We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us.     unknown

On the road again after a wonderful few days in our Southern home.  I did not know how I would feel about going back to Dataw with someone else living in my house there.  It was strange; it was different; but it didn’t make me feel sad as I thought it would.  I guess I had made my peace with the idea and therefore I didn’t dwell on it too much.  We were also so busy while there that we didn’t have much time to really sit around thinking how it would be if we were in our own home.  The other thing is that we spent 10 years in the Bluffs at Dataw before we bought a house and therefore it was a bit like coming home in its own way.  The view is spectacular.

We played golf twice, once at  Dataw and once at Parris Island Legends Golf Course.  It was great fun and I rather enjoyed seeing another golf course in the area.  Last spring we went to the Marine graduation on Parris Island and had passed by the golf course when on a brief tour.  It was fun to actually get to play it and, as there was a tournament at Dataw, it meant we could try something new.  The views are wonderful and the distant sound of some gunfire from the target range was quite muffled.  It was, in fact, rather quiet.  No houses surround the course just beautiful, old live oak trees and rather more water than I care for!

We had an opportunity to visit with many of our friends as there was a Princeton Reunion reception the day after we arrived, then a concert, then dinner with friends, then a fun and crazy St. Patrick’s Day dinner with more friends and finally we left.  I think I will need a vacation from my vacation.  Actually, when you are retired you are supposed to be on vacation aren’t you?  After a year in school I think I had forgotten that we are really at a point in our lives when we should be traveling and enjoying ourselves seeing new places, visiting some old ones and creating many more memories.

What I learned in my year at school was that our focus should be on our Primary Food, those are the foods that feed our heart and our soul as well as the food that feeds our bodies.  Primary Food consists of Relationships, Physical Activity, Career, Spirituality and are very important in our lives.  I think most of us get it that exercise is important to our well-being but so are relationships.   On this trip we are feeding ourselves with Primary Food and focusing on relationships.  We keep catching up with people who are important to us.  At the beginning of the trip we spent time with our daughter Katie and our grandchildren helping them move and getting them settled in their new home and then we left them to make friends with their new place.  We moved on to friends and cousins in Kiawah Island and thoroughly enjoyed our catch up with them.  Then on to Dataw where we spent time with our dear friends who shared their Bluff Unit with us and we caught up with our many friends in that community.  Now we are in Asheville, spending time with our daughter, Margot, and her significant other and spent an hilarious evening with friends new and old.  I haven’t laughed that hard in years and I said afterwards, “I need more of that in my life!”  We are happy and our family is happy and I think that is the first time I have been able to say that in over five years.  We have survived so many crises over the last five years and we have all come out stronger and more whole than we were before.  Right now, on the eve of Easter in the Christian tradition, I am truly, truly grateful for all the gifts in my life.

Also this weekend we went back to visit another of my favorite spots, The Biltmore Estate.  I cannot come to Asheville and not go out there.  We didn’t go to the house because it was such a beautiful day we wanted to get a good walk in outside.  We walked the Farm Trail, there are many such trails throughout the estate and our grand-dog met donkeys for the first time in his life.  It was a very funny moment.  The donkeys know they have an electric fence (powered by solar) so they ran after us to where there was an ordinary gate so we could rub their noses and Brew could sniff them.

We had a lovely brunch before we went out to The Biltmore and I am pleased to add a picture of it.  So lucky I have daughters who love to cook.  The best part of the breakfast, after not having to cook it myself, was the sweet potato hash that took Margot forever to make as she had to grate the sweet potatoes to make them so fine.  Loved the touch of the avocado.  It looks pretty doesn’t it?  And everything homemade including the popovers that are Margot’s specialty.

Louise

We are off on another adventure this week and heading north again.  It is the first day of spring and I heard a rumor that there is a nor’easter hitting New England.  We have not missed the snow or the cold at all.  I hope this one misses them.

Here is a recipe I came across this week.  Hope you give it a try and enjoy it.  Have a wonderful week everyone.

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