We’ve been busy with other things outside, but I’m still managing to keep Amazon afloat during the pandemic.
And if you’re dying to read the new Hunger Games book? Don’t bother, it was rather disappointing. And while I’d given up on Stephen King… this new collection of short stories has my late BIL in it again, thinly disguised but still recognizable to those who knew him. He and Stephen went to school together.
And no, I won’t tell you which character. I’m evil that way.
The fabulous rose I planted last year has finally decided to bloom.
And it was worth waiting for.
On another note, isn’t it great when your friends get you?
My girlfriend gave me this the other day and damn, it’s perfect!
As is this beauty.
Have you ever tried to photograph butterflies?
It’s not easy. This was the one lucky shot out of 20.
Our raccoon decided to take a bath, dig through my garden bed and then attempted to climb up the garage the other night.
My slightly twisted, but delightfully so, friend Masercot has just nominated me for this:
For which I will be sticking pins in a doll of his likeness and waiting for parts of him to drop off eternally grateful.
You know the drill, I have to answer questions.
Thankfully… because he’s twisted, this won’t be the hardship it normally is.
Let’s begin.
If you could choose any historical figure to hold your hair out of the toilet while you drunkenly vomit at a party, who would it be and why?
I’m going to have to go with Lord Byron. The man drank his liquor out of a cup made from a human skull. You have to admire that kind of commitment.
If you HAD to own a pet and it couldn’t be a dog or a cat, to what country would you flee to escape such a fascist regime. Remember that “Canada” is not an acceptable answer.
Australia…. where my dream pet wombats roam free.
What is your favorite, currently active, credit card number?
Nice try. But you know my only form of currency is tequila. If I can’t buy it with a perfectly mixed margarita? I don’t need it.
You’ve been told you will be allowed to join Trump’s Space Force if you sleep with a Marx Brother and Zeppo is not available. Which do you sleep with and why?
Can’t we just jettison Trump into space and call it good?
If you had to recommend an illegal drug to the youth of America, which drug would it be and how?
Blogging. It’s horribly addicting…. but so satisfying.
Do you think pound cake is overrated?
Only if it weighs 14 ounces.
Do you like Aquaman’s new look or do you prefer the blonde hair and tights?
I actually sat through the entire new Aquaman movie. Sober. Need I say more?
In keeping with tradition (and not because I want to force my friends to share the misery that are these never ending awards) I shall post the rules.
Display the award logo
Thank the blogger who nominated you and post a link to their blog
Answer the questions of the one who nominated you
Nominate some bloggers
Ask them seven questions
I will now gleefully nominate:
James because I had to sit through an entire months worth of Star Wars posts and he owes me.
liveandletthai since he’s always whining not enough people read his blog and just discovered he can make alcohol from dried hibiscus blossoms. You never know when that will come in handy.
clevergirlwrites she’s clever, and a girl. We need to stick together.
Boo because we’ve been blog friends a long time and I like to harass her long distance.
swingedcat he makes me laugh and posts bison photos. Friends like that are harder to find than you think.
My questions:
Would any of you be willing to let a slightly pissed off red squirrel and her children rent a room? The sooner the better, I’m getting hateful looks.
If you could change one thing about your spouse/partner/significant other/blow up girlfriend what would it be, and why?
Can you talk me into eating kale in 50 words or less? I know you can’t, but it will be fun to see you try.
You win an all expense paid trip for two to Antarctica, do you bring a Kardashian or Caitlyn Jenner?
By some strange twist of fate, you’re elected President of the United States in 2020. What’s your first executive order?
And finally, if you’ve made it this far…. why do bloggers feel compelled to keep this award thing going when none of us really like them?
This short and completely ridiculous post is for James , a new blog friend who recently had a birthday and didn’t receive that one special gift he’d been hoping for.
So we got up bright and early to make the almost 5 hour drive down to North Carolina.
Required Christmas selfie.
And as we were walking down the sidewalk of our resort it struck me…..
I might not be the only one who cursed my husband’s choice of the behemoth rental car.
It was an uneventful trip.
But we saw lots of cotton.
Really, a whole lot of cotton.
And absolutely nothing else. Nothing for miles and miles… except cotton… and I was starting to sweat the steadily dropping level of gasoline.
Behemoths be thirsty.
I also took issue with Apple maps when the GPS put us in the middle of a National Forest and told us to turn around.
WTF?
When the rental beast was pretty much running on fumes, we finally found a service station to fill it…. and us, since we skipped breakfast. The only choice was Subway, where I ordered a rotisserie chicken wrap and managed to leak half of the sauce on my blouse resulting in a large greasy stain.
My first words upon arrival in N.C. weren’t “Merry Christmas!” but….. “Let me raid your closet.”
