Christmas Fun at Emblemax

On Friday, we had our annual Christmas Party at Emblemax and another welcome return from Peter of Shazam Magic. He's pictured here with his furry accomplice Willoughby. Rob took all these photos for me as I was so busy making sure things ran smoothly.
We had food from Olive Garden, Willards BBQ, and pizza with plenty to drink for all ages.

The Boss Man had set up a treasure hunt which was originally intended for the children but I have never been on a treasure hunt or Easter egg hunt before so we decided adults could take part too. Michelle and I are trying to decipher a clue here in Embroidery.

Squelchikins looking like a deer trapped in headlights as he came through clutching a clue. He wasn't on our team either so we had to watch him...

There was a lot of arguing at the end over who won. Twice our team had the rug of victory pulled from under our feet and here we're contesting the outcome. Eventually it was declared a draw after the party showed tendencies of fast becoming the site for WWIII. 

We also had a Secret Santa and here's José opening his card and present. Everyone seemed pleased with their gifts; I didn't notice any surreptitious exchanges or discarding or presents. 

Boss Man Mike handing out our well deserved Christmas cards with personal messages and a BONUS inside. Judging by the smiles, everyone seemed happy with these too.

This is Addison, Mike's son. I absolutely adore this little chap and could watch him all day, he has the most expressive face I've ever seen on a kid. He just rocks!

Mike and José having a late evening discussion and the cracks are beginning to show. A lot of beer had been consumed at this point! Mike's also wearing his Secret Santa gift from Alam.

Another great kid shot from Rob, this is Keisha, Jessy's daughter. A little gem.
I have no idea what time the party wrapped up. Everybody left with presents, full bellies, and pockets filled with extra cash. An awesome evening and a great start to the Holiday season.

I Can See The Pines Are Dancing

On Saturday, Rob took me back to the mill in Yancyville as I'd been wanting to return with a tripod and get better photos than our previous visit. We took some shots outside and then climbed into the building.

The building is pretty unstable but with care and attention I managed to negotiate my way around and set up my camera. I was just getting into the mood when I heard Rob calling me so I looked out of the window to see him below and a hippie in a van stopped by the side of the road. The hairy dude was obviously causing issues about us trespassing but I'd hardly got any photos so I ignored them and headed up to another floor. 

The stairs are extremely dodgy and by the time I'd got to the top of the building, my conscience was getting the better of me and I felt guilty about leaving Rob to face the music. At another call from him, I stuck my head out of the window to immediately receive a loud comment, "You're taking an extreme imposition!" or something to that effect. I ducked back in and snapped a few more photos, sighed loudly, and very begrudgingly descended to speak to this obnoxious character.

He claimed to be the owner which was complete codswallop as he'd obviously come from the commune down the road, and started berating me loudly, all the time glaring ferociously at me. I took in his tatty clothes, braided hair, scruffy beard and beat up van and calmly asked for his name, explaining that I knew who owned the building and that there were no plans for salvaging the mill, and also no signs up warning off trespassers. He then asked me if I wanted a shovel to dig myself deeper. I nearly spluttered but kept my calm and asked again for his name which he declined to give. I'd had enough by now so I said we were leaving but would return unless we saw signs posted. I was pretty annoyed as I had barely started taking photos so will need to return in a few weeks but we'll leave the car around the corner.

 Feeling miffed we drove off to console ourselves with a cone from the local ice cream parlor but that was shut so we headed back to Gordonsville.

We saw these wonderful old Chryslers outside a custom car shop and stopped to have a look. And then back into Gordonsville where we saw we'd get our ice cream after all at the Tastee Freez.

Here's Quackster enjoying some of mine.

Back at the house Kota was waiting for us in front of the fire. Rob decided to get out his old train set so it would run round the Christmas Tree.

Kota assisted and very soon it was chugging along merrily and puffing out smoke. It hadn't been run for nearly 10 years so Rob was ecstatic. We all enjoyed sitting and watching it.

All aboard with Quackster and friends!

The next morning I tired of sitting in a hot house so went for a walk through the fields and along the railway track. Since the sunlight was so strong I thought I'd create some bokeh images with my camera. 

