December 2012 Beach Trip

From December 11-14,  2012,  we made a quick trip to our favorite beach,  OCEAN ISLE BEACH, in North Carolina.   As most of you know, we go there every May for several days and really enjoy it.  Then a couple of years ago,  we made a 2nd trip there in December.  WELL---we enjoyed it so much in December that we decided to go again.

Why do we enjoy the beach this time of year????  WELL---first of all,  we can walk on the beach and have the entire area almost to ourselves.  Secondly,  this time of year, we can enjoy sunrises AND sunsets from our balcony...  And--you know how much we love sunrises and sunsets over the water!!!!!!   Thirdly, and very important,  we love fresh Calabash seafood --and can't get it in Tennessee... SO--we go to EAT at our favorite restaurants...

I will show you some of our photos from this short trip in a couple of posts.  Hope you enjoy them.  Be sure to click on them for enlargements. Above is a picture George took of me the first time we walked on the beach after getting there on the 11th!!!  I will say that it was quite cold while we were there..  BUT--we still loved it...Can you see all of those people making the beach so crowded???? ha ha

We love walking on the beach this time of year.  Yes,  it was quite cold ---but OH--so much fun!!!!! You can see the fishing pier WAY in the distance.

How cold was it???  WELL---cold enough so that all of these little birds were huddled up together trying to stay warm....  Poor little guys!

This will also show you how COLD, windy and drizzly it was.... BUT--again I say,  it was not nearly as cold as the day we spent at Grandfather Mountain in November.... I've NEVER been THAT cold before....ha

Here  are some of the things we enjoyed at the beach this time:
Top left--lots of birds;  Top right---nobody there but US  (that is George in the picture);
Bottom left---Betsy drooled over that tiny little beach house in the distance--ha;
Bottom right--Great reflection of the pier in the water/sand;
Center--a Sand Dollar I found;  Neat, huh?????

Our motel (Islander Inn) is not far from the fishing pier... SO--when we walk on the beach,  we usually walk to the pier and beyond  one direction --and then walk the other direction at another time.  I took this picture of George as we wandered around the pier.

We didn't get to see the moon over the water this year ---but we did enjoy watching the sun peak through the clouds... I love pictures of sunbeams... Do you?

Finally,  here are some of our photos of the sunset....  After a mostly cloudy week,  the sun came out on Dec. 13 ---and really showed off for us.  Isn't it marvelous?

I have one more post from this trip --including a sunrise and some blue sky pictures!!!! If you want to see that post,  click HERE.

Hope you will have a fabulous Monday!

Hugs,

Emoticons

Ocean Isle Beach on Dwellable

Family Visits

Before Christmas,  George and I made three separate trips to visit some of the family.  On Dec. 20,  we drove to Tullahoma to visit George's 100 yr. old Dad.  We took him to lunch ---and he woofed down some fried chicken,  onion rings,  slaw and a big brownie topped with ice cream.....   Gee---that man still can EAT.... Awesome,  isn't it????  The picture above is of  George and his Dad..  I love that picture,  don't you?

Then on Dec. 22,  we drove down to Dalton, GA to have dinner and spend some time with son Jeff and his bride, Dawn.  Those two are SO happy ---and enjoying their first Christmas together as man and wife.  We gave them a "First Christmas" ornament... They fixed some delicious Gumbo for dinner.... YUM... We had a wonderful time with them.  The picture above is their gorgeous Christmas tree --which they picked out together at a tree farm.  Isn't it pretty?

Here is a picture of the newlyweds which I took while we visited.   Jeff inherited 3 doggies.... Dawn is holding Henry.  The other two are bigger dogs which stay outside most of the time.  Henry is ADORABLE---but it has taken him awhile to share his Mama with Jeff.... ha

THEN--on Dec. 23, we drove to Nashville to have dinner and do some photography with George's beautiful daughter, Kelly, and her hubby, Chuck.  They live in Buffalo --so we don't get to see them often.  BUT-since they were in Nashville attending an event,  we took the opportunity to meet with them for some time together...

After dinner,  we drove to an interesting old cemetery to do some walking and take some pictures.  The cemetery,  Mount Olivet  Cemetery,  is really interesting.  The weather was TERRIBLE (cold and drizzly) --so we didn't stay long.  BUT--we did get some good pictures while we were there.  The picture of Kelly and Chuck above was taken at the cemetery.  They were standing next to a HUGE Magnolia tree (which I have pictured in the next photo below).  NOTE:  Chuck is really taller than Kelly---but she was standing on a large tree root.

The cemetery (250 acres) was established in 1856---so it is very old with some interesting sculptures.  Besides these sculptures,  there were some AWESOME old trees on the property.   The picture above was one of the largest MAGNOLIA trees I have ever seen.   Note the trunk of this huge tree in the photo above of Kelly/Chuck.

Besides the Magnolia tree,   I also saw the largest HOLLY TREE I have ever seen.  In fact, there were several Holly trees in this area ---and probably more Magnolias.  The picture above shows one of these gorgeous Holly trees.  They are LOADED with berries.... So pretty!

And here is a close-up picture of some of the beautiful Holly berries.

Finally,  I'll close with some photos of some of the gorgeous sculptures in that cemetery. 

 As you can imagine,  we had a wonderful three days with family.  That made our Christmas very very special this year.

We drove to Tullahoma yesterday to see Dad.  (We go down there about every other week.)  He is fine ---and kept talking about someone selling all of the horses... HA HA ---he has never had any horses!!!! Bless his heart.

Hope you have a great weekend.  I will see you on Monday.   HAPPY 2013 to YOU.

Hugs,

Emoticons