Cheeseburger and Paramedics

The last day of July is here, and it's been another hot one.  We were smuggling contraband to Nana - more cheeseburgers.  Of course, the doctors here are not opposed to that at all.  Despite all the food they serve here, the only thing she voluntarily eats is a cheeseburger from McDonald's.  I'm not making this up.  So we go over to McDonald's and get a happy meal, and even the little happy meal toy, and we walk into the hospital with our usual material, plus a happy meal box.  And sure enough, Nana sits there and eats a half cheeseburger right as soon as we bring it.  Wild.

A squad of paramedics was there to help Nana exercise, the idea being her getting fit enough to get up and walk out of here.  Mom was helping as they were all working together to move and twist and flex.  It's been a good group of people here.

We were back at the eye doctor for a regular appointment, although Maddie has been requesting something a little stronger for her vision lately.  There's a stronger prescription now for her contacts, so she'll be trying that out.  As strict as they are with their arrival times, America's Best doesn't mind having you wait a half hour.  I think we actually waited a lot longer than that, but I hold a grudge against them for cancelling our appointment earlier this summer after I arrived ten minutes late.  I made the mistake of going to a different doctor because my brain got completely confused apparently.  So I desperately made the trip across town to the correct doctor, only to find out they cancelled the appointment on me for being ten minutes late.  Okay, enough complaining.  

Today marked Maddie's return to taekwondo, and it was a lengthy visit, and a good one.  She loved being with friends again, this after having Thursday and Friday off due to classes being cancelled.  Her friend returned rather triumphant, with a medal or two earned at the world championships.  Maddie was happy to see everyone again tonight.

We didn't watch anything Christmas related tonight, but in fact watched "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure."  The reason for this is that Pee-Wee Herman passed away today from cancer.  This guy was an icon for our generation, and this movie was huge for introducing us to Pee-Wee, to Tim Burton, and to Danny Elfman too.  It's such a fun movie, and the morning show he was involved in was hilarious too, something even older kids like us would tune in to see.  To this day we quote Pee-Wee.  It was Maddie's first time watching this movie, and she did enjoy it, although it was completely not what she expected.  

In any event, we'll miss Pee-Wee.  We had no idea he was even sick - he'd kept the diagnosis and struggle to himself all this time.  So his passing was a complete shock to us.  Tonight we watched the movie, but I might watch a few more episodes of the show before all is said and done.  One year, Mom got me the entire box set - yes, every single episode.  We even have the Christmas special too.  Fun stuff.

Okay, anyway, we said our prayers tonight and we read from "Leia" again before bed.  It's the last day of July, and school season is starting soon.

Multiple Roles

 

This morning Maddie was doing a few roles at KidPak, and one of them you can see above - taking pictures.  She has been the KidPak photographer these past few weeks, taking some great pictures of service, which went well by the way.  We did one more "At the Movies" message based on the movie "Wonder," which of course has a sequel of sorts coming out next month.  It's just a great message movie though.  

The other thing Maddie was doing this morning was posing for a large amount of photos with other characters in costumes.  Our actors were out and about, posing for shots with families and kids, and they were pretty popular this morning, a long line again.

While Maddie was doing that, we were in the hospital again.  Nana had her surgery this morning, and everything seems to have gone well enough - she has a new hip.  Or at least part of that hip is new.  There was a scary moment in the room afterwards where her heart rate had dropped down into the thirties for a good bit.  She wasn't in any discomfort, and in fact it may have been the medication that was responsible for the decline.  No matter - we were there today early, and we were there for a good while, until late afternoon.  Mom and I sat in the courtyard there while the weather was cooler in the morning, and later on during the surgery we were in the cafeteria for a bit.  The rest of the day was spent alongside Nana, who was of course super drowsy, in and out, just like anyone would be after surgery.  Her spirits were up though, making her usual jokes and giving us a smile when she could.  

It's been a long day.  We got home, and Mom took a pretty long nap while Maddie and I were visiting "Luigi's Mansion 3."  Afterwards, yes, we watched the other version of "The Grinch," for research, although I have to admit I was super tired by that point.  But we're in Whoville in our minds and we're getting ready to write a Christmas play - it's Christmas in July.  

We closed the day out by reading some more from "Leia" and saying our prayers.  We'll be off to the hospital again tomorrow, and an eye doctor for Maddie.  Also taekwondo.  Busy day - we'd better get some sleep!

