I had this puzzle about half finished, and it sat on the table for probably three months until I got back to it, but finally finished it up a few weeks ago. 1000 pieces.

This morning after the service was over, Addie & Lee came over to the church to help start decorating for Advent. They got the Chrismon tree put up in the lobby,with June’s help, got the lights put on, and got it decorated – all before they had to leave to get home to see the Panthers game. Lee is behind/under the tree in this picture, unfortunately. They were just a huge help.

I got this picture of the beautiful arrangement on the altar this morning while we were there. Just so, so pretty.

After the grandkids came over and spent the night to surprise me for my birthday, their parents all came over to surprise me with breakfast and gifts the next morning. It was just the very, very best weekend. I loved it so much. Here are the fourteen of us, minus Jenny, who was taking the picture.

My 70th birthday was on November 1, and it was a wonderful celebration. Our three kids – no spouses, no children – took Jeff & me out to eat at a yummy new restaurant (well, new to me anyway), Napa’s, in Fort Mill. The food was delicious, and being just the five of us was so, so special. I don’t think we’ve done that since Lindee & Jackson got married almost 25 years ago. It was wonderful. The last Saturday night, completely out of the blue, our doorbell rang, and it was all of the grandkids, who had come over to have a birthday sleepover with me. I could not believe it. It was SO much fun – and to say I was surprised is putting it mildly indeed. They & Jeff had planned it perfectly, & had hotdogs and all of the fixings & somemore ingredients all ready. It was just so much fun.

Spent the evening after we ate supper playing games and it was just about a perfect night for me. So, so much fun.

Last week my friend Bennie – our son-in-law Lee’s mom – and I visited our local Museum of York County and went out to eat lunch to do some catching up. There was an exhibit about mushrooms, of all things, and the highlight was this walk through one room of the exhibit that had these glowing mushrooms and snails all along a pathway that wound through. It was the coolest thing. Fun day.

For my birthday this year Meg got me a box of truffles from the Country Gourmet in Murfreesboro. They are absolutely delicious – every one I’ve tried so far – but my favorite thing about them is that each one is named after something that has to do with Murfreesboro, like the ones with the blue swirl is the Blue Raider truffle. How fun is that?

Last weekend Meg & I spent the afternoon in Liberty, SC, a little town we’d heard about south of Greenville. We actually went to take in their community theater performance of Little Women, but first we had lunch at a restaurant we’d found while researching: Arnold’s. It got great reviews online for their hamburgers, and while we didn’t expect it to be attached to a gas station, the food definitely did not disappoint. Then we had a little bit of time to wander around town before the play started, & ran across this great mural on one of the buildings. Great fun.

When I went by the Yarbroughs’ house Thursday to take them their Halloween goodie bag, June gave me a tour to show me how all of her plants are doing. We had gotten her a hosta collection – she is very much a plant lover, and she just went crazy over the hostas that we saw when we were in Massachusetts for her birthday, and that just came in the mail a few weeks ago, when, according to Brecks when I ordered them, it was time to plant them in our zone. They have all started coming up, so we’re hoping they can live well and prosper.

Wednesday morning after Charlotte & I left the B&B we decided to drive the 45 minutes up to South Mountains State Park. A friend hikes there often & has posted beautiful pictures, and Charlotte saw that they had a really nice visitors’ center. The drive up was absolutely gorgeous, but when we got to the park, this is what we found 🙁 Damage from Hurricane Helene was still visible everywhere, and I guess they just hadn’t had time to get the park cleaned up yet. We’ll just have to go try again at a later date.