Hello All!!!

     I am sorry that we have not posted in a long time. Our summer has been filled with vacations, Civil War tours, and conferences. We will try to keep you up to date by posting some pictures from some of the vacations, etc. We will keep you posted on the events that have come of late. Thank You!
       Olivia Vestal

Observing

      The art of observing. To some, it is a hobby. To others, it is their job. For me, it is a way to learn about people and how they behave. It cultivates your senses and makes you more aware of details. Ask yourself, what is really going on in this scenario? Is there something deeper that I don’t know about? I have always loved sitting quietly and watching my surroundings, but I don’t do it very often. Yes, I am often quiet so that I can hear, but more often than not I don’t see. I don’t see that look of concern in a woman’s face or the sadness in a teenage boy’s eye.

 I like to write, and as a writer I need inspiration for characters. Many books have phrases such as, “Her eyes were as cold as ice,” or, “A smirk was tugging at his lips.” What do these expressions actually look like? Seriously, have you ever noticed when someone had eyes like ice? I haven’t but I would like to. I am going to make a conscious effort to notice more and speak less.
      Another pro to observing is that you notice the emotions of those around you. You can see when a friend has her feelings hurt and can comfort her. But you will only notice that glimpse of pain on her face if you are paying attention.  So, what about you? Do you like to observe people? I am going to write down in a journal my observations including a made up back ground story for some of the people I observe. Try it, you may be surprised at what you discover. Let me know what you think!

~Lenyer

Our Mountains Trip

Hello everyone! This past weekend we went up to the mountains to visit our grandparents. We had a wonderful time and the weather was perfect. We have pretty much done every hiking trail in the area, but this time we were able to drive to Pond Mountain, owned by the NC Wildlife Resource Commission. It was actually given the name Pond Mountain by Thomas Jeffersons father, Peter Jefferson, while he was surveying what would become the North Caroline/Virginia border. And as you might guess, there are many ponds. Many of them are actually bogs (A natural swamp in the mountains). Bogs are rare and far between these days. This makes Pond Mountain an important part of the ecosystem and is one of the main reasons why the NCWRC wants to protect it. It was so pretty! The views were phenomenal! It is an almost 360 degree view. Enjoy the pictures!

The mountain in the background is White Top.

~Lenyer

Sketches

  Hi Everybody!
I wanted to share a few horrible sketches I drew of Paili and see which one you liked best.
Description of sketch #1: Paili is laying down inside the cage when I drew this. Her feet were underneath her body so that is why you can not see them. I drew this through the wire bars so I had to guess on a couple of things. In the picture, she has a lot more whiskers, but she only has four prominent ones.
Description of Sketch #2: As I was finishing sketch one I look up and Paili has laid her feet on the bottom of her bow door and rested her head on her feet. She was there only a split second before She jumped out of her box so this one looks more like a Guinea pig to me.
Please tell me your thought and how I should improve on my sketching. Thank you!

                                                           I like the first the most.

~Olivia

Paili, My Birthday Present I Forgot to Post About , So You get it Now!!

  Dear Friends,
You may be thinking that this is the weirdest title ever, but it is all true! My biggest birthday gift (which is December 29 for an aside) was a Holland Lop Rabbit. ( The one with floppy ears, sometimes called floppy eared rabbits.) Her ( yes, it is a girl) name is Paili Faith Vestal. (PAY-lee). She is speckled, with Brownish-grayish spots. Here is a picture of her. ( P.S. She lives in our garage.) In these pictures, I am walking her with her Harness and Leash. So there is my birthday gift that TOOK me a LONG time to blog about!!! I hope you are having a great day,
~Olivia


P.S. Just as an extra side note her birthday is December 9, the same day as my Uncle!!

Memorial Day Picnic, 2012

Hello everyone! This past Monday was Memorial Day, meaning that our church hosted it's annual Memorial Day Picnic! We had a blast! This was by far the best year ever, and there were also the most people. Over 2,000 people showed up! The goal for the picnic is, "To bring the community together to honor veterans who have served our country and to give glory to God for His providential acts in our history."Here are some pictures from the event. 

Luke posing for me.

Sam and Pip in "The Deuce" 

The MacIntire Brothers from Soldering Through History

The first ever Children's Parade!

Olivia and Laura in the Children's Parade.

WWII Veteran Bill Brown in the parade. 

Brooke and Brianna watching the Children's Parade

~Lenyer

The Search For the Dead Relatives (And the Supposedly Alive Edna)

 A couple of weeks ago, Mom, Olivia, and I went on a search with our NanNan. We were searching for the graves of some of our deceased relatives and to see some old houses, landmarks, etc. The first place that we went to was Bayboro, NC. We didn't stay there very long, but I was able to get a few pictures!

               

We then attempted to find NanNan's mother's step-sister's house, the search for Edna. It turned out to be quite interesting, we think that we found her house, but she wasn't home. Anyway, after that we got turned around and ended up in the wrong town and had to ask for directions from the postal lady. 

Once we got back in the right direction, we moved on to Oriental, NC where several family members were born and/or lived. NanNan remembered going here as a little girl with her family. While there, we had a delightful lunch at a little café and walked around the town a little. 

This is an old theater that my NanNan remembers walking to when she was little. 

We also visited a cemetery outside of town where we saw my great great grandparents graves. 

We then moved on to the town of Hobucken where there is hardly anything. We visited a cemetery there, and after finding the right graves, we began noticing the amount of mosquitoes. We all ran back to the car so that we could apply the bug spray that we had brought with us. When we pulled the lid off the bug spray, there was no sprayer. Yikes! In the end, we had to rub the actual liquid on us. It was a mess and thankfully we were all wearing jeans (except my mom, oh well). 

From there we move to Lowland. Let me tell you, Lowland is the lowest of the lands. There is NOTHING there, except some houses, most of which are on cinderblock stilts because they were destroyed during hurricane Irene. We looked for a fire station, because that is where we were supposed to find our last cemetery. The fire station turned out to be a warehouse looking building with a path going to the back of it. When we got back there, we waited a second in the car, and then the mosquitoes came! 

I can not begin to describe the number of mosquitoes that swarmed our car. Hundreds of mosquitoes began hitting our windows, it was scary! Mosquitoes love mom and Olivia wasn't wearing long sleeves, so they sent NanNan and I out to find the grave of Henry Homer (my great great great great grandfather) and take a picture. So, dressed in my black hoodie (with the hood up and strings tied) and liquid bug spray, I jumped out of the car with NanNan and began the search. Luckily, it was a small cemetery. In the end, I ran around like a mad person, flaying my arms and never standing still. NanNan acted normal and didn't get one bite! We never found the grave, so when we got back in the car, we took a picture of the cemetery. 

We then moved on to the town of Aurora where we stopped at a fossil museum so that we could use the restroom and find a ferry schedule. We planned to look around but ended up staying about 10 minutes because we had to leave to catch the ferry. I did manage to take a picture of NanNan and mom in the giant shark before we left. 

We had a great time riding the ferry.

We arrived in the town of Bath where we looked around. We visited the oldest church in NC, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, as well as look at all of the historical signs. 

We then left and went back to our grandparents house. We had a great time and really enjoyed being together. 

~Lenyer