Carolina On My Mind...

I stopped to take this picture on the highway a few days ago. I don't really know why, but this is the most perfect symbom of "home" to me that I've seen. I was raised in Carolina, the tobacco capital of the world. You can drive for hours here in some places and see nothing but the dividing lines between fields as you fly past the scents of corn, cotton, soybean, tobacco, strawberry patches, and the hundreds of other farmscapes that dot this great state. It's so very good to be home.

 

  I went to the beach earlier this weekend to see my family and get some R&R time, get back to my roots, and just enjoy where I came from. This was taken at Orgeon Inlet as we sat and enjoyed some fishing. Now to be honest about it, I said "fishing." To go "catching" is an entirely different adventure. "Catching" requires bait, a bucket, knives to clean the fish with, coolers and ice to store them until you get home. "Fishing" however is so much simpler. All that's required is a pole, a chair, and some sand. See (below) for proof. See how easy that little fish is to deal with? That's SO much better than all that work involved in actually planning to catch fish!

 

It was a great day for all of us. I got to spend some time with my daughter, Hanhah, my mother, my brother, and of course April, my prettier half. She spent the day soaking up the sun reading a book while I whittled away the hours re-spooling reels, playing at catching fish, and enjoying the Carolina sunshine and the sound of the waves pounding the surf. I just spent three solid months on the Mediterannean Sea and never once heard the thunder of waves. It's good to be home.

 

And yes, I have to post this photo, just for the sake of public humor. Mom and Hannah were in the store when we were buying the gear and getting the trucks ready. This is what my family does when you're not supervising their every action...

 

I have absolutely nothing else to say on that matter!

This is my favorite picture (below). I think it's one of the favorites I've ever seen of my daughter.

 

You see how hard we're all working here?

 

 

 

Later that evening before heading home, I stayed to spend a little time at the bonfire in the backyard with my brother.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's where I got THIS great picture... of me and all my favorite ladies.

All in all, I'd call this a good day. It's great to be home!