Girlfriends' Weekend 2010

I'm getting my stories out of chronological order here, but in early December I went up to Virginia and spent a weekend with long-time friends Kathy and Lee at Kathy's house in Manassas. This is our annual get together that always features fabulous meals by Kathy. My favorite dish this year was Quinoa Black Bean Salad with Smoky Lime Dressing. We keep telling her she really should write a cook-book.

 On Saturday, we ventured out and went to the Torpedo Factory -- which at one time was indeed a torpedo factory, but now is three stories of art studios and showrooms down on the waterfront in the historic district of Alexandria.

Almost immediately we encountered Tanya Davis who, along with her watercolors, was selling origami snowflake ornaments. She took the time to show me how to fold one right there. It isn't easy, but between her help and You Tube videos, I'm going to master this one.

This woman has the largest loom I've ever seen and she wove these huge tapestries with wool and some metallic elements. She had family in Mount Pleasant  and I think would have happily come home with me

There was some kind of Scottish Heritage Festival in the area so there were men in kilts everywhere we went. These dancers were on the lower level of the Torpedo Factory. We watched them for awhile but no one asked us to dance so we went on down the street and had dinner at a pizza restaurant. 

The rest of our weekend together was several other good homemade meals, talking, watching movies, dog walking, and playing Bananagram! It's always fun and so comfortable to be with them. We are thinking maybe wait a little longer for next year, and they will come to Charleston in February or March 2012. Boy, that sounds a long time away!

Christmas 2010

 

While everyone we loved was getting snow, it was a pleasant day on the beach this year. Sunny. Not windy. We arrived at low tide and had plenty of beach to walk on. Not as many people and dogs as in the past. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. 

 We took a nice leisurely walk and picked up shells and were perfectly, perfectly content. We discussed if we had become "old people."

In the next 24 hours the temperatures dropped significantly and on Sunday, snow fell even in Charleston. Our plan to join Mom and the Parkers at Green Peace in Black Mountain shfifted to joining them in Winston-Salem. They had a good bit of snow there, but the roads were clear, so we just enjoyed looking at it and being with them.