Gold medal bricklaying

Well first I was a sound widow, then I was a SWAG widow and now I am officially a pizza oven widow! Whilst I have been watching the Olympics (and cross stitching) Andrew has spent 3 consecutive nights working on the pizza oven. Over the weekend we also found time to do some weeding, go to gymnastics and attend church. Andrew is hoping to get the formwork done this week in order to pour the concrete base of the oven next weekend.

The summer is almost over! 'Over' in the sense that in the past week the humidity has dissipated and we are left with lovely 29 degree days with lower humidity. It now feels like a Sydney summer and we are enjoying the outdoors immensely apart from the bugs. It seems ridiculous to say but for some days in July/August it was too hot to go outside! Now that summer is nearly 'over' we are making the most of being outside but missed going to the beach yesterday due to tropical storms.

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring

Hurricane season has started and we are in the midst of Tropical Storm Cristobal which is our first taste of a hurricane since we moved to Wilmington. This means that is has been raining alot during the weekend but with patches of sun and blue skies in between the downpours. The humidity rose to 97% yesterday and our temperature sensor reached 106.5F so although it is raining it is still extremely hot. It is so humid you could cut the air with a knife and we are expecting great swarms of mosquitoes to arise from the waters in the next few days.

"Mummy, raining, pouring, old man snoring!" Lucy has been begging for gumboots for months ever since we got the book 'Ladybug Girl' as a present. I found these awesome ladybug rain accessories last week and knew they were perfect. As soon as Lucy woke up on Saturday and saw the tropical downpour she insisted on getting out there. Here she is exploring one of the huge puddles which become even larger with the 2nd and 3rd downpours and eventually formed into Lake T.

Weekend water fun

To say it is hot is an understatement. Every day over the past week has hit 100F degrees. In fact today it was too hot to go outside and it is only dropping to around 27C degrees over night. The humidity is high. To put this heat in context our grass is scorched from the sun!

With all of this in mind the past few days have seen us doing lots of water related activities. Our neighbours hosted an end of school party which encompassed a very large water slide and a cookout. Lucy went down the slide with Andrew many times and then ate 4 hot dogs. 4 regular sized hot dogs! I was most surprised that she didn't wake up in the middle of the night with a stomach ache! She was very disappointed that the slide had to be returned the next day and has kept asking for 'pool party'. On Saturday we headed over to the beach to enjoy the cool waves and last week we enjoyed a work pool party by the sea (Lucy swam for an hour).

We have a 'frog' pool set up in the yard for Lucy and we are thinking about buying a big blow-up pool for the adults to sit in too. If the heat continues like this (and it only gets worse in July and August) we will definitely be heading in that direction. Or else sitting inside in the air-conditioning!

After 1,114 kilometres...

we're back in Wilmington and have been treated with 99.0F degree heat (37C) and a tremendous thunderstorm. Memorial Day marks the start of summer and we may be in for a hot season ahead. We had a fabulous time away, eating far too many desserts but we're tanned and relaxed. (Well one of us is tanned and two are still white)

After only 2 days of being back we are already very busy with Andrew heading up to Boston for a day and 2 nights. Wednesday is the peak of busyness with: Jenny's birthday [thus a pavlova is required!], Lucy's gymnastics class, Andrew arriving home from Boston, GE function, and a bible study BBQ at our place. Check back later in the week for the full rundown on our week in the Outer Banks.

Happy birthday mothers day

With so many celebrations in such a short time frame Lucy was very confused and kept saying 'happy birthday' to me! After explaining it was Mothers Day she decided that it was appropriate to say 'happy birthday mothers day' to me. She still thinks it is her birthday and often breaks out in song singing happy birthday to herself.

I was given a lovely pancake breakfast in bed! All three of us crawled into bed together for breakfast and whilst there were a few pancake crumbs in the sheets everything worked out surprisingly well and there wasn't maple syrup dripping from the ceiling! We did lots of gardening, mostly weeding and mulching before heading off for dinner at Kornerstone pizza (a wood fired pizza restaurant)

While at Kornerstone there was a tornado warning for our area of New Hanover! The skies were black. I mean really really black. There were loads of lightning strikes and menacing thunder rumbles. Suddenly there was sideways rain. Two minutes later the rain had stopped, the clouds had cleared and there was blue sky and sunshine! It was totally weird but fascinating. Andrew took a photo of the clouds when we got home. Look at the amazing light show we had!

