A Walk In The Park

Sunday did not go as planned for me. After two weeks of rain and Saturday being stuck inside all day cleaning while my husband worked. I was ready to get out. I wanted to get away.

I skipped church Sunday because I thought we were going to go somewhere. My husband had the day off and it was beautiful outside. I told him how I would love to go to a big camper show in Hickory. 

Well it did not happen. We sat around here til noon and I was getting upset. He did not feel like going to the camper show after he learned it was an inside event and would be a crowd of people. He suggested we go a few miles down the road to a little town called Cramerton and go for a walk at Goat Island Park. This was not on my agenda but the day was wasting away. 

Goat Island Park has a mile long greenway down the Carolina Thread Trail along with a park, Frisbee Golf, Kayaking, fishing and more. 

Before our walk we stopped by an Ice Cream coffee shop called Floyd and Blackies and got some ice cream. 

I got an Affogato. This is where they pour a shot of espresso over a scoop of ice cream. I chose some sugar free butter pecan. Nick grabbed an ice coffee. Both were delicious. 

During our walk we saw lots of turtles sun bathing on logs. 

While crossing over the “muddy” South Fork river, we could see kayakers relaxing in the sun.

As we continued off the trail a bit, we come to a dead end where there was nice pier. We stood and watched some kids having fun on a rope swing. 

The boys would swing out and drop in the water while the girls giggled from the sidelines. 

It turned out to be a nice day. When we got home we cooked some salmon steaks for dinner and spent the rest of the evening resting before having to start the week over on Monday. 

Weird Finding

I am once again at the beach. We love it here. Since this is were we keep our 2nd home, we do not go many other places. We have talked about getting a smaller camper to tote along for weekend trips to the mountains or local camps, but for now, we always head to the coast. We can stay a whole week here for the price that most people spend on 3 nights in a hotel. Camping is the best and you always have your own bed and toilet.

Yesterday when we arrived at the campground, it was raining so we decided to go out for lunch and wait it out. It is hard to set the camper up on the outside while its pouring rain. The rain had stopped by the time we finished lunch and we were set. 

Once we got unpacked and the camper leveled and hooked up, we headed out for a walk on the beach.. I was sure I would be able to find some good shells since we just had a hurricane hit two days ago, but oddly, there were very few sea shells on the sand. As we walked further up near the dunes, I spotted a weird looking thing. Nick said he always called it a sea snake skeleton, so I took a photo. Once I was back to the camper,  I googled it. 

Come to learn, this is not a sea snake. It is actually Whelk egg casing. Whelks are sea snells that live inside conk shells. The will lay their eggs in the ocean and the babies will hatch through holes in the coil. Then the egg casing will end up washed up on shore like this one. There were also two little (dead) crabs laying next to it. Not sure about the story on those. 

Below is a photo I found when I looked it up on the internet. Pretty cool huh?

(Source)

This morning we slept in as we listened to thunderstorms in the distance. Looks like we will be fighting against pop up storms through out the day. That is pretty normal around here. I just finished breakfast of oatmeal and eggs and now we are heading out for a walk. Today is going to be a good day. 

A Walk Down South End

My daughter was on a one week furlough with her job due to Covid-19. They are making each employee take one week off without pay. This was a scary moment for her but she took it as a little vacation and tried to enjoy it the best she could. She spent time around her pool, and took some shopping trips. 

One day during her furlough week, we went to visit her for lunch. It was a beautiful day so we took a walk around South End Charlotte. We walked the Light rail trail. This is a sidewalk that runs along each side of the light rail and it goes from one end of town to the other. There are many restaurants and shops along the trail. You will also see a lot of people jogging or walking their dogs. 

We love walking to places when we visit. We all decided to walk to a nearby place called Eight and Sand Kitchen for lunch. The menu consist of soups, salads and sandwiches. Everything is made fresh and the atmosphere is clean and relaxing. 

This place offers more healthy options so we thought it would be a great place to stop in. We each ordered a sandwich. I chose the Pistachio Pesto Caprese.

 

My daughter got some kind of chicken sandwich and my husband opt for the club sandwich. Everything was delicious. 

After lunch we walk about a mile to a little ice cream shop called Jeni’s Ice Cream. It’s a pretty popular place around the area. They have a variety of unique flavors. 

Just look at all those different flavor combinations! 

I got a half and half single scoop. My flavors of choice was goat cheese red cherries and caramel pecan sticky buns. 

They scooped it into a fresh made buttercrisp waffle cone that was still warm when they handed it to me. I had to eat my ice cream pretty quick. 

It is alway nice to get out and walk to places without having to fight traffic or find parking spaces. 

Though times are bad right now, we felt safe as everyone we passed was nice and respectful to others. 

