Frosty "The Snowman's" Powder Horn

I am known for my fascination of all things Christmas, with my absolute favorite being snowmen. Rick knows this and made me a special gift.- my very own engraved powder horn. I originally saw the horn at Rick's and had commented on how beautiful it was, this was before he engraved it (also known as scrimshaw). Little did I know what he was planning. He took this horn that he made, and engraved it in folk-art style with "Frosty his horne," his flintlock musket and other beautiful 18th century designs. 

*Scrimshaw is the art of engraving lines and designs in the horn and then adding color by rubbing ink, lamp black or soot in the lines. These horns were made to hold black powder for flintlock guns. 

Carolina Balloon Festival | Statesville, NC

We had the opportunity to join our photography meetup group at the Carolina BalloonFest in Statesville, NC in October. This was my first hot air balloon festival and it is something that I must attend again. We arrived early, found a great parking spot and enjoyed lunch. Then we decided that since we were really early and it would be some time before the launching of the balloons, we would leave and return later. Well this was a mistake, a big one. Unknown to us, the traffic to get into the festival would be miles upon miles long. With time running out and nowhere near the entrance, and the launch time getting close, we pull into a parking lot along with other festival goers. These people either had done this before or had given up like us and just parked where there was room. But it turned out to be great; the balloons flew right over us. Below are some of the photos I was able to capture.

P.S. When they said "Plan to arrive early and stay with us" they meant it.

Spider too close for my comfort.

One of the photo assignments in the photo meetup group is to take a macro (close-up) shot of a living thing. Yesterday, I came upon the opportunity to take just that photo. I was walking between two trees when I happened to look up just in time before running into a spider.  There hanging like spiders do, was a this spider. So I tried to get the shot. The first photo I got close, but not close enough,. So I braved it up and got closer and took photo two. Then photo three shows what happened once I realized how close to that spider I had gotten, and I swear the spider turned and looked at me. This is when I ran away screaming. You all know how I feel about spiders. I don't like them.

P.S. Motion does not work on a close-up photos.

Fort Dobbs | Statesville, NC

We visited Fort Dobbs in Statevsille, NC for a historic stop of our weekend. The site is beautiful and has a nice picnic area for families to stop by, have a lunch, and learn a little about our history. The two gentlemen at Fort Dobbs, dressed in period clothes, were working on a few period chores when we arrived. Both men were very nice and did a nice presentation of the history of Fort Dobbs. If you get a chance check their website for upcoming events and stop by. The Fort is located not far off the main road and is a pleasant place to stop for a break in your day.

Carolina Panthers | Charlotte, NC

It was time for our annual Carolina Panthers game and this year's game was with the San Francisco 49ers. The game was filled with great plays from both teams and ended with the Panthers winning by 3 points. It was a hot day and our seats seemed to be almost touching the sun, we had the second to last row to the top. The fans didn't seem to mind the heat and stayed until the end of the game. One fan even found a clever way to keep cool, he was able to transform his program into a hat/visor. Just open to center and place on head.

Here are some views from our seats and surrounding the coliseum.

Happy Halloween

This year brought us 72 little trick o' treaters. Just to name a few, we had two kids as spider-man, a couple princesses, one bumble bee and one ladybug, two vampires, three ninjas, one Santa Claus and one little duck on her first Halloween. A very enjoyable night. 

Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life

Liam, a.k.a., Pirate Skull Vest, allowed us to visit with him for awhile before he went on his voyage around the neighborhood rounding up more treats. A-pirating he will go....Aaarrrggghhh

Smarties Addiction

I have a problem that I need to share with you all, and that is I am addicted to Smarties.

I can’t stop eating them, thinking about them, I even am dreaming about them.

I buy them when I know I shouldn’t.

I have to hide them from myself or I will eat the entire bag, seriously, been there to see me do it.

I need an intervention, I need counseling, I need a support group.

Please, if you see me buying Smarties, rush up and take them away.

Warning: Be careful, because I will probably fight you for them.

Sunsets and Camping

The sun was setting just as we arrived at our second campsite, causing me to end my phone conversion with my friend Melanie and quickly grab the camera (Melanie, being a awesome photographer herself, understands and will forgive me for the quick hang-up.)  Now with the first shots taken I begin to help Rick with the assembly of the tent and placement of the camping supplies when I heard a voice in my head. It was Chris, from our photo meetup group. In a previous meetup photo shoot he said, "that if you wait awhile after the sun sets you will be able to capture a even more beautiful sky with great hues of orange and red," and he was right. The second photo I took almost one hour later. 

Camping | Hot Springs, NC

A few weekends back I had the opporntinity to go on my first camping experience. This being the first time, I was not sure what to expect. I know, me camping, but I did it and found that camping was not bad at all. In fact, I found so much enjoyment and relaxation in it that I look forward to planing more camping trips. 

We went to the campground associated with the Hot Springs Resort and Spa in the NC mountains located in the town of Hot Springs. (They also have a nice resort with hot spring hot tubs located across from the campground.) Our camp site was located in a very nice shaded area between the French Broad River and the railroad, the river nice, the train loud at 2:00 am. Overall it was a very nice site with a picnic table and fire ring. The campgrounds had little cottages that one could rent, a couple bathhouses with a shower and bathroom, and of course port-a-potties in several locations. And I suppose you could go do a "county" behind any tree if you would prefer. Me, I walked to the outhouse with a flashlight. 

Nice shady site.

Our camp site.

Proof that I was really there, no photoshop here.

Mushrooms?

The French Board River.

Incredible vines near our camp site.

More incredible vines.

First camp site fire built by Rick.

Fire in the dark.

Train, need I say more.

The bridge to get you to the store with the coffee!

The bridge coming into Hot Springs, NC

The small river side quaint individual cabins you can rent.

The store that had hot coffee by 7:00 am!