Mission Post #4 (April)

On April 24, Maren and Andrew brought the kids out to Mt. Olive for the Pickle Festival. Although the camp where we live is technically in Dudley, we have to go to Mt. Olive to shop. (They have a WalMart and two other grocery stores there.) So far all I have found in Dudley is one tiny Italian restaurant that has a few tables for eating in, or you can call ahead for take-out. The food actually is quite good, and it's incredibly clean inside (although you wouldn't guess that by looking at it from the outside). Imagine my surprise the first time I went there to pick up pizza and found that it is owned and operated by some very nice Vietnamese people? Who knew they could do Italian?

So, back to Mt. Olive, which is where we do our shopping, go to the dentist, and to church. It is famous for the Mt. Olive Pickle Company which is located on Cucumber & Vine Streets. The sign as you come in to town welcomes you to Mt. Olive, the Pickle Capital of North Carolina. I wondered about the origin of the name Mt. Olive, so I looked it up on the Pickle Co. website, and this is what I found . . .

"The Mt. Olive Pickle Company is named for its hometown, Mount Olive, NC. Tradition has it the town was named for the biblical Mount of Olives. We realize it's a bit confusing. Mt. Olive is located on the Coastal Plain of Eastern North Carolina. There's nary a hill in sight.

No mounts in Mount Olive, or olives, either. Just pickles."

Well, there you have it, and so once a year, they celebrate with the pickle festival. We thought it only fitting that we go this year, so we invited Maren and Andrew to bring the kids, since I was told that they would love it. They did! Here they are with none other than the Mt. Olive Pickle himself. Hyde, "Ollie" the Pickle, Will, Ivy & Nate. (I'm not sure about that guy in the background.)
Wouldn't you know, the first thing we saw when we got there was a camel. What are the chances of that? The boys just had to have a ride. I wanted one, too, but didn't see any other adults who were like-minded, so I settled for being a spectator.

After we'd seen everything and had lunch, we went to the "fun zone" and let the kids go on some of the rides. Here's Will and Hyde, and would you believe that the Mt. Olive newspaper that came out a few days later had this picture on the front page (above the fold). Who would have guessed that the first time those boys came to town, they'd end up in the news. Well they sure are cute, and were obviously having a great time!
Back at the camp, with all the fun behind us, Stan went back to working on the siding of the lodge (that's him way up on top of the scaffolding on the right). You can really appreciate the difference it all made, when you see the part that hadn't been done yet. This is the back of the same building with the deck around it that was in my last post.
I just had to throw in a random picture taken along one of the paths here at the camp. By April the trees had leafed out, and it was really beautiful.
Last, but not least, here I am driving the bobcat. What fun. I actually did a little cleaning up with it, just to see if I could. My dad would have been proud. Why is it that only guys get to do this fun stuff?

Mission Post #3

The weekend after Easter, the regional Young Single Adults had a conference here at the camp. They were great. They wanted to do a service project, so our favorite landscaper from Kinston, Bill Moss, put them to work in my front yard, which is also the entrance to the camp. There was sod to lay, shrubs to be planted, and a wall to build. They did it all, plus some cleanup.




Here's how it looked when they were done. And there's my favorite dogwood tree. The spring version with its blossoms looking very much like the winter version with snow.

After their work was done, they served lunch in the lodge, and then gathered on the deck for talks by the area authority, Elder Ingram and his wife.

It was all fun and games after that.

A couple of weeks after this event, Stan got a phone call from Casey, saying that Alexa who is in middle school, had an assignment to make a musical instrument and then describe how she made it, and play it for the class. It had to have multiple pitches and dynamics. So, of course, we hopped right in the car and drove three hours to Clemmons, so that Grandpa could help. They made a panpipe from PVC pipe. Here they are with the finished product. Aren't they cute?! (I should add that she got an "A" for the project.)

And here she is--in concert. We sure love this darling girl.

Coming up in the next Post: The Mt. Olive Pickle Festival. You won't want to miss that!

Mission Post #2

One nice thing about getting to serve a mission in North Carolina is that we got to spend Easter with grandchildren. On Friday before Easter, we went to Maren's (she's an hour away from us). She and I went shopping for a little while and left the dad and grandpa there to help the little ones dye the eggs.


Obviously Will and Hyde had a great time, and were well-pleased with the finished product. Aren't they just two too cute boys?!