Hospital with Nana

We were at the hospital a good bit today, hanging out with Nana for a while.  The upper picture is the view from her room - that's where we sit at a desk, waiting as she drifts in and out and also waiting for the doctors to come in and explain or suggest or ask questions themselves.  Ultimately, it comes down to Nana needing surgery tomorrow.  They'll do a partial hip replacement.  I actually wonder what they do with the part of the hip they replace... there's an interesting question.

Anyway, Mom and I went on a trip over to Cracker Barrel for lunch, which was nice.  We got some candy afterwards, something for Maddie to eat when we got home.  While all this was going on, Maddie was out with my mother doing a bit of back-to-school clothing shopping at various places.  They went to eat too, going over to Zaxby's.  Maddie also got a new plush friend, a squishmallow gargoyle of all things.  We're running out of room for all these new friends, Maddie!  Still, he's welcome to the house.  He can just squish in here somewhere!

We were doing a bit of video gaming when we got home, and tonight we actually watched "The Grinch" - the latest animated version.  It was for research this time, and tomorrow night we may watch the other version.  There's a Christmas play to write, and this might be the one we do.

Tomorrow morning at 8am, that's the proposed time for the surgery.  We're a little nervous, as this is a "high risk" sort of surgery, officially.  But it needs to be done, and the staff and team seem pretty confident.  Tonight we said our prayers, and we read a little bit too.  We got to bed early, as Mom and I are off to Cumming one more time to the hospital in the morning.

Broken Hip

Nana broke her hip.  She was getting up from her bed to go answer the door for a friend, and that's when she took the fall.  It could have been that the hip was already fractured and that the fall was a result of it.  Either way, the end result is going to be surgery.  Also in the mix is a punctured lung, a collapsed lung - and the growing mass that inside.  We were there at the hospital tonight at the ER.  Mom went in to see while I was out there in the waiting area... waiting... Nana is frail, and there are concerns about surgery given her age and health.  We'll find out more tomorrow I think, as we're heading back to the hospital to spend time with her.  It's going to be a busy season here with us going to and fro.  We've been in contact with Uncle George, her son, and we've been talking to everyone who knows her about the situation.  It's less than ideal, and in a crazy twist of irony, Mom was just talking today with Dana, that social worker from before, about the possibility of hospice care.  There was a strong recommendation about hospice care, and the later on today we hear Nana broke her hip.   

Okay, so that was today's news, including an extensive visit to the hospital.  It's a nice hospital down in Cumming.  We were here a while.  We got back and there wasn't much time to watch anything, but we did revisit some Disney Infinity with the Brave level of the game - only as the Lone Ranger and Tonto.  The two of us were out battling fiery bears and green glowing fire things as we searched for pieces of pastry.  It is goofy, but it's fun.

So today Maddie was working on some illustrations with Procreate, a program that she's got on her iPad.  She's working on drawing people, and a nice picture of a rising sun too.  Or is it a sunset?  Maybe we can post it here and you can decide.

We had a pretty extensive meeting today ... about Christmas.  Yeah, Christmas.  We're doing a Christmas play in our main sanctuary in front of presumably thousands of people, and so we were wondering what to do for that.  We sort of lean towards the Grinch at the moment, given the colorful costumes and sets.  Plus, Mom has a pretty decent Grinch costume still.  We'll see as time goes by.  But we also have the other Christmas production upcoming too.  December is already swamped!  My thoughts on that lean towards a story narrated by Joseph.  We'll see how things go, by I had these thoughts here about Joseph:

1.  He was there from the beginning - Mary tells him she was visited by an angel, so he could narrate that.  He himself has a dream to explain what is going to happen to Mary and himself.  Imagine the acting conflict within - the social pressure to walk away from a cheating spouse and then the incredible moment that God shows him the Truth.

2.  He of course travels with Mary to Bethlehem.  It’s an interesting point of view there with Joseph - how are you supposed to be the father of God?  What on earth could you teach God?  Imagine all those thoughts you would have as a Dad if you learned that you’d have to raise the Son of God.  What a responsibility!

3.  He sees the shepherds and Wise Men arrive, of course.  He doesn’t know HOW they got here, but can narrate it to explain what led them to see Jesus.  They obviously explain it to him later.  But imagine his surprise as they arrive, and maybe the feeling of added confirmation that yes, this is truly the Son of God.

4.   I think the most interesting idea here of all is his connection to carpentry.  He was the carpenter and built things with wood and nails.  Jesus built a church that would stand forever, and of course there was the cross of wood that Jesus was nailed to.  Lots to preach with there, from a carpenter’s standpoint.  Lots of metaphors.  

