The rose garden was not at its prime when we were there, as one of the employees there had told us, but they did have some beautiful hydrangeas going around the sides of the garden.

We had been looking for the shaggy dog most of the day, and we finally found someone to show it to us before we headed back to the car. Just a great day.

After we visited the Trolls and that end of the garden, we spent some time in the other areas. This is part of the Japanese Garden. So lovely and peaceful.

We also loved the Rainforest Room, but it was not what we expected. It was filled with high elevation rainforest plants, so it was very cool in there (which was nice, I have to admit 🙂 ). So many interesting plants I had never seen before.

Also loved the Orangery, filled not just with citrus plants, but all kinds of spices. I’d never seen anything quite like that.

We spent Sunday in Atlanta at the Botanical Gardens – we’d gone specifically to see the traveling exhibit of the Trolls, made by an artist from Denmark who works in recycled materials. There was a story about each one of them – their own personality & such. So cute. I got pictures of Mallory with a couple of them – seeing them was really why we even planned this whole trip, and the did not disappoint. I think my favorite permanent exhibit was the Earth Goddess fountain – so beautiful, and learning about how she was made and maintained was so interesting, too.

Saturday evening after an early supper we headed over to Centennial Olympic Park to walk around and find our bricks. I got this picture of my co-travelers sitting beside one of the fountains. I thought it turned out so good of all of them.

From there we walked over to ridge the ferris wheel – the SkyView. Great views of the park from up there. I loved how you could really see the Olympic Rings in the splash pad/water fountain.

This past weekend Mallory and I went with Meg and Little Hope to spend a couple of days in Atlanta, where we just had the best time. Our first stop for the day was at Oakland Cemetery, where we took the Margaret Mitchell tour, where we saw her and her husband John Marsh’s burial sites, as well as those of family members, and people who the characters in Gone With the Wind seemed to be based on – and heard lots of cool stories. I loved seeing this list of other tours that are coming up. It made me with we lived closer.

After we finished the tour we went on our own and found the tombstones of some of the other famous people who were buried there. When we found Bobby Jones’ grave, we were so sorry that we hadn’t known that we were supposed to bring a golf ball to leave to honor him. Next time.

Friday was mine & Clara’s turn to go out to lunch for our end-of-summer outing, and she chose El Preferido, the Mexican restaurant up in Bowling Green. It was delicious as always, and I got this picture of my cute, funny dinner date.

When I took Clara home after lunch I picked up Mallory to come spend the night with us, since we were leaving so early to head to Atlanta with Meg and Little Hope. Her Papa had finished painting the red on the barn, and she was so excited to see the Gamecock color 🙂

Yesterday was Gran’s first birthday in heaven, and Elise had told me several weeks ago that she, Mallory, & Clara were getting together to celebrate, and asked if I wanted to join them. We decided to do lunch at Jackson’s Cafeteria in Gastonia. The one that Granny loved so much in Rock Hill closed several years ago – much to her dismay – but being at the one in Gastonia sure brought back lots of sweet memories. We got this picture of us before we dug into some of Gran’s favorites .

I am trying to have an outing with each grandchild before they start back to school, so yesterday June & I went to check out a new ice cream place in Gastonia, Handel’s. It was delicious and the options were kind of overwhelming. This was one of three signs with the flavors that were available that day.

Then yesterday evening Mallory stopped by for a few minutes on her way to pick up Clara at soccer practice, & then they were going to Elise’s to spend the night & bake a Devil’s Food cake to celebrate Gran’s birthday today – her first in heaven. We had gotten Mallory this bracelet as a present for her graduation, and I had to send it back & get it shortened. It came in the mail this week, and she was excited to try it on & find out it fit perfectly 🙂

Yesterday Mason and I went out to eat lunch for our end-of-summer get-together. He always absolutely loved the hamburgers at Clover Grill, and we went there often for those for special times. Alas, the Clover Grill closed down back in the winter, and just last week my friend Bev Wood told me that now the best burgers in town are at the Route 55 Grill. And when I told Jeff, he said he & his buddies sometimes stop there when they are riding their motorcycles, and the burgers are, indeed, so yummy. We got there at a good time – only one person in front of us in line, and before we finished eating the line went all the way down the aisle. It was, indeed, yummy. Got this picture of Mase after we finished eating our yumminess.

The guy was here all day building Jeff’s new shed. Jeff has wanted one for as long as I can remember, so Tuesday we finally made it happen. I got this picture of Jeff doing a little landscaping work after the shed was all built and in place.