Happy New Year

We got back last night from a few days at Mayberry.... we were up there for New Year's Eve, watching fireworks (the pretty ones) going off around the lake. Fireworks are legal up in the country towns of east Texas, and they started around 8:30 or so and went on till just after midnight. The loudest, largest, and most colorful ones went off at midnight. So pretty to see, with the colors reflecting on the lake. We had no idea we were in for such a show.

Gracie and the cats came up with us.... a bit of meowing from AngelBoy and ShadowBaby as we started driving, but once we got on the Gulf Freeway, they settled down and went to sleep. Their two crates were in the back seat with Gracie, and I held Mickey Kitty on my lap-- his crate is so small (because he's so little) so he just settled down right away and went to sleep. (He is the easiest cat of all, I swear.)

I think the cats remembered the cottage from the last time, because it didn't take them long to get comfy up there. They spent most of the days on the screen-porch, and the nights in the laundry room. It was too cold at nights up there to keep them on the porch, and I don't think I would have done that anyway... no fence around the property, and if they happened to get out of the screens, they'd be lost and I wouldn't be able to live with that.

My husband and I drove around to the little towns around the lake.... Point Blank (in and out in less than five minutes, it was so small); Onalaska (in and out in about ten minutes); and we drove up to Huntsville, about 50 miles away from Mayberry. Huntsville is known for "Old Sparky," the electric chair which had seen quite a bit of use up there. We were told by one of the ladies in an antique shop that you could have a look-see at Old Sparky, but we decided not to put that on our list of must-see attractions.

We went to a lot of antique shops up there... found a few little things for the cottage-- another vintage rattan chair (I always seem to find wonderful chairs). We also looked and looked for a sofa and/or loveseat for the living room of the cottage, but didn't find anything till the last day we were there. The furniture store was having a New Year's sale, and we were able to get a cozy, comfy sofa and loveseat for the price of just the sofa, which is why we bought both. They were able to deliver the set right away, and the cottage living room now seems finished with the addition of the new furniture. The fabrics they have now for furniture are so soft... microfibers.... the set we bought is a soft coffee color, so plush and comfy, perfect for relaxing and reading.

It was amazing to see how the lake changed each day. There were a few rough days, with whitecaps on the waves that were hitting against the boat dock and the bulkhead. The sound of the waves made us think we were on the beach at Galveston.... during the day, we left the doors open so we could hear the water. The temperatures warmed up around noon-time, but got cold at night. We had fires going in the fireplace every night, and we used our new fireplace popcorn-popper (a gift from C and her family), and my husband had bought us long metal fireplace skewers for roasting marshmallows (which we did also).

We read books and played Scrabble (I won the last game of 2006 and the first game of 2007)... my husband fished every day (caught a three or four-pound catfish and let it go, and also caught a huge white bass that was so big it broke the line). Young C and her parents were going to come up for a couple of days, but C has been sick with a stomach virus since the weekend, so they had to cancel.

While we were up there, we went into WalMart for some groceries, which we always do. My husband was walking around just looking while I was getting the things we needed, and he happened to be at the meat counter when they announced a sale on fresh turkeys... 15 cents per pound, for every turkey that was left in the case. My husband (and everyone around him) grabbed one in each hand. Next thing I know, he's walking towards my cart with two fourteen-pound turkeys, each costing just a few cents over two dollars. How could you pass up such a bargain?

We thought we'd roast one turkey when C and her parents came up, and put the other one in the freezer up there. When we found out that C was sick and they wouldn't be driving up, I cut one turkey right in half... we cooked the one half (and invited the lady next door for dinner), and I froze the other half. That half-turkey was so easy to cook..... I spread it out on a large cookie pan (the kind with an inch-high edge) and it cooked evenly and quickly. I told my husband that the next time I have to cook a turkey for a holiday, I'd get a fresh one and ask the butcher to cut it right in half (length-wise).

The funny part about the turkey.... even with the three of us for the half-turkey dinner that night, we didn't eat much of the dark meat (I took just a taste, and the older lady next door to us up there isn't a big eater either). What to do with all of that dark meat (my husband prefers the white meat)..... he started using the dark meat of the turkey for bait. Which is how he caught the big catfish and the even bigger white bass. My husband was laughing because the dark meat of the turkey was cheaper to buy than the bait he had been using for the fish. Up in the freezer at Mayberry, we now have a whole turkey (I wish I had cut that in half before freezing), the half-turkey, and a package of cooked dark meat to use for fishing bait.

The trips to Mayberry are so easy.... we have everything we need up there, so we don't have to pack clothes (not even a toothbrush). When we leave here, I just take all the perishable foods with us to use up there, and when we're ready to come back home, I take any perishable foods back here with us. Now that the pets have all been up, there are litter boxes on the porch for the cats, there's dog food and cat food up there, as well as their food dishes. Nothing extra to pack for them either... just put the cats in their crates, take Gracie's leash, and off we go.

We still have no television or radio up there, and we're using my cell phone rather than having a phone installed in the cottage. We don't miss watching television... we don't even think of it up there. We're too busy with books, and the fireplace, and the Scrabble game. And fishing, of course, for my husband... and the antique shops for me. We gave the cottage a perfect name-- Mayberry.... and it has become the perfect place.