5.  He and the Wise Men were warned in dreams about how to protect Jesus.  Joseph gets Mary and Jesus out of Bethlehem, and has the distinction of being that one guy who “saved the Savior.”  Obviously it wouldn’t happen without the God-directed dream the night before, but his obedience saved the very one who would bring salvation to all humanity.  Always thought that was interesting.

6.  We don’t focus much on Joseph at Christmas, because there’s a lot more written about Jesus and Mary, shepherds and Wise Men.  It might be a fresh take.  He may not have been the preacher, warrior, or miracle worker you see all throughout the Bible, but that “ordinary guy” is what makes up the church, the one who uses his gifts in obedience to move along and protect the message of salvation to the world.

It's Christmas in July!  We might be watching a few Christmas stories over the weekend, most notably the Grinch.  Tonight, we read from "Leia" before bedtime, and said our prayers.  We've also got some longer hospital stays this weekend, so we'll see how things go.

In Memory of Thag Simmons

School is starting soon.  Maddie is excited about her new school schedule, which she just recently received, and of course she's looking to see who else is in her classes this year.  It's not going to be a bad year, and in fact it should be a pretty good one, I suspect.  Early on though, it might get pretty busy.

Maddie was in her small group tonight, that online small group that she goes with each week, and it's still going strong.  And long.  It's fun though, and she has a good time.  Meanwhile, Mom and I were watching one of our favorite bloggers on our television, one of the ones that travels around and shows you those roadside America sort of places.  For example, we were watching his half-hour journey through that wax museum in Pigeon Forge.  While others may enjoy posing next to some strange visitors from the Uncanny Valley, Mom and I aren't exactly excited to go.  Posing for pictures next to wax celebrities doesn't sound like the most exciting thing we can do, although clearly others were happy to go through and take pictures with life-sized figures that look vaguely like celebrities.  There were other places we were watching tours of, including a Big Foot Festival and a back yard dinosaur area that was pretty immense.  I was happy to discover the story of the thagomizer.  Just to date myself, I remember the cartoon strip, "The Far Side," where an early cave man first labeled the stegosaurus tail, naming it after the late Thag Simmons. 

 Apparently, Thag must have fallen victim to that stegosaur tail, the one with spikes on it.  Anyway, further research on my end discovered that a paleontologist was giving a lecture not much later, and actually called the tail a thagomizer.  And after that, Dinosaur National Monument actually made labels with that name "thagomizer" on it.  And then it appeared in a book, and also elsewhere... and soon enough the joke spread so much that it became actuality:  today, that's the stegosaur tail name.  Hilarious.

This led to a small discussion about comic strips in newspapers, at least a few of them that I loved growing up.  My favorite for a good season was "Bloom County," of which I was a rabid fan.  I still have several books with these comics in them.  Of course, "The Far Side" was a huge comic back then.  And early on, I remember loving "Garfield" of course.  But "Calvin and Hobbes" entered the scene, and that one was a brilliant marriage of imagination and artistry.  I have books for all these, except maybe "Garfield."  Comic strips like that... I don't really know if they're that much of a thing anymore.  They aren't the thing we all scramble to look for in the daily papers, and I really don't even know if they have a section anymore in the Sunday funny pages.  That's what my dad's dad used to call them:  "The funny papers."  He'd say when leaving, "I'll see you in the funny papers!"

Anyway, we have the books filled with these comics now, and I pulled out a few to look through tonight, showing a few with Maddie.  I don't think she's interested at the moment.  Maybe later she'll scan through them.  I remember reading through them all, from "Peanuts" to "Hagar the Horrible" to even "Mark Trail" and "Dick Tracy."  The comic pages were something to look forward to, a big collection of art and humor. Some were legendary.  Some were pretty lame.  But it was a good read nonetheless.

Speaking of which, we read from "Leia" tonight, and we're moving through the story fairly quickly.  We got to bed early after that - I'm trying to get a good night's rest each night.

Giant Slip-and-Slide

It was a fun night tonight down at Braselton.  Maddie had a FCY United night to attend, one where all the campus FCY groups got together, this time at the Braselton campus.  There was a great service to start out with, and then lots of water fun outside.  There were the typical inflatable slides, but also there was a massive slip-and-slide, a giant one that went down the hill.  Maddie and her friends went down this a few times and had a great time!  Of course they were soaking wet.  There was a snow cone truck there, and hamburgers too - just the right ingredients to make a super hot day outside a little bit better.  Mom and I were inside a lot there at the campus, going through the warehouse area and then the KidPak area somewhat.  We stopped at a table and worked a bit on a few things simultaneously.

