Visitors make us appreciate our blessings...

Just had visitors from Maine, where the snow is still hip-deep. Seeing Lake Norman through their eyes gives me a renewed appreciation for how blessed we are.

Here were their impressions, in order:

1. "The sun! Wow, it feels so good to have the sun on my face - it's so warm ! Is it always sunny here with such a blue sky in the winter?" [it was still only 60 degrees, bloggers - but of course the carolina blue was bright and goreous in the sky. I had forgotten how gray winter tends to be in New England.]
2. "The lake is so quiet and peaceful, I could stare at it forever."
3. "Oh - that's a heron! And there's a kingfisher....and look, an osprey!" [Later they got some great shots of our resident red shouldered hawk.]
4. "The pine trees are HUGE, and when they are rustling in the wind, they sound like surf."

They liked the train whistle at night as much as I do: is there anything more strangely soothing than to be all cozy in bed and hear the train rumbling over the trestle with its hooting whistle? It echoes, like all things on the lake - a resonant & haunting music. Makes the lake sound infinitely deep, almost like a fjord in Norway.

"Seeing" through someone else's eyes and ears is a wonderful thing...

Appreciating the lake,
Eloise