When Maren and I got back, we gathered everyone up and went to a fun park nearby. I thought this was the best idea for a teeter-totter. Why didn't someone think of this in my day. Remember how the person on the other end would get distracted and run off to do something else when you were the one up in the air. Maybe they did it on purpose, but regardless, it hurt. Seems like you'd just come down too fast to react. No more, though. With this one--you just bounce a little. Great idea!

And these were the best swings ever. Here's Maren showing Dad how it's done.

Then it was my turn to give it a try. Why is it that old people look so uncoordinated. Or maybe I've been that way all my life. Now I just have something to blame it on. Nevertheless, it was fun.

Back at Maren's, Casey and Tim and their girls arrived, and we had the Traditional Easter Egg Hunt and BBQ. Here's little Nate with his find.

McKenna was pretty proud of her basketfull.

And Livie had some good stuff in hers, too.

The grown-ups, on the other hand, helped out by eating some of the goodies while we sat around and solved the problems of the world. Here we are with Casey sitting next to me and Tim's dad, Terry sitting next to Stan. Terry and Lynn were in NC for a week, vacationing at the Outer Banks with Tim and Casey, and stopped by Garner for the festivities on their way back to Casey's in Clemmons.

Nate and Grandpa. . . . Aren't they cute?!

All this fun while Andrew slaved over the hamburgers and hot dogs. Yum!

Easter Sunday, Maren fed us all a wonderful breakfast and then Nate decided to try out his little watering can that came in his Easter basket.

I guess, Ivy could see that he needed help and was there to show how much better her can worked.

Naturally we enjoyed church and the fine dinner that Maren prepared--ham, potatoes, etc. It was all yummy, and I especially loved the container with the "Easter" grass for the centerpiece. Clever.

Life as a Southerner

So I was with my girls a few days ago, and they told me that I should be updating my blog to keep everyone updated on our mission. I suspect it was their way of saying that I really should get with it, so being the obedient mom that I am, here goes.

As you probably already know, we are serving a temporal affairs mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at a campground in Dudley, North Carolina. When we first started the process of submitting our papers, we had decided we would ask for a farmland reserve mission assignment and were told that based on the timing and the needs, we would probably be sent to Florida or Texas. About that same time, we learned that Eagles Nest Camp had just been approved for a senior missionary couple to help in the renovation of an old Boy Scout camp the Church had purchased, and were told that we could be sent there if we would like. Since Casey and Maren both live in North Carolina, we decided that was where we wanted to go. Long story short, we arrived at Eagles Nest on Feb 1, and as you can see, there was snow all over the camp. This is the dogwood tree outside our front door. Notice the road just behind the sign on the left. That was the first thing I had to get used to. You can tell that it's just a small country road--one lane of traffic each way. And, since most of the houses face the road, and are set back just a little ways, with all the mailboxes on the side of the road, I was thinking that 35 should be the ultimate speed limit. Wrong! You have to go at least 50 or you could have a line of cars backed up behind you. I'm not sure what the real speed limit is, but I do know that they have some curves that say 45, so I guess that they anticipate you'll be going a little faster than that on the straightaways.

The next thing I learned was how to dispose of things you don't want. This pile of stuff was in the field right behind our little cottage. It was a real eyesore, but I looked out one day, and saw someone with a backhoe and the next thing I knew . . .
things were beginning to disappear. You'll notice all the cuttings in the center of the picture--they're gone too. That's the burn pile.


And here's a burn pile in action down by the lodge. We have them all over, and as long as there's no burn ban, we can just "fire" away.

After we'd been here a couple of weeks, Maren and her family came to spend the day. The boys wanted a ride on the bobcat and loved it. Ivy thought it looked like a lot of fun too, until Grandpa turned it on, and then she had a change of heart.
A few days later, we had a work crew of volunteers from the stake come in to work on the dam. It has been a major headache. Without it we have no lake, so we were anxious to have it repaired in time for the camping season.

Finally in March, we closed the gate and it began to fill up. Sand was brought in to make a little beach; we put a trampoline in the middle; ropes to designate swimming areas; got six canoes, twelve life jackets, and we were in business.
Spring was beautiful! For some reason this is one of my favorite pictures. I was walking from the lodge up to our cottage one afternoon and glanced over to my right and there was this lone dogwood in the midst of all those other trees.
Back home, the same dogwood that I began with. All the plants have since been planted and are now somewhat larger. That's my job--constantly trying to keep everything alive and flourishing. Wish I had a greener thumb!