Searching "Fresh Market" for new menu item

Visitors browse the venue known at the "Fresh Market" in Ocean Sprigs, MS

My wife and I haven’t been on the road much lately.

So, we’re experiencing things closer to home, which we should have been doing anyway. You know, help the local economy.

Just recently we went down to what was years ago, the Railroad Depot, but is now home to the Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce and a commercial establishment.

We had heard that someone was selling fresh goat cheese at the weekly “Fresh Market” that sets up there each Saturday morning. So we decided to make an appearance.

Goat cheese has been on my food radar for about a year or so since we ordered a salad at our favorite coffee shop, Coffee Fusion, which had that ingredient in it.

It was a salad that featured walnuts, cranberries and goat cheese along with greens and other garden items.

I had never knowingly had goat cheese prior to that event. And I liked it.

Later, I was at our favorite superstore, making plans for a salad. I put in a call to the coffee shop to find out exactly what kind of cheese it was.

I now always seem to keep some on hand in the refrigerator.

Our trek to the Ocean Springs Fresh Market didn’t result in us buying any of their goat cheese. It was a tad different in looks and taste and didn’t appeal to me as much as the kind I had already purchased.

But we enjoyed the local outing anyway, and it helped make up for not being somewhere else down the road.

Next post: May 24, 2016

Memories and fleeting times

Waiting for our connection during a layover in Paris, May 2015

My, how the time flies!

It is hard to believe that on this day last year (May 10), and at this particular time of the day, my wife and I were aboard the Norwegian Star beginning our nine-day Baltics Sea cruise.

We boarded in Copenhagen, Denmark after a short layover in Paris. We started our journey leaving our hometown airport in Gulfport, MS, followed by another layover in Atlanta, GA.

The other hard thing to believe, is that sometimes, at my age, I wonder if we actually made that cruise.

There was such a buildup to it with more than six months planning, not to mention dreaming about taking the cruise for a number off years.

And then all of a sudden, it is over, we are back home, and I think of St. Petersburg, Russia. Was I really there? Did I really see all those sights?

Well, no matter what my mind tells me, pictures don’t lie. We have hundreds of photos taken on the cruise that show us the reality of the trip.

The Baltics Cruise was the big trip of the year. We haven’t taken another cruise, although my wife and I are considering such a trip out of New Orleans.

Our biggest endeavor, which trumped everything else this past year following the cruise, was the culmination of having our personally designed new home built.

We have been living in it for the past three weeks.

During the course of the 49 years of married life, travel has been on the top of the list of things to do. My mother liked to travel, and I do too.

We may not hit the road as much, because of our age, but we can dream about new places. We  can also look into our storehouse of memories which offer a wide variety of joyful and interesting events over those years.

Next post: Mat 17, 2016

Cheaha offers panoramic view, pyrotechnics

Cheaha Resort restaurant offers panoramic views

When the weather’s fine, one can see forever from the top of Cheaha Mountain where the Cheaha State Park Resort is located.

After all, it is the highest point in the state of Alabama at 2,407 feet above sea level.

But sometimes, one can’t see very far at all.

The view from the resort restaurant was limited when heavy rains moved in

As the weather moved around, skies began to temporarily clear

And then guests moved into the out-of-doors for a scenic sunset

And that it what happened to my wife and I on our two overnight stays at the resort, one about eight years ago and the other this past Sunday.

Both times it rained, but later cleared.

On Sunday night, it didn’t just rain, it poured. And from the vantage point of the Cheaha Resort restaurant, we could see lightning popping just outside the windows. And the sound from the thunder matched the lightning in its own way.

My wife and I checked in earlier in the day, and later in the afternoon headed over to the restaurant for supper, just before the big event.

There was an ebb and flow of clouds and overcast skies.

And then all of a sudden, you know what broke loose.

The waitress moved our table a few feet farther away from the windows. She said normally, the curtains by the windows are pulled down in order to protect guests in case of heavy winds and shattering glass.

It wasn’t that bad. Well, there wasn’t any shattering glass. The pyrotechnics were great and the lights inside the restaurant, on a number of occasions, dimmed and then came back up to full strength.

At one point, the rain was so heavy, one couldn’t see more than just past the edge of the walkway just outside the restaurant.

The rain broke, the skies cleared a little and we enjoyed our meal and were able to get back to our room before another downpour.

The resort itself sports motel-like rooms, cabins, a campground and a campstore.

We like it because of the elevation, and it is a good stopover on the way to or back from seeing relatives in Georgia.

Next post: May 10, 2016