Mother's Day

Mother's Day (or Mother's Day Weekend as it turned out to be) was great. It started on Friday afternoon when we pulled in our driveway and I spotted a box sitting by our door from Better Made Chips. I was afraid to get too excited for fear someone might be playing a cruel joke on me. But they weren't! It was a gift from my favorite kid, Erin. Four Family Size! WooHoo!
Since I knew I wouldn't see Erin or my mother on Mother's Day I called in the Baddest Mother I know to celebrate the day with me - my sister, Bobbie. She arrived Saturday afternoon and before we knew it, diamond tiaras sprouted from our heads and Robert was serving us Prosecco and cooking us dinner! We tried to stop him but he insisted on waiting on us. The next morning the same thing happened. Diamond tiaras and breakfast. Bobbie left in the afternoon and once again, Robert insisted on making me my traditional Mother's Day dinner, grilled lobster tail. It was indeed the best Mother's Day ever.

More House Pix

We went to visit the house on Wednesday. Robert brought his bike and rode 4 laps to the gazebo (1 mile round trip) and I walked one lap. That doesn't sound like much but remember? We're in the mountains! Nothing is flat. There was a guy there working on hooking us up to water which will come in handy some day when we want to take a shower or get a drink. Some more of the siding has been done. I noticed we have a Flame Azalea on our property! I was quite excited. We'll be able to see it from our deck next year. You can see it in the last picture. It's orange. If you click on the picture to make it larger you'll see it better.

Azaleas

Monday we went to Biltmore to walk through the Azalea Garden. We got there just in the nick of time because some of them were just past their prime but it was still spectacular.

More Pics

Sunday was a beautiful day. We walked around the property scouting for wildflowers. I found some Jack-in-the-Pulpit coming up and found 2 small Bloodroot. It was exciting. There was also a Magnolia blooming in our "secret view." You can see it in the lower center of the first picture. The Magnolias grow wild and are beautiful with large creamy-yellow flowers and huge leaves. They're kind of tropical looking. In this picture I'm standing at the "secret view" but the view is kind of washed out behind me in the picture. This is the spot Robert discovered that has a clear long-range view and we're planning to put a sitting area there. After lunch we went for a walk down the road. The Dogwood are still in bloom along with the Magnolias and Wisteria. Along the roadside the wild blackberries are blooming. We'll be able to walk down here and get fresh berries for our breakfast if the bears don't get to them first.

House Update

Saturday and Sunday we went and spent time at the house. Robert worked Saturday morning with Gary (Creston employee) cutting up wood. I came and brought him a lumberjack lunch and we hung out for awhile.

More of the siding is up and some of the battens have been installed. The deck railings are also coming along. Inside, the heating & cooling ductwork is being installed.

Good ol' Rocky Top

These pictures were supposed to be with my last entry but somehow didn't make it on.

Me with my prize.

Good ol' Rocky Top

Old Fort is the next town east of Black Mountain along I-40. Our new house will have a Black Mountain address but is actually a bit closer to Old Fort and is in the same county. Old Fort is kind of a quiet old mountain town, not as quaint as Black Mountain and not as much going on. Would you like to know why? BECAUSE OLD FORT IS DRY!!! That's why. One thing Old Fort has is the Old Fort Mountain Music every Friday night. It's free and it's kind of like open mic night for mountain musicians. Each group gets a half hour to perform. While they're performing local women get up and clog. On the slow numbers, local men ask the cloggers to dance. Now, clogging is kind of a misnomer because I was expecting them to be wearing big wooden clogs like Dutch girls but they have big cleats on the bottom of their shoes. It's kind of a cross between tap-dancing and Irish folk dancing except the upper body and arms aren't held so stiff and it looks like you could just make up the foot work. I've always wanted to be able to tap dance and since I'm 50% Hillbilly, this is perfect! I've found my calling! Anyway, we went there with George & Teresa who have a place at Creston. It was a blast! The first group was all men. I don't think any of them were under 70. They had a guitar, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar and a fiddle player. They brought down the house. You can buy coffee and soft drinks for 25 cents but NO booze. The best part is they had a cake raffle for $1 a ticket and I WON! It was a white wine black walnut cake and it was delicious. I'm sure we'll be going back again. I took some video with my camera but couldn't get it to upload onto my blog. Sorry. I'll consult with my blog expert (Erin) and see if I can get post it in the future.

