Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts

A Dicken's Christmas

A Fayetteville Tradition

On the Friday after Thanksgiving Fayetteville puts on it best old time clothes & appearance and turns the Downtown area into a Blast from the Past.

There is the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony & fireworks (we missed those lol)






And booths set up all around the block (this one features CeSea & Lori) - they were selling tatted lace ornaments & hand decorated eggs. There were boths selling hot spiced cider & gingerbread, clothing, hand crafted goodies of all types (lighted bottles, wreaths, stones, necklaces. Bunny bought a couple of stone skulls, a push pin Christmas tree for Little Man and would have bought me a wreath (but I think I can make one myself).





But my favorite part of the night was taking a carriage ride with my Bunny. It was most Magical and I enjoyed every single minute of it.

Clayton Fear Farm



OMG - if you are in NC during the month of October you must must must check out Clayton Fear Farm - it totally rocked. You get 7 attractions for $25 and it is worth it.

This year they had
  1. Fear Farm Academy - Seymour Phear’s plan to home-school his 12 brothers and sisters has gone horribly, horribly wrong. Report to the headmaster’s office at once; your punishment awaits! See the twisted teachings of the anatomy class and, if you have the stomach, sample today’s mystery meat in the cafeteria – Pork? Turkey??? Everyone gets teased a little bit in school, but this has gone way too far
  2. The Black Hole - HOLD ON TIGHT! Experience a dizzifying adventure into the abyss, where no living being has ever been . . . and no one on the other side ever wants to go. Unlike the heavens, those aren't stars spinning around you.
  3. Fear Forest Haunted Hayride - Experience the longest 20 minutes of your life. If generations of the Phear family no longer lie in the cemetery, where are they? Crawl on board a 40-foot hay wagon for an exploration into a part of the farm where few outsiders dare to go . . . and even fewer return. NOTE- the Haunted Hayride starts around 7:30 or dusk.
  4. Slaughterhouse - WARNING: KEEP ALL LIMBS IN CONTACT WITH BODY! See for yourself where the Phear Farm children developed their skills for meat processing at an early age. But beware! ... they also developed a taste for flesh beyond what they grew on the farm.
  5. The Farm House - A room-by-room tour through this not-so-typical farmhouse offers insight into why the family rarely had visitors. Amid the screams and howls, sleep was not an option . . . and an invitation to dinner might get you to the table, but not necessarily in a chair.
  6. A Walk In The Dark! - For years the locals wondered why the family cemetery out past the cornfields never grew any larger. Generations of family members were buried there, but no one realized they were using the same plots. So what happened to the bodies that were there before? Be careful where you step . . . you may find out.



  7. Corn Maze - 5 acres of total cornfusion, bring your own flashlight or we will be selling glow sticks. Give yourself plenty of time to get through one of the largest corn maze in Eastern North Carolina. Yep - that's my Bunny in the middle of the maize maze. LOL.

Pagan Pride Weekend

Yay!! It's Pagan Pride Weekend & I'm so super excited. Bunny & I came up last night. He got us a reservation at the Velvet Cloak Inn a perfectly lovely little boutique Inn and I just loved it (& him for doing this for me).


We got to Raleigh too late to go to the Museum so we went straight to the hotel and got checked in.

Nightshade on the bed & The Hotel Courtyard

(NightShade attended Pagan Pride Day & a Handfasting later that night)

That night we wanted something different and unusual so we looked in the area magazine provided by the hotel & decided on Tir Na Nog which fit the bill entirely. Different & unusual & turned out to be YUMMY!!!!
There was live music Irish style and attentive wait staff. Everything I could have wished for. I'm very glad that Bunny picked it out.

We went to bed kinda early Friday night cause we knew that we wanted an early start for today and boy in how did we get an early start. LOL. Up & out of the hotel by 7, got a recommendation for breakfast from the Front Desk Clerk and headed out into Raleigh. Found the restuarant after passing it 3 times. Then it was how to get back to the fairgrounds from Down Town Raleigh when half of the streets that we needed to travel are blocked off for the Sparks festival, but we did it, even if we did go sight seeing (aka we got lost lol).
And then we located The Central Carolina Pagan Pride at the NC State Fairgrounds. Admission is one item of food per person for the food bank. Bunny & me took a couple bags of food stuff up. It's for a good cause after all.

