Today a friend that Jeff went to high school with, Debbie Wampler, who has now moved to Sumter, SC – a couple of hours south of here – came up to spend the day with us, and we had such a good time checking out the Charlotte Serenity Garden for the first time. Absolutely beautiful. It’s at the end of a cul-de-sac in a beautiful neighborhood in Charlotte, and it really was so peaceful and serene. Here are a few pictures.

Yesterday afternoon I drove to Inman – maybe an hour & a half away – for my dear friend Evie’s granddaughter Cameron’s graduation party. It was so cute, and I am so proud of her. She is graduating from Boiling Springs High School, whose colors are red and black, so I tried to dress appropriately :-). The picture arch, though, was made with blue balloons, in honor of Presbyterian College, where she’ll be going in the fall on a cheerleading scholarship. She is just a special kid.

Last night was June’s last dance recital, as hard as it is to believe. She, and all of the girls, did their usual great job. This was her first year that ballet was offered at their studio, and she absolutely loved it.

I got this one of one of her other dances – she’s in the middle. I loved this dance.

Mallory went with me to see the recital, and I got this picture of them together afterwards.

I loved this puzzle – another one my friend Pam Cato lent to me – because I love the National Parks 🙂

Saturday night Jeff, Meg, & I headed over to Gastonia – about ten miles down the road – to meet Lindee, Jackson, and Mallory, and to see Clara and the Choraliers in their final concert of the year. As always it was just amazing. I got this picture of Clara in the middle of the show…

…and this one afterwards, with her sister and mom. We were all so proud.

Friday morning, before we ate “lunch” at Sweet Frogs and I headed home, Andy & Amy took me out to tour Tanglewood. I have heard about that place for years from them, and it was so fun to finally see what they had been talking about. It is a huge, beautiful county park – just has everything you can imagine. We got out & walked around the gardens, and they, too, were beautiful. A great way to end my visit.

Thursday morning when I was in Winston Andy (navigator) and Amy (driver) took me on a tour to see murals around downtown. There were so many of them, and they were all pretty impressive. Here are a couple of about twenty that we saw. Lunch at the Carving Board, a stroll around Old Salem – including a meetup with Liz’s old roommate Jessica – and a visit to Trader Joe’s completed our outing, then it was home for naps, visiting, pork chops on the grill, and cheering the Braves on to victory on TV. Just a fun, fun day.

This week I headed to Winston-Salem to spend a few days with Andy & Amy. We had the best time just being Winston tourists – I loved every minute of it. I got there for lunch on Wednesday, & Amy had made a delicious Moravian chicken pie, sweet potatoes, and greens, so we filled up on that, then headed to Reynolda Gardens to enjoy the beautiful day. The gardens were absolutely gorgeous – I got pictures of one of the perfect white irises and one of the perfect yellow peonies. What a great afternoon.

These are from last Saturday, so an entire week ago. Adam called & asked if he could bring his new-to-him car over – he’s been looking for one since his truck burned up in a car wreck a couple of months ago. He is so excited about his new little car. It was so fun watching him tell us all about it, and listening to him talk about all of the plans he had for it. He had to leave when it started thundering, though, because it has offroad tires on it, and they aren’t good for driving on a wet road. He’s a pretty responsible kid, and I’m praying that will continue.

That evening Meg & I headed to Gastonia to see a friend, Linda Lowman, perform with the Gaston Choral Society. The program was absolutely. All of the songs were written by the same man, and the second half of the program was a selection of Sara Teasdale’s poetry set to music, in different movements. It was incredible. They very nicely included the poems in the program so we could understand everything they were singing – just so special. Linda is on the far left – you an just see her between the pew back and the man’s head. I loved it.