family reunion, 2010!

The whole Fleming clan spent a fabulous week together on Lake Norman, NC. 

What a beautiful lake! 

All of us were there: grandparents, aunts & uncles, nieces, nephews, spouses and a little baby "in the oven."  Oh, and BB the human dog.

We all live in different states, so we don't get to spend time together as one big happy family. 

Surprise!  We're no different than any other family on the face of the earth.  And that is reassuring. 

Differences, likenesses...

Habits...

Preferences...

Religions...

But we love each other and that speaks volumes. 

So thank you, family, for gathering and having a great time. 

Here are just a few photos of Lake Norman:

Dad & Tom on the porch of the rented house

Jonathan kayaking & Jason on the dock

Brother Mike in the second kitchen, making his potato salad and goofing for the camera

Lake Norman

That, in a nutshell, is our family vacation.  I'll be posting more photos in the future, but for now, this will do.  

And if you ever decide to go for a visit to this beautiful lake and need lodging, visit here.  We stayed in the house called "Lakeside Living." Photos of the interior are posted on the site. Todd and Becky, the owners of the properties, were absolutely the best people to work with.

It was a great week!

chili in Florida.

This weekend, I'll be attending a church retreat for the ladies, so I thought I had better make my boys something to eat while I'm away. Chili is always a good option, as they can just heat it up and not have to forage in the vast wasteland called my refrigerator. I shudder at what they might find in there and actually eat!

Here's the recipe, from The America's Test Kitchen cookbook:

ALL AMERICAN BEEF CHILI

2 tablespoons veg or extra virgin olive oil (I use the olive oil)
2 onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds lean ground beef
2 (15.5-ounce) cans kidney or chili beans
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (28-ounce) can tomato puree

1. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onions, bell pepper, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook until the vegetables have softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 15 seconds.

2. Add the beef and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook, breaking up the beef with a spoon, until no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Drain the fat. Stir in the beans, diced tomatoes with their juice, tomato puree, and 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 45 minutes.

3. Remove the lid and continue to simmer until the beef is tender, about 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.

We like a little shredded Monterrey/jack or Colby cheese to garnish our bowls of chili, but you could use anything. Maybe sour cream, cilantro, chopped raw onion, Tabasco...definitely Tabasco!

Have a great weekend and I'll see you on the other side of Sunday...known in all parts of the world as Monday.

I like to sound cool...

walk this way!

Kentucky! Home of beautiful horses and rolling hills. I had Jason stop the car in the middle of a little country road, so that I could capture the evening tranquility of this sweet family. The baby lounging in the hay while mother and her friend quietly munch on their dinner.

What's this? It's the sealed entrance to MAMMOTH Cave! Here we are with our new friends, waiting for that door to open. They allow only a certain number of people through that door at a time, to ensure the cave stays at its natural temperature. This particular cave is called "New Entrance." New entrance my hiney, it was opened in the 1920's. That's not so new! What was new, were the 500 stairs we trekked, 3/4 mile hike through the cave, 250-foot descent to the cave's bowels and the 2-hours the tour took. But I wasn't complaining!

Here are my guys, hunching over to fit through the narrow and low-hanging passageways. I could walk upright through many of the passages, but they spent most of their tour in this position. Or lower. There were areas where I had to bend low. These dudes are over 6-foot...MAMMOTH!

This is a rock formation. I believe that it's part of the Frozen Niagara formation...I'm not one to hold up the tour to take a photo. I just point and shoot. I guess you could call me a straight-shooter. Anyhow, this is no Frozen Niagara. I grew up on an island in the middle of the Niagara River (hello, Grand Island readers!), a short distance from Niagara Falls and there is no comparison to the real Niagara Falls in a frozen state. But the rock Falls were pretty, in a cave-pretty way.

Upon completion of the New Entrance Tour, the lovely Ranger suggested we check out the Historic Entrance cave, just up to the gate, as our tickets wouldn't allow us the whole tour of this cave. We were game, this was the cave my parents took us to as children. Nostalgia runs deep in my bones. We met a friendly Ranger who invited us on this tour...I told him that our tickets weren't for that tour, but he was feeling generous and invited us along anyway. Hey, it was free! Jason and I said, "Yes!" So 2-hours, 2-miles, 457 stairs with an elevation of 300' , a hungry teenager LATER, we emerged from the cave and slowly crawled (like the Comcast turtles) back to our car. I slept rather soundly that night and was pretty sore for the next few days. But it was all worth it!

WHAT AN AWESOME DAY!

trek up the mountain.

A porn field. You heard me. It became a family joke..."Oh look, that sweet-looking house produces porn." Or, "Hey, get a look at that porn!" And on and on...but it was funny and in this family, we have a difficult time letting go of funny. It just eventually fizzles out, only to be resurrected the next time the opportunity arises.

Cows on the hill. Can you see them? One is at the top of the photo and there's one hiding behind the tree on the right. Lovely!

Up at the house at the top of the mountain, a view of the ceiling in Granny's kitchen. I find it rather charming, with all the old tea kettles and lantern hanging from the beams. As I've mentioned before, Granny is British and she has oodles of teapots. You can never have too many teapots!

Granny's porch early in the morning. The clouds have enveloped themselves around the house. We're standing at the top of some trees and the view looking down into the valley is spectacular!