We got to the park way early so after finding a place to park we headed inside the fence and during the course of wandering around found several people that either I know or that he knows. LOL. It was like a really weird family reunion. Since we were already there we helped set up a couple of the booths. After the gate officially opened we headed back out to grab our food stuff and the girl at the front gate was like hey haven't you two been helping set up so we said yeah and she says well then you get in "free" but I wouldn't accept it, and we dumped our food donations into the box & got our pretty star bracelets then headed on in (again). I had NightShade riding in my Best Witches back pack on my back. I should have gotten a picture *giggle* but I didn't think about it in time.

11am - 11:30am - Opening Ritual - The Fruitcakes
11:45am - 12:30pm - Workshop Group 1
11:45am - 12:45pm - Act 1: Mermaid Morrigan
12:45pm - 1:30pm - Workshop Group 2
12:45pm - 1:45pm - Act 2: The Blibbering Humdingers
1:45pm - 2:45pm - Auction
3pm - 3:45pm - Workshop Group 3
3pm - 5pm - Act 3: Airtite Alibi
4pm - 5:15 pm - Workshop Group 4
5:15pm - 5:30pm - Children's Parade
5:30pm - 6pm - Raffle
6pm - 6:30 - Evening Ceremony - The Temple of the Spiral Path


A bunch of friends showed up just before the opening ritual, we (Bunny, NS, & myself) joined in the opening ritual which was truly amazing. The circle cast was really different & so was the quarter calls. I just adore the Fruicakes, they are so much more fun than most groups. My friends did not participate much to my sorrow, I think going to something like this is made more fun by what you do while you are there. After the ritual we went strolling around the vendors. Several tents were not quiet ready on our first pass and lots of people commented on my ears & of course NightShade. We picked up lots of goodies ranging from the 2012 Witch's Day Book to a drinking horn to a Wicked Witch wine glass and much much more. For lunch we grabbed a burger & fries and afterwards continued on our journey around the fairgrounds. I would have loved to pick up some of the clothes that they had there but they didn't have a size that would fit. I think my favorite was
Once you go Witch you'll never switch
Oh well maybe next year. It is always possible, right?

There were a couple of downers throughout the day
  • It was drizzly rainy all day
  • the ground was almost a quicksand sucky pully version of red clay
  • interpersonal relationship communication &
  • we had to leave early to get to the Handfasting.


All in all it was a wonderful day spent with my Bunny.

Beaufort Beach Trip 8-13 & 8-14


Well Lucas is now in love with all things Fish & Pirate – so when his Mom & Dad (my Darling Sister & her hubby) saw Beaufort’s Pirate Invasion being advertised they decided they had to come and they invited Gee-Gee & Paw & Aunt Wee & James to join in the fun.

Well since my days off were Friday night & Saturday night and Daddy-O convinced one of his siblings to come watch the Granny and Grand Von said she’d keep an eye on Divo Bug – so Bunny & I decided to go.

(SN Bunny said he hasn’t been beach side 10years & he’s up to 3 in 6 months)

So we all got up way too early in the morning and loaded into the van. We were on the road by 6am



And hit Beaufort around 10a - pulled right into the parking spot for John’s Aunt Pat’s place (A very big thank you to her for letting us stay there for the weekend!!) and unloaded every thing. Turned the sweet little Nephew into an arghing pirate for the day and then headed into historic downtown Beaufort for the festival.




First stop of the morning was the Grayden Paul Waterfront Park for swordfighting & laughter courtesy of the Shadow Players interactive performance.

“The Shadow Players Stage Combat Group are trained professionals. Our art is for education and entertainment only. Do not attempt weapons combat at home or without proper instruction. Go to the neighbors” ~ Shadow Players

This show was absolutely hilarious & it is not to be missed if you ever have the chance to see them perform. Just keep in mind there is an underlying adultness to the proceedings. But raunchy or not this skit was well worth sitting on the ground.