I only walked a couple of miles and then returned to the house. I'd also been out earlier and taken photos of Jim's pine trees. A guy had been knocking on doors wanting to chop down peoples' trees and worried that Jim would sell his, i took some photos to remember them by.

It started getting dark and wanting to make a few phone calls which I couldn't do from the house, I drove down in to the village and managed to snap some shots of the lights while spending the whole time on the phone. Certainly stopped me worrying about the cold since it was freezing outside.

And so another long weekend passed by far too quickly and before I knew it I was driving off into a cold Monday morning in a warm car which Rob had started up for me, and leaving my boys behind for another week. Bye Rob, Bye Kota, Bye Quackster!

Strumming and Chopping through Thanksgiving

I headed down to Rob's on Wednesday evening with Kota and Quackster, both of whom are staying the following week with Rob for a vacation. On Thanksgiving Day, Rob and I went over to Lance & Nicole's for dinner and I managed to snap this awesome photo of Ripley as she awoke from her snooze. The men were outside playing with a gun and a fire while Nicole and I chatted.

This gun was used by Rob's father while he was in service. I shot it once and handed it back. It nearly blew my eardrums out. But the guys carried on for a while. 

Zak, Nicole's brother, got the fire going with some gas and a road flare while I watched from the safety of the kitchen window. He's an army dude who has the tough image to go with it and the fire lit without a hitch.

 Rob and Declan monitored the fire by standing by the side of it and poking it on a regular basis. What is it with men and fires?

Both of them here again poking around in the back of the truck this time.

 We had an awesome turkey dinner and Zak also polished off an PBJ sandwich which I dared him to eat with M&Ms inside. Once I told him that I'd eaten a baked potato with coleslaw and vanilla ice cream on top, he ate the whole sandwich. I love a guy who's up for a dare!
With bellies full, we slouched on seats and chatted for a while,  then Rob and I headed off for home, but trouble was down the road, literally. A vehicle in front of us hit a deer and she was floundering in the middle of the road. I leaped out of the truck and managed to calm her down. She was favoring a rear leg but i couldn't see any blood or wounds so hopefully it was just a glancing blow that would leave her lame for just a few days. I couldn't lift her but Rob managed to get her onto the side of the road where she limped off into the dark field. Major kudos to the cars that stopped since we were blocking the whole road, they watched this episode without any shouting or honking of horns. Rob and I felt good as we drove away.
Friday started late and slowly for us. We had no plans to be anywhere which was great. I stood at the kitchen sink and glanced through the window to see Rob in the sunroom with his electric guitar. He saw me grabbing my camera so rushed to the bedroom to dress for the part. I never have and probably never will meet anyone as vain as this man. It's lucky that I'm not the same way as there certainly wouldn't be enough mirror room in the house for both of us. It does make me laugh though.

Rob aka Johnny Cash without the dyed black hair.

Check out the dust on that guitar head. 

Once Rob was content that I'd taken enough photos of him, we put the guitar down and decided to chop some wood.

My axe skills have not improved and I had to accept that I am not and never will be any good at this.

Of course Rob split each of his logs on the first attempt every time so it didn't take too long before I was done and wanted to stop. There are not many things that I am completely useless at, but wood chopping is definitely top of the list.
We used the log splitter to chop up two trailers full of wood so Rob was fully stocked for a few weeks.

Quackster took part took as Head Axeman and managed to look quite sinister as he struck a pose by the blade.

Looking quite at home on the log splitter.

After the second trailer of wood it was time to finish and head back indoors as it was getting colder and colder. I had also picked up some fallen branches for Christmas decorations, spraying them silver along with some pine cones I'd picked up. The wind was stronger now too so I grabbed what I'd done and gratefully closed the door on the blustery weather and the darkening sky. Rob stoked up the fire and then it was time to put up the Christmas tree. We did this in about 10 minutes as there was so little to trim the tree with. I looked at Rob in disbelief at how stark his tree looked so he gave in and we jumped in the car and headed to the shops. A little later we were back home again with more decorations and a wreath for the front door. Listening to Christmas music and knocking back truly awful white wine which left us gasping, we set to our task. The tree was trimmed and a silver branch was erected in the dining room along with a table decoration. 

The house was ready for Christmas and we were ready for bed. 3 bottles of wine later, we headed to bed leaving Kota to party alone. He doesn't look too impressed...