My second words were “What you would like to drink?” as I unpacked my carton of holiday cheer.
Destiny chose a bottle to match her sweater, because coordination is everything.
We gave them our gifts…. and Gracie liked the books.
Though I think she liked the pig a little bit more.
We spent time with our daughter of the heart’s step children, John being home on leave from the Army.
As you can see they aren’t young enough to be hers…. because like me, she married an older man. Which her mother thinks I’m responsible for and never lets me forget, but hey.
It worked for me.
An old Marine Corps buddy of the husband’s came with us…. and it was a laid back country Christmas with lots of love and laughter.
A few highlights:
My bartending skills were highly rated.
And strange toys were questioned.
Does a llama really need to shake her booty?
But more importantly, why was this horror voted toy of the year in Australia?
Our 5th day had us meeting the ex wife of an old Marine Corps buddy. There’s a long sordid story that goes along with this statement, but suffice it to say you never really know anyone. Honestly, you don’t.
The man we’d been friends with for over 35 years? The one we thought was honest, trustworthy and stable? Is now on his third wife, estranged from his children, drowning in debt, filing bankruptcy for the second time (while working as an accountant for the Federal Government) and being sued by his own lawyer for fraud. Did I mention he lies like a rug and told wife #2 that wife #1 accused him of having an affair with me?
I mean come on.
I know I like to drink…. but I think I would have remembered that!!
Needless to say it was a verrrrry long lunch.
But I’d never been to Virginia Beach before so we took a little scenic drive before heading to the restaurant.
My first impression?
Busy and crowded.
With the typical big city high rise hotels lining the road near the ocean.
Complete with all that ticky tacky crap I hate, designed to suck your wallet dry.
In other words, it’s similar to Atlantic City, Myrtle Beach and numerous other places we’ve visited along the Florida coast.
No thanks. You’ve seen one you’ve seen ’em all.
Even this gang of tropical fish escaping the surf and heading for the highway didn’t make it more appealing.
We drove down a few side streets to check out the houses near the shore…
Which was nerve wracking in that behemoth of a vehicle the husband had rented.
Seriously, it took up the entire street.
We found a few pretty spots, but overall? Being jammed right up next to your neighbor is not where I want to live…. waterfront or not.
So, lunch.
Was at a place called Rockafeller’s right on the water.
We got there early.
Okay, really early.
But at least we didn’t have to wait for a table with a view.
I have to admit I got a kick out of the illustrated cocktail menu.
I’m guessing this is for when you’ve had too many and can no longer enunciate properly.
If you can smile and point?
You’re not too drunk to serve.
This is the Mojito, which shouldn’t have been yellow but was tasty all the same.
One drink in, we spotted some fishermen bringing in their catch.
It doesn’t get much fresher than that.
Two drinks in, our friend arrived and we talked, and talked, and talked.
Or rather, she talked and we did a lot of listening.
And drinking.
Did I mention there were multiple pages of cocktail lists?
Maybe Virginia Beach isn’t so bad after all.
3 hours in we figured we’d better eat.
Crab and shrimp hushpuppies sounded like a good way to start…
They were huge, not at all like hush puppies and absolutely horrible.
Flavorless wads of fried dough. If there was shrimp or crab? I never found it. The husband had an equally bad platter of steamed shrimp. Which is hard to screw up, but they did, so I went the safe route…
And ordered a chicken Caesar salad…. which turned out to be practically chickenless.
I imagine even the mosiac Santa dolphin out front would have tasted better. But it was a good time and nice to see our friend.
So we left Virginia Beach…
And headed back to Williamsburg…
Wondering who Willoughby was and why he was spitting.
First stop? A decent place for dinner.
And proof that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.
Tucked in the back of a very ordinary looking strip mall was a wonderful little Italian place…. that I can’t remember the name of to save my life.
But the garlic knots were to die for… light as air.
And my cheese tortellini alfredo with chicken, broccoli and sun dried tomatoes?
Ooh la la! So rich I had to take half back to the resort.
(I hope this quiets you food screamers. Two meals in one post. Now hush!)
We’re back from 2 fabulous weeks in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Safe, sound and buried in dirty laundry.
It was a wonderful trip…. and yes, you’ll hear about it ad nauseam in the near future.
But while I tried to keep up with comments on my mobile, I’m afraid I didn’t have the time ( Or the inclination, let’s be honest! ) to read all your blogs while we were gone.
Apologies.
I was busy biscuit and gravy-ing my way across the south….
And that requires dedication.
( Not to mention larger pants. )
So here’s hoping you all ring in the New Year with the ones you love!
(Or the ones you can tolerate with a few drinks under your belt… whatever works. )
Where there's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
River's world..... 