Birthday Weekend with Beth

I spent this past weekend in North Carolina with Beth and a group of her BFF (best friends forever - I think). We celebrated Beth's 50th birthday. The weather was spectacular and the fun, food and fellowship could not be beat! We went riding on the ATVs and the views from the top were amazing. We had a picnic on Horseshoe Rock with other amazing views, hiked on some of the roads around there, then hiked down to the waterfall and up to the cemetary. It was a great way to celebrate Beth's birthday. I was glad to be able to spend time with her and her friends. I am attaching a picture of Beth (and Joye and I) from 40 years ago.

Mardi Gras in Mobile

Dan and Jane have come to visit for the week of Mardi Gras. We are having a great time. The weather has been great and there have been plenty of things to do. Here are some pictures of the day at the beach - a little too chilly for the water, but it was a gorgeous day.



Dad and Mom were enjoying the day at the beach and Dad liked that there was someone to sit with him while the women shopped at the outlet malls.














I love the green water, the blue sky and the white beaches.












Dan and Jane at the beach.














The Mardi Gras look.

The rest of the family was in town for thanksgiving. Here are some photos.

Joye and Colter

I have had a great time visiting with Joye and Colter. Because they are here, I have had an opportunity to explore a little more of the Mobile and surrounding area.

Joye and Colter at the beach at Gulf Shores

This is a gas rig we passed on the way to Fort Morgan. These gas rigs are visible all around the area here.

Colter and I at the beach. I am not that much taller than him, I am standing on something.

We rode the ferry from Dauphin Island over to Fort Morgan. It cost us $29! Dad was not too happy about that. Joye says all the ferries around the Corpus Christi area are free. I didn't expect it to be free, but I was surprised that it was as expensive as it was.

Honduras October 2008

I know I should write a post about my trip to Honduras. But Sara has written a few really fantastic posts telling all about the time in Honduras. If you just click on the link for Brian and Sara you can read her posts. I have added my pictures to my winkflash account. If you click on that you will be able to view the Honduras October 2008 photos. They are pretty much in order with Sara's post.

Thank you all who were praying for us while we were there. Please continue to pray for Brian and Sara and the kids. They will be returning to the States in a few weeks for the rainy season. So they have a lot they have to do before then. I am including a picture taken while we were in La Ceiba on our way to the airport.

So We Went Fishing!


Amazingly, Dad reminded me that we were going to go fishing. So yesterday we went to Wal-mart and bought some poles and a tackle box and a few of the essentials.










I called up Mike and asked if he would be willing to take us fishing this morning. So we met him at the church building this morning around 8:00. We bought some bait and we went fishing.












We had bought two poles, but Mike brought a few extra. But Mom and Dad fished together basically. I had switched the handle on the reel so that it reels left-handed. Dad got the hang of it pretty good. He did some casting, but Mom did all the baiting of the hooks.










We were out there (Cedar Point) about three hours. Dad wasn't ready to leave, but Mom and I were hot from the sun and convinced him to leave.








I didn't catch anything, but Dad caught four little ones. Mike caught a few little ones. And by "little" I do mean little. But if any of you know that Dad hasn't been fishing only but once in ten years, just going out was the best thing.










Afterwards we went to Logan's Roadhouse and treated Mike to lunch. All the while we were riding in Mike's truck we were listening to his tape of Hank Williams! So you know Dad was having a grand time - and as a result so did Mom and I.

Looking for a Good Fishing Place

I am having a good time with Mom and Dad here in Mobile. I am getting spoiled with Mom's cooking. Dad is doing his share of spoiling me as well. Yesterday he cleaned my patio and driveway and he has been taking the trash out (a job I absolutely hate). Today we were driving around and stopped along the Causeway over Mobile Bay. Dad and I talked about maybe going fishing out here. It was a little windy out there this evening. But I did get a picture of Mom and Dad standing on the water.

