NOW & THEN

I found a magazine laying around the house entitled AARP, which I imagine that Kathy had subscribed to. There is a short article about children that I would like to share with you. Do you think the little ones of today are missing out on really having a good time?

When we were kids, we played outside. Our bodies were hard-breathing little rainbows of energy and earth--red cheeks from running, brown hands from mud, green grass streaks on our pants. We dreamed of grandiose forts that never got built, had sword fights with sticks while riding our bikes (Okay, that was more of a boy thing). But we lived, baby. We lived! Unlike so many kids today, whose every micromanaged, remote control moment is seemingly spent indoors. Oh, how the play times have changed:

THEN
Eating wild berries
Climbing trees
Walking with pals along train tracks
Stickball
"Be Home by Dark" "
Summer Camp
Doing cannonballs off the high dive
Skinned knees
Jumping on a trampoline

NOW
Eating Lunchables on a play date
Allergy tests
Walking with parents on a leash
Xbox
"Answer your cell phone when I call"
Fat camp
Wearing floaties in the shallow end
Carpal tunnel
What's a trampoline?

I don't know about all of you guys, but I would not trade the times I had growing up for all the Xboxes in the world.

"A GREAT WEEKEND"

Kathy & I went to Rural Hall, NC this past weekend to visit my cousin Juanita and her husband Azariah, and on a scale from 1 to 10 we had a number 11 good time. Azariah & I had a 9:38 tee time at Pilot Knob Park Country Club Saturday morning, and needless to say the weather was questionable due to Hanna making an appearance in NC that morning. When we teed off it was very cloudy and looked as if it would start raining at anytime, but by the end of the second hole the sun had broken through and we had a beautiful day to play. Pilot Knob Park County Club is a beautiful golf course with views of Pilot Mountain from several of the holes. It had been over a year since I had played golf and my game has not changed - it is still not good. However, I did make a birdie on a par 4 by chipping in from approximately 60 yards off the green - now that was exciting!!!. Azariah "Nicklaus" is 81 years young and still plays golf several times a week, and he walks the course when he plays. In the following video he demonstrates how you are suppose to swing the club in order to obtain maximum distance out of the little white ball!

Later that day we got to tour the Reynolda House which was built by Richard J. Reynolds (founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.) and his wife Katharine in 1917. This house is awesome! We also drove through the grounds of the Graylyn Conference Center which is owned by Wake Forest University, but was built and completed in 1932 by Bowman Gray Sr (Chairman of the BOD of R J Reynolds). The house at the Graylyn has 46,000 sq.ft. with 60 rooms. Tobacco money sure did build a couple of fine houses which are pictured below.

Saturday night Azariah & Juanita fed us a great steak dinner and we got to visit with my other cousin Dot and her husband Hassell along with with Azariah & Juanita's son Mike, wife Linda and their daughter Ashley.

Sunday morning we went with Azariah & Juanita to their church which is of the Moravian Faith. In trying to come up with adequate words to describe their church the following words seem to best fit the experience: Bright, Light, Friendly and Spiritually fulfilling. After Church Hassell & Dot took us all out to eat then we headed back to Lexington and reality. The memories of this trip will be etched in our minds as one of the best weekend trips we have ever had.

$$ - Highlands, NC - $$

Kathy and I decided that a little R&R was in order so this past weekend we headed to the mountains for a long weekend. This was one of our mini-vacations, but turned out to be a maxi-vacation dollar wise. We had never been to Highlands, NC before so we thought it would be a good place to spend Labor Day weekend. We made reservations at Mountain High Lodge which had the pricing of a 5 star resort hotel, but it turned out to be a 1/2 star rundown motel type accommodations. Saturday night we ate at Nick's Fine Foods and I must say that the meal was very good, and I also must say that I am not sure that I had ever paid that much for two people to eat. Highlands has lots of little shops, but they are apparently not for people who are accustomed to shopping at WalMart. We did see one painting in an art gallery that I started to purchase, but the cash I had in my wallet was just shy of the $12,500.00 they were asking for it.

We really did see some beautiful scenery such as Whitewater Falls pictured above. These falls are 411 ft high and are the highest falls in Eastern America. Of course the mountains were spectacular as usual. Below is a short video of Cullasaja Falls - turn up your speakers and pretend you are there - it will be free for you!

We were really excited about Monday morning as our plans were to go to Hendersonville, NC to the annual Apple festival which is always lots of fun. The closer we got to Hendersonville the harder it rained so we stopped at a roadside stand bought some apples and came on back home.We did have a good time -- good times are always present when Kathy and I are together.