Yesterday I went with the children and youth from church to the Schiele Museum in Gastonia. They have a new exhibit called Carolina ‘Cue, on the barbecue traditions in the Carolinas. I absolutely loved it, but the kids were not that excited about it at all, so I’m going to have to go back and study it in depth.

We gathered on the steps outside to eat our snacks and rest a bit before we loaded up to head back home. I got this picture of part of our group. That’s Clara closest to the camera.

This time of Sherri & Gary’s granddaughters, Zoee & Kristin 🙂

Yesterday Clara, Mason & I headed out early to go to Clarks Hill Lake to spend the day with Sherri & Gary and Zoee & Kristin. After lunch and the kids doing a bit of fishing, we headed out on the boat. Their boat is in the shop, so their very kind friend, who happens to be camping in the site next to theirs, let us use their pontoon. It was the second time Mason had been on a boat – the first time was a few years ago at the lake :-). I got this picture of him with Clara as we were heading over to our first stop, getting gas and ice cream 🙂

Mason originally said he wasn’t going to go tubing – he didn’t want to get injured so he wouldn’t be able to play basketball – but when he saw what was available, he changed his mind. They had so. much. fun.

Yesterday Lig, in her position as Parks & Rec director for the City of King, led a meet up hike at the state park there in Stokes County, and Meg & I drove up to join them. So much fun. I’ve always wanted to go to Hanging Rock State Park, and it was as beautiful as I’d always heard it was. We hiked the River Bluff Trail – rated easy – and those cliffs by the Dan River were gorgeous.

Part of our group. In front is Savannah, sort of a county extension agent, who came & made smoothies for us before we began our trek (delish!), sister-in-law Renee, and Lig in the orange. Such a beautiful day to be out.

Today Mallory, Clara, & I went to lunch at the Pita Wheel in Gastonia. Clara & I had talked about going there sometime over the summer, since neither of us had ever been there before, and then I ended up going out to eat supper with Lindee a couple of weeks ago, and that’s where we went. So I knew I needed to get Clara over there soon. I took this picture of the girls before we headed home after we finished our yummy lunch. They were in front of the window so it didn’t turn out great, but we had a good time

Last night Jeff & I took Charlie & Adam and their dad out to eat supper so we could get a report of their mission trip to the Bahamas last week. They had a great time, and really expanded their horizons. New foods and putting up sheetrock in a church with no air conditioning, and they loved the people they met – so much fun hearing them talk about it. When I took the first picture Charlie had closed his eyes, so he made sure in this one that didn’t happen 🙂

Yesterday morning I met Amy in Concord, NC – almost exactly half way between the two of us – and we spent the morning walking on the greenway there, followed by a picnic lunch. We made it back to our cars just in time, because the bottom really fell out. Such a great morning. The greenway was beautiful.

After my nap when I got home, I got out to pick our first blackberries of the summer before the rains got here. Not a ton, but good for the first picking, I think.

When Jeff was at his 50th high school class reunion last week, his 9th grade basketball coach was there selling some of his paintings. I’d known he was going to do that, and told Jeff to be sure and pick me out one. This is one of the pictures Jeff brought home for me. He made a great choice, and the coach is a great artist.

Yesterday Clara & I went hiking & picnicking at Crowders Mountain State Park. It was a great day. Clara took this picture as we were hiking on the Fern Trail.