No mask required. 

Quick Sand

I remember a time when quick sand was my biggest fear. Ok, maybe I watched too much Gilligans Island. But the concern was there. The older folks would tell me that I had nothing to worry about because we do not have that in our part of the world. The fear was gone.

Of all the times I have played and walked miles on the beach, I have never worried about sinking sand.

UNTIL.....
this past weekend at the beach! Yes! I almost got swallowed up by quick sand! Ok, Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but boy, don't you tell me there is no such thing around here. I'm a survivor!
(Nick is still laughing).

We went out for our daily walk on the beach. I was walking a normal pace and scavenging out some shells and sea life. The tide going out left a tide pool that was about two feet deep. I crossed through the tide pool to get between it and the surf. As I was walking along, my feet would occasionally sink to my ankles in the soft wet sand.

Then it happened.
I took a step and all of a sudden I was almost up to my knees in sand. Nick was laughing at me from the other side of the tide pool as I struggled to walk. I took another step and suddenly sunk knee deep. I laughed at first, but then fear set in and I panicked. I yelled for Nick to help me but he thought I was kidding. I was struggling to get my feet out of the sand but every time I moved I could feel myself sinking further down. It was no longer funny and I was in tears. I thought my life was going to end with me getting sucked up by the beach.

I finally shifted my weight to the side and manged to get my legs out just as Nick was making his way across the pool of water to help. He then led me to more solid sand and we continued our walk.
It was so scary.

Our trip was almost perfect. The weather was nice and warm and in the 80's. It was not windy but had a perfect breeze.We had dinner with Nicks brother one evening as we watched the boats coast down the inlet. One morning I seen a friend of mine from home and we walked a couple miles along the highway. Me and Nick also had a nice little date night. We traveled up to Little River to eat at a fish camp on the waterway. It was a pleasant evening. We had a wonderful time.
and I lived to tell about it.


*Studies have found it is impossible to be completely submerged in quicksand because humans are less dense than quicksand and a person would only sink to their chest before they begin to float. But what can make quicksand deadly is its ability to trap and hold unsuspecting victims. (source)

Signs of Fall

The weather here in North Carolina is still peaking into the 80's and 90's during the days, but the mornings and evenings are dipping into the 60's and 70's. This is one of the first signs I notice of Fall.

I have also noticed that my mornings are not as bright at 7 am as they have been the past few months. I wake up with the sun, so until we move our clocks back, I will struggle getting out of bed before the sun fully rises.

Our afternoon walks are a little cooler now and before we know it, the afternoons will be too dark to get in our walk after I get home from work.

Yesterday during our power stroll through the neighborhood, Mother Nature was showing off some of her Fall accessories. This little acorn was perfect.

What's funny about this acorn is after snapping a photo of it, I threw it toward a storm drain on the side of the road. The drain was a good ways away so I did my ole Micheal Jordan, one arm throw, but instead of a point shot, It hit and knocked an empty soda can into the drain and the acorn bounced right back toward me. We got a good laugh. Nick said that could never happen again in a million years. I put the acorn in my pocket and kept walking.

On down the road I noticed these mushrooms growing in a neighbors yard. 

I always find mushrooms fun to photograph and interesting to look at. I made this quick as I do not know these neighbors and they are watching me through their window.

As we were almost home, we could smell a sweet floral aroma in the air. At first we thought someone was drying clothes. We can sometimes smell the fresh sent of fabric softener through outside vents as we pass. But there were no houses close, so I leaned over to sniff some white flowers growing in a vacant yard. “That’s it!” I said. “These flowers are what we smell”. I grabbed my phone from my waistband and asked my face book friends for a clue as to what these were called. 

After no legit answers, I turned to Google. I learned that they are called “Autumn Clematis”.

We are also seeing turning leaves fall from trees and before we know it, the sound of leaf blowers will take the place of roaring lawn mowers.

Speaking of Fall, remember the loofahs I planted in the beginning of spring? They are not doing as good as I thought they would, but I do have a few almost ready to harvest. I can't wait to give you an updated post on those toward the end of September or maybe sooner.

Tomato Haul to Tomato Pie

Our walk the other day started out like any other walk. We walk around the whole neighborhood community which consist of about two and a half miles round trip. We see and talk to neighbors we know and wave at the ones we do not know. Everyone around here seems friendly.

We were about halfway through our walk, when we heard a neighbor, that we have never met yell, "Hey do you guys eat tomatoes? We turned around and walked toward their yard. "Sure we do, we love tomatoes". That's when the young boy turned to his wife as she was unloading her car. She pulled out 25 lbs of red juicy tomatoes from Hillside Hydro Co. "Well, y'all can have these", he said. The neighbor also suggested that we can leave them there until we finish our walk and just come back with the car to pick them up later. Nick said, "Oh it's fine, we can carry them home. Thank you so much!"

