I've been here a while

It’s good to be here. I’ve been busy lately. I missed my blogiversary. Last weekend marked seventeen years I’ve been her. Not so much lately, I admit, but I still like to wander by. Blogging was really a hoot in its heyday, and I’ve met so many wonderful people out here. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.

 

Once I got my husband back on the ground, I left him. Not for long though. But I took my few days in the mountains for some writing time. I was able to get a real start on the last Cassie book. The next to last book is ready to be published, as soon as I can get my publisher to speak to me again. That mess is still going on. I got some of my pay (I have no idea if the money they sent was for one month, one quarter or for the whole nine months they have been ignoring me. They sent no statement with it. This is all very frustrating. But for those of you who have read my books please know that two more are coming – I have NO idea when, but they are coming!!

My time in the mountains was wonderful! I stayed at the same little Inn and it’s so pretty. It’s been sold and the flowers weren’t as specular as normal, but they were pretty and I’m sure it will take the new owners a while to get themselves up to speed. The whole little town is as pretty as can be and It’s fun walking around. Here was the view out my bedroom window and then the sights around the Inn and around town.

Next weekend we are having the cousin’s reunion. Not here this year, we’re having it at my cousin’s lake house. I’ve written about being there several time and for me it’s just a magical place. There will be thirteen of us and I can’t wait for us all to get together. 

This is the place we will all gather! It doesn't get much better than this.

Glad that's over!

He did it! He jumped! And I’m thankful to say he landed gently back on earth. Arriving at the jump site did not inspire me with tons of confidence. There was one tiny building and then several tents set up for shade – it was HOT! The people running the place, you know the ones who would have my husband’s life in their hands were a bunch of scraggy, bearded, tattooed kids. Really, I’m not opposed to scraggy, beards, tattoos, or even kids but … like I said. They did not inspire confidence.

Gratefully there was nothing to worry about. After minimal instructions they were off on a bus to head to the plane. Thirty minutes later the jumpers were making their soft landing and as Nick floated down, he seemed very happy. I took him to lunch and his birthday was officially celebrated. But I really hope he plans to stay on the Earth’s surface on his next birthday.

 

We’re back to living the peaceful life. Dog sitting as Mollie heads to the beach. Much more my speed and next week I’m heading to my spot in the mountains to try to begin on the last Cassie book. We shall see if I can get back in the groove.

 

Thank you to all who held a good thoughts for Nick.

Nick's Birthday Plans

Nick and I had a great week last week and I pray it continues into this week. We had our annual family picnic in the mountains last Tuesday. There were twenty of us ranging from nine months to mid-70’s. We always go up and fix breakfast, the kids play in the creek and we all sit around visiting.

 

When we left there, we headed up the Parkway to a wonderful inn in the Pisgah National Forest. It has the best views, the most amazing breezes and the best food ever! We’ve stayed there before and when the friends we often travel with said there were two rooms available for the fourth, we all grabbed them. Here’s the view from our balcony and from the dinning room.

We came home and Friday Nick went golfing – shot a 70! So, he was happy. Now let’s just hope his luck is as good this coming Wednesday. Two years ago, Nick had my heart racing when he decided to go hang gliding.

This year, in order to give my heart another good work out he’s decided to go skydiving. Yes, Ronnie guessed right – but then, she’s known us the longest. That is the plan for Wednesday – weather permitting. I’m going along, not sure why. I’m not exactly moral support since I’m against it, but support or not I’ll be there. This isn’t Nick’s first time, he jumped several times back in his college days and now jumps are all tandem jumps so I’m not too worried, but I still feel the only reason to jump out of a plane in flight is that it’s about to crash or it’s on fire.

 

I hope you all will cross your fingers, squeeze your rabbits foot or better yet say a prayer that Nick lands safely and the my heart can take watching.

 

 

The trip continued

You can click back here to read the first of our vacation. I thought I was safe enough letting Nick pick an activity for the morning, but I really need to remember to put some restrictions on that. There are thousands of things to do in this area – so many I have no idea where they get all the people to staff these places. There was a Hollywood wax museum, many scenic rides up the mountain, tons of small amusement parks, an ‘upside down’ house, loads of shopping places and so much more.

On other vacations, you might remember, Nick has tried to kill me. Once on a mo-ped, a couple of time on hikes in the mountains. There have been others, but I think I’ve blocked them from my mind. But this time the magnanimous man is giving me a choice. Mudding in an ATV or horseback riding. Is he kidding? I don’t like ATV, I’m not even wild about golf carts. I like vehicles with doors, windows, seat belts and airbags. Not to mention the fact that it’s been raining in this area for four straight days (before we came, we had great weather) but where you didn’t have pavement you had MUD! And horseback? I probably haven’t been on a horse more than once or twice in the past forty-some years. Where does he come up with these ideas?

 

I had only brought vacation clothes with me, nothing I really wanted to get muddy. But only protesting slightly we headed out to the Jaylee Ranch. I had picked horseback riding because I trust a horse way more that Nick’s driving of an ATV through four inches of mud. It was a little cool and breezy that morning, so I had on my only sweater, a white one. And I’d also only brought two pair of shoes, my sandals and my canvas/mesh tennis shoes. This was the area around the horses.

 

But to give the stables credit they had us up on a platform and we could just step onto our horse and avoid the muck. I have to admit that despite the mud our ride was pleasant, and it turned out to be a lovely day. So maybe this wasn’t another murder attempt, but I’m always on the lookout these days. And despite all the mud even my white sweater came through unscathed.

That afternoon we went back out to The Island and went in a Crime Museum – I’m big on watching true crime shows and I found this very interesting. Since we were planning on a big diner Nick decided he’d get an ice cream cone for lunch. I didn’t want one, I was still full from breakfast and I wanted to eat dinner. I told him to get his favorite, butter pecan, but he got black cherry (my favorite) and I had a little.

 

I love the food at Dolly’s Stampede! The soup was fantastic, then they give you a whole little chicken, a slice of pork tenderloin, half a roast potato, an ear of corn a biscuit and an apple turnover for dessert! And I sat there feeling like I’d had a huge lunch as well as several cones of ice cream. Honestly, I sipped at the soup and had about four bites of chicken and I couldn’t eat another thing. But thankfully they give you handfuls of take-out bags so eventually, like a day after we got home, I got to finish that delicious chicken. No one is going to accuse me of overeating these days.

 

We had a great little get away. But I was still glad to get home to do my relaxing. All has been peaceful here until Nick told me what he wanted to do for his birthday this month – heaven help me! More later.