March, 2021

March 3. We have a new grocery store in Chapel Hill - Wegmans. It is famous in New York, New Jersey and other northern states, but not in the South. Great excitement for those who knew about the store, to hear one would be coming to Chapel Hill! I waited to the second opening day to check it out, and it is impressive. Dan will love it when he comes down! The sushi bar is also impressive, see the video. 

 

Sushi bar. 

March  4. It's not often on my walks I get so close to birds, but these two Canadian geese were quite comfortable as I took their photograph. 

March 6. Thankful to have a granddaughter to help with girly things. Sadly at my age, skin droops, and my left ear lobe was definitely hanging down. What to do? We went to a store in the Mall where I had my first ear piercing, thanks to my sister-in-law Betsy, who gave moral support when I was very anxious. That must have been at least 10 years ago. Kate felt it would be better to redo both ears a little higher, so that what was done. A bit different nowadays from my first piercing, now nothing gets touched. I had to choose a pair of earrings (small fake diamonds) which went into a box and somehow pierced the ear lobes. With Kate checking to see the ears were level with each one, it was all over in a few minutes. The diamonds are so small, you can barely see them. I bought a nice pair of pearl earrings, but can't put them on until the end of the 3-week of cleaning with special fluids to keep away any infection. So far so good! 

 

March 11.   

                                                   Tiger rolling on the concrete. 

Tree surgeon's work 

I was engrossed looking at him working his way up one of the trees. As you can see, there are very tall trees in our development, and some of the residents are a little nervous when we get strong winds. Recently we have had a few storms, so the HOA decided to have several trees taken down. I have to say, I have quite a number of very tall trees behind my house, but am keeping my fingers crossed!  I took several videos as he was there for a long time, but eventually my neck was getting stiff having to look up for so long.  

March 12. Spring has sprung in the neighborhoods. I am enchanted on my walks with all the blossoms and flowers blooming as I walk through the streets. As an aside, our team (Dan, Jennifer, Maggie and I) are almost at the end of the Camino de Santiago walk. The winter has been very hard on Dan  in NJ and Maggie in Wisconsin, not being able to get out much to walk.  

March 20 - Excitement to have a visit from great-niece Michelle and her husband, BJ. When she and her Mum (Angela, my niece on the Wolfe side) came up after last Thanksgiving, it was only for a quick afternoon tea, so having Michelle and her husband for Saturday was a treat. They had not yet visited the Chapel Hill area, so as it was a gorgeous NC blue sky day, I showed them around. We started by driving along the scenic road from Chapel Hill to Hillsborough. Farms abound with acres of green for cows - Maple View Farm has a shop overlooking the pastures which sells the best milk around (in glass bottles!) as well as ice cream and other dairy products. It's de rigueur any time of the year to take family and friends and sit on the porch with an ice-cream cone of any of the many delicious flavors they make. In the summer, there are ad hoc baseball games, sometimes hayrides with horses, or just lazing on the green lawn next to the porch. 

Arriving in Hillsborough, I took them to Ayr Mount, an historical Federal-era plantation house built in 1815 by William Kirkland who named the house in honor of his birthplace, Ayr in Scotland. He lived there with his wife and 11 children - a wonderful place for bringing them up, with freedom to run around the grounds, and if occasionally enough snow, to roll down the hill, perhaps skating on the pond at the bottom. At this time, there are no tours available due to the pandemic, but the grounds are open most of the day for walkers along the Poet's Walk. 

After all that fresh air, we drove to a nearby outlet store - Vietri - Italian Dinner/glass/flat-ware. One day I walked along the Hillsborough part of the Eno River, and came upon it when the trail stopped at a large building before continuing again across the road. The store is in a part of that building, and I was glad to see it. The original Vietri wares used to be in a Chapel Hill upmarket store, A Southern Season. That's where I bought all my British goodies - Harvey's Bristol Cream, clotted cream, Christmas puddings, mincemeat for mince pies, McVitie's Chocolate Digestives and so on. Somehow, after years of being #1 grocery store, it went bankrupt and life changed. Fortunately, Vietri was able to move up to Hillsborough and seems to be doing well. Elisa enjoyed the red pitcher I bought there for her birthday! PS - They have the most elegant loo ever!

