Our Beach Vacation 2012

We took a short trip to Nag's Head Beach in NC in the Outer Banks. We are hooked. We loved it so much. I think each member of our family came to me separately and said that they want this destination for our beach vacations from now on. If you haven't been then give it a try! It's so pretty there and quiet, but there is plenty to do if you want to do more than veg out on the beach. The beaches aren't overcrowded. Plus...it's pet friendly! Our dogs got to walk on the beach early in the morning and later in the evening. I won't say that they loved it but they did find it interesting. Neither dog wanted to go into the water but they loved running on the beach (as far as their flexi-leashes would go, anyway).

Betsy travels very well and enjoyed the trip. She's still young at just 1 yr old.

Typical view of the road

Going by the marshes

Moonrise over the bridge

We found the Wright Memorial by happy accident

Katrina and Andy doing their flight impressions

Rascal needed a nap after a long walk

I made a new friend in the hotel bird, Sabrina

It was always easy to find a spot for our towels on the beach

The hotel had a great grassy area for the dogs to walk and do their "business"

Some of the parking lots had spots like these. We assumed it was for runoff from rain.

The hotel had beautiful landscaping.

I had so much fun with my new camera!

Mini rainbow!

And this is why I keep going back to the beach...

There really is a Farmville!

New Camera!

Andy and Betsy in Andy's homemade hammock

Rascal, my buddy!

Flowers at the Assisted Living Center in Nashville

 I've been having so much fun with my new digital camera, a Canon Sureshot. It's the first Canon I've owned and I'm extremely happy with it. It's a great product and I recommend it to my family and friends. I'm still learning which settings look best under which conditions, but it's fun figuring it out!

Steinway at UT Alumni Center

Anderson Park

Misty Morning

Corryton Sunset

One of my favorite flowers

Fall Gardening

Strawberry Bed

Check out my latch!

New "Fence" for My SFG

 











I'm doing fall gardening this year. I think I started too late last year, plus I had a serious lack of time to put into it since I had a steady job. This year I got bedding plants of spinach, collards and Brussel sprouts. My son and I are the only ones excited about the last one! I also got strawberry plants. Last year our strawberry plants all died last fall due to lack of rain and lack of watering. I've stayed vigilant this year and my son is great to help me when I can't water the plants and our little trees. One of my garden covers just came all apart so after mulling it over I got some stakes and nylon mesh and fashioned a "fence" around it. You can see I got real creative with binder clips! I later went to Mayo's and got some wooden stakes for the four corners. I got part of my plants at Ace Hardware in Halls, a few more at Home Depot and the strawberries from Knoxville Seed Co. on Rutledge Pike.

Before I planted I took the grids off and added a bag of manure compost to each garden. I also am feeding the gardens every 2 weeks. My seeds didn't grow well this past spring and after mulling it over I decided that A - my seeds were old and B - maybe they needed more nutrients. But I really think it was mostly A. I checked the dates and chucked several packets. I have the replacement packets in the fridge in their zip-lock bags.

My first lavender plant! It smells so good!

 Fall Container Gardening

This fall I planted some seeds in containers. I wanted to see which containers would work and which plants would grow in a container, and which would grow in the fall. Another reason is...I ran out of room in my gardens! It's a drawback to having such small gardens but I wanted to plant all my greens in the gardens and not a container. Maybe I can get the guys to help me build another garden...

I planted actual garlic cloves in this large planter.

This is lettuce in a recycled tree container that my peach tree came in.

Yes, this is an old cat litter pan. I washed it out really really well first!

My window box now has echinacea growing in it.

Sissy is checking to see if I'm doing my job!