Thursday, February 05, 2009

My Life In Wilmington

Well, life goes on, here in Wilmington. I’ve been here about one and a half months now, and am starting to slip into a routine. My little cottage once more seems like home. I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to try my hand at a few culinary dishes from the past. I tried out a Texas Chili recipe, and even entered it in a chili cookoff. (Did not place...even though I tried to tone it down, I think the spice may have been a bit much for the local palate.) I cooked up some Trinidad Doubles. They were good enough to at least be reminiscent of the good ol’ 6 years I spent in Trinidad. Same with a batch of chicken curry. Now, I’ve stocked up with the ingredients for my Chinese cabbage soup, so I’m ready for the Singapore repost.

I’ve also had the chance to indulge my project DNA by working in Ryan and Nicole’s attic. We have carved out 400+ sq ft of living space there by rearranging the framing to accommodate a living area, bedroom and bath. Jeremy and Amanda plan to give up their house down the street and move into this space, and Jeremy told me they have now given 2 months notice on their house. Gulp! We better turn up the heat on that project. Here are the latest photos. First, looking from the living area through the bath toward the bedroom.

Then, looking from the bedroom through the bath and down the hall toward the living room.

My old staple of activity, hiking, has been pretty slow, since I’ve hiked most of the nearby trails several times. And the nicer hiking areas in the Smokies are 6 hours drive away. I am planning to attend a presentation of the Mountains to Sea trail, a 900+ mile hike from Clingman's Dome in the Smokies to the Outer Banks. And, I did return to Carolina Beach State Park for a nice Sunday afternoon hike with Gail, a friend from church. Here are a couple of pictures, first of Snow's cut, then of Gail overlooking the Cape Fear river from Sugarloaf.

As usual, Joe and Kathy opened up their home (and big screen plasma TV) for a Superbowl party, as well as a few Aggie basketball games we can’t get. And every now and then, I get to babysit Myles.

It is about time to start thinking about gardening. I bought seeds for a few early vegetables yesterday, so I’ll start getting my hands dirty in the next few days. Ah, yes, life is good.

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