Then our party kinda got separated – Bunny wanted to go looking for shells (via store fronts) so we bounced in & out looking for anything that would please him. Turned out we were batting a thousand that morning. Hardly any where that he could get something to eat & no one carries Mountain Dew so he became well a bit bratty. We went to the Front Street Grill for lunch and he showed his ass to the hostess & waitress – he pouted because I didn’t want to sit in the sun light but rather under the tent, then when the waitress asked what he would like to drink he just kept saying Mountain Dew. It got to the point I actually had to tell him to stop or I was walking out because I was getting tired of having my day ruined. Then Theresa called & got pissed cause we were already sitting down. I can’t fucking win. (Damn you Mercury!!!)

So after lunch he finally pulled his head out of his ass and started acting like he was enjoying himself. We walked down towards the invasion ran into everyone at Dock’s, talked a bit with them, then decided to head to the encampment and get a good place to watch the trail & hanging. That was absolutely hilarious. You just don’t even know. One of the pirates on trial when asked why he shouldn’t be hung said because of his resale value. Then the Captain got hung because of his bad navigation (took a wrong turn at Bermuda) – and they showed the kids in the audience how that trick was done.

After a fun pirate filled day – Lucas was beside himself wanting to fish. So we all went back to Aunt Pat’s and gathered up the fishing gear.



Almost everyone came down to the docks for fishing. Theresa & Lucas jumped right in fishing – using both rod & cast net. Pa was setting up the crab trap. I ultimately took turns both cast fishing (got a fish 1st try) & rod fishing (caught a crab). Even James tried cast fishing.

After a little a lot of fishing we went out to eat at a place called Sanitary (what a name) and once again Bunny shows his tail. I might just have to rename him to see if that works. LOL. I’m not sure what all the fuss was about. The food was not that good but oh well, right.

After dinner most of us went back down to the dock for some night fishing. Mostly with the cast net, but some rod action. Lucas was so cute (he doesn’t know a stranger really he doesn’t) he runs up to a guy sitting down there and just starts talking to him about all the fish he’s caught. Tickled that guy silly – so he started showing Lucas a couple of fish and let him hear the noises they make. We hung out around the dock until about 11p and then Daddy-O ran us all back to the house. LOL.

Bunny wanted to go shelling this trip so what we decided to do was try one of the Ferry services. After careful consideration we picked The Outer Banks Ferry Service trip to Shackleford Banks. He woke me up at 6a all excited about the day ahead. So we got dressed & stripped the bed then headed down stairs – made cups of tea & coffee then wandered down to the dock for a morning watching the sunrise. The gnats made that almost impossible but oh well that’s life right. Went back up to Aunt Pat’s place to wait for ride to the ferry point, Daddy-O finally ran us down around 8a, making James happy.

We get there bright & early – book our seats on the 1st ferry out. Bunny ran and grabbed us a couple of cinnamon buns & another beverage round and then the storm came up (you can see the dark smudges in the picture). So after the rain the Captain takes us out. He backs the boat up, turns around and kapow – 2 dolphins swimming right in front of us (didn’t get a picture because I didn’t want to risk loosing the phone overboard during the ferry ride, so I put it up in the bag) – just my luck. So the ride over was wonderful, and you get dropped off on the point of the island & then it is up to you.





I picked wandering around & admiring the sights – Bunny digging in the sand, nature, the island ponies, and the water life. It was a relaxing morning, but I’m paying for it now. I’m burnt on my face, back, legs & arms.







The ride back was really fun because the Captain had that boat flying – jumping over the wakes of other boats. It was truly a freeing experience. Then it was back to the docks for more fishing – until the little fisherman decided he was exhausted and ready to go. He started saying he wanted to go to the aquarium and he managed to convince everyone to go. Little devil. Gotta love him. LOL.

So we all packed up and because he was so hot with all his fishing gear on (vest being the worst of it) we walked to the top of the hill before everyone else & he got out of his vest ASAP and climbed a tree. Said it was cooler up there. Then it was back to Aunt Pat’s one last time to check and make sure everything was cleaned up and neat – vacuum ran & floors mopped & trash out.