We then drove a short way through Hillsborough's only main street and parked by the river. We wandered through the few streets adjacent to the main street. There are many homes from the 1700 and 1800s, most of them have a sign out front giving the date and the original owners. The most excitement recently in Hillsborough is the renaissance of the Colonial Inn. It was built in 1838 for boarders and travelers conducting business in Hillsborough which is the county seat of Orange County, NC. In the early part of 2000, it had gone to rack and ruin and the owner was getting ready to demolish it. However, the people and the town council eventually were able to buy it from the owner. It is now, after several years of restoration, open to the public. I look forward to going there for a meal, a reminder of the old pubs in the UK, except it looks very Southern!  

Then it was time to get back to show Michelle and JB the university at Chapel Hill. Even I was taken aback by the huge numbers of buildings going up. I go fairly often to the School of Dentistry for my dental work. It's a lot less expensive than private dentists, and all the professors are on hand to follow up. We drove around a good part of the campus, then it was time for them to head back to their home for a family zoom chat.  

                                                             The Old Well at UNC

March 21- With weather getting warmer and spring springing, I gave in to my cats, especially Tiger, who were desperate to go outside. Knowing that cats had to be on a leash, as required in the HOA bylaws, I had been having difficulty in deciding - do I let them roam, which is their natural way of life, or keep them inside? Definitely no leashes or carrying them in my arms around the neighborhood. Believe me, some neighbors do that! So I braved it, hoping that I won't get fined, and let them go out. Immediately they rolled around on the concrete of the patio, loving the sun and feeling safe as long as the living room door is open. They do go down the steps but rush back inside if they are scared of something,  probably leaves! There's lots of woods behind my house.  They come inside for food, stay in all night and are inside when I go out of the house. In the morning after their food, they hang around the door -Tiger yowling. Once out, there's more yowling if I close the door so they can't come back in. The problem is if it's open, it lets heating or air conditioning out the door.  I'm trying to figure out how they can come and go without having me jumping up to open/close the door. 

                                                      Tiger is checking the morning news. 

Ollie is indoors happily watching Tiger's activities, but also loves to sit in the sun on the wall or rolling on the concrete. She doesn't ask to go outside, only rushes through the door when its open. 

March 24 - 

                                       

March 26 - Birthday lunch for Kate at the Chapel Hill Country Club, with me and her school friend, Avery. Her actual birth date is March 25, but she was in school that day. How did the 17 years go by so quickly?

March 28 - Coventry neighbors getting to chat sans masks! The Worm Moon this month was gorgeous with the ring around it. 

March 30. I know this is a little early  for children, but finding an Easter bunny is always fun!

                                                      

March 31. A beautiful surprise this evening when the bell rang. Lynn, the coordinator of the Grandparent Group at the school where Kate and James attend, brought a vase of daffodils to me. It was so thoughtful, as for several years, I and other grandparents have got together to harvest the daffodils that abound the school areas. We then put them in many vases and take them to a local nursing/rehabilitation facility. For two years now, we have not been allowed to access the buildings in the school due to the pandemic, so no harvesting or sending flowers to the facility. 

                             Here we are gathering the daffodils to take to the nursing facility. 2019

Passover is also this Easter week. On Tuesday, family and friends got together on Face Time for a chat, Steve came up with this joke - a reminder of our time in Israel. 

"A British Jew is waiting in line to be knighted by the Queen. He is to kneel in front of her and recite a sentence in Latin when she taps him on the shoulders with her sword. However, when his turn comes, he panics in the excitement of the moment and forgets the Latin. Then, thinking fast, he recites the only other sentence he knows in a foreign language, which he remembers from the Passover Seder: "Ma nishtana ha layla ha zeh mi kol ha laylot." Puzzled, Her Majesty turns to her advisor and whispers, "Why is this knight different from all other knights?"