Thursday

Well is was a day with absolutely beautiful temps; 40's to start the day and it reached 80 while we were in Galax, Va. After a 7:30 wake up we did our quiet times then had the usual bowl of boring oatmeal with some frozen blueberries. After eating I headed out to check on the gardens and the new seedlings I have started to take back to Florida when we go in November for my winter garden there. We got ready shortly thereafter for our daily hike to the top.

We did the whole hike to the top without stopping to rest. Wow that is a great sign that once again we are getting into shape. The top was lonely as most are gone until the week-end. We did see Jetta at the end of the road on top and visited with her and Zeke. We headed on down to the cabin and it was just a little after noon and lunch time. We finished up a nice salad for lunch as we knew we were eating out in Galax at Boogy's. This restaurant was one of our favorites for years but 3 years ago it went belly up. Its been open about 5 weeks now and we just found out about it a couple weeks ago. The ambiance is very nice overlooking the municipal golf course; but with regard to menu and prices Nikolas in Roaring Gap is tops for quality food and prices for an upscale eatery.

We picked up our mountain mom Helen and headed out around 1:30. We made several stops at the bank, grocery for buckwheat pancake mix, Tractor Supply and winding up at Wal-Mart for groceries. Afterwards we headed to Boogy's around 4:30 and there were already folks dining. Helen had beef and Nancy and I had seafood. I should know better than to order Mahi-Mahi that was on special here in the mountain; but I did and that was a mistake. It was edible but barely although the chunkney or sauce was quite tasty that was piled on top of the dried out leathery fish. I could have sent it back but I learned a lesson. Nancy's salmon was quite good and Helen's shoulder steak was tasty but not nearly good as the steaks we had at Nikolas, Oh well. We had a great waitress but I would rather have good food and a lousy waitress than the other way around.

We dropped her off at her cabin a little after 6 then headed over to get the pumpkins left on Joe's doorstep by a neighbor as he had no use for them. I'm going to use the dried cornstalks from the garden and the pumpkins for a Fall decoration that is approaching with Halloween, LATER