Wednesday Afternoon

Anniversary flowers

I just made my cranberry relish for tomorrow. It's best if it sits overnight, so it's resting now. Ward is going to bake a ham in the morning before we head off to my brother-in-law's house for Thanksgiving. Most of Ward's family is gathering for a crowd of around 25-30. It's always a lively time. Theo is making a sausage, apple, and sauerkraut dish, and Wally is bringing a pecan pie. They will join us for the ride, which is about 1 1/2 hours away. 

This morning I went to the dentist. They have moved into a newer, bigger office, and everything was shiny and new, including the TV overhead of the chair. My cleaning passed by quickly as I watched an episode of Tiny Houses. Luckily, there were no further actions needed at this time.

Besides the new office, there were new rules for taking X-rays. No lead chest protection needed. Because the X-rays are done digitally now, they are using a much lower dose than before. They said that even in some hospitals, they aren't required to use shields anymore. 

Sunrise yesterday morning

And speaking of new technology, at least new to me, while I was waiting for Ward the other day, I was checking out my blog on my phone. I saw an option for listening to the blog, and I played it expecting a text-to-speech reading of a post. Nope. It was an AI chat about the posts between a "man" and a "woman". It was freaky! AI advancements are amazing and offer many useful possibilities, but, as with any new technology, finding the right balance of when to use it and when not to is difficult. But it's here to stay, and I hope sooner rather than later we figure out how to best utilize it. 

Back to the concrete world, our bow window is still leaking. While Ward's caulking may have helped, it didn't solve the problem. We have contractors who are supposed to call us back next week to set up an appointment to look at it. After the problem is solved, there's going to be a lot of work to repair the damage that has been done. But such are the joys of home ownership. :)

Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary. We're going out to a nice dinner to celebrate this evening. We got married as soon as we finished college, and both of us have changed a lot since then. I feel very blessed that over the years, we have grown closer together. I could easily understand how people could grow differently and no longer be compatible, but we were lucky that it didn't go that way for us. When I came home from the dentist, the flowers you see at the top were waiting for me. Yep. Ward's a keeper. :)

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, whether it is with a large family gathering or a quiet day watching the parades. 

Until next time...

More Sightseeing

Recently, Ward and I took a trip to western WV to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Most of it was spent enjoying the mountain scenery and trails, but we spent a little time also exploring man-made things. 

Here are a few more scenes from our recent trip.

On the way there, we stopped at Lonaconing Park in MD. The park was centered around a coal and iron furnace that was built in 1837. This is one of several furnaces in the area that is rich in iron ore and coal. BTW, this was the first furnace to use coke instead of coal for smelting.

Also, on display was this old coal mine car complete with the track.

And right on cue, a coal train went by. 

After one morning of cold hiking, we had a look around the nearby town of Thomas (population 550). This building greeted us as we entered the town.

Across the street was this carved Pegasus. 

We visited the local library. It was a small, but friendly space that served not only the community but the nearby school.  And yes, we did come home with a couple of books from their book sale. 

The first stop on the way home was a visit to the Fairfax Stone State Park.

There wasn't much to see, but I wanted to visit because I had heard about this surveyor's stone all of my life. The first one was laid in 1736. This replacement was erected here in 1901. The stone marks the boundary between West Virginia and Maryland and had been part of land disputes and court cases for many years.

We followed another road sign to this chapel which claimed to be the smallest chapel in the lower 48 states. The grounds and the inside of the chapel were very pretty.

On our way to our next planned destination, Cathedral State Park, I was intrigued by this old stone tavern. Unfortunately, it was a private residence, so I could only admire it from afar.

This trip proved once again that if you take the time to look around, there are always interesting things to see.  (Of course, "interesting" can have a very broad meaning depending on who defines it.)

Until next time...