It's hard to get injured blogging, but I might have managed to do it. Yesterday morning, I woke full of energy and ready for a busy week. I decided to go find a great sunrise picture. I left the house and eventually ended up Route 24 between the Swansboro bridges. Being the fool that I am, I immediately determined that the best pictures would be captured on the north side of the road. In spite of the speed limit being 35 mph by the bridges, people zip right along. Even 35 mph is pretty fast if you are on foot. I crossed over, got my pictures and headed back across the four lanes of traffic. Some traffic from the Swansboro direction looked to be traveling a little faster than I had first estimated so I speeded up a little.

About two strides from the edge of the road, I felt something pop and some intense pain. I could still walk so I didn't think I had broken anything, but I actually didn't have a clue what I had done. I headed home and by the time I got home, I figured out that it was my heel. I put some ice on it, and took a couple of Bufferin and hoped for the best. Getting around wasn't much fun yesterday, but I wasn't in much pain, my heel was just sore enough that I couldn't walk on it. I didn't exactly feel much like writing so I just tried to relax.

This morning it was a little better, but with the holidays coming, I figured that I needed to know what I was facing. I called a neighbor for advice, and then called the Cape Carteret Eastern Carolina Internal Medicine location. A very friendly lady told me to come on in since no appointment was needed. I had to wait a little while but it wasn't very long before a very competent nurse wrote up my history and a very pleasant doctor saw me. After examining my foot, he said that likely a bone spur had popped through a tendon. He had the foot x-rayed to be sure, and once the diagnosis was confirmed, he prescribed Aleeve for ten days to ease inflammation and a horseshoe insert for my shoe to protect my heel while it gets better.

I got several nice pictures that morning before my injury, but it's hard to say that they are worth the pain. Actually I glad that it wasn't anything worse. Last year my wife slipped on some black ice in Roanoke, Va. and ended up having surgery, two metal plates, and nine screws so I got off pretty easy.

It just shows how quick something can happen. At least it has stayed warm and dry so I didn't have to battle the weather. It takes me a while to get through a parking lot to a store. I am glad I did my Christmas shopping two weekends ago, though warm weather doesn't make it seem much like Christmas.

It's hard to believe that I have windows open to cool the house down at 9:00 pm on December 19. I even sat out on the deck this afternoon and enjoyed the beautiful weather. I hope we don't have to pay for this in March. The picture with the post is one of the ones I snapped the morning I hurt my heel.

Certainly the cool weather that came riding in on the winds last night should be wintery enough to put anyone in the holiday mood. I drove over to Emerald Isle this morning to fill up my car. As I crossed over the bridge I notice the temperature was 29 degrees Fahrenheit even by the water. I posted a nice picture of the water that I snapped at my Ocracokewaves blog.

It is starting to be time for Christmas parties. There is one scheduled here in our subdivision Saturday night. Since I am without my better half for a few days, I will be doing the cooking for my contribution to the party. I guess it is a good thing that I have kept my hand in the cooking all these years. I probably going to do sausage balls and a pimento cheese dip. My oldest daughter is a member of a book club in Northern Virginia. I once made pimento cheese for them. Since it was a hit for a bunch of particular young ladies, I have some confidence that I will be up to the task.

This morning's picture is of mistletoe that is visible from our upper deck. I have been eyeing that large clump of mistletoe for awhile. As a youngster in North Carolina back in the fifties and sixties, one of our jobs was to bring home some mistletoe for the holidays. As I remember we shot it out of the trees with our trusty twenty two calibre rifles. I am a little older and wiser these days. I might try to get some with my surf casting rod.

I did a little Internet research on mistletoe. The article that I found had some interesting information. According to the author, mistletoe is actually named after "bird droppings on a branch." Also the proper etiquette for kissing a girl that you should remove a white mistletoe berry with each kiss. It your mistletoe runs out of berries, you have to stop kissing.

According to the weather reports, this brief interlude of cold weather is not going to last long. We should start warming up by tomorrow and by the middle of next week, temperatures should be in the middle sixties. This morning it was 28 degrees when I checked our back of the house thermometer. I am ready for winter to be over.

Thanksgiving day dawned a cool gray day. I doubt the temperature ever got above 50 Fahrenheit, but it was definitely warm inside.

This shot was taken from the Carteret county side of the White Oak River looking towards the Onslow county side. It is framed with with some pine trees in Bluewater Cove where we live.

Today was devoted to family meals, the Macy's parade, a dog show, football, and lots of naps interspersed with a few dog walks.

There is nothing like being together with your family on Thanksgiving, the American holiday.