Here comes the sun

One thing you can rely on in good old North Carolina is the sun. Most of the time we live in a world with a brilliant blue sky with a golden orb (it's like a real version of The Truman Show). When it rains it does so with gusto and will last all day. But you can be sure that the next day it will be back to those same old blue skies. You would think this kind of perfection would get boring after a while but it doesn't. So when it's 40 degrees outside you can still take comfort in the sun's rays and thank God that you live in North Carolina.

Spring

Temperature range: 0 - 4 degrees celsius

It was supposed to snow after midnight but we lucked out. It is pretty cold at the moment but we are snuggly warm with the heating on, hot chocolates in hand (Williams Sonoma of course) and hours upon hours of tennis to watch. We get lots of coverage of the Australian Open on ESPN2 so we have seen lots of the five set matches including Federer, Fish, Blake, Hewitt and my favourite match Kohlschreiber vs Roddick. And given some of the crazy scheduling of matches we have been able to watch them live during the day! So its been fairly quiet here apart from some nail biting tennis. We made a 12 egg pav for church luncheon today, followed up by some fresh custard that Lucy and Andrew made together. We also braved the rain and cold yesterday for an Indochine feast with an excellently behaved toddler. But apart from those adventures we've been camped upstairs in the TV room cheering. Amazing Race finale in 1 hour!!

wet wet wet

We are in the middle of a tropical downpour which is unusual given the time of year (but it's a good thing because we are in a drought) It has been raining for about 5 hours straight now which makes driving difficult. I still have to consciously think that the windscreen wiper controls are on the right. However the really scary part about driving in the rain around here is the flooding. Wilmington is dead flat (apart from one small 'hill' downtown) and there are no gutters on the roads which means that water just pools where ever it can find a place to do so. And often this occurs on the road which makes it tricky to drive without aquaplaning across the lane. I try to drive in the left hand lane where possible to avoid puddles but unfortunately on the smaller roads there is no choice. Even Lucy said 'wow' when we hit a particularly big puddle on her side of the car this morning.

New Year roundup

We've all had the flu here and given the weather it is no surprise. The last Saturday of 2007 saw us at the beach in 25 degree weather. The water was freezing but that didn't stop Lucy running in and out of it whilst begging Andrew to take her in further. Following that mild weather we plunged into the cold with daily temperatures between -5 and +4 degrees. But then to finish off the week we've had weather of 22 degrees today. Yesterday we all lay out in the hammock in the sun and then rushed to the front garden when we heard the ice cream van drive around. It is truly crazy! Especially when we were buying dry ice from the supermarket to keep our milk cold in the esky while the fridge was being fixed. It would have been colder to leave it outside on the deck! The good news is that the fridge/freezer is now fixed so we are back to normal again. And we are all feeling a lot better.

Autumn leaves

Everyone around has been telling us that we won't experience fall here in Wilmington. Summer bumps along nicely and then suddenly its winter. But I beg to differ as we've noticed many trees that have turned yellow and red before they start to lose their leaves. We have three trees in our yard turning red (the other 35 pine trees remain their usual green selves) and they look spectacular. Lucy is a little disappointed that there are not many leaves to crunch but she is making do with the available supply.

The other exciting part of the photo is that you can see part of our new fence. On this right side of the house there is a walk gate and a car gate. I can't express in words how good it feels to have this finished so that Lucy is now safe!

Columbus Day Weekend

We had a fairly social weekend catching up with friends.


Saturday morning saw us out and about shopping primarily for new pillows at Bed Bath and Byond. But we also stopped in for a browse at Radio Shack and Jo-Ann's (craft store). Late afternoon we headed out to Pastor Gary's for cheeseburgers and a game of bocce on the golf course. We caught up with lots of people from church whilst the kids, including Lucy, ran around. Side note - it is really strange to hear little kids speaking with a southern drawl!


