Memorial Bench at Brookgreen Gardens

We purchased a memorial bench for Lisa's mother and Joy Bisby, their good friend. It is at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. Photos.

Florida Vacation

On Tuesday, April 4th., we drove to Daytona Beach on the first leg of our Florida vacation. Whilst there we visited the Sugar Mill Botanical Gardens and decided that we have to build our own human sundial. We then drove on to Palm Beach which was our final destination. The weather was pretty good so we did some sunbathing and swimming every afternoon. Steve swam in the ocean but at 78 degrees F it was a little too cool for Lisa. We enjoyed a visit to the Lion Country Safari and also went for a cruise down the intracoastal on the Palm Beach water taxi.



At ER Bradley's Saloon we thought we had found a really good Happy Hour - with the purchase of two drinks you got a free buffet. Great until we got the bill for the most expensive beers we have ever had. Still, it was a great place to sit and watch the world go by and they did have a pretty garden too. For dessert we had really, really, good ice cream at Sloan's on Clematis Street. We also tried out the Trolley bus service.



We enjoyed a morning exploring Worth Avenue with all its interesting shops, alleys and courtyards. Lisa found some Sheffield Silver and got some good ideas for landscaping containers. Lunch was a complete change of pace - a brew pub aptly named "Brewzzi".



Of course no trip would be complete without Chinese food and this time we found a nice place called Singing Bamboo - a bit of a drive but well worth it. Our favorite part of West Palm Beach was City Place however. We had a great dinner at Il Bellagio and did a little shopping. We found another fantastic ice cream place at City Place - kind of a whipped up foamy gelato with really intense flavours.



On our last day, we went to the West Palm Beach Green Market (farmer's market) which was a big affair. In addition to the usual stuff, there were a lot of plants and flowers. Lisa bought a Staghorn Fern (Platycerium bifurcatum) which we then had to nurse all the way home in our cooler. It is now happily transplanted and lives in our screen porch. We are not quite sure where it will go for the winter!



Pictures

Mount Vintage Lot

We have purchased a lot at Mount Vintage, near Augusta but on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River. The lot is on the 19th green of the new nine holes that are proposed - not much to see right now but it should be beautiful. Photos.

Flying to Gatwick

US Airways took us to London's Gatwick airport, leaving Charlotte at 7:30pm and arriving in London the next morning. Fortunately, we had a couple of empty seats next to us, and we were able to stretch out a bit and get some sleep. We arrived tired but functional, and made our way to rental car area. As we drove off, it started to snow. Lisa did the driving since she has the most experience on the wrong side of the road, and she doesn't think I can handle a roundabout. (In parts of America, they're known as traffic circles or rotaries, but I'll confess that I had never seen one in California. Also, check out the Swindon "Magic Roundabout".)

Charlotte

We've been living in North Carolina for nearly five years, but we've never been to Charlotte except to change airplanes. We got a good deal on a direct flight to London from Charlotte so we decided to drive 250 miles to get to the airport. The trip actually went pretty smoothly with no traffic problems and minimal navigation issues. We didn't have much time to explore but it seems like a nice place if you like big cities. It's funny how you miss some aspects of a real city when you live in the boonies, which we, of course, chose in order to escape from the urban jungle. The center of the Charlotte is the intersection of Trade and Tryon, in what's known as Uptown. I'd probably call it downtown since that's where all the skyscrapers are, but what do I know? So we walked around for a while, and admired the large buildings and all the shops and restaurants. We agreed that it would be interesting to spend more time in Charlotte so we'll definitely come back to visit.

No Jacket Required

We had our bags packed for the trip to England and were loading up the car. I put the suitcases in the back of SUV. Just before departing, it seems that Lisa and I had a slight communication problem. I thought she said she had put the jackets in the car, but she meant only that she had brought light jackets that we might use while wandering around Charlotte, not the heavy jackets that would protect us from the near-freezing temperatures that were forcast for London during our trip. So off we drove to Charlotte, blissfully unaware that our "real" jackets were hanging on the hand-rail of the staircase, four feet from the door to the garage. It took nearly four hours to drive to the Charlotte airport where we discovered our mistake. I thought about buying a new jacket for Lisa, but as it worked out we managed to add a few layers and survive the British winter. Now, we can laugh about it, but at the time I was worried that one of us might not make it home alive.

Mickey

Lisa's father's dog is named Mickey. He's a "Heinz 57" as they say (probably a mix of Jack Russell and Corgi). Mickey accompanied us to Stratford-upon-Avon, and is seen here playing with his ball outside our hotel. Photos hosted by Bubble Share.

Bertie is 12

Today is Bertie's twelfth birthday. He's doing great. Happy Birthday, old boy!