House cleaning done – on with the adventure. Lunch was the next stop and then the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll shores. Didn’t get any pictures because my phone died. (I hate the battery in my HTC Inspire, but I love everything else about it.) So we wandered around the aquarium looking at all the fish & the have OTTERS!!!! Three of them. I could literally spend the day right there at the otter tank watching them. Really I could. Those little buggers are fast so I was not able to get ANY pictures. But I had a wonderful time watching them. Then Lucas pulled me away and said I had to go look at the other stuff. LOL. They have a couple of sharks, a white sea turtle (Nimbus), fish, alligators, turtles & birds.

All good things must come to an end & this trip is like any other. We loaded back up and headed back to Fayetteville.

Last thing of this truly madcap weekend is dinner at Cracker Barrel. That was funny – every single one of us thought someone else put our names on the list so were are just wondering around the store looking at all the pretty pretties & then I noticed that every other group is getting called before us. So I check and sure nuff – no request. Well we got our name on the list and then finally sit down. To Theresa’s dismay there’s no Sunday Chicken Dinner to be had, but 2nd choices are just as good. Everyone’s tummies got nice & full then it was a short drive back to the house.

Now it’s time for me to get to work.

Bunny's Birthday Beach Blast


Got off work a little late – So I grabbed NightShade and my other things & bogeyed it on outside to jump in the car with my Bunny so we could head to the beach. On the way down we talked about everything & nothing, just spending the time together. Taking our time we still made it in about 2 hours – not a bad trip all the way around. First stop – Wings for a beach towel he got one that has skulls on it – matching his swim trunks.










Then we found a place to park and took a quick walk on the beach (the sun it just too much for me – I work nights so I am NOT NOT NOT used to it) and that is when my most loving Bunny surprises me. He says stay here (on the beach) and comes back in a few minutes with a bunch of stuff – he brought my lounge chair, a big sun umbrella, and a cooler full of water & ice. So he hauls all this stuff down to the beach & sets it up then he went on his walk about. He walked down to one pier then turned around and walked to the other pier.
















After a long walk he came over and curled up with me so we continued to talk. Felt good to be able to communicate again. So after sitting outside for SEVERAL hours – he decided he had enough, so we packed up and started back to towards the magic lamp.

Unfortunately on the way home we got some bad news – his Mi-Mi (dog) broke out of the kennel she was in and took off. To this date we have not been able to find her.

Pirate Voyage

Lucas was very excited to go - he wanted to dress like a pirate, so Theresa brought along his Jake suit. All the pirates at the show thought he was simply adorable. There was a preshow - not much there just some singing & such but a yummy drink to be had.


Four Course Pirate Feast
Voyager Creamy Vegetable Soup
Buccaneer Bread
Half O’ Roasted Cackler (Chicken)
Captain BBQ Pork
Cob O’ Buttery
Pirate Herb-basted Potato
Apple O’ Me Eye Pie


And let me tell you - what ever the cost of this show it was TOTALLY worth it. I've been to Dixie Stampede & Mediveal Times in the past - but this show is amazingly amazing. If you have the time & are looking for an entertaining night with good food, good fun, and wonderful entertainment.

Ripley's Aquarium





So I've got some family in town this week - one of my cousins & her husband came down to visit with my grandpa (he's getting near the end I hate to say). My mom got upset cause they are taking their only vacation this year to come down and visit GP (which is more than most of his grandchildren have done). So she decided that she was gonna treat them to a short daytime trip for some fun - trip to Myrtle Beach got planned & planned quickly. Mom invited me & BF to tag along so we did. Me with great anticipation!!







So given - we go to Ripley's Aquarium - after all it's Lucas' favoritest place on earth. So this was my first trip to the aquarium I must say that I loved it. There's tubes that you walk in so you are actually walking inside the tank & 481, a hands on area (technically a couple - one for horseshoe crabs 486 & one for skates), learning stations, divers feeding fish, & tons of other fun.













There were some stunning plants outside but I could only get a couple of shots.

Lucas wanted to feed the big fish - so we walked around back & got some fish food out of the machine - tossed it down and WOW the fish were almost walking on each other to get to the food.