Wrightsville Beach

I've been so slow getting this post done, mostly because of the bad internet connection, but I think I can finally do this!

The house was quite charming, older, but nicely done and made a very good first impression.

Dad and Matt got in one day of really good wave riding.

They are the two little dots in the water.

We did some reading on the beach which was surprisingly crowded for a cool-ish day in April.  Chris pointed out that UC Wilmington is very close by and that many on the beach were probably students.  As a result, we did have to listen to some bad music from the group behind us. :-)

 

 

 

And we wandered around Wings, the Wrightsville Beach store. 

Sunday Evening

Cindy says, "hello!"

Spring is coming very quickly to Atlanta.  It's hot here now, but on the positive side, thinks are beginning to bloom outside our window.

The tree in the background is just beginning to get some leaves.  On Friday we walked to Jason's deli for dinner and on the way home I took this picure.

Atlanta is pretty in the spring with all the azaleas and dogwoods blooming.

Today I made a recipe that I saw in the WSJ last week, Pasta with cabbage, potatoes and bacon.  It was very good, although a heavier dish, perhaps more suited to winter temps, than 80 degrees.

I didn't have the ricotta salata that was called for, but did have Mexican cotija cheese which I think is pretty close - not as salty, but a firm, crumbly cheese.



Barnsley Ruins

I took a  walk around the grounds here yesterday, checked out the golf course a bit hoping to see the swans in one of the water hazards, but didn't and soon got bored of the scenery.  Like many golf courses around here the grass is a type of bermuda grass which means that in the winter it goes dormant making the golf course a sea of rolling brown hills - not very pretty. 

So I turned around and headed in the direction of the ruins of the Barnsley Estate.  This site was purchased around the 1840's by a shipping magnate to build a home for his  wife and family.  Sometime around the turn of the 20th C a tornado took the roof off and the house was abandoned. 

It looks like the resort uses this area for evening cocktails/dinner? when the weather is warmer.

You can walk around the inside of the ground floor and there are many unobstructed views of the gardens surrounding it!  Also a bit of information on the history of the place.

Weddings are a big part of the business here, I understand and I've seen a few pictures of bridal portraits done in the surrounding gardens, but the whole "ruin" theme seems a little creepy to me.  I don't think I would want this place as a back drop for a wedding!

Barnsley Resort

We arrived here at this resort yesterday afternoon.  It's a bit like a planned unit subdivision with all the little houses in rows on "streets".

I took this picture this morning on our way to breakfast.

This is the building where the restaurant is and also the rooms where the work meetings are happening.  Looking at these two pictures together - looks more gloomy than it is!  It was early this morning but also cloudy.  Later this afternoon I'm going to go for a walk.  I hear there are swans on the little lake by the golf course and a few interesting gardens.

And since it was cloudy and damp this morning I did make a fire when I got back from breakfast.



Winter views

I've kind of let this blogging thing go by the wayside for the past few months.  Things have been busy, but mostly I've just been lazy.  It was just beginning to be winter in Atlanta when I stopped.  Here are some photos of the view outside our windows now.

 

It still really looks like this now even though I took these pictures in November.  However, I have started seeing daffodils blooming here and there, so it won't be long before the leaves start budding.

Here are Smokey and Cindy checking out what's going on on in the street.

I tried the gnocchi recipe last week and was very pleased with how they came out.  The Cook's directions were spot on and I had no trouble working with the dough.  It is not a quick thing to make, but I'm glad I gave it a try.  They came out quite tender and have a sweet flavor that the store-bought ones do not have.  Having said that, I probably won't make again!  Michael liked them, but according to him, gnocchi are like pasta, but not quite as good!  So comparing boiling some pasta vs. making and shaping gnocchi, I'll probably just boil pasta.  Although, maybe this means my next project will be making home-made pasta....

Summer lasts a long time in Atlanta and living on the 3rd and 4th floors of a building seems to extend it even further.  It is November 6th and we  have yet to turn on the heat.  In fact, it's only been about a week since we last turned on the air conditioning!  The combination of a south-facing windows and being on a higher floor equals a very toasty apartment!

But even though it is so warm inside here, the views of the outside are changing.

                                                      and we are getting some rain, too

This kind of weather made me think about baking a new bread so I tried the Beth Hensberger Sweet Pumkin bread with dried cranberries and spices.  It is delicious both plain untoasted and also toasted with butter.  I put chicken salad on it today for lunch.