Hello August!

Hello again everyone!  Thanks to those of you who commented on my last post, and especially those who are/were having the same problem as me.  We'll see how it goes in the future.        Gosh, I have not done well keeping up with my blog this summer.  I think I can be forgiven with everything that's been going on around here.  My Bell's Palsy did clear up (thankfully) but it has caused some pain and difficulty of movement in my right jaw.  I'm hoping that will repair itself, too.  Our air conditioning system, which we've only had for seven years this summer, was leaking coolant and had to be repaired.  It had actually started to leak last summer, but we didn't get around to having it fixed then.  As Murphy's Law would have it, the weather got really hot and humid here (after what had been a very mild season) before we could get it fixed.  A new part had to be ordered, which was quite pricey, and once that arrived, we finally got everything repaired.  😰   Do you ever ask yourself how in the world people did without air conditioning years ago?  I'm constantly wondering that in the summertime.  
  I can't remember if I mentioned here that we had planned to go to the beach house for a long weekend back at Memorial Day, but that fell through.  My husband and son were involved in a project on the house, and they wanted to finish while they were on a roll.  Also, the forecast for the coast was rain and more rain, so we decided to stay here.  We finally got our visit to the beach weekend before last.  What a relief and a pleasure to get a change of scenery for three and a half days.  For those of you who don't know, we always stay at my in-laws' house there.  They don't rent it out, so we know exactly who has been there before us, which is good to know during this age of Covid-19.    

   Most all of the restaurants down there had re-opened for indoor dining, so we did our share for the economy by eating dinner out every night.  😋  The seafood tasted so good.  It appeared to me that everyone was being very careful and following the rules about wearing masks in public.  I also got the impression that the restaurants were even cleaner than ever.  There were no extra napkins, silverware, or condiments on the individual tables.  These were on one table, and if you needed something, you asked the server to bring it to you.  Customers were being seated at every other table.  I got the impression that people were glad to be back to work, and we were glad to be out and about.    

   We ate at the above restaurant, "Fishy Fishy" in Southport, our first night, and we were seated outside on the water.  I took some snaps of the water and shoreline with my iPhone to share here.     

   I took these two pictures while seated at our table.        

   

   

       While we were eating, we saw some pretty boats coming and going.              

         

   

   

   I love this dolphin weathervane!  Speaking of dolphins, one of the highlights of this trip for me was that I got to see dolphins, several of them, outside the big window of the restaurant where we ate our second night out.  I just saw fins and tails, but they were definitely dolphins because other people were talking about them, too.  They are such wonderful creatures, aren't they?!   

   This pic is so blurry it came out looking like a watercolor -- not intentional on my part.  I cropped a picture twice so you could see the Oak Island Lighthouse across the water.     We're back home now and back to work, so to speak.  I have so much to do around the house and yard.  I sincerely hope you are all doing well.  Such a strange year it has been for everyone.  Thank you for visiting, my friends, and have a great week!
Hugs,