STITCHING WITH IRIS: August 2010

Only 118 more days until I retire. Less than 4 months. It is getting closer. I called Social Security last week and was told to call after October 1st to set up an appointment to come in and talk to them an apply for my benefits. I know I could do it on-line but I have several questions and I want to get the answers from a real person.

I just asked to take next Friday as a vacation but it hasn't been approved yet. I still have 11 vacation days left so I can "waste" one and have a 4 day Labor Day weekend.

Nothing much exciting going on in my life but that is good. I am to old for exciting.

Laura goes off to college today. I just can't fathom that she is old enough to start college. I remember when she was born. lol Emily left for her year in Spain last Friday. C now has no one left at home. Yes Laura will be home for holidays and summers but once they go off to college they just seem so grown-up and independent. OK enough with these sad feelings and I have no reason to be sad they aren't my kids.

10 more minutes and I am finished work for this week. I love getting out at 4:00 on Friday.

I have been stitching. I started the 12th ornament for my sister's birthday present. It is Prairie Schooler's Log Cabin from 2004 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue. It is so appropriate since she lives in a log cabin. I am also stitching Eiffel Quaker but I can't remember the designer. It is coming along but I make mistakes and then have to frog. I also don't much care much for only using 3 colors of floss, it is a little boring.

Enough of my boring chattering for today. I need to get ready to go home.

Sunday 8/8/2010 – We left home about 8:00 AM. The trip was mostly uneventful although we did run into a bit of traffic around Washington DC. Construction area and it was really slow, I bet we lost about an hour going through that area. We stopped at Burger King for lunch and we both had a Whopper Jr. and French Fries for lunch.

We arrived in Winston-Salem about 6:00. When we checked into the motel we received a galvanized bucket with several North Carolina treats. Laycee had made one for each room of guest that were coming and staying at the motel for the wedding. Met Barbara in the hallway as we were going to our room. She had seen Bob get out of the car and thought she would meet us. I had to laugh she was in her bathrobe and barefooted. I guess she was happy to see us.

We relaxed for a little bit and then took showers and got dressed for the Rehearsal Dinner at 7:00. Lori & Jeff had invited all the out of town wedding guests to the rehearsal dinner which was held at Big Sholtz Tavern. Bob had Chicken & BBQ Ribs with French Fries and a coke. I had a Crab Cake Platter wit Southern Sweet Tea and then we had chocolate cake for dessert. The cake was made by the same person who made the wedding cake. The food was really good and it was great so spend some time with the family. We went back to the hotel and went to bed. We didn’t know that the party continued around the pool until about midnight. Wish we had known we would have gone down for a while.

Monday 8/9/2010 – Wedding Day - We had breakfast down in the lobby of the motel. It was provided by the motel and was free. We both had OJ, a muffin and hot tea. Sandy gave us a piece of the cinnamon bread stuff she had gotten in Old Salem the day before. It would have been good if it hadn’t been a little stale. Then someone offered us a donut so we both had a donut. I think we over did it just a little.

After breakfast I was drafted to be a judge for the Annual William’s Family Coloring Contest. The contestants were Rob, Kayla, Kathy, Lori and Hannah. The other judge was Lois. Lois and I sat out in the lobby while the contestants were in the conference room to color the pictures Barbara had picked. After a brief deliberation Lois and I picked a winner. THE WINNER WAS HANNAH.

Lori (my niece and the mother of Rob and Kayla)

Hannah - The Winner of the coloring contest

Rob - the Bridegroom

Kathy ( my niece)

Kayla

Bob and I then drove to Old Salem. Unfortunately it was closed on Monday but we did find the gift shop,the bakery and the Salem Tavern open. I bought a Christmas ornament in the gift shop and a small gift forSusan’s stocking. They we went to the bakery and bought some cookies and a sweet potato muffin mix.

We walked down the street to the Tavern and decided to eat lunch there. Here is what we ate:

Iris: Moravian Chicken Pie with Summer Vegetables, Iced Tea, Pecan Pie

Bob: Sauerkraut Stew, Coke, Gingerbread with Lemon Ice Cream

The Single Brother's House

Wonderful vegetable garden behind this house

We ate lunch at this tavern and it was wonderful

We spent the afternoon in our room as it was really, really hot out. I would have liked to go to the pool but it was just to dang hot.

