On our way home from our birthday trip, Charlotte & I stopped at the fancy dancy O.Henry Hotel in Greensboro for high tea. It was beautiful and delicious and so much fun. They served it in the lobby, with folks sitting at little side tables. Just very nice.

We each got to choose a different kind of tea, & I chose Paris to celebrate Lindee & Mallory’s trip last summer :-). Charlotte got Queen Anne’s, I think it was called, and it was good, but the Paris was absolutely delicious.

One more from our morning at the Whirligig Park – Charlotte took this picture of the park and got me walking around in it 🙂

We went back to the park after dark after many people told us how cool it was. When we got there we were so confused – it wasn’t even lit up all that well. But then we took a picture with the flash, and all of the reflectors that were all over all of the windmills started glowing – it was very, very cool.

We started our day Wednesday by visiting the Whirligig Park in Wilson – about half an hour from Smithfield, where we were staying. It really was pretty incredible. There were, I think, 30 of these windmill sized whirligigs, built by Vollis Simpson – a machinist there in town – after he retired. He had them installed around his pond, but after he died, so they wouldn’t fall into disrepair, the town built a park just for them. It was the coolest thing. I hate that you can’t see them all spinning like crazy in this still picture. Just very cool.

After picnicking there in the park we spent the afternoon at the Country Doctor Museum, also in Wilson. It was very, very interesting and very, very well done. These are old prescriptions and medicines from the 1890’s – those are the actual pills that were originally in those containers. The guide also showed us how they made pills back in that era. Just so interesting.

There was also a carriage house holding different wagons and cars used by country doctors in different eras from that area. I really would love to go back – we didn’t have nearly enough time to really take everything in.

Last Tuesday Charlotte & I headed out on our very overdue birthday trip. We usually go in the fall between our birthdays, but the past couple of years we haven’t been able to go for various reasons, so we finally decided to try early summer. We headed over the eastern North Carolina, to Smithfield, where we found that Ava Gardner had grown up there. We ate some delicious Smithfield barbecue for lunch when we got to town, and then took in the Ava Gardner museum. It was just such an interesting look at her life. We loved all of the exhibits. Here are a few pictures.

Saturday before last was the Snow Family Reunion at A H Stephens State Park in Crawfordsville, Ga. It wasn’t as big a turnout as last year, but it was still so much fun. This is all of the youngsters that were there – I am so hoping that next year I can get some of my kids and/or grandkids there.

Ina’s family that were there that day…

Last Sunday Jeff & I were at Woodland UMC in Rock Hill, to be there when they honored their high school seniors. It was such a beautiful service. During the service there were blankets on the altar, embroidered with the church name and the cross & flame, and the seniors were called up to the altar, along with their families. There was a beautiful liturgy that was read, and then the parents wrapped their students in the blankets, as a symbol of the love and prayers from Woodland that would be going with them into their futures. It was pretty emotional.

Lovely dinner afterwards. The arch was decorated in balloons the colors of the two different high schools that were represented. It was just such a special day.

Last week Jeff & I stopped by to see Mallory at work dipping ice cream at the Carolina Chocolate Company here in town. She is interning at the McElvey Center in York, cataloguing items that have been donated to the historical society, too, but serves ice cream a couple of days a week. The ice cream was yummy and it was fun seeing her in action.

…was a week ago Thursday – I am just now getting pictures downloaded. It was a lovely ceremony that morning, and then we went out to lunch at Eagle’s Nest to celebrate. It seems almost impossible to believe that our baby is going to high school next month. Here are a couple of pictures from that special day.

Our lobby at church was so pretty when it was decorated for Memorial Day last weekend.