It was a fun end to the day.  We've had all kinds of things going on at KidPak, including a new series in October that we're developing - more on that in a bit.  The title below is real, but the artwork is clearly not.  It's somewhat of a joke.  

Yes this is fake.  Camille made this when we were talking about the series looking like a cover of an old pulp comic.  But we're really writing a "Believe it or Not!" series, and I'm very happy to get that ball rolling.  There are a lot of fascinating things in the Bible, lots of fun facts and trivia.  I might be more excited about this series than others, at least for the messages.  I've had this in my mind for years now.  It might warrant another trip up to Ripley's, or at least a deep dive into the Ripley's books we have.  

It was a late night when we got back.  We're tired, but we certainly made time to read from our book, and afterwards say our prayers.  Time to get a good night's rest - got to get that blood pressure down...

We're Having a Heat Wave

We're havin' a heat wave, and at the moment the best strategy is to stay indoors.  The rain frequency has just suddenly stopped, almost like the Braves' victories, and it is that sort of hot outside where you just don't really want to do anything out there, even walk around.  We are doing things, big things!  In fact, Maddie spent nearly the entire day playing Stardew Valley!  Okay, so that's not necessarily a big accomplishment in most eyes, but it was a relaxing day for her, a chance to rest before the school season gets kicked off with rocket fuel in August.  

I was looking at this blog and I realized that I haven't mentioned my little pets in a while.  Yes, the sea monkeys are doing just fine in their martian landscape.  I "Oh-Two" them each morning, as Maddie likes to call it, which is basically making sure their water is oxygenated.  They get fed once a week, despite my temptation to dabble a little food in there early.  And that's the trick I think - not overfeeding them.  They're doing well, and there are some with eggs present, so we'll see how that goes.

We've had hummingbirds outside, and though I'm not as prolific with taking pictures of them as I was last year, I still snapped a few.  There are at least two that I know of, and one of course is very territorial.  That's how hummingbirds are.  The one female sits on a branch nearby and surveys her kingdom, daring interlopers to come in and challenge her right to the feeder.    I saw a chickadee get a little too close and believe it or not this little pushy hummingbird chased it around some.  It also tried chasing around a mourning dove, but that's like a human diver trying to push around a blue whale.  

The other birds have been numerous too.  It's a pleasant past time watching all our visitors come in.

So my blood pressure has been on the rise again, and that's scary.  The treadmill died, and I need to get a new one, and all of the vacation eating may have caught up with me - plus the stress of all the things that need to be done at work.  It's been crazy.  Hopefully we can get that taken care of.  But yeah, there's a lot coming up at church, especially in December, which we're suddenly pretty worked up about right now.

Tonight there was no taekwondo or church service, so we plugged in an old movie, "Big," which Maddie's never seen before.  If it weren't for the more mature parts, this would be a great part of our Boardwalk series we used to do.  I love the Zoltar machine there - it's so creepy!  The piano scene is iconic, of course, and it makes me want to get one of those out and start playing on it.  I think we have a version of that somewhere in the house, actually.  It would be just the exercise we need each morning, hopping around on piano keys to start out the day.

Closing out the day, we read from "Leia" again, and it's a longer book from the Star Wars galaxy.  But it's been decent thus far, with Leia wanting to prove her worth and abilities to her parents, with mixed results.  It was cool to see Captain Panaka again... for a chapter, at least.  

Anyway, we said our prayers at the end of the day, and we were off to sleep.  That's another thing I need to work on - a good night's rest.  Let's do that tonight.  

Spider-man Popsicle

 

We haven't seen the ice cream truck - or heard it - all summer long, until today!  And it was perfect timing.  We've been hankering for a Spider-man popsicle ever since we've seen one in the recent movies, and so we hailed the ice cream truck to make a quick stop for us.  There was only one Spider-man popsicle, and Maddie was pretty happy to get it!  I wound up getting some chocolate, and the two of us enjoyed a nice little frozen treat before going off to taekwondo.

The day started out with us heading over to the chiropractor for a pre-school adjustment.  The three of us enjoyed the usual appointment, goofing off with Doc Williams as always.  Maddie had a plush character on the rocking horse in front of the door as he walked in, putting her own sandals on the horse's feet just to make an impression when anyone walked into the door.  It was a nice visit as we talked about the recent storms - it seems he lost a chicken coup because of a tree falling.  Indeed, the journey down there to that part of Forsyth led us past many, many fallen trees.  No wonder all these roads were closed Thursday - it must have been a mess!

