Random

Libby's Uncle Reid turned 97 recently. She took all three boys with her to visit for 24 hours a couple of weeks ago to celebrate (I am still reveling in having the house to myself for that brief respite!!) She took a couple of pictures of the trio for Reid who is an historic train buff.

This is what I have to work with at church. These are a couple of shots of kids in our youth bell ensemble. Goof balls one and all! The "older" person, in blue (who ought to know better than be photographed with this lot) is our education ministry intern this year, Kathryn.

The dogwood in the front yard bloomed in early April and looked pretty nice. And then the blooms faded. And then they fell off, all at once, one night. The station wagon looked like it had been in an Indian wedding! It was pretty cool!

Montreat Trails

Montreat has a pretty nice system of trails throughout the area. We have a couple of maps and have made our way one a few of the trails. With this post I am going to try to document our exploration of the trails.

Last summer a couple of dads and boys from Cub Scouts hiked to Walker's Knob. It was a fairly ambitious hike for 5th graders, but the view from the Knob was stunning. It was a glorious Sunday afternoon, and the sky was amazingly clear. We'll have to do it again, and press on from there to Greybeard (that will take a whole day, I think).

Several weeks ago I took Briggs and Eli on the Gate Trail on a Sunday afternoon to get us all out of Libby's hair while Calvin napped. It's an easy walk straight along Montreat Road and beside the Falling Creek. We stopped when we got to the playground, though it goes just a wee bit further to the Nature Hut. Up and back is just about two miles.

More recently the whole family set off on the Lookout Trail. The first 300 yards are seemingly straight up. But at a crossroads we switched to the Trestle Trail, which as one might imagine is pretty level. We hiked around the cove to a very nice shelter. Out and back was probably three miles. I did it with Calvin in a baby backpack. Don't need to do that again soon!

Today Eli and I took the whole length of the Lookout Trail, to the Lookout Point. It was cloudy and rainy at home, but from the point, above the fog, we had a pretty good view across the valley and into Montreat, and even a bit of Black Mountain. We went a little further (and a little higher) and hopped on the East Ridge Trail. That took us over Boggs' Bunion and through a very lovely forest on the ridge. We walked about 20 yards out of our way and saw the Tollroad Trail (we'll hike that someday), but went the other way ultimately, on Buck Gap Trail (which goes straight down in our case!!) and took a breather at the same shelter mentioned above. From there it was a pretty easy jaunt back around the Trestle Trail, down the lower part of Lookout and to the parking lot. We figure it's about 5 miles. Eli needed to orienteer a 5 miler to gain rank in Scouts, so we used his compass for this one.

I keep you posted on other hike we take in the future.

Weather extremes

I mentioned we had snow on 4/7. We also had an incredibly warm spell shortly thereafter. I had not yet unbolted the windows in the entry and study, so it was really stuffy for a couple of days in that part of the house. That area used to be a porch, and it was closed in on the cheap: no insulation we can find and hand-crank windows which don't do much other than keep the big drops out. So I finally got everything opened up in time for more moderate weather, and the long rainy spell we've have (rain on 22 out of the last 24 days or something amazing like that). But tonight Libby says the bolts have to go back in: it's supposed to be near 30 overnight for the next few weeks! I thought I was done with the kero-heater, but maybe not!

Easter

Faye and Greg and Kristen joined us for Easter. After church Kristen helped the boys dye the eggs and then hid them in the yard. Funny how something so simple kept them so entertained!

Wedded bliss

We celebrated 20 years on 4/8. The day of our wedding rehearsal it snowed in Eden, NC. Twenty years later to the day it snowed in Black Mountain. The flakes were bigger (above) back then, but you can the the gathering snow on the grill cover below. We think it's a good sign.

Getting in on the act

Not to be outdone, here is Calvin, all tricked out in Duke attire, having a go at one of Briggs' soccer practices. Blurry, but you get the idea.

Briggs and soccer

Briggs has always loved balls. Any kind of balls were fine; he loves them all. But he has a special fondness for tennis balls, basketballs, baseballs and soccer balls. We signed him up for soccer the first winter we were here. It was mostly lost on him. We signed him up this year and he had a blast. He was one of the best in his group; it didn't hurt that he was one of the oldest. But he had a blast. Here's a picure.

Two months?

I can't believe it's been better than two months since I posted. So herewith, a flurry of spinrg doings!