We had a lovely Christmas. All the state-side Wengers were able to gather in NC, and we had a relaxing, refreshing week together. Rhonda and I drove down on Christmas Eve, swinging by Dulles to pick up Raphael, Mook, and Mohan who were flying in from Peru. Talk about a full car! We had a lot of fun though.

We got home none too soon: it started snowing on Christmas morning. It snowed and snowed and snowed until we had 10 inches. It was a very unexpected, delightful gift from God--and on Christmas day, too! We all went out and played in the afternoon, sledding, having snowball fights, and building snowmen.

We built an Easter Island monolith that was over 7 feet tall (no pictures of him, unfortunately). And the next day, while the other kids were down at Cleveland, Rosetta and Rhonda and I built a small--but formidable--snowman to greet the others upon their return. With one gloved, twiggy hand he was shading his eyes, and with the other he was pointing a gun.

He looked creepy in the dark.

We also worked on getting the apartment ready for its new occupants; Mother, Rhonda, and Rosetta put in many hours painting it.

We created a gingerbread lodge which Raphael designed. It was a time consuming endeavor, but a lot of fun.

It was a lovely week.

Relatively speaking

Renee was here for 3 weeks before we all went to Peru together. It was cool to get to spend such a large block of time with her.

One highlight for all of us was spending time with Eileen.

We spent Labor Day weekend in Guys Mills with Aunt Regina and the girls, and we had a delightful time together. We made applesauce and played new games and went to Lake Erie and learned Hebrew dances and ate delicious food and listened to great stories (including Molly Tutherly, courtesy of Aunt Regina) and talked and talked and talked.

Sunday evening we took a walk on the dam near their house.

And that night we watched a movie called "Silent Night". It was the incredible story of a German mother and her son during WWII, of how they were living in an isolated cabin, and on Christmas Eve were visited by both German and Allied soldiers seeking shelter for the night. The mother impartially extended hospitality to all the men, insisting that all weapons must stay outside the cabin. The evening was volatile and intense, but thanks to the mother's courage and presence, they all slept under the same roof that night.

Even Rhonda greatly enjoyed that movie (now if that isn't a strong recommendation, I don't know what is)!

OBX

Rolanda and Rhonda and I had a wonderful time together at the Outer Banks. Following are some pictures, but be forewarned--none of them are stunning. Firstly, the camera we had was from the Dark Ages, and the film in it had been in the freezer for at least 5 years. Secondly, the camera had this sneaky ability to take pictures that were not centered on what you saw through the view finder.

For example...

We stayed on Cape Lookout National Seashore, which is a barrier island that is 57 miles long, has no paved roads, and is largely undeveloped. It was a beautiful place. The main body of the island had a lot of desert-type vegetation: squatty bushes that looked similar to sage brush, and wicked little cacti hiding in the sand, studded with long rapiers that would happily afix themselves to unsuspecting feet. A range of small dunes, covered with salt grass and sea oats, create a barrier between the "desert" and the Atlantic.  The beach on the east side of the island was wide and smooth and beautiful. The best part about it was that we had it all to ourselves! Most of the people who ferried over to the island stuck close to the lighthouse and used the beach on the west side of the island along the sound. Undoubtedly part of that was because of the signs at the ranger station warning of sharks, riptides, and jellyfish on the eastern beaches, but we didn't go out far, and having the place to ourselves was well worth it.

We found a great place to camp, nestled between the base of two large dunes, and stowed all our heavy packs there so that we could enjoy the day unencumbered.   

If you look closely you can see the minuscule lighthouse in this picture.

We had fun doing all sorts of things that none of us had done for years.

At lunchtime we feasted on pita pockets filled with all things wonderful.

Supper was a bit more work as we wanted to make a campfire on the beach (a permissible activity as long as the fire was below the high-tide line).  Drift wood was in short supply, so we started gathering dead pine branches, and quickly discovered that we should have packed a hatchet...it hadn't even occurred to us. Rhonda made do though by breaking the small branches against a tree. It was quite effective.

We did haul one big log out which was too large to break that way without damaging the tree.

It was terrifically windy, so we dug a pit in the sand for our fire. It was a lot of fun.  We roasted hot dogs, and tucked tinfoil wrapped potatoes into the coals.

As we were eating a storm came sizzing in from the Northeast.

It pelted down fast and furious, and we were well soaked by the time we had everything under plastic.

The storm had was over in about 10 minutes, and it didn't take long at all for everything to dry out. We held the plastic in the wind and it whipped dry in a jiffy.

Sleeping on the beach was a new and delightful experience. Laying on sand that molded perfectly to fit your body (no limples!), bright stars twinkling overhead, the sound of waves crashing on the shore just a few hundred feet away...Definitely worth repeating.

We awoke the next morning to a beautiful sunrise (again, excuse the equipment and the photographer for the inability to do it justice),

breakfasted on muffins, eggs, and fruit, then headed back to the lighthouse.

One hundred and sixty three feet tall, with a light that can be seen 25 nautical miles away.  The white diamonds are oriented east/west, and the black ones north/south.

Two hundred and one stairs lead up to the balcony. In the old days, the lighthouse keeper had to carry a 40-pound can of oil up those stairs every day.

The view from the top was excellent, made even better by the kindness of the groundskeeper who had loaned us a pair of binoculars. With them we were easily able to see the wild horses on the island in the background of this picture.

We had so much fun there together. The only thing that kept it from being perfect was that the rest of you were not there too.