A visit and a confession...

But not necessarily in that order!

First the confession......

We didn't stay home and give out candy last night for Halloween.  Nope.....I knew if I bought candy, I would be the one eating it, so I suggested we go out to eat and not come home until after trick or treating was all over and done!  

AND.........

since the superhero's sister is here for a little visit, it all worked out beautifully.  We went over to my MIL's house, sat out on her back porch on the bay watching a dolphin roll in the sunset and had a glass of wine.  Once we were all relaxed and the sun was down, we went to eat at Ca*pt. A*nder*on's.....a great place for seafood.  After a really great meal, we headed home and managed to miss all the little trick or treaters, thus saving millions of calories from sliding down my throat and straight to my middle!  Whew, that was close.

Oh, the really good food we ate?  Well,  I'm not counting that, silly.

Backing up to Sunday, we all went to church, then after a bite of lunch, it was off to make a few rounds with sister Sue.

I'd like to tell you a little about Sue......or should I say Dr. Sue.  She's a professor at D*ke Univers*ty where she does research and don't ask me the specifics because I don't know.  She writes papers that we can't read because we can't understand the titles.  She travels all over the world giving talks or some such thing.  She's married to her wonderful husband Johnny who grew up in my part of town and they have three children.  She's a pretty busy lady, so she's taken some time to come down and visit mama and spend a little time with us too.

First we took her to see our youngest son Matt's new house, then it was off to our farm to show it off.   We spotted the Axis deer  and watched him for a while before he bounded off into the rough.

Then we headed over to what was at one time land owned by superhero's grandfather.  Forty Forty thousand absolutely breathtaking acres of forest and lakes and ponds.  The grandparents lived there where they turpentined (don't hold me to any technical terms).  All the grandchildren had a great time there and loved going.  It was a bit sad to see that the house had been torn down where they spent many a happy day.

We drove to some of the lakes and ponds which are very low since we have had practically drought conditions for some time.

They're looking out over the pond and standing next to what used to be an old bridge.

This is one of the smaller ponds

After we had ridden a long, long way, we stopped at everyone's favorite pond, Big Blue Pond.  This big oak tree was what Sue said she remembered from coming up as a child.  The family used to have a shack they would stay in that was one big room and a bathroom.  It was long gone by the time I came into the family, but I've had many good times here.

Sue and Russell

Russell and me

Sue, Russell and their mom

We sat our chairs out by the old oak tree and had wine and snacks.  We usually just bring our wine in water bottles, but since we had company, we brought real wine glasses.  We sat and watched the sky change from one glorious scene to another

The sun going down behind Blue Pond

The sky was lighting up like it was on fire

We stayed until almost dark, then packed it up and headed home.

We had to have one last look

When Russell and his cousins are gone, that will be the end of going there.  Our children won't be able to go.......grandfather retained hunting and fishing rights down through his grandchildren, so this will all end and I hope someone else sits and watches the beauty!  I hope it's never developed but stays in it's natural beauty.

We also saw several deer running across the roads.

The beauty of creation.  The wonder of the Creator!