Hiking the Haw

Last week we went for a 4 mile hike along the Haw river.  

We saw TONS of turtles. 

 I think most of my photos were of turtles!! 
 The best find was a swamp lily growing directly in the middle of our path. 

 Someone hiking from the opposite direction we were going told us to keep going and we would see it.  So we continued our hike to the lily and then headed back.

  I will share some of my favorite photos here.

 

I was totally fascinated by all the turtles!

I've only ever seen these flowers in yellow!

I was taking turtle pics when I looked up and these white flowers were all over a bush in front of me!

This is the swamp lily we found right in the center of the path!

Not sure what this flower was but it was so sweet.

I caught this Cormorant as he was taking off.  Lucky shot!

It took a few tries to get my camera to focus on this spider web.

Love shooting directly down on plants like these.

I took so many pictures of the turtles, but there were so many in so many cool spots!

I hope you enjoyed our hike photos.

~XOP~

Our Visit To Old Town Cemetery

 We had to head in to Durham yesterday to pick up some packages.

  It was a cold, rainy day here.  

We decided to drive through Hillsborough and stumbled upon the Old Town Cemetery.  

Both of us are fascinated by old cemeteries.  

We decided to get out and explore.  There were so many interesting things there.  

One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Willliam Hooper.  

 

This told about Hooper and as you can see in the bottom corner, there is a bit about a giant stone chosen by a young girl for her marker (apparently like in the "olden days") to be used upon her death.

This is a view of the cemetery from the sidewalk as we walked up.

Such interesting markers.

This is the site of William Hooper

This was the largest marker. 

 It was for Governor Graham.  "William Graham, who served as a U.S. senator, secretary of the Navy, N.C. governor, and Confederate senator." 

 His family was buried around him.

This marker was for one of his children.  As I turned around the lamb was behind me.  

We found the boulder marker.

As we walked around we also saw the Nash Hooper house.

Had it not been cold and rainy we would have walked around more as we saw lots of historic signs.

On our way out of town we saw a "Quickie Mart"  

I SO wanted to stop in and see if Apu was in there (or maybe Homer).

~XOP~

Pineapple Fabrics and Friends

 Today was the day!!  Chris and I met up with our friends, 

Debbie and Mark at Pineapple Fabrics in Archdale. 

 Debbie and I shopped and Chris and Mark visited.  I

 completely forgot to take pictures inside the shop, 

but got a couple of pics of the two of us and our bags.

These are the 25 nap blankets I made for Debbie to give for a donation.

I got a pic of her and Mark putting them into their car.

These are 2 of my favorite people in the whole world!

They are not only some of the nicest people I know, but very giving too.

We are looking forward to going wine tasting with them when we return in the fall!!

I was super happy to get 50 yards of fabric out in the form of nap blankets.

I also donated another (probably over 20 yards) for her and her friends to use to make some more.

I'm thinking that my goal should be to make another 10 before we return in the fall.

Maybe I will just have to keep making them until all my kid friendly flannel is used up.

What do you think?

Wanna see what I bought today? 

I can show you all but one thing as that's a surprise for a friend.

I found some of the sky Thatched I needed for a pattern.

Then I found some Lizzy House ghosts and some Tula!!!

I bought the rest of the Tula and just a little bit of the ghosts.

They had some of the LH butterflies in navy and a bunch of her constellation prints,

 the ones in the rainbow colors. 

I reluctantly left those all there. 

I found some Tiger Lily.  I really wanted to buy it ALL, but I left some for others

 (plus I couldn't afford to buy it all). 

 These are two of my all time favorite cat prints!

OMGosh you guys.  I could have done some damage here!

I found the cutest panel of a town and roads (a car mat) to make for Avery.

My friend, Debbie, swears by these Magic pins so I decided to give a set a try.

They were 20% off so I figures what the heck.

They also had the snowman panel by Moda for $9.99.

Again, I left that there.

Chris has been into wearing "crazy" socks lately.  

When I saw these I could not pass them up.

His birthday is next month so I will be putting them away for his birthday.

I saw this bag made up and thought it would be a fun one to cut my teeth on. 

 I don't make many bags but this looked about my speed!  LOL. 

 I bought the pattern and think I will do that once I get home.

Isn't it cute?

After a fun lunch at an actual "dine in" place we left our friends and headed back to the camper.

Thanks for a fun time friends!

Yesterday was Finny's birthday.  

He is now 4 years old. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FINNY!!

~XOP~

Some More Nature

 Chris was taking out the garbage and happened to look up and guess who was in the tree? 

 Our owl!!

  I followed her as she flew down the way, hoping to get some good shots. 

Then, I was taking Cole for a walk on his harness and leash 

when I happened to look down and see this Luna Moth. 

 I think he was in the process of dying as the bottom was shriveling up.  

My daughter told me they are born without a mouth so they are born, procreate and then die.  

They are so beautiful with such a short lifespan.  

I found him in the road the next day.  

Something had eaten his body, but I saved his wings.

These sweet little pink/white flowers are all over the woods.  

One morning, Chris went for a walk and came home with these pretty yellow flowers.

Since we only get to see Avery on the weekends we are finding other things to keep us busy.

I got 5 blocks sewn for my Nightingale quilt.

I hope to take photos of them tomorrow.

My shadow is never far away either.

While we are being entertained the cat's "squirrelfriend" is keeping them entertained. 

 We are under some Hickory trees and the squirrels LOVE the nuts!

Hoping for some sunshine to take photos of my blocks for tomorrow.

We get to babysit Avery on Thursday.

Meeting up with Mr and Mrs Goodneedle on Friday.

She and I will be shopping at Pineapple Fabrics while our hubbies hang out.

Then lunching together afterward.

I have all those nap blankets to give to her along with some additional flannel for her to make more.

~XOP~