A day at the Beach

I took Tuesday off and spent it at the beach and going shopping. My friend Carolyn took me over to Gulf Shores. It is beautiful. The beaches are all white sand and very clean. The sand was so soft under my feet, I couldn't get over how soft it was. I have always said I hate dealing with the sand on beaches, but this sand was not anything like the sand I am used to. And the water was very warm! It was a great day to be visiting the beach.




I did not come prepared to go swimming, but I almost wished I had. It was warm enough and the water was plenty warm.











This is my friend Carolyn. She has lived in Mobile all but about ten years of her life. Her husband was a Marine and she traveled with him. He was killed in Vietnam in 1968. She was left to raise her two children on her own. I have enjoyed getting to know her.












I was standing out on a sand bar here. It was quite pleasant there.









This is an open invitation for anyone to come visit me. I now know where the best beaches are - so come visit and I will take you to the beaches! Oh, there is a huge outlet mall about 15 minutes from this beach! It was quite huge, maybe not as big as Kittery, but still plenty big enough to keep you shopping all day if you like that. There is also a new Bass Pro Shop just on the other side of the Bay from me -I haven't been there yet, but everyone is talking about it.

Fishing

I went fishing this morning with Phyllis, Glen and Mike. I had a great time. Phyllis has a pontoon boat, so she took us out. She lives on Roberts' Bayou which eventually feeds into the Dog River. We actually fished in the Dog River.

This first picture is the Bayou behind Phyllis' house. Can you see the white Crane taking off from the water?

Glen is the one on the left and Mike is the one with the sunglasses. This is not a good picture of them, but I didn't tell them to look up, oh well. Glen is a deckhand on a Mississippi tug boat that pushes the barges up and down the River. Do you remember the barge that was hit last month and spilled fuel oil? Glen's company owned the barge. But it wasn't one he was working.

This is Phyllis. She had just caught the Croaker. We caught some Red Fish, but they have to be 14 inches long, and none of ours were that big. But we caught several Croakers. They actually "croak."

I know this Croaker did not look that big, but it was a keeper and I got a little bigger one later. They are apparently good eating, but I am not a big fish fan. Glen kept the fish.

We stopped for lunch at a place right where the Dog River dumps into Mobile Bay. I had a Shrimp salad. I was tired of feeding all the shrimp to the fish. So I ordered some for myself! The food was excellent. Phyllis had fried okra with her fried oyster po'boy sandwich (a very southern sandwich).

When Phyllis bit into one of her fried oysters, she bit something hard. She found this pearl. I thought that was pretty amazing.

I loved this spider's web that was in Phyllis' yard. It looked so perfect. That spider had an attention to detail.

I Am Now Official

Yesterday I finally took the time to go to the licensing commissioner's office and the DMV. I now have an Alabama driver's license in my wallat and an Alabama tag to go on my car! I had tried once to do it, but I didn't have the right paperwork. In fact yesterday I had to actually go twice because I still didn't have the right paperwork. But I finally finished the process. I am planning on going fishing with some friends on Saturday and the cost of an out-of-state fishing license is almost double that of an in-state license. So money was the final factor to force me to make the change. I still haven't put the new tag on my car - a little bit of laziness, but some reluctance as well. With the out-of-state tag, people are a little more forgiving when I make turning blunders (like going the wrong way down a one way street). I also have had the same New Hampshire license tag for 22 years! I know my tag number, in fact a lot of people had my tag number memorized. Now I am going to have to work on memorizing a new number.

One thing I do like about my new tag is that it says "God Bless America" on it and the American flag forms the background for the tag. I am so grateful to God for allowing me to be born and raised in America. I pray that He continues to bless America. I have not watched the Democratic National Convention because I do not align myself with their idealogy. But I still am so proud of our Country to be able to nominate a person of color to possibly be the next President of the United States. I am not going to vote for Senator Obama, not because of his skin color, but because of his idealogy. But I think Martin Luther King's dream was somewhat realized last evening. I applaud the Democratic Party for choosing Senator Obama as their candidate. It was an historic moment and may God continue to bless America.