A New "Adventure?"

I think I'm finally over my allergy/asthma attack that I had earlier this month.  I still cough a little, but I don't sound scary to be around anymore!  ha ha.

Since Elaina and I started going to First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, I decided to join a small group, or as many churches call them a "Life Group."

Picture taken in Winter, no green grass!

I missed the first meeting of my life group because of my scary coughing, but I was able to attend last Tuesday.  We meet at 9 a.m. on Tuesdays in a home.  I consider this a new adventure because I haven't been part of a group like this since my days at Orange Evangelical Free Church.  This is a new place to live, a new church, and now a new group of people to share with.

This group is an all-women's group and the ages are from approximately 45-75 +.  The name of the group is PEARLS, and each letter stands for something else, but I don't have it memorized, sorry.  The few ladies I have talked with are very sweet, godly women and we have a few things in common.  As in all "Life Groups" things that are talked about in the group are private and not to be talked about outside the group. (Obviously I won't be sharing anything like that here!)

I can tell you we're going through a Bible study book called Seamless, by Angie Smith.  It's not a dry, read, fill in the blank, kind of study.  Angie is very knowledgeable and adds humorous and contemporary aspects to the notes.  There's also a short video 
each week by Angie.

Angie Smith

I'm looking forward to meeting with the other ladies each week and see what kind of adventures come about!

In other news, we have had very humid, cloudy, rainy days for the start of Fall.  Last night we had a super thunderstorm.  Late morning was bright and sunny, but we are expecting another storm today.  I'm hoping the Fall weather starts to feel like Fall soon, which means the humidity will go away.  Hooray!  (Right now it's 82 degrees with 74% humidity!)Aaanndd, it's raining......

Fall Allergies (and as always), Miscellaneous

I haven't written in a while.  Partly because I didn't have much to say, and partly because I have had a miserable allergy attack.

Hurricane Hermine that became Tropical Storm Hermine didn't affect us much.  We just had a few hours of heavy wind and rain one evening.  Didn't even bother our sleep that night.  There's another storm brewing I hear, but we don't expect much from it either.  That's what they say right now.

I have always had Fall allergies to some extent, but not like I've had here this month.  Episodes of sneezing and blowing turned into a cough and allergic asthma.  That started last Thursday the 8th and I'm still wheezing and coughing like crazy.  I don't have any medical insurance here, or I would have been to urgent care before this.  I'm doing what I know to do to get better, so it will end sometime.  (Never had asthma before!)

I had three Etsy orders in August, and three so far this month, which is great for me.  I have to get some more items listed soon. Hoping the sales continue.  Had to go out today, to get the third one shipped.

Here's a couple of things I find interesting in Eastern North Carolina:

 

• Cities/Counties "love" divided highways.  I've talked about that before, but I'm telling you, it's like it's a "must have" here. So often you have to drive a little further past where you want to go because you have to wait for a turn lane so you can make a U-turn and go back to where you want to be.  The saving grace is that parking lots often connect to different shopping centers, etc. so you can save a little time going through lots to get to a light instead of going right when you want to go left.  Sorry if that isn't clear; don't know how else to describe it!  Elaina said in Havelock they added road dividers in places where there once wasn't any, for "traffic control."  Okay, I guess.

• Here are two things you probably don't see in Walmart in California:

 Children's mini recliner in woodland camouflage

(is that so your kids can go hunting with you and have a nap when they need it?)

Deer and Turkey feed.  I think these are 50 lb bags. I had to do some research on this. I guess people like to help out the wildlife on their land during fall and winter, although I also read wildlife experts don't recommend it as it can cause health problems for the animals.  Some states don't allow it at all.  I guess NC allows it. We don't have harsh winters here, so they probably just like having the deer and turkeys hang around.  At first I thought, "Oh, you feed the deer, so you can then go out and hunt them?"  Maybe that is the case for some.

Around here a very common site is pickup trucks pulling a trailer, with a riding lawn mower in it.  Yards here are very often quite large so many home owners own riding mowers, or they pay to have their yard mowed by someone else (like us). This site is as common here as seeing Prius's in California.  Ha ha.

I'm trying to get a few things done for our annual retreat this year. My sisters and one brother-in-law are coming here in early November. Really looking forward to having them see why I love it so much here.  We will be going to antique stores and flea markets and do some sight-seeing in the process.  

Had my first real chat with the neighbor next door today.  Her name is Fay.  Sweet, friendly southern lady.  We were discussing the poor condition of the house on our left.  It's bank owned and seemingly abandoned.  Hopefully someone starts taking care of it soon.  The HOA hasn't done anything for it.

That's it for me today.  Thanks for reading!