Painting the kitchen ceiling

An odious task, but one that needed to be done, due to a bad patch from years ago and no way to match the original paint exactly since we had no more of it.  We used the same cream from the walls and painted the ceiling with it, and it looks very nice (or else the paint fumes have clouded our judgment!)  The price was right, too, as this was leftover paint.  :-)

It's Coooooooold here in NC!

Paisley had to don her Lands End squall jacket for today's walk.  She looked so cute in bright red, running around the woods with Barry, while I worked at the kitchen table (I work from home on Mondays). 

Christmas at the Beach

We just returned home from a few days at Ocean Isle Beach, where we spent Christmas with my mother, step-father, and brother.  Had a great time, though it could have been a tad warmer!  Still, the laughs, food, and gifts flowed, and Barry and I took many fine walks on the beach.  Here are some photos from our trip.

The guilty parties:

Santa Bear and his elf, Emily

Mom and Dal

Adam

View from our units at The Winds

Christmas elf distributing gifts

Bearboat wine for Barry...a perfect gift!  Thanks Adam!

  (Barry really isn't this yellow...this effect came when I lightened up the photo b/c the flash didn't flash...)

Monkey mug...or mugshot?

Great LL Bean Logos bag from Mom...great for hauling gear to and from the boat!

 

Funny slippers for Mom - think her cat will like 'em?

 

Christmas dinner, despite an insanely bad oven, was still a fine meal

And the leftover sandwich the next day wasn't half bad either!

 

Barry enjoying some sunshine

Adam feeding a seagull by hand!  They, and the grackles, were amazingly tame.

 Barry hauled this huge bollard (?), apparently from a shipwreck, up from the surf, and was able to salvage some stainless-steel rod from it.  Cool!

Another view of the bollard

I found these two large conch shells while walking on the beach - wow!

Sunset from the balcony on our last night