Nothing like Florida in January!

Annie and I spent last week in Jensen Beach, Florida. It was in the low to mid seventies during the days and fifties at night. The ocean temperature was cool but wonderful. I could stay in for a long time once I got "used of it." The swimming pool was heated to 84 degrees!

On the way home we stopped off at Fort Frederica on St. Simons Island, Georgia. The trees were festooned with Spanish Moss.

The Coucherpillar

Carly May and Lilly were over at our house on Christmas Eve. Annie said they looked like a two-headed caterpillar when they were lying on the couch wrapped in the afghan that mom gave us. Carly said they were a "coucherpillar!"

Hey Mom! Here's a Look at Our House...

Annie did all the decorating this year and I'm so grateful! She did a great job and our house is nice and cozy with lots of Christmas Spirit. Check out the place of honor for the Ebels 1948 ornament!

Merry Christmas!

Would you like to listen to dad's collection of Christmas Albums? Just click here and Pandora will play an amazingly comprehensive collection of songs that are oh, so familiar! Annie typed in "Johnny Mathis Holiday Songs" and this is what came out. Enjoy!

Here are some photos from the Ebel-Lalley household this season:


Our Christmas Tree (thanks to Annie!!)

Friends are the best presents!

Our deck railing one frosty morning...

Chess anyone?

I finally finished it! Wanna play?

360 View from Max Patch

Max Patch is a grassy bald in Western North Carolina. It's just off I-40 on Exit 7 to be exact. That's about one hour from Asheville. The view is awesome and well worth the trip, expecially in the fall. Here's a panoramic video from the top of Max Patch. (The video got horked on the way up to YouTube, but it clears up about four seconds in...)

Hiking the Rattlesnake Lodge Trail

I went hiking with some friends yesterday along the Rattlesnake Lodge Trail. That's just a couple miles north of home here in Asheville. Thought I'd share a snap of the view from up there...

Harvest Decorations at the Cottage

Sue has outdone herself...

Fire pit

Still working on it, but I think it's turning out pretty nice! Yer all invited to our halloween party to break in the pit!

We know how to pick 'em!

(Click the title above to go to the original website for the stats.) Just got a copy of the Stevens Point Journal article of May 17th about the top 100 cities to live in the US! (Thanks Jen!) Numbers 5, 6 & 7 have Ebel's in 'em. Not bad!

However, we in Asheville are so used to being in the top whatever, and are now suffering from such severe overdevelopment, that we cringe whenever we see Asheville on another list. I'm tempted to make up business cards that say "Asheville: You Wouldn't Like It Here." Of course, you in Wisconsin are blessed with long, deep, cold winters to help keep the riff-raff out. And by riff-raff I don't mean just the ne'er-do-wells, but those who develop an area with no regard for the natural beauty that makes an area so attractive. Over here, we're killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

But, we can still be grateful we all live in such nice areas!

A day at the Biltmore...

OK, so it was cold and windy out. We packed a picnic lunch but the weather would have made it uncomfortable outside. So-o-o-o, we're walking through the conservatory and see this lawn furniture and hear this lovely classical music... (The squeaky sound is a door...gotta get maintenance on that...)