We showered and drove back to Old Salem with Kathy and Bob for the wedding. It was beautiful. The ceremony was outside in Old Salem and the bride and groom where beautiful. The colors for the wedding were orange and yellow. The bride and her maid of honor and flower girl carried Gerber Daisy bouquets. The reception was held in the Old Salem Visitor Center. There was lots of food such as shrimp cocktail, miniature crab cakes, small ham sandwiches and other finger foods. The wedding cake was beautiful and it was designed by Rob. Laycee had a table set up with dishes of different candies and mason jars. Each guest took one of the mason jars and filled it up with candy as a memento of the wedding. This young woman is just delightful and I sure hope she and Rob have a wonderful life together. I was waiting for Barbara to say something to me since I had 3 glasses of wine. There was dancing and the bride and groom seemed to have a really good time. At the end of the evening we were all given sparklers and asked to go out to the covered bridge light the sparklers and Rob and Laycee walked through them to go to their car.

Mike and Sandy (my niece and her husband) sitting down

Rob and Lori standing

The minister and Rob waiting for the bride

Laycee and her Dad

The wedding party

The newly married couple

Laycee and Rob

We got back to the hotel about 11:00 and went right to bed.

Tuesday 8/10/2010 – We got up about 7:00 and went down to the lobby to have breakfast with the family before going off to Asheville and The Biltmore Estates. I had an English muffin and OJ and Bob had OJ, a sweet muffin and a cup of tea. Said our goodbyes to everyone and started off to Ashville about 9:00 and arrived about 11:30. We registered at the Biltmore Inn and found out we had only booked one night instead of the two we had planned. Luckily they did have a room for us for the 2nd night.

We had lunch in the Library at the Inn well actually we had lunch on the veranda just outside of the Library.
Iris: Chicken Caesar Salad and Sweet iced tea. It was wonderful, the chicken was perfect.
Bob: Black Forrest Ham with Brie and unsweetened ice tea.

After lunch we took the shuttle to Antler Hill Village. Saw an exhibit about the history of the Biltmore Estate and George Vanderbilt. Then we went to the winery and dad a wine tasting and of course we had to buy some wine. We went back to the Inn where Bob took a nap and I read for a while before going out to dinner. We went back to Antler Hill Village and had dinner in Cedric’s Tavern.

Biltmore Inn is at the top of the hill

One of the nicest places I have ever stayed

Cedric's Tavern

Bob: Sausage Meigez which was lamb with corn relish for an appetizer. (We actually shared the appetizer. His entrée was wild mushroom ravioli with chicken and for dessert he had a Crème Brule which we shared also. He had a Peach Mojo to drink.

Iris: Sheppard’s Pie and a glass of red wine.

After dinner we came back to the Inn and walked around the grounds to take a few pictures. Then we went back to the room, watched a little TV and then off to bed.

Wednesday 8/11/2010 We had breakfast at the dining room at the Inn. Bob has been feeling a little queasy so we both had a light breakfast of OJ, croissants and hot tea.

Then off to the Biltmore House and Gardens. We wandered around the gardens for an hour or more. Oh so beautiful. It was so hot that we decided to go into the house. We took the self-guided which included headsets that described each room and also told us stories of things that happened in the room when the Vanderbilt’s were living there. It was all very interesting. They had an inside pool and an exercise room which was very unusual for that time period. The Estate is still owned by the Vanderbilt family but it is only a tourist attraction now. We toured thorough 42 of the 240 rooms which included most of the living space, 2 floors of bedrooms, the kitchen, the servant’s quarters, the pool room and the exercise room. It was so hot since the house is not air conditioned. Except for the heat it was an excellent tour. The tour took about 1.5 to 2 hours. After the tour we went to the pastry shop and got a turkey sandwich to share and drinks for lunch. Then we went through the little shops. I bought a little glass Christmas tree with removable decorations, a snowman ornament for Sue’s Christmas stocking and Bob picked up 2 little cloisiome bell ornaments. After shopping we stopped for an ice cream and then got the shuttle back to the Inn. Relaxed for a little while before getting ready to go to the Inn dinning room for dinner. The food was delicious but we both ate way too much.

Our bed at the Biltmore Inn

Part of the front of the Biltmore House. There are 240 rooms

in the house. It is the largest house ever built in the US

The Conservatory in the gardens at Biltmore

The 3 pictures above are of the gardens and then me walking

down the steps to the conservatory

The gardens were just absolutely beautiful

The back of the Biltmore House walking up from the gardens

Looking out from the front door of the Biltmore House

The only child of George and Edith Vanderbilt

had her swing set at the top of the hill

Iris: She Crab Soup, Shrimp Ravioli, a glass of Chardonnay and Coffee Crème Brule for dessert

Bob: Duck Po Boy for his appetizer, Herb Roasted Summer Trout, Reserve Pinot Noir and Coffee Crème Brule for dessert.

