Four days left in January. Can you believe it? Where did January go?
There is time for one more gardening class this week – pruning with the resident Brookgreen Gardens’ arborist on Wednesday.
I’ve finished some paper craft projects that I’ll show next week. One is in the mail as a birthday gift so I have to wait until it’s received.
There’s also a need to get back to sewing to make a couple of projects for the February ladies luncheon. I bought a pair of jeans at Goodwill for $5 so I’m anxious to see what I can do with them.
One thing this area has plenty of is good restaurants, and some of the offerings are definitely unique. Last week, I saw fried bologna sandwich on the menu. A friend enjoyed this BLT with fried green tomato and said it was delicious. I must admit to partaking of the french fries with cheese and bacon along with my favorite peach beer. Health food, it’s not, but tasty it was.
The roads have a uniqueness too. In New England, we have roundabouts. There are usually four entry points, you wait your turn like at a four-way stop, you move into the traffic flow, and go around to your exit point. Here there are median crossovers, and in most cases there will be three or four between traffic lights. It is a little challenging with road construction, orange cones, natives, and tourists all trying to utilize these crossovers.
The weather will be in the mid 50’s this week with no snow in the forecast. ๐
Today is a NH friend’s birthday, and he happens to be here as well, so Happy, Happy Birthday. ๐
If that isn’t enough, my Walking Iris is going to bloom again today. Life is good, and I hope it is the same for you.
Are you reading something good or working on anything special as we slide right on into February?
That Walking Iris is amazing. It’s the plant that keeps on giving! Love the shot heading out to the beach/ocean.
I have no doubt some unique pieces will emerge from those jeans!!
What a trooper you are…..giving one for the team, eating all that “healthy” food so you can share the photos with us!! Lol.
๐พGinger ๐พ
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That’s right. I check that menu for something that will work with a post, otherwise I wouldn’t order it. Believe that, and I have a bridge for sale. ๐
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I am always amazed at how busy you stay while on (what I consider) vacation. I guess it’s more like relocation, but looking at palm trees and blooming things makes that fact hard to grasp. I’m sure you know that winter seems to have also gone on vacation up here. I don’t think we’ve ever had less snow in January than this year. Peach beer sounds healthy, and fried bologna sandwiches were quite normal in western Pennsylvania when I was growing up. I would have found that hard to pass up.
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Not a lot of moisture means we’ll have some of that spring damage we saw last year. Rhodies will take a hit, and we’ll lose more evergreens. Short of hauling out a hose and watering them, there’s not much you can do though. I really debated on that fried bologna because my in-laws use to make those when we visited. It would go down pretty well with a beer too. Speaking of beer, my husband has tried and been enjoying a Yuengling beer when they finish a golf game. I thought of you immediately when he told me that. ๐
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Mmmmmm, fried bologna sandwich and a cold Yuengling. That sounds like a good way to end the day.
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As I sit bundled up in front of the heater in my kitchen, I envy your travel this winter. Lovely to see something blooming. At least we have hopes of blue skies today as we go into the last week of January. Sewing beckons, but I must first remove the last of the holiday decorations from the house….blah….
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Getting decorations out is a lot more fun than putting them away. ๐
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I hope you have tried my favorites–Chive Blossom (everything!) and Bistro 217 (especially the crab nachos and homemade ice cream).
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I usually go to Bistro 217 at least once with a couple of the ladies. We haven’t made it there yet, but we still have about eight weeks. ๐
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Bologna was a staple from my childhood and thick slices of fried bologna was a favourite with me and my four siblings. I donโt think Iโve had any since I was around 12โish.
Itโs been a mild January up here too and Iโm not complaining, but mid-50s sounds pretty good to me ๐
Good luck with all your projects and maneuvering the round-abouts. Personally, I really like them because they keep traffic moving in relatively light traffic areas. Itโs the heavy traffic, multi-lane round-abouts that I find rather heart-thumping.
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I grew up on bologna too and haven’t had it in years. Mild is good except when there’s not enough moisture for the trees and shrubs, but we’ll see once spring comes. I can do circles just fine because everyone is moving in the same direction. These crossovers are like a bad game of bumper cars. Glad I still keep seeing you on the blogs. ๐
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Like Joanne, I had fried bologna sandwiches as a child. Fried in butter on Wonder white bread. I’m sure the sandwich in your restaurant was a bit more fancy than this, right? I also had a fried green tomato BLT one year in Nashville and it was delicious!