Sunday morning saw us a church followed by lunch at Bill and Mary-Lou's house. They loved playing with their substitute grand daughter and Lucy even obliged with lots of cuddles. We headed over to their pool (complete with fountains and wading section) so that Lucy and Andrew could have a swim. The water was fairly cool and dare I say it but this could have been the last swim for the season! After a year of summer,and I never thought I would say this, I am actually looking forward to a break in the weather.

But after cooler weather over the last week Monday morning sees us at 32 degrees again!

Touchdown!

Katrina is in Wilmington safe and well. When she arrived in Boston she texted us saying that it was hot. She hadn't made it to the south yet to feel real heat! We have had a quiet weekend shopping and getting everything ready. Things needed to slow down a little as I am still coughing violently and Lucy is teething. FYI Today is the first day of the school year. This means that lots of programs are starting up in the next few weeks including Lucy's music classes. All the vacationers have packed up and gone home which will hopefully mean less traffic. Things that have been in limbo will be sorted out and life will get full and busy (and hopefully more routine).

Working weekend + eggs + heat

Saturday morning we ventured off for breakfast at the Goody Goody Omlet House. I say ventured as we were a little worried about what we might find when we got there and I hadn't heard the word 'goody' since reading The Crucible in high school. The first thing we noticed was that they had a sign on the door stating that they don't take debit or credit cards (not a good thing for us as we never have greenbacks so this led to a quick detour to a nearby drive-through ATM) GGOH is a small orange roofed building with 5 booths and 10 bar seats and for takeout orders they even had an old fashioned telephone with a genuine ring. We got a booth (and high chair) and whilst the menu had lots of choices we decided that because it was an omlet house we better order omlets (or at least have eggs and not pancakes). Lucy, being a true Shire hobbit, settled in for second breakfast quickly eating her toast and grits and asking for more in a loud grunting way. She looked very cute so the waitress forgave her throwing things on the floor and even lent her a book to read. The omlets/scrambled eggs/bacon/grits/biscuits were excellent and the service fast. Note that when the menu says 'sausages' they mean little round patties of sausage meat not the long 'hotdog' shaped version we are used to. We had a great meal here and we are likely to return. Interestingly it is the first place where there have been both black and white people. Usually it is just one or the other but it was great to find a true mingling of people here.

Apart from church and our monthly church luncheon (lots of fried chicken and hush puppies) the rest of the weekend was spent working in the garage. Andrew built a workbench and put up lots of shelves. Then we moved all the stuff out of the guest room into the garage. So the guest room is almost empty! Which is a good thing... now we can get it ready for our first guest.

Just for the record, it is SOOOOO HOT. It is so hot that it is unpleasant to go outside as it is regularly getting to 35 degrees+. The grass needs mowing every week and the plants are growing like crazy. Its the combination of thunderstorms providing lots of water and the heat. Even Andrew's fingernails are growing faster than ever. We are living in a greenhouse!

Weekend roundup

Friday night saw us stay at home due to a 5 hour thunderstorm. It was so loud that at 2am Andrew and I were both woken up at the same time by a 5 second rumble of thunder that sounded like the house was being bombed. We are getting together hurricane supplies just in case.

On Saturday morning we headed off to the Wilmington Children's Museum for Mud Day. It is a fantastic place that is not museum-like at all. It is more of a play centre with differently themed rooms like science, grocery store, circus etc. Outside there were pools of mud, slime and a muddy slip and slide. Lucy was plonked in the mud but did not like it! She preferred the clean water pools. We then had a Southern buffet lunch at the Roudabout Cafe nearby.

In the afternoon we headed over to Topsail beach but when we got there it was raining! Lucy still got some bodysurfing in as the water was warm! It was literally like bath water because it had been so hot and sunny during the week. I know I am prone to exaggerating but when I say that it was 100 degrees last week it truly did reach those heights on the farenheit scale. After drying off at the beach we headed over to Rick & Erica's for dinner.

