Saturday Morning Coffee

This week has gone by like a whirlwind! Good thing I can relax for a *few* more days. The coffee just finished brewing – is French Vanilla OK? I don’t usually drink flavored coffee, but I also won’t say no a a gift. The weather’s a bit cooler today, too; fancy sitting outside?

With the exception of the closet in Spare Oom, Krystal and I have finally finished the Great Clean, which has been going on since March. What will I do with my spare time now? Well, for the next few days I’ll work on some personal projects and catch up on my reading. Or try to catch up, at any rate. Then, next Friday, it’s back to school for teacher in-service. Back in the classroom two weeks before the start of school. Where did the summer go? Just kidding, I know exactly where it went.

The big news this week is that my parents and my sister came for a visit!

They arrived Monday evening and we went out for pizza. Then we came home and sat in the living room and chatted before heading for bed.

Tuesday Krystal went to work as usual while the rest of us went to Tryon Palace. We took the first tour and it ended up being just the four of us. Can’t beat a private tour, can you? They had a good time meeting some of the people Krystal works with and being able to talk to them a bit without taking away from their job or other guests. Andrea made a great joke about naval stores being a place that sells belly buttons and resisted the urge to ask about the ghost.

Oh, I didn’t tell you about the “ghost”? A few weeks ago, a tourist took a video while taking a tour and claimed to have captured a ghost on film. While there are some interesting happenings at various buildings at Tryon Palace and throughout New Bern, the particular spot the video was taken isn’t one of them. It’s one of Krystal’s co-workers. Interestingly, the video has been picked up by several of the British tabloids, one of which referred to her as the “Maid of Horror“. We about died laughing at that one.

Anyway, after the initial tour we walked the grounds, then went to the Farmer’s Market next door. They didn’t have much of anything that day.  Then, we went to Wal-Mart to pick up a pair of needle-nosed pliers. Andrea was dead set on fixing the light in our living room ceiling fan. After a time, she succeeded. You’d have thought I’d given her a present. Maybe, in a way, I did as she loves to fix things.

That night we went out for barbecue, with varying responses. Every region does barbecue differently, and not everyone will be a fan of every style. Ah well. Then, we returned home and watched the new Beauty and the Beast movie.

Wednesday we woke up early and drove to the Outer Banks. We ate breakfast at Sam and Omie’s, then went to the Bodie Island Lighthouse and drove down to the Rodanthe beach. And none too soon, either, as just this morning I read that a construction crew damaged the electric cable for Hatteras and Ocracoke islands, mandating non-resident evacuations of the island.

We drove by the Wright Brothers monument (the site itself is under construction) then up to the Currituck lighthouse. We drove back to Nag’s Head to eat at the Dunes Restaurant, which has just recently reopened after a fire. The onion rings were so large we had to take a picture of them, and I introduced my mom to the joy of soft-shelled crab.

They left Thursday morning after a late breakfast. Smokey misses them, I think.

Thursday evening a couple of my friends helped me with a project I’m working on. I’ll tell you more about that when I can, but suffice it to say I’m excited to see plans coming together.

Oh, I almost forgot, I had some other interesting news this week. I’ve been asked to help promote a new book, The Pietist Option by Chris Gehrz and Mark Pattie III. The book will be released in October, but I’m reading an advance PDF right now. Well, not right now since I’m talking to you. But it’s open on my computer. I’ve made it through the first 30 pages or so. You can preorder the book and get a bit of a discount. I had no idea this would even happen until I got a message from Chris.

You know what? I have the feeling my thirties are going to be interesting.

How was your week? Any plans for the week-end or end of summer?