First official month of winter is almost gone and this is when I start looking ahead to spring. Perhaps a bit too early, but your walking iris and the decent temperatures here remind me that spring is not that far away. Happy crafting and sewing and enjoying your busy leisure time, Judy.
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What’s fried bologna without butter and white bread? ๐ Can you imagine fixing that for a child of today? They’d probably call Child Health Services on the spot. ๐
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Lol, true!
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Ah, beautiful food, beautiful views, beautiful iris! There’s something about the anticipation in that not-yet-open flower and not-yet-bitten-into sandwich which is wonderful, isn’t it? Ditto that $5 pair of jeans — what anticipation there! Good things for a Monday! Thank you!
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Today was cut up and rip the jeans. Now, I have to put them together into something. Wish you lived closer because we could both laugh at tearing a pair of jeans apart with no pattern and just a few ideas. ๐
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Your New Hampshire friend says thanks for the birthday wish!!!
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He’s very welcome, and we’re looking forward to our celebration dinner. ๐
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The food looks scrummy, but I am sure glad we don’t have median crossovers the way South Carolina does. Yikes, that looks confusing, but maybe the actual crossover isn’t as bad. Can’t wait to see what you do with those jeans. Also, looking forward to seeing the paper projects. As for books…Just finished reading “Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts.” It’s a mystery, of sorts, with folderol and a lot of heart. The story revolves around death and loss but is nonetheless buoyant. I really liked it, even though I’m not a mystery fan, and perhaps you might, too. (I know you like mysteries very much.)
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The crossovers are challenging, and I’m never sorry to leave them behind. Ooh, a new mystery and a good review. Thank you! I spent part of my morning with a Mainer from Presque Isle, and there sure is plenty of snow cover up that way. Glad Little Green is not being kept that busy. ๐
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Not much snow at all this winter in central Maine. The weather hasn’t been too cold, either. At least not yet. ๐ But perhaps it’s different in Presque Isle, which is way north of where I live.
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I agree with Dan! – you are such a “busy bee” during what you call a “vacation!” I think I’d be planted on the balcony during my entire stay if I was in that paradise! ๐
My first encounter with a round-about (Saugus, MA enroute to Martha’s Vineyard) scared the heck outta me! Probably because I read comments beforehand from people who claimed to be caught inside them for days! LOL I always gripped the wheel and hoped for the best when I met one when Mary Jo lived briefly in Fort Wayne, IN. No way to avoid it since it accessed the freeway on the way in – or going home. Now we have a few in the space of a mile on a road I can avoid if needed. But very few cars use them, so I feel like a big shot when I conquer them smoothly. But the cross-over maze you illustrated here? I’d be the yellow car head-on with the red one, I’m sure!
So glad you’re enjoying the best of everything you’ve found down there. I personally am grateful for the end of January. February always seems like the first teeny tiny glimpse of spring for me!
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The wall towards the balcony is glass floor to ceiling so you can sit anywhere inside or outside and watch the waves. You’d like it. ๐ Your description made me think of Charlie on the MTA, so I looked up the lyrics, and enjoyed the chuckle. That’s right – spring is on the way!
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Amazing how the month has flown by. You’ll be heading home soon at this rate!
The weather has turned mild again here as well. Most days are in the 30s and 40s, very unusual for this time of year. Might end up being one of the warmest Januarys on record. Seems to be a common theme these days.
Torrential rain on Saturday melted all the river ice and the waterfall, which is back to its noisy self, which is unheard of in Jan., pun intended. ๐
A bonus is that with the few inches of snow we have, walking in the woods has not been interrupted, so we can wander freely without getting bogged down.
Started reading ‘This is Happiness’ by Niall Williams… so far so good. Takes place in Ireland.
Have a great week, Judy.
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Fried green tomato BLT = YUM! One of my favorites! The roundabouts remind me of our trip to Ireland and Scotland. We got pretty good about going around them from the left although we found out if we off at the wrong exit it can be really hard to find a place to turn around and go back ๐ฌ Weโre starting to see the around Georgia, mostly in areas that are newly developed. Enjoy whatโs left of January
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I’m thinking maybe you heard me laugh all the way to your house at maneuvering them from the left. ๐
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๐
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Always wondered what the correct way was for going into the crossovers. Thanks for sharing that.
