What a week

Wow, we were busy. But ... we are enjoying the little things too. Tried a new recipe Helen sent to me: parsnip and cauliflower puree. It's definitely a keeper. Gosh, was it good. It was perfect since we wanted to try out the new grill. 

Our camellia is getting prettier with every day now.

Last week's weather was incredible. Lucky for us. Sarah and Wade are having some remodeling done in their house. On Monday they needed help with Stella. They didn't want the workers being annoyed with her constant barking. So James got her for the day. He put her into the back of the car and by the time he had walked to the driver door she already sat in the front passenger seat. What a dog.

She was no problem though. We knew that she likes to be next to you when you sit on the sofa. Blankets were in order.

Next day Tuesday (election day Nov 3) Sarah was off work. They all came to visit and we all had a nice walk around Echo Lake.

Wednesday Nov. 4 I should have stayed home to catch up on things I need to do. When the weather is so gorgeous though you need to take advantage of it. James and I decided that we would like more than a walk in the neighborhood. James suggested Henricus Historical Park. There was supposed to be a very nice trail there. What are the chances though that exactly the day we were there it was closed? Oh well, we will come again.

We decided to buy tickets for the Historical Park itself and thoroughly enjoyed it. We had been to Jamestown and Williamsburg and thought we knew all about the local history but were surprised how much more we learned even though this park was much smaller and only minimally staffed because of the virus situation.  

Outside the park we could go down to the river.

There was a dock with a chatty fisherman on it. 

At the tip of the peninsula we had a beautiful view. There were benches and James retrieved our lunch picnic which we enjoyed here. 

And there was lots and lots of information posted about the site. I highly recommend this outing.

Thursday

Another full day. We had to get up early to put Caleb on the bus to "real" school and then had the twins and Stella for the majority of the day. The remodeling is still going on. We decided on Meadow Farm again. The children never get tired of it. 

I love this photo of all three "kids" having a look.

Ha-ha, and how about these kids? What is in the tobacco barn?

We had our picnic lunch on that wooden deck over the pond (see first Thursday photo) and the whole time we heard people on the other side of the tree. You can see them still there from this side. Is what actually TV News 6 having an interview. We never found out what it was about though. 

Can't help it. I like riddles. When I was a child my father sometimes had some for me and I could earn a Groschen or so (otherwise we didn't have pocket money as children).

These days, when I see one I like I take a screen shot so I can include it in the letters I write to William. I hope I hear about what he thinks.

Do you have a solution to the top one or the bottom one? 

October 31 is Reformation Day in Germany. Martin Luther is quite important to Lutherans. At his time there was also a plague/pandemic.

Or as we have heard: wearing a mask is not a political statement but a sign that you care.

Mini Trip - part 2

We couldn't quite shake our "arrival experience" and the weather on Sunday didn't help. We feel for all those involved especially the widower having lost his wife and daughters. But it always makes one think and be grateful for one's blessings.

Monday was a much better day. Like Saturday it was gorgeous. 

Soon we decided to have our walk on the beach. The tide was right and we wanted to go to the left. We had not been able to do that yet. There were so many anglers on the beach. Many, many. Everyone was friendly and you exchanged some words with them. Socially distancing of course. 

The first proudly showed off his catch. Seemed like everybody wanted to catch a red drum. There is a 1 a day limit and we witnessed an (adult) son just having caught his second. His father said "you caught one for me" but his son quickly released it. On our way back the father ran to us happily saying that he had caught one too. Of course we were very sure about the ones who did not release but quickly brought something to the car.

The walk to the left was very interesting too but we could not go too far because some of the houses were very close to the water. Very!

Just didn't feel like walking underneath balconies and battling the waves there. Can you see it in the distance?

So back we walked. 

And further along all the way to the beach behind the lighthouse this time. 

There was one stop were we HAD TO stand and watch for a while. You can not really see it in this photo but there were about 2 dozen surfers their black rubber suits. Some were really good and rode the waves. 

Too bad that in the blog the photo is not a LIVE shot. These birds were so cute. There were 2 bigger birds and lots of little ones. I thought it must be a family but there were too many little ones to be one brood. 

Getting hungry for lunch. Back to the e. house

We hopped into the car and continued on the road we came on to Hatteras Village. We had inquired at a tourist information and the NC Maritime Museum was suggested. It was also called "Graveyard of the Atlantic" and very interesting. 

And then we were hungry for lunch. We had asked about it earlier at the information center and were told that not much was there for outdoor lunching. But there was "Tavern on the 12". And it was very nice with picnic benches outdoors (not the most comfortable but o.k.) under a roof. 

Yes, we had an appetizer: oven roasted oysters on the half shell. Very nice. Afterwards we had crab cake sliders and shrimp po' boy sandwich, which we shared. The two plates came with a huge amount of french fries. There was no way we could finish those. 

I must have been really hungry though because this is the only photo I took the whole time.

This photo is actually the very last one I took of our mini vacation. Hard to believe. There was some more walking and some packing.

Tuesday we headed home. We were supposed to be out of the house at 10 am which was no problem. We had packed some sandwiches for lunch and took our time driving along. You drive a long time on a slow road on the Outer Banks but it is interesting too and we were not in a hurry. It was very good for us to get away for a few days.

Mini trip - part 1

Yes, a change of wallpaper was necessary. On the spur of the moment found a vacation house available to rent for the 4 nights we wanted. What would we do without the internet? So, on Friday we packed and were on our way to Hatteras in North Carolina. 

It was about a 4 hour drive. We had potato salad for our lunch break. Social distancing, oh yes. It had been a good and interesting drive in good weather. We arrived about 5 pm but wondered when we saw firetrucks and police just across the little community. 