So we took turns hauling a 25 lbs. box of tomatoes home. We were about a mile from the house.
Boy was that a workout!!!
I have to say the tomato haul was worth it.

We only had to throw out a couple bad ones that had been smashed. We gave away a few to my parents and a few to our next door neighbors. I think everyone had a tomato sandwich that night.

Of course we had to have a good ole tomato sandwich too. I also made a jar of Pico De Gayo. This is one of our favorite Mexican sides. Made with onions, tomato, cilantro and lime juice, It goes great with so many dishes.

I also made a Tomato Pie. I had reached out to my facebook friends for a good recipe. My best friend Anne was the first to respond with an easy recipe. I ran with it.

This was the first time making a tomato pie and it was delicious.
The recipe is originally from Bush-N-Vine Farms.

I made it according to the directions, but instead of dicing the tomatoes, I sliced them.

It was delicious and rich with flavor. I will be making this again for sure. It’s a great way to use up an overrun of tomatoes.
We still have a lot of tomatoes left, but the way we have been eating them, they will not last much longer.

Note: I may have had a few fried green tomatoes too. So yummy.

Beauty and The Bee

Every day as we walk, we past a home where an old man and his wife passed away and left no one to care for their now abandoned house. It has been over a year.

We shake our head in disgust as we walk around this neglected yard that corners the street. We gripe, "I would have already called the city to get this cleaned up". or "What a mess! This is ridiculous and makes the neighborhood look bad". The complaining goes on every time. I guess you can say it at least gives us a conversation.

Rounding the corner and eyeing what once was a well kept yard full of roses and mixed flowers, we noticed some life in the mix of rubble. It was a bumble bee working diligently to gather pollen from an onion flower. I left my phone at home to charge so I asked my husband to be a photographer. He pulls his phone from his waistband and steps in to the snaky brush to get a closer aim. The complaining stopped and our conversation focused on the bee the rest of the way home.

I think God throws out little reminders for us to stop looking at the negative in things and focus on the beauty. The bee didn't care what his surroundings were, he just knew he had a job to finish and all he needed was in that place.

"The flower doesn't dream of the bee. It blossoms and the bee comes". 

                                                                                      ~Mark Nepo

Out For Ice Cream

Sunday, I wanted some ice cream. My husband suggested Sweet Frogs yogurt shop that we often visit. They had some specials going on if I had an account loaded on the phone app. After several attempts, I could not get the app to work. I was so frustrated. That's when my husband suggested we ride down to Cramerton to a little creamery we have only heard about. I was on board in a jiffy.

Cramerton is a small town where I attended middle school at the base of a small mountain. I have not been through there in years. 

We arrived at the small creamery and coffee house called Floyd and Blackies. Walking in was so inviting as there was no crowd and the atmosphere was set for comfort of a cozy coffee house. We made our ice cream choice as we stood in line. They carried my favorite brand, Hershey's Ice Cream, with several different flavors to choose from. 

I would have loved to try them all but choices are not something I'm good with so I went with my typical favorite of Salted Caramel Truffle. Nick had Raspberry Roadrunner. One scoop in a waffle cone hit the spot. 

We decided to go for a walk around the little town while we slurped the melting ice cream from the rim of our cones. The temperature was soaring in the upper 90’s.

Out back was a place to picnic by the muddy river. There was canoe rentals for the brave ones. 

Looking over the trees I saw a foot bridge and suggested we go a little further to see where it lead us. It was a nice little half mile walk to a park called Goat Island Park. A place I have always heard of but never knew where it was. 

Well, we just so happened to accidentally enter into it. There were sand boxes, a play ground and picnic areas for families. Throughout the park was a disk golf course. 

Our ice cream was gone by now and we headed back to the car then rode around more to find some new eating places to try in the future. It was a nice little afternoon outing. 

Blessed Walk

It has rained so much here in the Carolina's that I'm thinking of starting a rice garden.

When we see a speck of sunshine we throw on our tennis shoes and take off for a quick walk. That's exactly what we did. I had just came in from work, and sat down to dinner. It was ten til six when I finished eating and the sun was still out just a little. In other words, It was not raining at that moment. I asked Nick if he'd like to take a walk. He said, "sure", as he has never turned down a chance to go for a walk.

We enjoy walking through the neighborhood and around the creek. We will nickname the neighbors we do not know and make up names for the squirrels, owls, chipmunks and cats we see wondering around from time to time.

As we walk, we like to talk about our day, the news and what's going on with friends and family. He will even listen to me talk about blog stories I read. We also laugh and joke with each other along the way.