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We need all the help with driving down here we can get, right? ๐
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I hope you have a view of that lovely blue sky while you are doing your sewing projects. January is a time of de-cluttering for me, and the risk of fires has made me think long and hard about what to keep and what to give away.
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I never thought of the fires impacting ‘stuff,’ but I can see how it could cause you to think de-clutter. My husband always chuckles that I could have had a business doing that for people because it comes easy to me. ๐
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Yes! Like you, I’m always helping friends to de-clutter…something very satisfying about the whole process.
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Iโm looking forward to seeing the results of your creative projects (I assume Iโm not the January baby who is the lucky recipient of your hand-made card ๐). That crossover diagram looks clear, but how many people get confused when actually driving? I think it would feel weird to all of a sudden have the other car on the left. Enjoy the rest of your January!
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You arrive here, see these turnarounds, and don’t have a clue how it works so in the beginning you’re doing it wrong. There are no signs at the turnarounds that show which lane to be in. I’m just glad I’m not here in the height of tourist season because it must be pretty funny and darn dangerous. ๐
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We have those median crossovers on a boulevard in Durango. Fortunately it isnโt too often that two cars do what you picture, or weโd undoubtedly have some problems!
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As challenging as they are normally, right now they are digging up the medians to improve drainage so both sides are covered with long rows of orange barrels. You can barely see the paved portion before you’re on top of it – accident waiting for a place to happen for sure. ๐
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That crossover looks completely wrong to me. But then again, I really hate crossovers AND roundabouts. More accidents happen in this state on roundabouts than anywhere else, too. No one really understands how they are supposed to work.
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So true. They have ads and billboards for everything from A-Z, maybe they should consider a how to for crossovers and roundabouts. ๐
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Those french fries on your friend’s plate look like they’d be my favorite- crispy on the outside tender on the inside and hot! Not spicy hot, but hot just out of the fryer hot.
Yeah, for 2nd blooms!
I’m trying to wrap my around our Littlest turning one tomorrow, and us living here for 9 months already! Time is whizzing by!!
I’m going to continue with the watercolor class in February, and always photography.
I’ve never seen a crossover like that! I be needin those instructions on proper use! We have two roundabouts here. I like them!
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Your grand ‘baby’ is turning one – wow. Times does fly. I’ll be looking for those watercolor photos on Instagram and admiring your skills. ๐
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๐๐ฅฐ
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Fried green tomatoes are made here several times a month in summer, rare to find them in cold months, best when grown at home ๐ Fried bologna is okay, just okay, whereas cold bologna with fake American cheese and mayo on white are the quintessential beach sammiches of my youth and taste better with a bit of sand ๐
I am working at work, reading at home, nothing too profound.
I HATE ROUNDABOUTS. Crossovers are fiiiine.
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OMG…those fries! I could pack on pounds just looking at them! Yum!
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The beach looks beautiful. Your walking iris is a real treasure. NC is adding more and more roundaboutsโsome are more useful than others.
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I think you summed it up – “some are more useful than others.” ๐
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I live in the land of four-way stops and fried bologna sandwiches. The first I can deal with, smoothly without incident, but the latter… *blech* Fortunately there’s always something else on the menu than those sandwiches so I adapt!
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๐
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We have round a bouts but there is one that they are going to change into what you just described!
I love a great Fried Bologna Sandwich… oh now I am hungry for one.
Love the bloom!
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Good luck and stay safe with the crossovers. ๐
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It sounds like you’re filling in your days very nicely. I have a couple of crochet projects half done.
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I admire those who crochet because you can make some lovely items.
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You might want to call child welfare on me…fried bologna sandwiches are one of our granddaughter’s favorite things….mine too, for that matter.
I just finished Prairie Fires about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose…took me forever to finish it yet I liked it, but it sure left me with mixed feelings.
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I’m glad the legacy of fried bologna sandwiches lives on in your family. ๐ I’ve never read one of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books. Maybe it is time I did. Thanks.
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I also remember lots of good food in SC, especially a restaurant in Charleston called Hominy.
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I just looked it up to check out its menu, and noticed it’s closed. Too bad.
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Oh, that is sad!
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Always love seeing blue jeans projects. Look forward to seeing what you do with them.
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Life does sound good indeed and it sounds like you are making the most of it.
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