Thanksgiving 2010 - Asheville

What a great year - we are healthy and employed! The weather was beautiful this Thanksgiving. As I left to drive to Asheville it was grey and misty and the closer we got to Asheville the sunnier and warmer it became.

We missed our children in Singapore but Mary Ingles planned and served a traditional Thanksgiving dinner to her Aussie, Brit and international friends - it was a little like serving the "fish and loaves" as there were 13 adults and 11 children and a 15 pound turkey! But there was a ham that Al shipped to her, the shipping cost to Singapore equaled the price of about 10 hams, but everyone thought the meal was delicious. Not to leave them out on this blog, here are Ryan and Jack this morning on Jack's first day at Odyssey School.

Back to Asheville.... Ashley and Trip were the best hosts and we loved being around cute Jones, who just began crawling!

It was a traditional holiday weekend - too much food, lots of football, a little Duke basketball and not much shopping.  The highlight to the dinner were the "fresh" whiskey sours Ashley made.Too good!

And the noble bird was delicious - I do believe that brining is the secret. It was cooked perfectly and I think Trip's gravy , ala Cook's Magazine , was the best I can remember. But like all recipes from Cook's a bit more complicated and definitely more time consuming....

Would love to hear from everyone else with your updated photos. 

Robert Stone Hayne - 2nd Lt. Commissioning Ceremony

What a great weekend! Al and I went to Lexington to the commissioning ceremony of Robbie as a 2nd Lt.Wouldn't Lala and Papa have loved to see this..they would be so proud of him and his accomplishments. Robbie spent several summers at Quantico preparing for this special day and was definitely ready for all the day brought. The ceremony took place at the Bodley-Bullock House(1814-1815) which during the Civil War served as headquarters for the military forces during the occupation of Lexington. What Marta said began as a small event grew into more than 70 friends of Robbie,Marta and John gathering to wish Rob all the best.

A special note was that a family friend, Major General Mike Ennis administered the Marine oath to Robbie, hard to keep a dry eye!

Robbie graduated from Transylvania University this spring and now heads for Quanitco in April for Officer Training School and while he is there he will be in close proximity to sister Erin. Erin was recently accepted into the FBI program after more than a year of a grueling application process and she will leave in January for  Quantico and participation in an extensive FBI agent training program.

CONGRATULATIONS ROBBIE!