This walk was not as warm as it looked from the window. I barely dressed for the occasion and forgot my toboggan, so we made this walk a quick one. One direction the cold breeze would cut through my ears and throat, while in a different directions the sun was warm on my skin. I was complaining a lot about the cold and just wanted to go in. I do not like being out in weather colder than my age.

Half way through our walk, I looked down and saw a little card laying in the middle of the road. The floral print is what caught my eye. Nick rolled his eyes as he does not like me to pick things up I find. "I need to pick this up", I suggested. "It has a little Bible verse on it". It was like someone had dropped it just for me to find.

The other side had a little prayer on it. I slipped it in the waistband of my spandex leggings and headed home. It was a little blessing and made me feel guilty from complaining about the weather. Despite all the rain we have been having lately, It's being poured on us for a reason and we need to accept and find happiness in everything God has blessed us with.

This little card now hangs on the board beside my desk at work.

Bloomers

The rain finally let up and we have been able to enjoy the sunshine. It has been warm enough for me to slip on a pair of shorts and a tshirt before heading out for our afternoon walk. For a while I thought the tanning be was going to be the only source of rays I was going to get.

It felt good to get outside. We saw a lot of signs of Springs. There were a lot bloomers. Flowers blooming and trees budding. 

The Bradford Pear trees were the first to greet us with there stinky fragrance in the air (I call them fish trees).

I am glad I took my camera with me so I could take some photos along the way.

The Butter Cups (or Daffodils) were loud and proud and I could tell they were wanting their photo taken. 

My Camellia bushes were full bloom. These beauties bloom twice a year. Once in the spring and once in the Fall.  

I had to ask my face book friends what this plant was. I am told it is a “Hyacinth” It was hiding between some bushes in my neighbors yard. 

It was so pretty. I had to reach out and pet this one after I took a photo. It just looked fluffy and needed some attention.

I have an onion garden in my front yard.

The yellow bells (also known to me as a hickory bush) are in full bloom too.

My butterfly bush has new growth and the day lilies and Easter Lilies have broke ground. 

And to think, when you first seen the title to my post, you thought about these.

(Source)

Come on, you know you did.

Greek Festival

Our daughter wanted us all to go to the Yiasou Greek Festival this year. Every year the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church puts on this festival full of dances, music, choir performance, re-enactments, food and more.

We arrived at her apartment (free parking) and walked two miles to the festival. It was a nice walk but hot as the temperatures were in the 90’s again. It would cloud up for a few minutes like it was going to rain, then the sun would come right back out. It beat having to sit in traffic, try to find a parking spot and pay outrageous prices to park. We were there in no time and our walk was faster than the traffic line. 

Once we walked in, I was a little disappointed that it was not that big and everything was jammed together. We are not big fans of crowds so this was an uncomfortable moment at first. It turned out to be not so bad after all. You can see the Greek Church in the photo behind me. 

We saw a lot of merchants selling hand made jewelry, clothes and crafts. You could see little children walking around dressed to perform traditional dances and play instruments of their ancestral villages. It became more interesting to me when I saw a Greek Warrior. 

I think I left my husband and daughter behind at the first glimpse of metal and red cloth beaming through the crowd. I should have warned him that if I see a man in armor, I will head straight towards him. I was able to snap a photo through the crowd and we moved on. Well, he moved on and we headed to the food. 

Our first stop was at the bakery area. There were about twenty rows of tables under tents, full of different breads and pastries of nothing I can pronounce. I have always liked Baklava. Since I have been dieting, I didn't realize how sweet that stuff was, so one bite was all I could handle. I ended up grabbing some other interesting goodies to take home. 

It was lunch time so we stood in a 30 minute line to grab some authentic Greek food. I purchased a few spinach/feta cheese pies and Greek fries for me and Nick and my daughter purchased a Souvlaki Stick (pork on a stick). There was no open tables to sit, so we squatted on a curb in a shady corner like little peasants and ate lunch. 

After lunch we took a walk inside of the cathedral. The Holy Trinity Cathedral was built in 1954 and consist of beautiful Byzantine and iconography architecture. It was absolutely beautiful as we slowly walked through with amazement.

Before leaving Nick nick disappeared under a crowded tent and emerged with a plate of Loukoumades (Greek Donuts) to share. I think I liked these best. They tasted like little funnel cakes. Yes, my husband photographer had to take this shot while I had my mouth full. He gets a kick out of that. You should see some of the ones I deleted. Ha ha

After the festival we headed back to my daughters place and took even a further walk uptown. I'm saving that story for another post. 

Do you like Greek food? Have you ever visited Greece? If so, what are some of your favorite things to eat, see and do?