We went to see Nana afterwards, and it was all business.  We had gone to the grocery store beforehand and gotten her some oranges, grapes, English candies, and the green tea she likes.  We changed the sheets while Mom helped Nana wash up some.  Maddie did a Mad-lib again - this will be an unusual collection of Mad-libs this summer, with words collected from Nana, Mom, Maddie and myself.  The results are pretty funny - we may type one completed story here.

Mom and I were dong some grocery shopping while Maddie was doing some taekwondo tonight.  We ran into some old friends, and that was nice.  They're going to a church that has services on Sunday night, and that sounds nice too - we may drop in for a few services.  Mom used to go over to her house all the time, just visiting and talking for a while about anything really. 

Tonight's feature movie was "Dr. Doolittle," but not the newest version or even the old Rex Harrison movie either.  It was the Eddie Murphy one from a few years ago.  Quite a few years ago, they had this deal with cereal box tops where if you sent in three and picked a movie from a list on the back of the cereal box, they'd send you that DVD in the mail.  Well, we got a few of them, and of course we never actually watched the movies... until now.  Yes, many years later, I finally sat down to watch the movie I got in the mail from a cereal box top offer.  Anyway, it's a fun movie - the three of us liked it.

Afterwards, we were ready to turn in though.  We read, said our prayers, and got to sleep at a reasonable hour.  No getting up early tomorrow, so that's a good thing!

Matinee Sunday

Today started out with another edition of KidPak's "At the Movies."  We moved the party downstairs, or at least the costumed characters there - you can see Maddie and a few others downstairs greeting kids and families, and a few other notables too...

It was a fun morning, pretty simple as far as this series is concerned.  We covered the movie "Trolls" again, and that seemed to go well.  We had a meeting though, and let's just say this Christmas is going to be extra busy.  Apparently, there's going to be a children's play upstairs as well as the usual large-scale Christmas production.  It's going to be a busy.
 

But first, a pool noodle fight!

Maddie was taking pictures this morning during service too, and those turned out really well.  She's been doing such a fantastic job with the photography in the mornings, getting great shots of every aspect of our service.  We post those up on the church's website gallery, and they're shared on social media later on - her pictures get better and better.

After church, we went over to Wings and Things, which is now our favorite wings restaurant.  It's also close to the movie theater, which is pretty much why we were going out to eat.  We went for the wings and had a nice meal, and finished up with enough time to head over to the theater about 40 minutes before showtime.  We walked in, and look who we saw!

It's Mrs. Garrett, Maddie's kindergarten teacher!  The four of us sat in the lobby and talked for a few moments before going in to see our movie, but Maddie spotted her right away.  We see her from time to time at school functions, and it was nice to see her here.  It's been a long time since kindergarten!

Our movie theater was empty when we got there, but again, we were about 40 minutes early.  But soon enough the entire theater began to fill up - it was actually pretty packed, considering this movie has been out since July 4th.

The movie was "The Sound of Freedom," and it's a pretty heavy subject.  The movie is in fact a movie, which is to say that it is not a documentary.  Still, the issue it raises and the work being done by brave real-life heroes today are all grounded in reality.  It is an uncomfortable subject to raise, but an important one.  Some things were tough to watch, but I'm glad we saw the movie, and again, the theater was really full.  

We got home soon after that, and the rest of the day was unpacking, a bit of genealogy, and some Ultimate Spider-man too.  We ordered some new nunchucks for Maddie for her Team Edge practices, and we did our usual reading at night.  We get to sleep in tomorrow, so that's good.  We said our prayers tonight, and sleep came pretty quickly - we were all rather tired!

Two Nanas

This morning we had a meeting of the two Nanas!  My mother came along to visit Nana, and of course Maddie and Mom were there too.

Here's a super rare picture of Maddie with her two grandmothers together.  Nana seems to be doing much better than she was the last time we were with her.  We'll be visiting more frequently now, changing sheets and cleaning up and that sort of thing.  It was a good long visit, and it was good to hang out together for a bit.  It was also very encouraging for Mom, who saw things were a bit better than last time.

It was a day of running around a bit. Maddie was at Team Edge practice this morning, followed by a small birthday party for Chris, one of the students there.  His mom brought pizza and cupcakes for everyone.  We stayed for a bit, and then were off to the grocery store for a a few items. And then, off to Nana's place.

After that, Maddie was off to another birthday party she was invited to, one for Eliza, a new cast member we've added to our KidPak group lately.  It was a little ways off, but we found her place with no problem, and Maddie had a great time with friends.  
 

