Old Friends

"Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold."

These words from what was for me an old Brownie Scout round ( I am almost certain I have referred to it before in this blog) always come to mind when something special like contact with a special friend happens. This week the refrain has been going through my head almost constantly. First we receive the annual Valentine from our friends Terry and Ray. These valentines are among the most eagerly awaited greetings we receive during the year. This year was no exception. The special cards, always crafted by Terry, are beautiful but I like receiving the news of the family . Yes, I am one who enjoys most of the holiday letters because it is the one time during the year that our circle catches up with each other.

Just a couple of days later we received a "Winter Greetings" letter from old friends Ed and Sharon. The day before my old friend Shelia (that's the correct spelling) called and said she would be driving up our way on Wednesday and wondered if she could see us. She arrived Wednesday afternoon shortly after her arrival I got a phone call from my dear friend Robin. She called to let us know her third grandchild, a girl, was born early in the day. How wonderful is that?

Shelia stayed until this morning. She and her husband Ron are dear college friends from Idaho State. She is a sorority sister. They have lived in North Carolina a long while now and they always seemed so far away. Now we are under a day's drive from each other. Shelia and I headed out yesterday morning for a look/see of the area. But first I needed to make a stop at a wonderful soup kitchen. I will write about this another time. Then we drove through the town of Rehoboth Beach for her to get a flavor of our most famous beach town, then on down the coast to Assateague Island. Yes, I had to go there again. That was OK because Shelia loves the beach and she loves horses. It was so peaceful down there yesterday. Most of the ponies were on a point inaccessible by car and quite possibly by foot. We did see a few ponies and managed to get some great close up pictures of two who were quietly munching away in separate access points.

I think I will keep my "golden friends."

Good Day Despite the News

We were fortunate to have our good friends Robin and Dave to visit for a couple of days. Yesterday we drove down to Assateague Island to see the wild ponies and the seashore. This trip we first drove to Chincoteague which is on the Virginia side of the island. We saw this lone pony in a marsh alongside the road. There were other ponies but they were mostly in the trees and very hard to see. This pony seems to be enjoying some down time now that the summer population has gone home and there are just a few campers and visitors.

In this picture you can see the Atlantic from the Visitors' Center. The sky looks a little ominous here but that is how it has been for a few days now. Perhaps a reflections of the grim news in the financial world.

It was then onto a brief visit of the Assateague Island Light House. It was commission by Congress in 1855. It is going through some much needed renovation. When I near one of these old sentinels my mind sets to wondering about the days when these beacons were manned. There had to be some amazing stories. We went from here back into the town of Chincoteague and had a late lunch at a place call Bill's. We all thought that appropriate.

Then it was time to go and see if we could find some ponies on the Maryland side of the island. That trip is over 20 miles because there is no through access on the island. When we were last here there were lots of folks taking in the nature trails and just walking the beach. This time there were few in trails area, more on bicycles and lots of campers in the designated areas along the beach. It was getting on in the afternoon and we had still not clearly seen a group of ponies. We drove clear around the National Park Area and missed the trail area we spied ponies in during our last visit. Mind you, we saw lots of evidence ponies had left behind but still not seen a group of real live horses. We drove through the park and back around and with the gracious assistance of the ranger at the entry station we got to trail the we had sought. We parked the car and started out on the trail down to the marsh. We dodged evidence all the way but it was worth it because some of the ponies were right next to the wooden walk.

I had the longer lens on the camera by this time so the horse in this picture looks closer than it was. The three guys on the opposite side of the water were trying to net something.

You can see in this picture how close these ponies were to the boardwalk. I think there were three more horses in the group that are not in this picture.

While on our last trip to Assateague, Bill's grand-niece Rebecca adopted a pony named Rosie. It is a pinto and looks much like this one. I need to research this a little and see if this might be Rosie. The next couple of pictures are some close-ups that could not have been taken if I had not been so close to the ponies. We were close enough to touch them which is illegal to do. It was awesome to be that close.

It was very enjoyable making this trip down the coast and sharing it with such good friends.

The marsh as the sun is taking its position in the late afternoon sky.

Visitors and Visiting a New Place (for us)

Friday was as my last post says a gray and rainy day. But, it was a also a bright day for us because Bill's nephew and family from San Francisco came to visit for a couple of days as part of their east coast vacation. It really was good to see them. they had suggested earlier that on Saturday we travel to Assateague Island and spend the afternoon there. To be honest, I had thought about it before and for some reason put it out of my mind because I thought it was much further than it is from where we are. It is just under forty miles and is a very easy trip.

Jonathan enjoying the marsh foam and skipping seashell pieces over the water.

Assateague Island is a barrier island just off of the Maryland/Virginia coast line. It has two entrances from the mainland but you cannot travel by car from end to end. For this trip we only went to the Maryland end of the island. The island is known to many for Misty of Chincoteague. Yes we went to see the ponies that have made the island so famous. We saw a group of the Maryland herd. Misty was of the Virginia herd. We also saw lots of birds and plants that make up National Seashore there.

Some of the ponies we saw on our trip.

Other wildlife and some plant life. Mark was really surprised by the cactus.

After spending time watching ponies we went to the ocean side of the island. This is literally across the road. It was a cool day and there had been storms earlier and more would follow in the next day so the water was churning.

As we were leaving the island Kelly mentioned that she was a little disappointed that we had not been able to a close up view of any of the horses. Just as we got to the bridge there were two horses beside the road and we were able to get a closer view.

I hope that this is close enough. The horse seems to be enjoying the forage and not me.

The day was topped off by Rebecca becoming a foster parent to a pinto named "Rosie." What could be better than a little girl with a "coast to coast" grin"?