Special Visit

Linda had a surprise visit this weekend from her daughter, Stephanie and her partner, Jessica. I was on the third floor giving a tour when I heard her shriek from the first floor...guessing that Steph and Jess had arrived. We've had a good time hanging out and seeing some of Winston Salem. Yesterday we went to Mt. Airy; checked on the rig, went to the thrift store and bought some blouses, got our favorite milk shake, checked out the downtown stores and old jail and ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Temps have been in the 50's this weekend so has made it really enjoyable to be out and about.

Today we went to the museum downtown to see some artists work that they were featuring. This is an Encaustic painting. The artist uses beeswax and powdered pigment, which is then applied to wood (most times although other surfaces can be used). A heat gun is used to smooth and keep the beeswax fluid enough to work with while the artist uses tools to make the desired shapes and designs. The paintings were all so gorgeous...I just fell in love with this style of painting. The surface is really smooth so it must take a lot of work to get the wax the way the artist wants it. It was a day for artsy things as the next place we went to was the Tattoo Archive.
Open since 1980, the front part of the store is a museum of sorts that covers the last 100 years of tattoo. It was very interesting to see and read about the older artists and see the images that many of the them created throughout their careers. There was also some of the old style equipment that has been used over the years. It doesn't appear that it has changed all that much.
This picture caught my eye as the tattoo work is amazing ! There were circus posters that depicted the fascination of the tattooed people as sideshow attractions and a special exhibit on the scarring traditions in other countries where something like a flint is used to make a cut and then its left open for several months to make a raised welt. All of the welts on the body are arranged in a specific design, which by looking at a young girl, you could tell many things about her. A cultural tradition that I'm glad I'm not a part of. It looked pretty painful to endure years of cutting to make the intricate patterns. I thought that it was pretty amazing that the owner of this Tattoo establishment thinks enough of the art form to dedicate a whole museum to archiving the history of tattoo. 

Boomer also got to take a field trip today...he went to the dog park before we came back home. I've never seen so many dogs as there was today. He ran and ran with the other pooches there. There was everything from puppies to Great Danes today. He had a good time and now as I write this post, everyone but Jessica and I are sacked out on the floor.....snoozing. Zzzzzzzzz....

Here's hoping that all of you have a restful and fun filled weekend !

Trip to the Beach

On Friday we decided to drive to the coast to hang out at the beach for the afternoon. We drove to Wrightsville Beach, which took us about 3.5 hours. The temps were around 40 degrees so not too bad. The sun felt warm and little to no breeze so it was pretty comfortable.

While walking with Boomer on the beach, we met a young man who had his dog out for a walk. Clarence and Boomer hit it off right away and we took Boomer off his leash so they could play and chase each other around. It was so cute to watch them tearing after each other at the water's edge and then come running back towards us. Clarence would look back over his shoulder as if to say, "Are you coming ?" Clarence's daddy told us he came to Wrightsville to attend college. We learned later over lunch that there are two colleges in town. The young lady, who was our waitress for lunch, is attending one of these colleges to become a CNA.

Speaking of lunch, we had a good one at Dave's Deli. Had a hot veggie sub with home-made potato chips dusted with seasoning and some ranch dressing to dunk them in. Everything was really yummy.

After we ate we drove over to one of the properties in Wilmington, NC that is like ours. They have the same color scheme and furniture that we do but the lay out of the building is quite a bit different. Their building is 22 years old....ours is 9 years old. Hmmmm....That carpet pattern and furniture fabric must have some good staying power to hang around that long. After a quick look around their building we started back home. Got back about 9:30...Not much happened today. Watching the Steelers tonight....go Ben !

Snow + South = All Things Stop

Well storm number 2 passed through the south and we got a whopping 1.5" of snow with a little glaze of ice on top, which means that all things came to a grinding halt. If it weren't for our four housekeepers/servers calling off this morning, it might be humorous. All schools are still closed tomorrow even though we received no additional accumulation today. Amazing how everything down here closes at the slightest hint of a snow storm coming. Shops, schools, colleges, bus lines, etc. People are scared to death to try to drive in the snow so they just stay home. Thank goodness there are some "northern folks" that work here that will actually come in to work. Linda and I went out to supper, when we got off work, and the roads were bare. We don't go in until 11:30 tomorrow so we'll see if it's a repeat performance of today. Linda had the foresight to schedule three other employees to come in this morning, as we anticipated the call offs. One of the women stayed overnight in the guest suite so we'd be sure to have her here this morning. They got most of the work done but not all. Enough with snow....we'd had all we want to see this winter. Mother Nature has forgotten that the white stuff should stay north....far, far north of here.

Sightseeing

Linda and I had heard that the Bodies Revealed exhibit was in nearby Greensboro, NC and since the museum was closed last weekend, we went this weekend. I wasn't sure how well I'd like it, although I'm always fascinated by muscle definition and the discipline it takes to get it. The exhibit was really neat !

There were quite a few whole human bodies, each in a
different pose with the muscles and cartilage exposed. Some had cutaway areas to show the heart and internal organs. There were also exhibits of diseased organs, which didn't look like I thought they would. Instead of a cancerous spot being black or really obvious, in several instances it looked very similar to the organ color or was a white spot. The exhibit was part of the Museum of Natural Science and there were other things to see and do, like the animal exhibit.

Isn't this Alpaca just the cutest thing you've ever seen ? I feel like I want to put lipstick on those pursed lips.


All while we were walking through the outside display area, there was a large turkey following us. We'd be walking to the next display area and we'd hear the scraping of the turkey's feet as it was scampering along behind us. Having lived on a dairy farm with geese in the pasture, I kept an eye on my heels to make sure the turkey wasn't going to nip me in the heels or calves as I walked.

The tigers enjoyed watching the turkey, as we approached. I think maybe they thought it was feeding time or something.

This guy was having a bad hair day !

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed our time at the museum and then went to the North Carolina RV show that was nearby. There were a few large Class A's in the parking lot and many more inside the two buildings. We saw a Endura super C that had a really nice layout that felt surprisingly spacious. There was a huge skylight over the drivers cab/bunk area that would be perfect for watching the aurora borealis lights in Alaska or a crystal clear night with lots of stars. It was fun to get out and see some rigs although none of them felt as homey as ours does. We miss being on the road but are making the best of our temporary detour. We went to get some things out of our rig today and she looked so lonely sitting on the site...closed up and cold.
The weather here over the next couple of days might be nasty. We're watching to see if there is snow in the forecast for Monday or Tuesday, as we know that means no employees will show up for work. Ugh !!

We've been training a couple for the last two weeks, who will ultimately go to another property in North Carolina. They've been fun to work with. The residents had a "fruitcake toss" the other day that they helped with and the residents had so much fun. They had to toss fruitcake bricks off the 3rd and 2nd floors, trying to get them into tubs on the ground floor. I couldn't believe so many people participated in the event !
Once all the throwing was completed from the upper levels, they came to the ground floor to try and get the fruitcake into squares on the floor with number values. It was a lot of fun, although I told our enrichment coordinator that I would not donate my mom's fruitcake for the contest. I love her fruitcake (actually called English Christmas cake) and hoard any that she gives me. She makes it with real candied fruit, wraps the finished product in cheesecloth soaked in brandy and I love it !

The fruit cake they used for the contest turned into mush after taking multiple falls from the third story...good thing for saran wrap to hold it all together.