Charlotte

I know I have been on vacation for a week, and not a word, sorry about that, the lady whose House I was staying at, her computer was so slow. Anyway now I am in Charleston I can write a book.

Last Friday i drove from Charlotte to Asheville to go see the Biltmore estate. ( Van Der -Bilt fortune) a very large estate with built in 1895 with lots of rooms to impress the guests. the usual story is that you are not allowed to take photos, but that has never stoped me. there is an amazing collection of really old books and prints from that time period. and hanging on the walls are several tapestries dating for the 1540 s ( that could be better looked after). a large winery on the estate as well.the wine tasting was kinda fun. but I am not into shipping wine back to AK though. photos will be coming i am not sure when.

for some reason the weather gods didn't like me and while I was there it started to snow. Ashville is almost in the mountains, there was snow on the beautiful long drive down to the gate , i thought that once I was down lower the snow would stop. no such luck, some cars were driving at 30 miles an hour with the hazards lights on on the freeway. the 140 miles back to Charlotte was about 40 miles an hour so it took me 4 hours. it was wet slushy snow. with several cars in the ditch etc. ( that probably could have gotten out if they knew how) the drive up was only 2 hours 20 . on nice dry roads.

Thursday i went out to north Charlotte to look at a plantation from 1800. it still had some slave quarters, probably cleaned up a lot. They would have been cold to live in.

there has been some shopping of course, and on Sunday got to go pick up Kerrie and hang out with my nephews who run around really fast. Please remember that i am the child free auntie.

i definitely don't like big freeways, with large trucks and fast cars, i have managed better than I did on my last sojourn south to the lower 48. 80 mph and i am getting past. GPS systems are worth their weight in gold, i can still manage the odd wrong turn.

Monday this week I found a dance studio that had some classes in swing that actually taught me a new east coast move. I guess i don't know everything I thought I did in east coast.

yesterday Kerrie and kids came down to Charleston , I dropped her off at her friends and found my hotel which is down town, more on Charleston another time.

Charlotte

vacation

arrived safely in Charlotte on Monday, Kerrie has been delayed till Sunday. ( Stuck in new York from a snow storm )

today I got to drive up the historic Platta plantation. a cotton grower from 1820 who owned 33 slaves. history i have never looked at before. rather interesting, next to it the was Raptor Center with lots of eagles and hawks that have been injured etc.

then I had catfish for lunch . cause i have never had it before, with salt and pepper and corn on the cob

i don't like driving on big fat freeways too many cars that i am not used to, small streets are fine.

GPS units are way cool and once you figure them out work well.

Tomorrow i drive to Asheville to see the Biltmore estate.

No i haven't taken any photos yet ( sorry )

More shoping

I went shoping again online earlier this week, there was this email that just forced me to so shoping . this chip and dip plate was on sale for $60, and then i saw some other stuff. so i just had to add to the collection and buy some more ....
Old country Roses.
yes i kept all the boxes .
Tomorrow we go out to watch the start of the Yukon Quest dog race so i might even get some more stuff up here before I go on Vacation again.

Car accident

a picture paints a thousand words.

so what can i say. i had a car accident this week. on Tuesday. a gent ran a red light. i hit my head on the visor and got a big bump. which turned into this first photo here on Wednesday below, with only one black eye

then i slept the wrong way and then i 2 black eyes , taken on friday.

the car totaled, tho i managed to drive it home about 4 blocks.

dealing with the the related problems has been my week.

More work on the house.

Oh you want to see what i have been up to on the house.
sure, i spent forever painting the closet here, getting the shelf was a bitch i have carpet down. Matt helped me get it from Home depot Christmas Eve. I have the light in , thanks to another Friend
Also got this vinyl cut and laid. ( that s alot of work those rolls are heavy) and going round that pole was a bitch my myself. I even got it all under the washing machine. its not glued yet.

I have decided today that the drawers clash with the vinyl so i have got them painted today with primer; a pain staking fiddly job. tomorrow they get the antique white treatment.

and to go round my wonderful windows from the summer I have some maple trim. Well pine that is stained to look like maple. Here is one stained and one not. a coat of varnish and they just need to be cut to get put up. i also have the Sheetrock holes nearly fixed with new sheet rock and 3 coats of mud.
and a whole lot of dust in my hair....
next I get to work on the steps they need to painted, but first the sanding, and sanding, and more dust in my hair. I bought a little wee sander today.
Tools are everything.

christmas Day

christmas day i went up to Krista 's new house. she now up this road. som way cool trees and a lvely sunny day well sort of for this time of year.

This was taken today on my street and 1 pm . just to show you how high the sun rises

Christmas Eve

Christmas eve I had Matt and Amy and kids come over, it was a way cool evening, Roast lamb and christmas presents, with charlotte runing arround like normal. here Charlotte is standing just like Amy does. ( 2 1/2 going on 20) we did some coloring and had fun.