Bertie after surgery

Bertie after surgery
Originally uploaded by miner.

A while ago, we noticed a lump in the loose skin under Bertie's chest. The vet diagnosed it as mast cell tumor, a form of cancer that's common in dogs but rare in humans. On Wednesday, he had surgery to have the mass removed. He had a tough first night home, but he's doing much better now. If you want to see a close up of the staples holding the incision together, click here. The staples are scheduled to come out in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, he's taking a truck load of pills. We're optimistic that he'll make a full recovery.

Sparky

Sparky
Originally uploaded by miner.

Our neighbors got a Jack Russell Terrier puppy for Christmas. His name is Sparky. He's a quick little guy, who enjoys "turbo-ing" around the yard while playing with our big dogs.

Another 92

Under chilly conditions, I shot a 92 today to tie my personal best. I had one birdie, a couple of pars and a bunch of bogeys. As usual, I had a couple of bad holes that really hurt my score. I dropped two balls in the water, but mostly played pretty well. I'm generally happy with a bogey. Gettting a birdie pretty much qualifies as a good round all by itself.

Coase family

Coase family
Originally uploaded by miner.

We were happy to hear from Charles and Eimer. They sent us this nice family picture with their children, Aisling (age 6), Sarah (almost 4) and Thomas (born in April). Lisa worked with Charles at Price Waterhouse in London many years ago.

Cold day on the course

It was just above freezing when we teed off this morning. Strangely, there was no frost -- I suppose the humidity was too low. I'm sure Amnesty International would consider it cruel and inhumane treatment if the US government forced Guantanamo detainees to play golf with temperatures in the low 30s, but this patriotic American actually pays money to play under these conditions. Several players in our group decided not to play at all, and a few quit after nine holes. Honestly, I considered giving up at the turn, but incredibly I managed to get a birdie on Azalea 9 so I had to press on. It was a tough day, but I'm very proud of finishing with a final score of 98 with no penalty strokes.

Ashley, Max and Michael

Ashley, Max and Michael
Originally uploaded by miner.

My niece and nephew, Ashley and Michael, with their new puppy, Max.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all! This is a summary of our year. For more details you can read our earlier blog entries.



2005 has been an interesting year of change for us. At the end of
January, Steve quit his job at Apple. The long hours and monthly
travel back to California had worn him out so he decided to take a
sabbatical. He's been keeping busy learning how to play golf. Our
retired neighbors have been very supportive, inviting him to play with
them for a nominal wager, just to keep it interesting. Steve's best round so far is a 92. Not
great, but not bad for his first year of playing. He
continues to volunteer at the Calabash Fire Department. He has driven the tanker truck to a
couple of structure fires and got to man the
hose on a few brush fires.



Lisa has also been active with the fire department. She's
the project coordinator for a federal grant that provided a fire
safety house to use for public instruction. The
safety house should be delivered sometime next spring. Lisa's main
interest is landscape design. She has created some designs for local customers and
teaches a degree course in computerized landscape design at Brunswick Community College.



We've done a fair bit of traveling this year. First, we went to Turks
and Caicos for a volleyball vacation. Unfortunately, we were caught in
an ice storm in Atlanta and then our luggage was misplaced for
a few days, but Steve did manage to play a lot of volleyball once we
got there. In March, we did a driving tour in Florida with
stops in Orlando, Sarasota, Naples, Ft. Myers and St. Augustine.
We had a great time in Washington, DC, where we were fortunate to
go on a private guided tour of the Capitol with an aide to Senator
Elizabeth Dole. Perhaps our favorite trip was when we celebrated our wedding
anniversary in Niagara Falls and then spent a few days with our friend
Maureeen, in Toronto. For short get-aways, we've been to Aiken, Augusta,
Hilton Head, Charleston and Savannah.



We were pleased to have some visitors come to stay with us. Steve's parents were here for a week in May. Neill played golf with Steve for
the first time and we all had a great time exploring the area. Then in
August, Lisa's friends Richard and Lorraine, and their
children, Rebekah and Mathew, visited from England for a few days during
their US holiday (that's "vacation" for you Yanks). This is a great
place for tourists, so let us know if you'd like to visit some time. The beach is wonderful, the ocean is warm and we can usually find an alligator to show off.



Bertie, our Basset Hound, is still going strong as he approaches his
twelfth birthday. He won the Longest Ears contest at our vet's open house. Heidi, our pretty Belgium Malinois, is now seven years
old. (We used to think she was a mutt, but we've since figured
out her breed.) The dogs have some good friends in the neighborhood who always
say hello and even feed them dog biscuits as they take daily walks.
Not a bad life.



Let us close by wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.



Steve and Lisa

and Bertie and Heidi