LET'S GO ON VACATION

Hello and welcome to my "Let’s Go On Vacation" post hosted by Heidi of Foxglove, Fabric & Folly. If you stop by and visit Heidi you will find a list of all the participants.

Now on to my favorite vacation spot. My husband and I grew up near the Jersey Shore and never gave it a thought when we sold our little farm in NJ and moved to the hills of WV. We loved it here and were so busy restoring our pre-civil war farmhouse. (history of farm on my first post) Five years had passed before we stopped to think about how much we missed the ocean, salt air, sea gulls, sun and sand. So we called some friends in NJ and asked when they were going to the Jersey Shore again, that we would like to meet them there. Well they said they did not go there anymore but now went to Cape Hatteras, NC. So we thought we would give it a try. That was our first time and this summer will be our 14th trip to the Outer Banks of NC. I can’t tell you enough what a beautiful place it is. We go in September out of season, it’s not crowded, just beautiful beaches, white sand, blue water (most of the time) picturesque waterfront towns. We usually rent a large house because we meet friends & family there and have a wonderful time. I’d like to share with you some pics from the past 13 trips to Cape Hatteras.
This first pic posted above is just a little collection of things that I have brought home from trips. I have a little guest room that I call my beach room. It is getting quit a collection. Please feel free to click on the pics to get a larger view.

This pic is a painting my daughter Jen of Jennifers Petal Palace painted for us because we always say "Hatteras was always on our minds". The next two pics are closeups of the painting.

The next pic is a waste basket that she painted for my guest room with the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on it.

The next pic is a cross stitched picture of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse framed in a hand painted rose frame also made by my daughter Jen.

This is a little painting of Ocoroke Lighthouse on a little island off Hatteras Island.

This is our favorite house that we have rented in Cape Hatteras. It was such a gracious home, right on the Pamlico Sound. Porches on every side and view to the sound on one side and ocean on the other.

This house sleeps 18 people has, 3 masterbedrooms, 5 1/2 baths. Most of the homes here on the island have a reversed living plan. The main rooms are on the top floor so that you have a beautiful view to the water. This is the private swimming pool at the house.

Living room with view to the Palmico Sound.

The kitchen has an ocean view.

This is the year that they moved the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It was amazing to watch a lighthouse being moved.

Friends that we met at the beach that year. My husband and I on the left and our friends Howard and Rose and their daugher and son in law.

Elizaabethan Gardens, on Roanoke Island.

A view of the sound from Elizabethan Gardens.

An old house on Orocoke Island, this house was open for tour and was furnished as it would have been back in the 1800's.

My husband snapped a pic of me and friends eating fudge that we just purchased in the best fudge shop on the island. From left is John, Gayle and myself. Once a year we enjoy that treat!

Sometimes we rent a pet friendly house and bring our Landseerer Newfoundland Molly, she is a water rescue dog so she loves the water. Yes she has an embroidered

bib on. We love the seagulls and always feed them. They usually ride the ferrys over to the other islands. They are such a joy to watch. Pic of my husband feeding them.

You can drive your car on the beach in certain areas there. My hubby fishes but I just relax and read or do needlework.

Molly the Newf just taking in the view.

This was one of the years that my three grandsons came, Molly was keeping an eye on them. The boys loved it as you can see from this pic.

Mikey my youngest grandson showing Molly what he caught.

Boatdocks where you can rent a slip to keep your boat for the week, month or summer.

Last year we rented a canal front house in this village.

We bought a boat so now we rent houses with a dock so we can keep our boat right at the house. We just pack a lunch in the morning and go out to the boat and spend the day on the water.

The sky was so blue this day you cannot see where the sky ends and the water starts. This was a little bird hunting house that someone had built in the bay.

It does not look like much of a house but it must have been very expensive to build, the water was very deep here.

I don't fish but I love to drive the boat around the bay. They guys pick a spot to fish then we anchor the boat and I get out a book or needlework until they are ready to try a new spot.

Sometime I let hubby drive the boat!

My son throwing in a line.

So that is how we spend our vacation every year. We take small trips to other places throughout the year but Hatters is must every year. This year we are going for two weeks in Sept., we rented a beautiful house with 4 bedrooms 5 1/2 baths with pool and boat dock. It's new this season so I don't have pics yet or I would have posted them. We are sharing the house with my dear friend Joan and here husband, Joan and I have been friends since we were 8 years old. We both invite family and friends to stop by so we make good use of the house.

