Our fall flowers are looking pretty this year.

Adam’s last football game of his 9th grade career was, in fact, in Clover, and it was such great fun watching him in action on the field where so many of his family members have played football & soccer over the years. He’s #50 in the white. He and his Bearcat teammates went down in defeat, 14-6, but they were supposed to have just gotten killed, so we weren’t as disappointed as we might have been. I’m not sure he felt the same way, though.

Clara walked past all of her buddies on the Clover side of the field, and came over to sit with us & cheer Adam on. I got this picture of the cousins together after the game. June & Mason were also there, but left before I got their picture.

A couple of weeks ago Meg & I were in Greensboro, at their very nice downtown auditorium, to see The Thorn. I have never seen anything like it. The information about it said it was the Passion of Christ meets Cirque de Soleil. Just incredible. When we got there we enjoyed watching info about shows coming in the spring. I would love to go back and see this one.

I only got a couple of pictures of the show itself – I didn’t hear them say anything about not taking pictures, but figured it was probably bothering those around me. The light show, the acting, the special effects – it was incredible. I’ve already signed up to get info when their spring schedule is released. I would LOVE to see it again.

Last month Jeff & I were at Woodland UMC, along with Jenny’s parents, for Adam’s confirmation. I just could not get a good picture of all of them during the ceremony itself – this was the best I could get, but it was a beautiful day.

I did get this picture afterwards – so special.

When Mallory was on fall break last month, she came over & spent one of her mornings in town with us. So wonderful doing some catching up and seeing her sweet face for the first time in two months, and to hear all about her adventures in her first weeks as a college student.

The weekend of October 13, my siblings & I all gathered to spend the weekend together to commemorate the one year anniversary of losing our mama at Lake Junaluska, one of her favorite places on earth. I got almost no pictures of the weekend, but did manage this one of all of us out on the grounds at the apartment there where we stayed, checking out the partial solar eclipse. Meg had ordered us all eclipse glasses. We were frankly stunned that we even remembered to look for it, and were very excited when we could see it. Very cool.

It was just a low key day of being together & talking & laughing. We had a great time playing some goofy golf, too. I got this picture of Sherri in action on the links.

A couple of weeks ago Meg, Amy, & I went to Charlotte to see Cece Winans in concert. Her musical talent is incredible, and I love how her concert is almost a worship service. Here are a couple of pictures.

A couple of weeks ago Jeff & I headed to Andrew Jackson State Park – just across the line in Lancaster County, so about 45 minutes or so from here – to see the Lancaster Community Theatre production of Night of the Living Dead at the amphitheater there. It was a perfect night to be watching a creepy play outside. A little bit of wind blowing the dry leaves around, just cool enough for a jacket – they couldn’t have written it into the script any better. No pix during the play itself, but I did get this one of the stage before the play began…

…and the cast taking their bows after the play was over.

A couple of weeks ago Mason agreed to go with me to the Schiele Museum in Gastonia, to check out the new dinosaur model they have there, the quetzalcoatlus. It took the place of the life size T-rex model that had been in the lobby for years and year. That model will be refurbished and put on display again in a couple of years, showing the new information they have discovered about how they think the T-Rex might actually have lived – more like a bird. How crazy is that. This new model is huge – much bigger than the T-rex, but not as substantial – with bird bones. It was very cool.

They also have a sort of new exhibit at the museum on, of all things, barbecue. I am going back by myself sometime soon so I can spend as much time as I want learning about BBQ in the Carolinas. None of the kids I’ve been with are nearly as excited about it as I am 🙂