Thanksgiving Pics

 

scene from shopping/dining/business spot

I went to lunch today with a friend I met in an art class probably in 2015 when we were both new in Wilmington. Now we are both settled in, and it was great to get together and catch up. The cute breakfast/lunch place opened only a couple of months ago. In the nine years I have been here, I have seen a lot of cute restaurants come and go. 

Granddog

When Caroline moved in, this doggie came with her. She (dog) terrorized my cats on a few occasions, but we have settled into a survival routine, and we all know the drill now. Otherwise said dog is not a problem, in fact she is helpful by keeping the floors clean. 

Rainy Day Downtown

I had to go to a government building downtown to get my ID badge for guardian ad litem duties, and since I had more time on the parking meter, I dawdled and took pix of where I was. 

The top one is of Thalian Hall/City Hall on Third Street and the courthouse. Cool places.

The second is the intersection that holds the library and the Cape Fear Apartments, once the Cape Fear Hotel. It is where my mother and daddy spent their wedding night in October 1942.The next day, Daddy shipped out for the Army. 

Oh Crap

 How do you like the license plate? So many good ones around town  

At the Fish market

 Really one of my favorite places in town. 

Those strange creatures in the second pic are the heads of Golden tilefish, supposed to be good to eat.

Entertaining Myself

After eight years in art, I am starting to get back into things I used to do. Not complaining or bragging, mind you, but all that art involvement pretty much consumed me. 

I believe in breathing well and moving as two foundational parts of good health, so I went for a little walk in this warm, post rain afternoon, pocket camera in tow. The beach is great, but there is still a lot of beauty and mind clearing ability all around. A word I learned a few years ago is omnificent. We are familiar with God's qualities of omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, but there is a fourth. Omnificent is God's quality of being all creative, of having unlimited creative powers. So I am in awe when I look around, up, and into all the living things. I love to see patterns and shadows, changing skies and reflections in ponds, shapes of branches and colors of leaves. Painters I know want to paint what they see, but for me, just gazing upon it all feeds my soul. 

This is my favorite in my photo lot today. 

Civic Duty

Whether we call it a season or a chapter of life, I have come to the one I am naming Singleness and finding it to be as sweet as any other. I have a freedom that I never before had, and I don't know what to do with it. Should I do this or that or the other. So I am sampling different things that appeal to me. In the medical field we call it ruling out. I will explore and then rule out whatever is boring, unpleasant or uninspiring. 

Yesterday, mid-term election day, I sampled working in a polling place. Prior to that, I had only seen a polling place from the voter's perspective. As horrifying as it is, in Wilm a voter is not expected to show a voter ID - or an ID of any sort! If you state your name and that you live at a real address, you can vote. (That is beyond my control so I won't go on about it.) Overall, the four hours I was observing were interesting. The best part is that I got to go to an election party after the polls closed. I had seen these after election parties on television where candidates, festive patriots and others were lifting their glasses and whooping it up in a bar or party room, and I wished I could be there with them. Last night I was! The anticipation built up as we watched the results on two big screens, one with national results and one with local. The school board races were big in my neck of the woods, and good news, all four of the patriots won! The school board has been a mess lately under the leadership of misguided people who lack a moral compass and have proved to be unable even to run a meeting! It needed new blood from seasoned reasonable educators and intelligent folks who want kids to grow into responsible non-perverted adults. We are so thankful that enough people in the county wanted the same thing. It also looks like we are getting a good new US senator. 

I am not ruling out this govt stuff. 

Special Magnolia

Because it marks the spot where my grandparents are buried, right under the pink flowers to the left. 

Camellia Time!

 

View from the 7th floor

 

Stamps

 I stopped by the post office to get some stamps since I like to get the pretty ones. "How much is a stamp now?" I asked. Sixty cents and going to 0.63 in January. Good grief! I think the word "forever" gave the post office carte blanche to allow the cost continue to rise, unsuspecting to the stamp buying public. 

Pelicans

It has been a long time since I took pictures. There are so many wonderful photographers in Wilmington, people who have very expensive equipment and take risks with every shot. And I felt like I had photographed everything here anyway so why bother. But today I took my little pocket camera down to the beach, and to the water where the pelicans like to hang out. 

I was excited to see two pelicans on the same post, but on closer inspection, it is just one.