Thank you so much for stopping by and please come back again.

Blessings, Shirl

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

I wish you and your family a very Happy and Blessed Father's Day! The pic above is a few little pieces of my father's collections. If you look real close you can see a little rabbit in that bunny hutch!

I’m doing this post in memory of my father. The picture above is my parents on the day they were married. He was born in 1921 in Philadelphia, Pa. He and my mother got married in 1941. He was in the Air Force for 20 years, when retired we moved to the state of NJ and there he worked for Ransom Airlines and US Air. He was an instructor and director of aircraft maintenance. He and my mother were married for 43 years when she passed away.

My father was a such a loving, gentle, caring, hard working soul, and oh how he loved my mother. There was never any doubt in our home about their love. I can still here him saying to her, “I Love You Babe” he called her “His Buddy”. On her tombstone, he had engraved “my buddy“. He passed away in 1988 and oh how much I miss him.

I grew up in such a loving home, always felt so secure. It was a comfort to know that you had such a loving place to come home to!

At Christmas my father would not let my sister and I see a bit of Christmas until we woke up on Christmas morning. He and my Mom would stay up all night and decorate the house, put up the tree and he always put up a train platform. Not a little one either, it had mountains, tunnels, bridges, running water, town, city, lakes, ponds and county farm houses. The Christmas tree always had tinsel put on strand by strand and angel hair. My sister and I would wake up to a Christmas wonderland. Those memories I will always treasure. I’d like to share some pics of my father, feel free to click on them to get a close up!

This is a pic of my parents just after WWII ended, he got stationed in Florida, it was a paradise for them.

This pic is when they were dating.

After retiring from the Air Force he worked for Ransome Airlines. This is a pic from one of their meetings. He was doing some teaching for US Air, he was teaching this class in Canada.

This was taken in the 70's at my house, it was their anniversary but I'm not sure which one it was. That was my first attempt at cake decorating, not to good. LOL

This one was take at my wedding in 1971.

Going Home

God saw him getting tired
And a cure was not to be.
So he put his arms around him
And whispered, “come with
me.”
With tearful eyes we watched
him suffer.
and saw him fade away,
Although we loved him dearly
We could not make him stay.
A golden heart stopped beating…
Hard working hands to rest,
God broke our hearts to prove
to us
He only takes the best.

Thank you so much for stopping by. It was so nice to have you visit!

Blessings, Shirl

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

Happy Memorial Day to you! I hope that everyone has a nice day planned! We are just going to take the day to relax on the porch! I love all the holidays that have a patriotic theme to them. I love to decorate with flags and red, white and blue. I have a huge collection of patriotic items that I have either made or collected over the years. Below are some of my favorite vintage post cards. I hope you enjoy looking at them and feel free to click on them to enlarge and get a better look.

Honor The Brave!

Many people in my husbands family and mine served time in the military, in honor of them I am posting some of my favorite pictures of them.

Below is a picture of my husbands Great-Great Grandfather Howard Franklin Adams 1843-1915 He served in the Civil War.
My husbands father Robert Hubbs served in the Army during WWII My father served in the Air Force for 20 years William Thomas Wunschel, WWII
My Uncle William Hart, this was a picture he sent to my mother during WWII. I thought it was such a cute inscription!

My cousin John, was in the Air Force during the Vietnam EraMy cousin Tom, (John's brother) served in the Marines, and sadly did not make it home alive from Vietnam

Here's my sweet Sailor Edward, he served in the Navy during the Vietnam era

Here's my little boy, he wanted to be a sailor like his Daddy so I made this sailor suit for him one Easter in the 70's.

My little boy grew up and here he is today. He's serving in the Army Nat'l Guard.

Below are some pictures of my patriotic needlework that I have done and collected over the years. I have always been intrigued by Betsy Ross, I guess since I love to sew so much. It must have been thrilling to of had George Washington come and ask you to make a flag!

This vintage embroidered Betsy Ross I picked up in an antique store last fall while visiting family in NJ.

Another Betsy Ross doing laundry.

Below is a peek into my newly decorated patriotic bath, which I will show you in a future post.

Well I hope you enjoyed our little trip down memory lane with all my veterans and collectibles! Have a very blessed Memorial Day! Shirl