Robert's New Car

Look at the new car Robert bought, just in time for the Primary May 6.

Construction Update

Tuesday we went out to the house. The stone columns are complete, siding is going on and the deck railings are moving along.

Sunday

Sunday after a hearty breakfast we decided to take a driving tour of Chicago neighborhoods. We ended up in Wicker Park where the cool people hang out so, of course, we fit right in. We had a snack in a pub and shopped around a bit. That night we (I) made enchiladas so poor little Erin could fill her freezer and eat for weeks. Her father dropped in for a quick dance.

Monday Erin had to leave early for work so Bobbie and I got ready and went to the airport. Our flight was on schedule so we made it to Detroit in time to catch our connection. We didn't have a lot of time but managed to get a Free Press and 6 more bags of Better Mades. No coneys this time.

Downtown

From Millenium Park we walked to Lake Michigan then went back Downtown. We decided we were ready to go and hopped back on the el for Evanston.

Downtown

We walked to Millenium Park to take our pictures in the Bean.

Downtown

We got back on the el and continued Downtown. We walked and walked and stopped for lunch then walked again.

Downtown

Saturday after a hearty breakfast we walked to the el station and headed Downtown. We had to make a stop in Wrigleyville so Bobbie could exchange a t-shirt that Micheal bought when he was there. We thought it was VERY generous of us to do that, since the shirt was for his father.
Bobbie & Erin didn't seem to be the least bit embarrassed that they were in the Priority Seating reserved for the elderly and handicapped and there was a recorded announcement reminding people of that. I figured people would look at them and be able to tell which one was elderly and which was handicapped.

Sisters Visit the Windy City

Bobbie and I went to Chicago last weekend to visit with Erin. We had to change planes in Detroit and were supposed to be there for a few hours so we had time to do some important things: 1) Eat a coney 2) Fill our carry-ons with bags of Better Made chips 3) Buy a Detroit Free Press so we could catch up on the obituaries and do the crossword puzzle. Well, after sitting at the gate for awhile so smug with our bellies full of coneys, we found out our 1:33 flight was cancelled! We ran to customer service and the best they could do was get us on a flight at 7:00. It was only noon so we thought, "We could drive to Chicago faster!" But we didn't. We were wondering who we could call to pick us up and entertain us for the day and we thought of our dear, sweet little brother, John, since he lives the closest to Metro. Bobbie thought he just might be at work but then we thought we could threaten to (once again) beat him up and he'll come. We called Robert instead to see if his Platinum status could do anything for us. He tried, but it didn't work. He suggested we go to the gates of the earlier flights and see if we can get on stand-by, so we did. After we got on the list we chose seats where we could keep an eye on the gate and see who else was getting on the list. After awhile we figured anyone could get on the list and maybe we were just SOL. Just before they started boarding we moved closer to the gate in case they called our names. Everyone boarded and we were left sitting there with a few other losers. Bobbie went up to the desk to see if we could get on the list for the next flight (so we could leave the gate and spend our $10 food vouchers Northwest so generously gave us) when they announced my name! I grabbed my things and was ready to get on with or without Bobbie then they called her name, too! We were the last ones on and the plane took off right away. I sat with a nice woman who slept most of the way and Bobbie was stuck in the back with the screaming and puking kids. We were just glad to be on. We got to Erin's before she got home from work. She so very kindly had a bottle of wine chilling for us. Then we went to an Irish pub in Evanston for dinner. We came home and entertained ourselves by feeding Creamsicles to Pee Wee.