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Amanda and I enjoyed a very long vacation out of town this summer, but now the high school bell has rung and brought us back to our regularly scheduled, sometimes crazy life on our Missisippi acre!

So now it's time for..."What did you do on your summer vacation??"

Part I.

In June it was a trip to Charleston, West Virginia, to visit my step-sister, Karen, and for Amanda to work as an aide in the elder-care home which Karen runs. Karen and her husband have created a beautiful, peaceful home setting by carefully (and painstakingly!) remodeling and connecting 3 vintage homes. The result is a lovely place for the 12 resident-seniors to live and enjoy fine, home-cooked meals and partake of the clever activities which Karen plans!


We stayed on the second floor suite, with our own bathroom and balcony:


Here is our welcoming sign to guide us to the second floor:


My side of our room, note that cool peak ceiling!:


Amanda's side with skylight! Very neat when a rain is falling:


A lovely room at night (note the air conditioner, boy did we really need that! Thank you Karen and James for letting us borrow it):


The door onto our balcony:


View from the balcony, overlooking the covered entryway (see first photo). The streets are wonderfully narrow and made more for walking than driving:



The lovely town lies along the Kanawha (pronounced Ka-nawww) River:


This is a delicious place to enjoy the quiet view of the river, looking upstream, it's just a short walk from the care home:

Here's some river traffic, barges being pushed upriver to be loaded with coal for the return trip:


The hard working tug pusher, this captain was alert enough to see Amanda and me on the bank, waving madly, jumping up and down, and making that well known sign that road truckers know, of making a fist in the air and pulling down....he waved back and blew the tug whistle! Wheeeee!!!


And another kind of river traffic !!

There will be more....keep watching for Part Ia, from West Virginia.

"Country Roads, take me home
To the place I belong,
West Virginia, mountain mama,
Take me home,
Country Roads."