Home Sweet Home!

We arrived back from our vacation on Monday......we drove a total of 1,968 miles!  And my hubby stayed awake and kept me company the entire drive!  I love him!

Let me just say that I am the worst picture taker ever!  And the whole vacation I kept thinking I was getting really great shots!  Sheesh!  Out of 80+ pics, I have just a handful that are not blurry!  I'm really hoping that the other people that were clicking away will email me some of their shots!  I don't have a single one of our grandson at his graduation!  I barely have any from Colonial Williamsburg, none from Kitty Hawk, a few from DC, and nothing at Maureen's (although, those two her son took.....so it's really not just me!  HA!)

Our first day in North Carolina was hot hot hot!  We had just come from Maine, where it was in the low 60's!    And what did we do in that heat.....headed for an outdoor festival!  Crazy!  But it was fun, and it was on the harbor, so there was a slight breeze (very slight!).

We had a ball at Colonial Williamsburg.....none of us had ever been!  I had expected it to be a little corny, with the actors getting way too 'into' their roles......but that was not the case!  It was really done well, and all the 'in period' people were amazing!  They really knew what they were talking about, and were actually 'doing' what their profession was.  We watched the shoemaker for a good half hour.....and he was actually amazed at how into it I was.  But heres the thing......the amazing thing......he split a boar's hair to use as a needle to sew the leather......a real boar's hair!  Not any bigger than a cat's whisker.  And I watched him split the hair down, then shave off the end of a strand of flax for the thread.....take this ultra fine thread of flax and splice it onto this boar's hair.....cuz there is no eye on a boar's hair needle!  You have to splice the flax thread onto it so there's no bump when pulling it through either!  Ok......if you aren't amazed by this.....then I'm not explaining right!......Because it was AMAZING!   AND.....the whole time he's doing this.....he's talking away, in period mind you, and giving all sorts of info and little tidbits!  WOW!  I was thoroughly impressed with this guy, and the whole day was just as impressive!  The wig maker lady was making wigs, and talking away about all sorts of fun stuff, as was the basket maker, paper maker, printing press guys.....everyone!  They were all so good!  Then we went to the Courthouse building, and the woman there gave the most amazing tour.....complete with history lesson, and doing 'in period' and about that day's date back then.....fabulous!  I would go back in a minute!

Of course, my only picture is of a gigantic magnolia tree (at least 80' tall) blossom on the grounds.  These magnolias are all over the place in this region......and they look so much different to the magnolias I'm familiar with.  Gorgeous!

I also got a couple of pics of the quilts that were in the Museum there.  Gorgeous quilts, but the lighting was so dark, it was really hard to get pics.

Here's a pic of something I'll never see in Maine.....blechk!

People actually order that!?!  I just can't imagine!

We also went to Kitty Hawk and I got to fly my kite on Kill Devil Hill, where the Wright Brothers first flew!  So cool!  Do I have any pics?......no.  Our son got some, and I'm hoping he will email me one!

Then we went to DC and had a great time!  I got to spend the first day meeting a blogging friend, Maureen from Pursuit of Quilts.  She is just as wonderful as her blog!  And her quilts are to die for!  I got to see so many beautiful quilts and her current projects, and her sewing room.  She made a lovely lunch, and then we popped on over to the local quilt shop, and I bought a pair of Machingers gloves for free-motion quilting.    We exchanged some canned goods that we've put up.....I had made salsa and sweet pickle relish, and she presented me with her homemade tomato sauce and a copy of the Ball Canning Recipes Book.  Sweet!  Thank you so much, Maureen.....I had such a great time!

While in DC, we also went to the Smithsonian, and several of the monuments.  The reflecting pool is under renovation.....it was so odd to see it like that!

I didn't take any pics in the different museums.....to busy seeing all the amazing art.....but I did get a pic of this really unusual plant along one of the walkways......I've never seen it before; the blossoms create a kind of tower with 4 sides.....just like the Washington Monument, come to think of it......and then these wispy, feathery petal pop out here and there.  Does anyone know what this is?

When we got home, I was so happy to see that I hadn't missed my peonies blooming.....almost, but there was one bloom still at prime time!

And my Sum and Substance Hosta had totally popped out while we were gone.....it's about 5 feet across!

And the iris were in full bloom......yay!

We love to go on vacation, but we definitely love returning home again!

Have a wonderful day!

regan