Monday, March 6, 2017

New place to hike

We have lived here since 2008 and have been to the Meadow Farm at Crump Park several times. We didn't know there were such lovely woods with trails all over. This is now our new "everyday" kind of walk instead of the neighborhood walk of which we know every step ... when driving down to the James to walk it is much further.

When we went the first time and discovered a trail I wore my hiking sandals without socks and short pants. The trail teetered out and we had to find a way to cross the brook. If the water wasn't so icy cold I would have taken my sandals off and just walked across. I got only slightly wet and didn't get many scratches from the brambles on my legs.

Here are random photos taken on 3 hikes there with James and 1 with Sarah.

















































































































































I can't really explain how much fun those walks were.

And what an unusual winter this is. Spring seems to have sprung. We already had lunches out on the patio and here James grills for the first time.




Indoors my amaryllis (..es? plural?) give me a lot of pleasure. The new one bought before Christmas has the second flower stalk.









Last year's!




















And yes, there was quite unexpected excitement. Wednesday February 22 I spent the whole day "over the river". Sarah had called that Caleb had a fever and couldn't go the daycare.

How do you entertain a three-year-old? He knew. He kept asking me that he wanted to see my videos. He loved seeing William. William and I had experimented and made some slow-mo videos. So we had to make one of Caleb too! Success!



Same day I had a meeting at the church and barely made it on time. Our speaker, the Rev. Lynn, told me that she had visited Germany once. She had been to the town called Herten. A baptist church mission trip. REALLY? That is such a small town not many from the USA have a reason to visit. But ... my sister lives there. It's next to the town to where I was born. She stayed with the family of a police officer. I wonder whether my nephew Tobias knows them. The world is not as large as it seems.




Besides that a lot was happening. I went to the Hampton Quilt Show (and took about 80 photos), I did a lot of sewing and posted 2 blogs on "Love of Threads" (you can click on the tab on top), finished another church newsletter on time (the Cloak - posted by the webmaster to St Martin's Episcopal Church), and James and I hosted the yearly new church vestry (council) dinner. I enjoyed the baking and cooking.

Plated Chicken Wild Rice Casserole and Spinach Salad = my "meal # 1"


Almost German Cheesecake. It is very dense, not fluffy, well ... German. Toppings on the table! Here it is fresh out of the oven. It collapses a little when it has cooled.


Surprise! Because spouses were not invited ... mini cheesecakes (different recipe) and choco pumpkin mini cupcakes to take home. That seemed to be a success.


And Sarah shared this Video with us. OMG!!! Can you see the TV in the background. Nature programs are very educational. 
Does Caleb feel like this? 


-ful bear
Or like this?



And then we had to get ready for a visit to Nashville. William is waiting. Stay tuned if you need a William-fix. Coming soon!






















2 comments:

Kim S. said...

That looks like a great walk – and so close. I, too, have gotten bored walking around our neighborhood. I actually prefer city/town walking to country walking and always take my walking shoes when we go down to the Fan (England was perfect for me – all those lovely little villages to walk around). But it would be nice to have somewhere new to walk close to us! And if they have pigs and sheep and chickens, that is a BIG plus!

Your amaryllis is gorgeous! I think I’ll have to try one next year. I especially love the pink and white one.

How kind (and typical) of you to think of sending goodies to the spouses who weren’t included in the dinner! Makes me wish that Mike was on the Vestry (haha). And German cheesecake sounds like something I would like a LOT. I am not a fan of fluffy, light cheesecakes. I like a dense, heavy one.

Have a wonderful visit with your Nashville loves, but hurry back – we’ll miss you!

Christa said...

You leave the nicest comments. Thanks so much. Mike doesn't have to be on the vestry for you to get some cheesecake. I actually choose that dessert because Helen wanted a piece which I put into the freezer and then brought here. I had told her I could bake a cake here but she insisted "only one piece". It's gone now!