OK without further ado, here we are!

Our (Alison’s) interview on the BBC

I suppose its a good thing they do this, I’m sure alcohol causes some stupid decisions/actions when it comes to hurricanes, but I’m sure many already have stocked up as we did!

Will have more pics and things on in a bit as we have a few more preparations to do before the weather gets bad, and Alison once again got an interview with BBC newcastle radio this morning! She’s a star now! They prerecorded an interview which will be braodcast in the morning on BBC  Newcastle radio tomorrow morning about 7:20 am UK time. Heres the link to the program for anyone interested to hear it!

Water storage in preparation

 Seriously though we are getting prepared, beginning to clear the yard and deck, storing water for the inevitable power outage that usually follows these things. I’ve learned from experience that having PLENTY of water on hand is the most important thing, After Isabel we had 8 days with no power, temps in the high 90′s and unberable high humidity. Believe me it was wonderful to be able to even wash up in a basin of water during those days, not to mention having a “flush” supply on hand! That year I did the normal “filling the bathtub” before the storm which I had never done and it was the best decision i made. But we cut it very close as the last day of no power we were down to the bottom of the tub! So this time in addition to the tub we have filled a few plastic totes with water in preparation. We’ve got about 50 gallons on hand so far and will fill some more tomorrow. I expect tomorrow will find evacuation orders issued for all the beach areas and probably Currituck as well, at least the Outer Banks portion of the county. We will monitor the track and strength and decide tomorrow if we are going to stay. As it stands now we will stay and hunker down. As is ususal today was a clear beautiful day, calm and hot. Calm befor the storm… check out our commentary if you’d like :)

Calm before the storm and More Calm before the Storm

The things I scribbled in one of mom's books This is just something I wanted to share with any readers of this site when I was going through some of my mom's things a while back.

I remember as a kid always getting in trouble of sorts for being a bit mischievous in various things, one of which was seemingly a regular occurrence, that of taking a pen or pencil and adding my own content to her books on any blank pages I could find! :-o I did it rather frequently and I guess I never learned my lesson or maybe my mom didn’t want to stifle my creative talents. ;) Anyway even before finding this I had a recollection of writing  some words in some book at some period in time, those words being “cotten candy” As it happens when going through some boxes of books a few months ago I came across it again and for reasons to be explained in a minute I felt to post it here and let readers ponder if it was a sign of things to come. Here’s a scan of the page.  I will have to tkae a guess as to what age I was when doing this, guessing around at least 8 years of age as the writing is in cursive and It wasn’t until the third grade I think that we started using cursive writing. Could be a year or two later as it’s not to bad but still looks like early stages of cursive. Not so important what age really but suffice it to say I was young. Appears I didn’t know the correct spelling of cotton, but its what I was meaning to write as there is a drawing of it below the word.

"a premonition of things to come?"

Here’s a closeup of the page and rotated to see the words.

Ok so what’s so important about a kid writing a drawing about cotton candy in a book at a young age. Well as said earlier it could be coincidence I guess but I do have a remembrance of writing it. maybe at the time I had had some cotton candy somewhere or wanted some! Anyway to get to the point, when I met Alison online her screen name was Candyfloss. I hadn’t a clue what it meant until I asked her and as it turns out candyfloss if the British word for, you guess it, our American cotton candy!!

Now when we found this book when going through the boxes I showed it to Alison and of course we saw it as something more than a coincidence. Destiny and fate was before me from an early age! and though I remembered writing it I was sort of gobsmacked to see the drawing beside the words, scribble is more like it I guess, could be some extra terrestrial or just some random curves and lines. But it struck me instantly that it reminded me of a map of Cyprus! Ok its not quite exactly proportionate, but in a cruse way it resembles the outline  of the country that Candyfloss was living in when I met her!!! I admit it could be anything really, but still to this minute I see it as Cyprus and another sign that this was meant to be. Just for the records, here’s the outline of Cyprus

Map of Cyprus

yes granted it is very disproportionate, but still the basic shape is there to me and it struck me from seeing it that it looked like Cyprus, even a boy’s crude drawing.

Judge how you will whether its coincidence or a signs of my my future, but I always knew there was something out there I was supposed to do or someone to meet, and until I met Alison that feeling was always with me! Now I know why and what it all meant, whether anyone else believes it or not, I do! :)

Love you Mrs G xxx

and that many days to our 1st wedding anniversary! :)

Fun but cold!!

disco style ;)

and just for the record, I had a burning permit  :P

Even though it was very cool and very windy this morning, Alison and I braved the weather and set out for the nearby park this morning to have our first Easter together. The park, Maple Park,  is about a 10 minute drive from home, right next to the Currituck Airport. Maple Park Its built on what used to be the county landfill I think. Well I know its built on the site where the landfill used to be, but I am assuming they did what a lot of similar landfills across the country have done and that is to cover them up and create parks where once was an eyesore. This particular one has a nice size man made water area, supporting fish and several species of wildfowl. There are about a dozen or so geese generally there on the water as well as several varieties of songbirds and usually a pair of wood ducks that we usually see every time we go to the park. We didnt see them today which was rather strange realy. Not sure if they have taken off for the season or they were just in the bushes trying to make a family! ;)
We’ve got some pictures and vidseos of the these two ducks one of us will post sooner or later, either here or Alison will put it on her blog. I cant say the ducks and geese are completely tame although you can get very close to some of them and the ducks have several times come up and taken bread right out of Alison’s hands. This particular park in the county has several areas around the park where you can grill. There is a good size pavillion where large groups can be accommodated and 3 or 4 gazebos

around the park near the water side that each have a grill and table. Being as cold and windy as it was but still very sunny we looked first to see if any of the spots were having even the slightest bit of sun hitting even one seat.  Unfortunately it wasnt to be today and we had to brave the cool breeze and  deal with it. Being familiar with the sort of grilling that goes on around holidays in Cyprus and which Alison has posted about recently on her blog, I thought it would be nice to try and recreate the atmosphere a bit, even if it was on a smaller scale than what they do there by making up a few lamb kebabs. It was also my first time trying lamb actually and I have to admit I liked it! :) Its got a unique taste and I suppose to some its not appealing but I found the taste very nice and flavourful and very tender too.Well maybe that part had somethign to do with the preparation by having a skilled meatcutter remove all the gristle and cutting the lamb leg up into nice lean pieces. ;) I coated the meat with olive oil and a little oregano and salt and pepper and then threaded them on the skewers, alternating with pieces of onion.

It was really just a bit too cool to be out doing this sort of thing but we had our minds made up and plodded on through. In the midst of trying to get the grill going and trying to get things going quick we forgot to put the potatoes and onions on the grill first as we had planned, but only remembered them about the time the kebabs were nearly done. Well we put some more coals on the grill and had a flame going that would fuel a nice nice furnace and a few minutes of having those packets of aluminum foil wrapped potatoes and onions atop that heat had the contents nearly steamed in minutes! ok not as good as they would have been if slow cooked but edible none the less and by this time anything warm was great eating!

this post or any on this blog wouldnt be complete without me mentioning how wonderful and amazing life and love can be. Another in a  long list of signs we have seen over these last few years is this heart shape that formed at the bottom of one of the Easter eggs Alison made yesterdaywhen she set it in the tray to dry. I guess some could say its just coincidence, but irregardless it made me smile and know that everything is meant to be in this world. We may never understand the whys and hows, but love never fails

Happy Easter to all!

From FunPhotoBox, thanks to Mike from  Top of Texas Gazette for the link! Cool site.