NORTH CAROLINA

We have spent a pleasant half week in North Carolina. Willmington was very nice. We visited a wonderful antebellum mansion there and took a horse drawn carriage ride through the historic part of the city. There are hundreds of Civil War era homes there, all beautifully restored to their historical look on the outside, but filled with families living in them with today's modern furnishings. I think that's neat. The outside look is totally authentic, thus giving pleasure to the visitor's eyes. I'll post pictures of a couple of those homes.

You could see that the people took a lot of pride in their homes, as the paint jobs were fresh, the porches nicely decorated with my favorite rocking chairs and plants, and the yards were blooming with many kinds of spring flowers, azaleas being the favorite, it seems.

The carriage ride around the historic section was very interesting. All the horses that work for this company are rescued horses! Horses that couldn't be trained to do farm work properly are bought by this company and are patiently trained to pull a carriage with up to a dozen folks perched high up in their seats on the carriage. The horses seemed very at home in the hustle and bustle of the traffic, as cars, buses, huge SUVs and vehicles of every size and shape rushed by and they didn't blink an eye or take one mis-step. I was very impressed with the horses and the driver. He had exceptional knowledge of his city and the dates and occupants of the homes rolled off his tongue effortlessly. It was great fun.

This morning we attended services at a small LC-MS church that we found listed in the phone book, one of only 3 Lutheran churches in the city we're staying in. It was a very tiny church, probably only about 30-35 folks in attendance this morning, but, as usual, we found a connection. Seems the pastor's daughter is considering attending college at.........you guessed it!.....the college that hubby and I just retired from! I find it amazing that we are always able to find a connection somehow. It was a beautiful Palm Sunday service, and as always, I left refreshed and better equiped to face the world for another week.