After church on Sunday Nicky & Susan (with Caleb and Rachel) came over for a lamb roast and pavlova. We are doing 'cultural exchange' with these native North Carolinians who are teaching us all things Southern so in return we are teaching them about Australia. Caleb was very excited last week as he thought he was going to Australia for lunch. Unfortunately for him patting some stuffed kangaroos and koalas was the closest he got. Vegemite still not a winner.

Wild weekend weather

We were planning to go to the beach on Saturday but due to a tropical thunderstorm we stayed indoors. The thunderstorm was MASSIVE and lasted for around 4 hours. There was heaps of lightning and thunder and our backyard was flooded by the torrential rain. The power even cut out a few times but came back on. After the storm we went outside thinking it might have cooled down but no it was still 30 degrees and humid! We are in the middle of hurricane season so these storms are normal for this time of year.

On a social front Andrew went to Laurie's birthday bbq on Saturday night and on Sunday night we had dinner with Darryl and Margaret while Lucy and Ava played with the water table and new roller coaster. We talked about lots of product of the week items and discovered that flutternutter sandwiches consist of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff on bread. Andrew will have to try this sometime!

Foggy but humid

Around 7am we looked through the windows and saw fog! The birds were chirping, the fog was mild and it kind of looked like autumn in Katoomba. We were under an illusion that it was cool outside until we opened the door and walked into 31 degree heat. The humidity is fairly high (71%) so it makes it feel hotter than the recorded temperature. There are thunderstorms predicted for the next 10 days with temperatures ranging from a minimum of 21 to a maximum of 33. It is only going to get hotter as August is supposed to be the worst month of the year.

Walkin' the neighbourhood

Lucy and I went out for a walk early this morning before it got too hot and humid. It has been hovering between 25-35 degrees for the past week and it has been very humid (sometimes it gets to 103% humidity here - how does that work if it isn't raining?) We took a loop around the suburb walking into a neigbouring subdivision. We had a huge thunderstorm last night which meant everything was wet and there was even water hanging in the air (if that makes sense). The sun was streaming through the pine trees and what with the heavy air the sun beams looked awesome. I wished I had my camera and then quickly realised it would be too difficult for me to photograph to show you. Along the way we picked up a stray dog, a chocolate lab. I was a bit worried what we were going to do when we get home as we have no fences and I think he would have just made himself at home in the backyard but fortunately a rabbit popped up and the dog was off. I think the poor thing was hungry (the dog not the rabbit). Also during our walk we said hello to a couple going in the opposite direction. As it turns out they are our neighbours two doors away and we met up back at the house.

Speaking of rain, the tradesman who was here yesterday (Chip) asked me if I knew that Wilmington was in a drought because it hasn't rained for two weeks! I told him that Sydney was in drought because it hadn't rained for two years! Anyway I heard that it is raining down under and I even saw some amazing photos of Newcastle. Hopefully the drought will clear over the next two years so that when we get back we can have a sprinkler for Lu. There are water restrictions in some parts of Wilmington but thankfully we are not part of that system yet!

Summer begins

We're back from our long weekend and summer has officially started! (32 degrees celsius today) Even though Lucy and I are still getting over our colds we had a great time away and even learnt a little about US Civil war history. Look out for a Charleston blog in the next few days. So much to tell you about so please be patient as I take a few days to get my thoughts and photos together.

In fact I have soooo many ideas and blogs to post about life over here but no time to type them! We are hopefully moving into our new house next week so will be busy moving boxes and unpacking. Hopefully then we will have some time to get 'back to normal' whatever that may be. I am starting to think that 'normal' for us is that every day is a new day full of adventures that we did not expect. Which doesn't leave much time for blogging. So please be kind about any interruption to the american correspondence and use this time wisely to write your own blogs!

A big thanks to everyone who has emailed me over the past week. I am slowly going through each email and personally replying!

Clear skies

Spring is finally here! After a horrible cold spell over the past few weeks, we had a 27 degree day yesterday. The nights are still cool around 7 degrees but the days are definitely warming up. The next 5 days should reach highs of 27-29 degrees (81-84 in farenheit) Bring on summer!