This morning we headed to Rock Hill to watch Clara and her Clover teammates take on a team from Columbia, I think.  As usual, I got so excited when Clara was involved in the action that I forgot to take pictures, but did get this one of her as she was throwing the ball in.

The game ended up in a tie, but when I took this post-game shot she’d just gotten word that she was getting to go spend the night with one of the little girls on her team, so she was all smiles 🙂

Wednesday Meg rode with me, and we headed out early to get to Loganville, GA, for the annual Langley Cousin Gathering – my cousins on my momma’s side.  They have been doing this for several years, and now that I am retired I am finally able to make the trek down.  It was just so, so special.  I got this picture of Gran’s cousin Jack Langley, who has written novels based on our family history, sharing some of that information with us.  He also brought books to share with everyone, which was special.

My first cousin who were there – we closed the event down, and would probably have sat and talked all day long except Auntie was ready for Tee to take her home.  Just such a special time for me.

Monday night Lindee & I went to Mauney Memorial Library in Kings Mountain to attend a program called Playing for Empowerment:  Milltown Baseball During the Depression Era.  That was a little before the games Daddy used to talk about, but I was so glad Lindee heard about it, and it worked out for us to go.  Since she’d working in Kings Mountain she knew all the good places to eat, and we had wonderful pizza before we headed to the library.  The presenter was Robert Billinger, a professor at Wingate University on the other side of Charlotte.  He did such a good job.  This program is presented by the NC Arts Council, and he presents it all over the state, but changers it each place he goes so it pertains to the local mills and baseball team.  I guess he had looked at a list of who all had registered for the program, because he even mentioned the Clover teams.  So fun.

This was one of the pictures he had in the slide show, of the historical and deadly strike at the Loray Mills in Gaston County – again, concentrating on local mills, stars, and stories.  Just a very good program.

Last Sunday all of the family were here to celebrate Addie’s big day – and the only picture I got was of the kids’ table 🙂

After we got everything cleaned up after the race, we all went out to eat our traditional post-race lunch.  We often eat at Little Italy, and it never disappoints.  Here is our crew as we were finishing up:  Andy, Renee, Zollie, Cooper, Taylor, Lig, Rachel, friends Patty and Daniel, Boo, me, Sherri, & Meg.

We ate and some folks headed home, but Meg, Zollie, Cooper, Taylor and I headed with Lig back over to Central Park, where the race was headquartered, for a nature walk.  This was a program Lig had set up in her new job as Parks and Rec director for the Town of King, and it was absolutely great.  She had a naturalist, Jim Bridle, come from the Piedmont Land Conservancy to lead the walk, and people really had come from all over the area to go on it, too.  Here he is talking about the lichen, which grow only a very few millimeters a year, that are on the chimney rocks of the old cabins that have been moved to the park there.  It was a great way to end our great day.

Tenth annual Feed Stokes 5k was yesterday, and while it was a nasty day all day long, it was a beautiful event.  This may be my favorite picture of the entire day – my great-niece Mia running past my checkpoint 🙂

And while everyone was not in this group shot, we wanted to get one of as many people as we could before Nathan and Mia had to hit the road home to Cary.  From left are Meg, Taylor, Lig, Rachel, Boo, me, Mia, Nathan, Sherri, and Andy.  Such a great day for such a great cause.

Friday morning I headed over to help with the incentive day for the 8th grade, for everyone who qualified grade-wise, behavior-wise, and attendance-wise.  At least I believe that’s what the kids told me the criteria were.  I got this picture of Mallory and her buddies Ayla, Shayla, andEmma, as soon as the event got underway, when they stopped by the table where I was working to get cupcakes.

Home to pack to head to King as soon as the day was over, and then I was back to work the 6th grade incentive.  The cupcake table was next to the face painting, so I was able to watch June get her face painted 🙂

…of the regular season, anyway.  I got this picture of June Bug after the 6th graders finished up.

Here are a couple of pictures of Clara and her biggest fans after the Bible pancake supper Saturday evening.