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.

This week my friend Charlotte & I headed to Lattimore, NC – less than an hour down the road – to spend the night at a B& B that I’d read about. It was originally built by the B&B owner’s great grandfather, and he also made all of the furniture in it. It was a beautiful place – we had a great time. We had called ahead & the very nice lady in charge of the local history museum agreed to open it up for us. It really was interesting. Lattimore is a town of about 500 people, and it was cotton country back in the day – there were seven gins in that small town. I loved checking out all of the historical relics and clippings that were on display, including this wheelbarrow that was used to deliver the mail from the train depot to the post office.

After lunch at a great local restaurant, we spent some time driving around town and the countryside around it. We ran across this house with crazy Halloween decorations, so that night after supper we went back out to see it all lit up. It did not disappoint 🙂

Sunday after church Mason & I went out for lunch for a very late 15th birthday celebration for him. I told him that we could go anywhere in the county to eat, & made several suggestions – and he chose Subway. He does make me laugh all the time. I had the best time catching up with him – such a fun time.