Catching Up From January

I'm behind on many of the things I want to write about because I took almost the whole month of January off.  I'm glad to be back, because I really missed blogging; but I also discovered the longer you stay away, the harder it is to start back.

I'm not typically a big celebrity watcher, but there were some big celebrity deaths in the news last month, and when this happens it often makes me aware of my own age and mortality.  Yes folks, the years are flying by.

In chronological order, the first of these celebrity deaths was David Bowie.  I was never a fan of his, but lots of people were.  David was 69 years old and died from cancer.

Four days later, one of my very favorite actors passed away -- Alan Rickman.  I will so miss his wonderful performances in the movies and television.  He, too, was 69 years old and died from cancer.  I had no idea he was sick, so the headline really threw me for a loop.  We're big Harry Potter fans here, and my husband and I saw him in every Harry Potter movie.

Biltmore House, Part 2

I apologize for the fact that this post is way overdue.  I wrote Part 1 in early January, but I was forced to take some time off from blogging because of some obligations here at home.  I hadn't planned to be away so long, but next time I have to take a break, I'll let people know so it doesn't look like I've abandoned my blog for good.

You probably want to see Valentine's posts and spring posts by now, but I did promise to finish sharing with you our trip to Biltmore; so even though this was a Christmas tour, here it is for anyone who's still interested.