Friday morning we were at Griggs Road Elementary to watch Clara and her Book-a-thons teammates in the district competition.  I got this picture of them as they were getting going on their first round of the Family Feud portion of the competition.  You can just see Clara’s face, in the teal T-shirts.

And in the relay portion of the event.  Their team didn’t make it to the finals – they were 8th out of 21 teams – but we thought they did a great job, and they seemed satisfied and happy, which is really all we cared about anyway 🙂

This morning I traveled with our Forever Young group from church to the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, NC.  I had been wanting to go ever since it opened maybe five years ago, and today I was finally able to make that happen.  I only saw a small part of it, because I got bogged down in all the interactive displays, but they were all so interesting and well done.  I loved reading about the early radio stations that were almost all very local, and enjoyed seeing this map of the most famous ones in the Carolinas – some of which are still on the air today.

I loved looking at the old clips from the TV show Flatt and Scruggs had, and of them performing the Martha White commercial on the Grand Ol’ Opry.  Definitely part of the soundtrack of my childhood 🙂

Yesterday morning we headed out early for Lake Wylie Christian Assembly, for the regional competition of the Academic Quiz Teams.  I was FINALLY able to get a picture of the entire 8th grade team – something I’ve been trying to do all year, but haven’t managed to get it done.  Matthew (turned around 🙂 ), Mal, Lacy Emma, Chesnee, Garrison, and Killian.  This is an amazing bunch of kids.

Then late yesterday afternoon was Char’s second track meet of the season, at York.  I already had plans to go to a movie with my friend Sherry, but Jeff was there to cheer him on, and got this picture of him, in the long sleeve grey shirt, heading over to take his place on the track.  He was a little slower on the 1600, but shaved two seconds off his time in the 800.  Two steps forward, one step back 🙂

Charlie, in the middle of the picture, in his second race – the 800.

And afterwards, with his fan club:  his mom, dad, Adam, our star, Aunt Lindee, his Papa, Mallory, and June.  We were ALL so proud!

Yesterday was Char’s first ever track meet – he made the traveling team for Sullivan Middle School, and his first meet just happened to be at Clover Middle School.  I had Baby Keaton for the day, so we stayed in the stands while Jeff took the camera & headed down trackside to get some pictures.  Here they are lined up for his first even, the 1600.  Char is right in the middle, with a grey sweatshirt on under his track shirt.

Mid race photo.  That’s him right in the middle of the picture, in front of a couple of other runners.  He finished with a 6:14 time, and was the top seventh grade finisher.  We are proud – of course.

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 🙂