After dinner we went back to our room where Bob watched some TV and I read for a little while. Then off to bed.

Thursday 8/12/2010 – We had breakfast at the Inn again this morning and had exactly the same thing as yesterday. Only yesterday they gave us each two croissants. We couldn’t figure out why but since neither of us was very hungry we just let it go.

These are some pictures of The Inn at Biltmore

There was a doorman at the front door to open the

door every time you entered or left.

One morning I tripped over the rug going out and

almost plowed right into a stone pillar head first.

Then off to Bryson City and the Great Smoky Mountains. We had reservations at a place called Hemlock Inn. We go from the lap of luxury at the Biltmore Inn to very average little room in the middle of nowhere. Can I take this for 2 nights? Well I have to since we have reservations and the place is already paid for. It really wasn’t as bad as I am making it seem. The Biltmore Inn was probably one of the nicest places we have ever stayed and the Hemlock Inn wasn’t anywhere near the best place we ever stayed. Home style dinner and breakfast are included in the price of the room and the meals are great. For dinner tonight we had fried chicken, corned beef & cabbage, carrot soufflé, peas, broccoli salad, baked apple casserole, sweet iced tea, and chess pie for dessert.

After dinner we went back to our room and read until about 11:30. No TVs in these rooms.

From the porch at Hemlock Inn looking at the Great Smokey Mountains

Here I am waiting to go into dinner at the Hemlock Inn.
Dinner was family style and you didn't go into the
dining room until the bell was rung.

Friday 8/13/2010 – After breakfast of OJ, scrambled eggs, bacon, sautéed apples, grits (not for me thank you) biscuits and hot tea we went off to the train ride we had reserved. The train ride was from 10:30 until about 3:00. Luckily we had reserved seats in an air conditioned car because it was another really, really hot and humid day. We went through some really beautiful scenery and on our way back from the end of the line we stopped at a little area and had lunch. We both had Carolina Pork BBQ and a drink. We only had an hour layover and then it was back on the train. We got back to the station right at 3:00. One nice thing when we got to the end of the line before heading back to the station the conductor came around and made everyone switch from one side of the train to the other so we didn’t see the same thing going and coming back. It was beautiful scenery and very relaxing. When we got back to the station we went for ice cream again. I don’t know what it is about hot weather that makes me want to eat ice cream because I don’t eat a lot of it at any other time. After the ice cream we went to the gift shop and I bought myself a tee shirt and a baseball cap for Sue. She collects them.

We drove back to the Inn and relaxed a little bit before dinner. This is the only time on the whole trip that I did any stitching.

Dinner tonight consisted of roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy, cod casserole in a cream sauce, zucchini casserole that they called “Train Wreck”, collard greens, black eyed peas, apple salad, rolls, sweet iced tea and banana pudding but didn’t like it. Could it be because I don’t like bananas?

After dinner Bob and I took a walk before heading back to our room where we both read until Bob finished his book about 10:30. It was so peaceful lying in bed listening to the cicadas in the trees outside and it had cooled down to the point we didn’t need the air conditioning for the night.

The engine for the train ride we took

Bob standing by the river.

The temperature of this water is 40 degrees and the air

temperature had to be over 90.

The top pictrue is a section of white water on the river. You can
go white water rafting.
The second picture is a house boat on a lake taken from
the train window.

Saturday 8/14/2010 – We got up early and packed the car. We have a 10 hour drive ahead of us since we are going to make every attempt to get all the way home tonight. Since we want to be on our way before breakfast is served at 8:30 we asked if they would prepare us a bagged breakfast, which they did. It consisted of biscuits with ham, 2 hard boiled eggs, 2 bran muffins and a banana. We stopped about 9:00 and ate the biscuits and I ate one of the eggs. Then about 12:00 we ate the bran muffins in the car. We stopped about 3:00 at a Cracker Barrel where I had chicken pot pie, stewed apples, green beans and iced tea and Bob had fried shrimp, fried okra and Cole slaw and iced tea. Then back in the car and straight home except for a couple of bathroom breaks. We got home about 8:45 on Saturday night. It was so good to sleep in my own bed.