My New Beachwear

On the left is mainland North Carolina and the small red marker is our campground. Thank you God for such a gift.

Well, it's not new, but I have not worn this many layers in awhile - mittens, ugh. 

When I called saying we would like to check in early - the attendant laughed and said there would be plenty of room.  Now I get it, there are about 10 campers in a campground set up for 400.  Summertime must be something.

Sunrise on the shores of the Outer Banks

OBX?

Outer Banks There is so much I do not know, including what OBX means. We have seen many bumper stickers, billboards, and stores boasting OBX best...
Everyone who lives anywhere along the eastern seaboard knows this acronym means Outer Banks. Mystery solved.

Spring!

I have no idea who lives here, but they have nice trees.

I know that some of my friends in Wisconsin and Minnesota are wondering if Spring will ever spring -  it's coming, it's coming.

The GREEN is coming!

Pine Needles

 This past week we camped at Fountain of Life Lutheran in Kernersville, North Carolina. Thank you FOL family for a great stay.
 
The youth have a fund raiser throughout the early spring - selling Pine Needle Bales! At $4.50 per bale this has proved to be a good way for the youth to earn money for their annual mission trip. There was a steady stream of customers all afternoon.

I have not been traveling so long that I do not recall raking pine needles - they lodge themselves in the rake tines, and in the end I always decided that the trees were fine with dead needles scattered around and the grass would probably grow in spite of the needles. If only I had thought to make pine bales. Not likely.

The Sponge

These sponges range in price according to size and quality.

These Loofah sponges looked interesting, but alas - I live in an RV!

The cool dude with the backpack is Dave. We had a Gyro at the Parthenon.

 Tarpon Springs is a very interesting Greek town. Why a Greek town? - because experienced Greek divers were brought over to harvest increase the sponge industry.

We rode our bikes the eleven miles from Dunedin, Florida, on a great trail to Tarpon Springs and enjoyed the late afternoon and our Gyro prize.  If you find yourself on the Gulf near Dunedin, Florida visit Faith Lutheran; head up the road to Honeymoon Island, then Tarpon Springs.

Flat Mary Visits Florida

We did not see any snakes.

Flat Mary taking time to tan.

Flat Mary liked to be near the water, but not in the water.

 I was honored to be the recipient of Flat Mary, a second grade project about the popular book Flat Stanley.   Flat Mary was sent to me from Minnesota and she was happy to be in Florida. 


We took Flat Mary to a school concert, she helped Dave play guitar and sing.  Our big outing was a bike ride to  Honeymoon Island near Dunedin, Florida.

As any kid she seems happy about the prospect of seeing poisonous snakes.

I have to include this last photo of the Osprey having lunch - he skinned, filleted and ate the fish, without a knife or even a decent cutting board.

Flashback!

 We arrived in Clearwater, Florida on a Saturday afternoon not expecting to meet anyone from the church, but I was wildly surprised to meet ...  Ann Boettcher Hinz.  You may not know Ann, but I do - we attended grade school together at St. John's in West Bend, Wisconsin. 

We went out for lunch to catch up and most of our sentences began, "Do you remember..."  It was a taste of home and very sweet. 





I sure do wish we could use Ann's convertible to tow our house instead of our quad cab long bed diesel 3/4 ton truck.

One Dollar

Adding my dollar to the wall

On September 22, 2001 firefighters from seven area departments removed each dollar bill to be used by families in need following 9/11 - the total removed was $9,795.00. 

A few dollars here and

more here. The walls are full of staples and brightly decorated dollar bills.

Sunset at the beach.  God cares for us all in every way - giving us beauty and a dollar extra here and there.