Warm Pics for a Cold Day

Sunning off Paradise Island, Nassau
Daylily Seedling Bed, Hallmark Drive
Sandals Beach, Nassau, Bahamas
Victoria, British Columbia

Back to the Bath -- Done!

In all the holiday hub-bub, I forgot to post pictures of the completed bathroom remodel. John did a super job with the dry wall and the tile. Quite professional. And he hung in there till the bitter end helping me maintain my patience with the project!

On Christmas day we tried out the shower just to be sure all was in order. Good thing! One of the shower heads only put out cold water -- no hot! We got the plumber back in pronto, and all was fixed and ready for Mark and Jen's holiday visit.

We are really pleased with the results, especially the stained glass window and the huge shower space. The room feels very roomy and comfortable -- a big change from the old room with the partition wall and the built in vanity. Now the whole house has been updated!

The Before Photos - Oh, that ugly yellow tile!

The During Photos - Remodeling surprises!

The After Photos - Fabulous and New!

Charlotte's Cultural Corridor

John and I took Mark and Jen downtown to check out the new architecture in Charlotte. We went from one end of Tryon to the other, starting with the new dance theatre near the McColl Center for Visual Art and ending with the Harvey Gantt African American Art Center and the Betchler Museum of Modern Art. Charlotte is developing quite a cultural corridor for the city.

The McColl Center for Visual Art anchors the northern end of Tryon Street. The center provides artists in residence gallery space to create and to exhibit in their preferred medium. To the left and beside the large sculpture, a new home for NC Dance Theater is under construction. The facility is expected to open in Spring 2010 and will be a part of the northern cultural campus of the McColl Center, The Light Factory, The Levine Museum of the New South, Discovery Place and Spirit Square.

The Betchler Museum of Modern Art designed by Mario Botta (Swiss) houses the most extensive collection of modern art between New York City and Atlanta. The collection was given by Charlotte businessman and artist Andreas Betchler. Many pieces were collected by his parents, Hans and Bessie, and passed on to Andreas and his sister. Others were added by Andreas through his friendship with the global artistic community.

The Betchler museum opened January 5th to an enthusiastic crowd of over 5000. It is a part of the South Tryon cultural campus that includes the recently opened Knight Theater (1200 seats) and the new Mint Museum, opening in Fall 2010.

Interesting personal note: Tanya Betchler, the daughter of Andreas, is a cellist with the Charlotte Symphony. She and her husband, guitarist Bob Texeira, provided the lovely music at our wedding in September 2007. A small world, indeed!

The Harvey Gantt African American Art Center opened in October 2009. It houses the collection of the John and Vivian Hewitt (NYC), originally purchased by Bank of America in the late 1990's. The collection had been traveling throughout the US until a museum could be built as it home. The building was designed by a Durham, NC architectural firm (Phil Freelon) that is designing the African American Museum for the Smithsonian on the DC Mall.

If you have not taken a walk down Tryon Street in recent months, I urge you to get out and support your city and it's arts community. It's really quite something!

English Crackers & Scrabble Re-Match

Mark & Jen and Steve & Michelle with
John ready for yet another holiday meal
on the annual Christmas tour.


Everybody is ready to pull the crackers.
1...2...3...BANG! And Prince is under the table
looking for the exploding "goodies."


Michelle reads her jokes & trivia,
and everyone dons their paper crowns.


English foolishness between Dad & Daughter!


Mark checking out his "magic cards."
Now what exactly did the instructions say?


And testing Jen's yo-yo with Prince.
It's definitely not a Duncan, so there
is no "walking the dog."


Good fun at the Smethurst dinner table.


After dinner, the Scrabble re-match.
Could Anne & John repeat their awesome
January victory?


Anne & John working hard with a
trayful of vowels. Steve & Michelle
had all the consonants!


The happy winning couple, Mark & Jen.
Maybe, it was the wine?! Couldn't hurt..... :-)

(Thanks, Mom, for the crackers. It was a blast, literally!)

Sisters at Christmas

Adeline and Marion in Davidson at the Pines.

On December 21st I headed to Clinton to pick up Marion and to bring her to North Carolina for the holidays. My cousin, Rachel Katzer, was having the sisters up to Rural Hall for Christmas, and we had agreed to split the driving duty again. By my taking the front leg, that gave Rachel and David time to prepare for the aunts' visit, and then gave me time with Mark and Jen on the back end of the holiday week. Good teamwork and timing!

After getting lost in Chester last trip, I vowed to be on time and to get Marion to Davidson in time for lunch at the Pines. Now keep in mind that getting lost in Chester, South Carolina was not a big time consumer, but I did a complete circle of the city in November and had already seen all the sights -- all 6 stoplights!

The weather was clear and crisp; I was thankful for no rain or sleet. Adeline had snow over the weekend in Davidson, and the forecasts was for possible snow or sleet for Christmas north of I-40. I was lucky to hit a mild patch mid-week.

The main travel obstacle for the drive proved to be the logging trucks coming out of the Sumter National Forest. On the way back to Davidson, a passing truck threw a rock at my windshield and cracked it! It hit the glass so hard, I let out a yell and even ducked behind the steering wheel, taking my eye off the road. Good thing I was on a straight-away section of SC 72!

Without further incident, Marion and I cruised into Davidson by noon. We had a lovely lunch in the Pines dining hall, including Kentucky Bourbon pie for dessert. After eating we unpacked the car and had a good long visit catching up on all the Hill family news.

I know it meant a lot for the sisters to be together at Christmas. Rachel and I are just happy that we can provide a limo service to Adeline and Marion. Sometimes the best gifts just can't be wrapped and placed under the tree!