It's been a whirlwind of a time in the last few weeks. Literally and Figuratively.
Hurricane Irene blew in to North Carolina and, while western NC had no impact, the Eastern part of the state had a different story. The picture on this post of Irene's arrival was emailed to me by Jamey who said it was taken by an Eastern NC TV station.
Our plans had been to go west for a weekend break but we quickly changed plans and drove East, staying for several days to work on property damage issues. It was amazing to watch as many many people from all over swarmed in to work together and get things moving in the right direction as quickly as possible. I noticed how calm everyone remained and how all the conversations were practical and no nonsense. No bickering or finger pointing, but everyone focused on the goal of getting the ship back in order.
And almost everyone at one time or another expressed gratitude that, at least where we were working, there were no injuries to anything but property. With the 9/11 anniversary coming up this weekend, the task of getting through a hurricane with property damage is tough but not unbearable.
Fortunately we have a good place to land in Raleigh, NC and had quick visits with a variety of folks. I didn't get pictures of everyone, but I did take a quick snapshot of Paul, Kai, Melia, Mom and Libby at the Triangle Stone Food Court. After spending the day before in disaster mode, it was relaxing for me to watch 4 generations of sweet people having lunch at the food court. Perspective is a wonderful thing.
Aside from storms, the figurative whirlwind swirled about. We enjoyed a good time with Thomas, Susan, Walter, Lucille and Cindy at the Lake. Never a dull moment with that group and there is always a lot of sports, cooking and laughing going on. Susan brought a lot of healthy food like fresh blueberries and bean dip. I brought alot of recipes that started with cheese and butter.
Susan and I took an interesting side trip to Hendersonville and then an emergency stop for lunch at Hot Dog World. A great hot dog can cure most anything.
We have watched a ton of US Open Tennis and I think this has been one of the best years ever for men's and women's matches. It's good tennis with old and new players and alot of discussion about strategies, personalities, style and the color of their shoes.
I have actually played tennis several times recently since it's not wicked hot anymore. Sometimes it's good to take a break from a sport because I realized how much fun it is to play and to be with others who love the game.
And on the subject of games, I knew it was football season when my phone and facebook started blowing up with requests from boys all over the place asking how to make the sausage dip.
I love that even though the boys and their friends have scattered, they remember sausage dip in a crockpot at our house during football season. So I had several good chuckles when, within a few hours of tailgate time at colleges all over, I was replying via text, email and facebook with this quick and easy recipe.
Let the football whirlwind begin!
Rotel Sausage Dip
1 pound ground sausage, browned (I use Jenkins or Neese's Hot Sausage)
1 8 oz block of cream cheese
1 Can of Original Rotel
Brown and drain sausage in a sauce pan. Add rotel and cream cheese and heat till melted and hot. Transfer to a crock pot and serve with Tostitoes.
No comments:
Post a Comment