 a.m. Sabbath to leave at 3:45 for Tampa Airport, so Ruthie and Milt could catch their 6 a.m. flight out Denver bound. That was when I remembered to take one last picture - of our bedroom, with the Voyager's neat decor.

Our One Clear Evening's Sunset Pictures

We had one evening of totally clear sky at sunset that we capitalized on at our favorite spot for sunset pictures in front of Trails End Motel.

Ruthie & Milton capturing their favorite angles of the gorgeous sunset.

It was a wee bit c-c-c-c-old that evening! It got up to the 40's, but wind chill was much less.

(notice the hat, gloves and red cheeks!)

Who goes there??? Is that you, Ruthie, enjoying the sunset?

Sunset Beach with Ruthie & Milt

We drove south on Treasure Island a few miles to Sunset Beach late one afternoon and saw about 25 surfers enjoying the waves at sunset.

There were several kite boarders skimming across the waves. . .

and flying over the rocks!

The sunset there that evening was fabulous.

When we left, we were watching the sky still over the Gulf and had to stop to take more pictures.

The colors kept getting more brilliant after the sun set.

Beach Combers

The Voyager Resort where we stayed on Treasure Island with Ruthie and Milton for the week after Christmas.

Behind Ryan and Carrie is Trails End where Ruthie and I enjoyed many family vacations.

Look at the "Carrie bird" I spotted on the pylons in front of our resort :)

It was fun having Carrie and Ryan there Sunday with us.

The whiddler - he crafted a serving spoon from some beach "material" he collected.

Tom and Ken visited us twice during our week at the beach.

Tom was inspecting one of the "blobs" we found all along the water's edge one day.

One day it was plenty warm enough to enjoy the pools even.

Mom & Coleman chose to stay dry and watch from the side.