*Tomorrow, we'll be hitting the road for the final leg of our vacation.

mammoth vacation.

This is the first stop on our vacation, Jonathan's Creek in North Carolina. It's right next door to Maggie Valley, a popular skiing destination. We're going to head up that mountain, to the very top. Granny's house is the second from the peak and believe-you-me, it's a harrowing drive up there. Especially in the dark.

Jonathan's Creek. It's a sweet creek, a Tom Sawyer kind of creek. It makes you want to take off your shoes and wade through it.

A barn. I love old barns. See the hay stored in it? There are cows in these here hills!

GPS. All the twisty turns. We didn't really need it to get to the top of the mountain, as my hubby can drive it with his eyes closed. Not that I'd advise that or even allow it! I just liked looking at the green line. I'm simple that way.

Heading up the mountain. It's a one-car road. Keep your eyes peeled for any on-coming traffic and for the sharp drop-off to the left. I sure wouldn't want to lose concentration and roll down the hill...that's why I'm not driving!

Tomorrow: up the mountain we go!

house in an orange grove.

The map of my Estate. Read it and weep, people!

After touring the Riverside Avondale homes, I began in earnest to look for affordable housing for myself and my family. And as luck would have it, I probably can't afford this house, either. Because it's the home of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, the critically acclaimed author of numerous novels, two of which are Cross Creek and The Yearling, winning the Pulitzer Prize for the latter . Isn't this house charming? It's a lovely little farm house. Small. Quaint. Breezy. With so much history and literary infusion.

This is the table at which the masterpieces were born, right out there on Marjorie's front porch, for all the world to see. Just look at the lovely grove of trees standing beyond the screen, inspiring her, encouraging her...

This is the garden area, just behind the house. Apparently Marjorie was quite the outdoors woman, spending much of her days hunting and fishing, planting and harvesting. Writing and rewriting. Entertaining interesting and famous people, way down yonder in Cross Creek. People like Spencer Tracy, Ernest Hemingway, Gregory Peck, to name a few.

This is the tenant house, which is probably more in-line with my budget. It comes complete with a clothes dryer. See it, over to the right of the porch? And apparently it comes stocked with a maid and butler. No, wait! Those crackers are my parents! Poor souls, they had to go to work on a farm in order to subsidize their social security. They're OK, they'll get breaks... I'll treat them right, s'long's as they don't take advantage of my generous nature.

OK, break's over, on your feet, get back to work!

peek at my week.

My brother Tom and his wife, Melany, are here on a visit from Rochester, NY. Thankfully, the weather here in Jacksonville is absolutely gorgeous. It hasn't been the hot and humid weather it usually is. Rather, lovely warm breezes and glorious sunshine have graced us thus far. Our professional driver, Dad, took us for a ride through Palm Valley along the intercoastal waterway...
and we stopped for lunch at Barbara Jean's. Mom ran in ahead and secured a patio table for us with a beautiful view.

Looking across the intercoastal at the natural beach and fallen trees. Trees have a tendancy to do that in Florida, just check out my yard.

I like this picture. Their kids are all grown up and it's nice to see the reconnection that they're experiencing and enjoying. I love how they're holding hands...it's such a tender and loving gesture. I cropped Mom and Dad out of the picture, they were taking away from the romance. Sorry M & D!

But I've included them in this photo...we had a lovely lunch, thanks Mom and Dad. Today, Tom and Mel took off for Savannah, Georgia. It's a lovely town. No kids in tow...I'm betting they're holding hands again.

ending to a wonderful vacation.

Whew, we've finally arrived at Granny's house in the great Smoky Mountains of NC. What a ride up that mountain, curvy and twisty and steep!


On the way up, it hit us that we didn't have anything for dinner. So the boys killed this squirrel and I skinned it. Jason and Jonathan started a fire and roasted the little bugar. Being the conscientious environmentalists that we are, we left nothing to waste. So I tanned the hide and am drying it for a gift for Christmas. Let's see, which of my sisters-in-law do I want to give it to? Hmmmm...

We're standing on the porch...what a view! It was overcast, but the view is still breathtaking! Thanks for letting us crash at your retreat, Granny. It was a wonderful vacation.

vacation, part deux.

No, I'm not finished with BB King and his club. This is one of those charming little tables we were sitting at, drinking a nice cold beer and/or Coke. See the salt and pepper shaker on the left side of the table? I either had to climb up on a barstool or find someone tall to take this picture. Hmmm, who do I know that is tall? This is Sun Studio, recording studio where many "greats" made their first recording.
Oh, this little guy? He's not a recording artist, but he is awfully cute! His name is Marvin and I caught hime pointing his very high-tech phone at us, getting ready to take our picture. But I got him first! He really was sweet...look at that smile! But he wouldn't share any ribs with me.

Onward, to the Gibson Guitar Factory. This was the highlight of Memphis, where baby guitars are born and raised into sleek and melodious instruments. That's our tour guide, and she reminded me an awful lot of my girlfriend's daughter, Mackenzie.

Look! Mummified guitars! No, they're just bound, held together...part of the gluing process. Interesting...they used to do the same thing to feet in Japan. Only the feet weren't glued. Back to guitars. This is only the beginning of the tour and so much information. We'll continue our tour tomorrow with more pictures...can't wait!