We didn't lose much time to go to the beach. This picture was taken at 6 pm. Sundown was at 6:14 pm or so. It was very nice at the almost empty beach. Just a few anglers. 

We had been wondering though when from our front balcony we could still see the commotion with the firetrucks etc and also some smoke between two buildings which looked just like the duplex we were in. We thought it must be a brush fire.

We were not very hungry probably because we had been sitting in the car so much. We only feasted on things we had brought. Didn't need a cooked meal.

Wow, I didn't know that oceans are THAT noisy. I heard it the whole night. Not bad though, more like soothing white noise. A factor might be that neither the windows or the house seems very well insulated. All together we had a good rest. Slowly relaxing. 

Sarah had called me late in the evening on the way back from work and I had told her about the firetruck etc. 

I got a text from her Saturday at breakfast time (see screenshot below). Did this have something to do with what we had seen when we arrived? The Lighthouse is very close.

After searching the news we found out that two major events had taken place. One turned out ok, the other was a tragedy. Both dramatic.

From the news: On Thursday an unexploded World War II-era bomb washed up near the Cape Hatteras Light Station. First detonation was delayed because specialists from Norfolk had to come. Then due to a nearby residential structural fire it was delayed again. Rangers at the Cape Hatteras Nation Seashore say it won't happen until late Friday morning or early afternoon. 

They say visitors should expect closures of the lighthouse grounds and nearby parking and beach areas through Friday afternoon.

From the news: Four people died and two were taken to a hospital in a large fire that broke out at a condo early Friday morning in Buxton.The fire caused severe damage to neighboring homes on Cape Hatteras Lane which is on Hatteras Island. 

“Thoughts and prayers are with all who have been impacted by this tragic fire, especially those that lost loved ones,” said Drew Pearson, Dare County Emergency Management Director. “We thank all those that answered the call, from the 911 call takers to each and every first responder, numerous volunteers and the fire investigators for their tireless efforts.”

Fire crews responded to reports of visible flames coming from a residence located at 46110 Cape Hatteras Lane shortly after 4 a.m. on Friday. A second alarm was sounded and more crews came to assist later on.

Officials have not yet said what they believe caused the fire.

The screenshot above shows that this happened just across from our rented place. The photo below is from our front balcony. The house used to be right smack in the middle of the photo. There is now a hole. What is this? These two major things happened the day we arrived.

The weather is lovely and of course we could not wait to go for a walk. So at 9:30 am (late for us but we are on vacation) we are heading out.

Bless modern gadgets. Our phones showed us the way to the light house. 6 minutes driving, 24 minutes walking. Of course we walked. This is just outside our place and you can see the lighthouse on the right on the horizon.

Getting closer.

The gift shop at the station was open but we could not climb up to the top of the lighthouse. A sign said: Climbing the 248 spiral-step staircase is the equivalent of climbing the stairs of a 12-story building. The two-way traffic on the narrow staircase can be crowded.

The history of the lighthouse is interesting. The first one was built in 1803.

We went back a different way ... along the beach. When I turned around to take this photo, guess what we saw. A big stag ran across the field.

This is the cropped part of the above photo. It was a brief moment but very exciting. 

It was a really nice walk. The beach was empty. Waves were coming in strongly. Peaceful.

Lunch. Card game. Relaxing.

Afterwards we wanted to go for another walk. We thought walking around the community but it is very small. We were stopped soon and told that the recent widower of the burned house was looking through the remnants and of course didn't want people to come too close. So understandable. We chatted a little while with the two friendly gentleman and heard the whole story that he lost his wife and two daughters in the fire. He is a coast guard, had just left home on an assignment to bring a boat from somewhere to Guam. Seems there are a lot of coast guards and family living in this community. All so heartbreaking. 

So we turned around and went the other way. We scouted for a restaurant. I really would like one really nice seafood meal. The one very close does not have outdoor seating. But on the way back we could buy margarine since I forgot butter and ice cream which we enjoyed while walking.

Later we tried the beach again and this time we thought of going left. No way. The tide was high. Not possible. Going right again. We watched some surfers (too brave for my taste with those riptides). 

Ha-ha, I loved these "foot prints" coming out of the ocean. The surfers had just come out and still had their flippers on.

In the evening we tried again unsuccessfully to get the TV going. We are a bit disappointed with this place because there is upsolutely no information about anything to be found. You can turn the TV on but can't change the channel. It default on a Hallmark movie in progress. Sigh. But we are not bored anyway.

Sunday morning. Wow, did it rain heavily in the night. And as it turned out it rained most of this day. We had tea on the screened back porch. James almost sad down in yesterday's chair but it was very wet. 

Certainly there was no hurry. We had a very big cooked breakfast which we hardly ever have. We communicated with our girls. We went to (virtual) church. It's nice to see our priest leading the service but the parking lot service is way better. 

Of course we tried going for a walk again. The tide would have been right to go left. We had great hopes that we had found a hole in the rain but were not so lucky. We were chased back to the house. 

The table is at the front of the house and at the end of lunch I saw a car from the agency next door. James hastened to go down and was successful in getting a friendly and apologetic person to come and explain the TV. At least we can see some news and have some choice in entertainment. We are not big watchers but it irks you when you can't have it, ha-ha. You know we love playing cards but James doesn't want to do it too many times a day because I win mostly. I wished I was so lucky buying a lottery ticket. 

PS: In lieu of what happened in this community we checked whether this place had smoke detectors. There is also a fire extinguisher in the kitchen.