Mom and I had a nice date night too, going to Chili's while Maddie was having a nice time with friends.  We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and got some ice cream for everyone - we picked up for Maddie some chocolate chip mint, and for us we picked up some butter pecan and some Smoky Mountain Fudge, which is rapidly becoming my favorite ice cream.  

Anyway, it was late when I went to go pick up Maddie, and she had a great time.  But boy, I was tired coming home - long drive.  We got home, read from our book and then it was time for prayers... and sleep!

Great Scott!

We headed back home today, driving back through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and making a few stops on the way.  Gone was the hazy poison of the Canadian fires, washed away by the dramatic rains.  The clouds hung low, or perhaps it was the mountains that jutted up high - either way, it made for a beautiful view, and one much clearer than before.  We stopped about five or six times over the mountain to check out waterfalls and streams.  We even saw turkeys this time.  Here are some shots taken by Maddie and myself as we made our way through the mountains.

We stopped in Cherokee for some more fries, and after that we were driving straight south.  We had a few more rounds of Star Wars Mad-libs that Maddie was running through with us too.  And this time when we got to Franklin, North Carolina, we stopped at a place we've been meaning to stop at for years now:

It's the Scottish Tartans Museum in Franklin, North Carolina.  This is a pretty out-of-the-way location for a Scottish Tartans Museum, but the explanation for all that is discovered inside, along with plenty of other material.  Both Mom and I have some Scottish blood in our genealogy, and I was able to find a tie there with the tartan pattern of the Lamont clan.  I plan on wearing that on Sunday for sure!  Maddie got a plush sheep she's named McShoop.  Mom found some Crunchie bars!  We got a few books and post cards, and wandered through the museum and gift shop for about an  hour or more perhaps.  

This is one of those museums that has so much information in it that you can spend hours in there just reading the vast history of such a tiny portion of the earth.  I mean, the United Kingdom is roughly the size of Georgia and Florida, and yet the amount of fighting with clans and royalty and feuds and so on... there's so much history there and bad grudges and of course kilts.

It's a fascinating tour of Scottish history with plenty of different uniforms and outfits worn by royals, commoners and soldiers of different eras in history.

It was pretty interesting.  We weren't supposed to be taking pictures of the artifacts or items so much - I think they had people coming in to document all the items there and take pictures, and that sort of defeated the purpose of visiting the museum and therefore giving the museum owners the money they needed to continue existing.  But we were told we could snap a few pictures of ourselves in the museum.  And a few others pictures of Joey the Porg too.

Look at all these swatches of patterns, each one representing a different clan.  We found one for the Lamont clan, which is where the Turners came from.  We also found several McDonald patterns, which is where the McAnn clan came from.  We learned about the "Mc" meaning - "son of," and we found out that McDonalds and Campbells have a pretty "Hatfield and McCoy" kind of history.  Oh, and yeah - there's that name McCoy again!

It was nice though, a good stop on the way home that we've been meaning to do.  It just doesn't time out that well usually, but today it did and we were glad to stop here.

Joey the Porg thought so too.  I came around the corner, and there he was at the top of the stairs, the entrance to the second part of the museum, waiting to greet me.

Moving on, we moved on!  We left Franklin, and headed south some more until we stopped at this other place we've been meaning to stop at.  It was the Blue Ridge Honey Company - they had all kinds of different honeys there, which we got a few of.  They had jarred jams and salsas there too, so we picked up some apple butter, some elderberry jelly, and some cranberry salsa that sounded interesting.  We also got some carbonated beverages that were sweetened with honey.  There were bees there to see, and sculptures and ornaments made from wax.  There were items to be used with beekeeping, and also honey candies there too.  And yes, there were plenty of little bees all over.  It was a nice little stop too!

But home we must go!  We drove home and made good time, and were glad to see the house in good order when we arrived.  Forsyth County was hit hard by the storm system we endured in Pigeon Forge with the rising waters.  Tornadoes and wind damage knocked down plenty of trees here, cutting off power all over and closing many roads only yesterday.  We saw a lot of the downed trees, but things seemed to be okay at our house, and we were grateful.

Inspired by our visit to the Scottish Tartans Museum, we watched "Brave" tonight again, one of our favorites.  It's been a long day of course, so tonight we're reading - and we'll say our prayers before going to sleep in our own beds once more.  Got a lot to do tomorrow, but we're getting a nice evening of rest tonight as the rain falls once more outside.