Give Thanks - Atlanta here we come

After 2 days at home relaxing from my round the world trip we set off for our 950mile trip to Atlanta. With the dogs in the back we left Monday at about 10.30 and drove across Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and part of the way across Virginia. We spent the night at a hotel in Lexington before and early start the next day. Tuesday we drove the rest of Virginia into North Carolina, South Carolina and finally Georgia. The girls were as good as gold the traffic was fairly light and the scenery was very nice.

Paul, Robyn Allie, Missy Blake, and the dogs Sarah and Parker were all in good spirits and pleased to see us - all of the dogs quickly settled in to their own little group and Cagney and Lacey had a great time tearing around the garden and especially playing in the sand pit. Robyn and I had an early start going to collect the Turkey and then we spent most of Wednesday preparing food for the Thursday. Got to speak to Sarah and Alana by skype it was really great to see them both. Alana was a sweetie of course.Wednesday evening we went out to the local BBQ place that also had live music, it was very down to earth but the food was great and we had a really good time.

An early start on Thursday to get the Turkey in and then a leisurely morning ( thanks to all the prep the day before) Paul and Rob took the 2 smaller turkeys down to the neighbours to be deep fried. 15 for lunch and another 9 for dessert, everything was delicious and the company as always.

Friday the boys went to see the bodies exhibition and us girls went shopping, leisurely stroll around Jo-Anns with plenty of bargains then lunch and off to the mall to Build a Bear and the tea shop. we watched movies Friday night and then started the long trek back to NY on the Saturday. Our third Thanksgiving at the Pinto home and we thoroughly enjoyed it - thanks both !!

New York to New York - The long way !

On Sunday 8th of November the adventure began - NY to LA then LA to Melbourne arriving Tuesday morning...... Who stole my Monday ! Wednesday, Torquay surfers paradise. Thursday, Sydney. Friday, hurray no more work I flew to New Zealand. Arrived in Dunedin at 5 pm and was met by Toni. It was so good to see her again. Friday evening we had a quiet night in with her parents and sat up talking to way past midnight.Waihola ( the small town where they live) is a pretty farming community close to the sea. Toni currently lives in a cottage in the grounds of her parents house but will be starting on the build of her own home very soon.

Saturday, home baked muffins to start the day then off to the beach for a a walk. Late morning we drove into Dunedin for a look around, great curry for lunch and Toni bought me a lovely charm for my Pandora bracelet - Thanks Toni.

We then drove out to the headland - a very long walk down the the beach to see some sea lions sunning themselves followed by a much more strenuous walk back up to the car. Further along the road we came to the Albatross colony, fantastic to see them floating on the wind. On the drive home we stopped to pick up fish and chips for tea, yummy.

Sunday we went for a walk along another part of the coast after stopping off for a local speciality, chocolate dipped ice cream ! Sunday evening we had a great dinner over at her parents followed by a couple of hours playing dominoes - perfect. Left Monday morning with just a few tears.

Flew to Singapore and then back to New York on the Thursday, 27 hours without sleep lovely

2 years living in the USA -- Wow that went quick !

I was just reflecting on my original move over on November 1 2007. Toni was good enough to come over with me and help me settle in. We had so much to do and even the very basic things were a real challenge. Like finding a grocery store..... after much driving around we thought we had cracked it only to find that we were in the Latin American store wall to wall Goya products and Pinyatas!

On the Saturday we were really pleased to find a quilt shop. Quilters Attic based in Pine Bush. We went in and the staff were all so friendly that I decided there and then that I needed to find a home close to Pine Bush. So here we are 2 years forward living in Pine Bush with my second home still the Quilters Attic.










I decided this year that the Girls and Rob should try get into the holiday spirit a bit more and so I bought them all Halloween costumes, Don't they look great and you can see how much they all loved it...........NOT !.
We take things much more seriously at work! The place is decked out and then the staff bring their children in for a "trick or treat" day. A good time is had by all.










Two years on and we are still finding little gems on our door step. This stone built church is tucked away near one of our favourite walking areas on the mountain. Rob discovered it when he flew over it with his hang glider. It's very cute with a great view of the Catskill mountains beyond.

This blog entry "critter of the month" goes to a reptile of some description that scared me half to death as I was trying to do some floor exercises in the basement gym area. I don't know what it is or how it got there. I let Rob deal with it .... in a nice way!
This weekend is the start of a long road trip with work over to Australia and Singapore, the best part of which, will be a stop over in New Zealand to see Toni. I am so looking forward to it