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| The Boys and Their Families |
Adam and Shanna and their girls came for their annual summer visit. They were here for several weeks and stayed with us for much of the time. Jon and Patti and their children came for a weekend and a wonderful time was had by all. In addition to the usual family comraderie, the young people spent an afternoon hiking and visiting a biological center where Adam used to work, leaving MiMi and PapaJim to peace and quiet for a few hours! While everyone was here we cooked, ate, sat around a fire and made s'mores and shot off benign fireworks. I know that all of you know how special it is to have loved ones around, but words to describe it are hard to find. The intensity of the feeling fills the heart to bursting, and words become tears of joy.
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| The Little Riggsbees, July 2012 |
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| MiMi and PapaJim with Gracen, Lauren, Katelyn, Jonathan, and Avery |
I've told you about the bear before. Heretofore, we haven't seen him, but that changed last Sunday night. He has been here numerous times in his quest for food, and one time he managed to tear up our rock wall looking for grubs. Perhaps he found some and decided to come back. Jim and I were sitting in the great room and, suddenly, there he was, turning up rocks looking for whatever is under rocks. The dog was going crazy and Jim got his gun and shot over his head. He took off like a shot. We haven't seen him since, and I hope we don't. We don't want to have to kill him. After all, we moved into his territory. He appears to be a young bear, perhaps he has just left his mother, and he sure is scruffy looking! He is standing on a wall that is about 40 feet from our front porch.
While Gracie and Avery were visiting their other grandmother in Asheville, I drove over and we took the girls to the Western North Carolina Nature Center. It's a really neat place with lots of native animals. They are in a natural habitat zoo, and most of them have been injured previously and are protected by the zoo. We had such a good time. I got a picture of the girls in the barnyard in a broken "chicken egg". And Shanna took one of MiMi with them as we were leaving. I love those girls!!!
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| Gracen and Avery |
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MiMi and G and A
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| My sisters, Mary and Judy |
While the young Riggsbees were in Chapel Hill, my sisters came to visit. It has been a long time since we were together for any length of time, but we had a wonderful time! It was rainy, cool, and dreary while they were here so we entertained ourselves by watching Game of Thrones. None of us have been keeping up with the HBO series, but I got hooked on it and have succeeded in getting them hooked, too. We can hardly wait for season three!
I like to go to this farmer's market in Dillard, GA. For months I have been passing this field with a chicken house with three umbrellas in front of it. I asked Jim if he thought that was a chicken resort. He rolled his eyes at me. What do you think?
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| Chicken Resort? |
And then, I find out little things I never knew all the time. This year I have grown cherry tomatoes for the first time ever. I have two plants and I discovered that they grow their tomatoes differently. One of them grows tomatoes in a cluster at the end of a stem and the other grows its tomatoes along a stem. Amazing!
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| Tomatoes Growing in a Cluster |
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| Tomatoes Growing Along a Stem |
A finally (I'll bet you're glad), I leave you with a Porch Portrait. This was made at dusk after an afternoon of thunderstorms. Love to all!
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| Fog at Dusk |
