On Friday we went for a walk in Cherry Park, then to Panera's for lunch, and ended up on our deck to chat against a backdrop of bird song and wind chimes. I'm the only one without a smart phone and there were some manly competitions as to who could pull up information first. Don't trust Martha's sweet smile; she had her phone with her too!
This was the last weekend of Come-See-Me and we went to Winthrop Lake Friday evening for a picnic and "Moonlight Jazz and Blues." The jazz was so-so (it may have been good; I'm just not much of a jazz person) and the weather got kind of cool as time progressed so we left after about an hour but it was so nice to be outside together.
Saturday was rainy. We tried to do the Come-See-Me Garden Tour but that got canceled, so we drove up to Ballantyne to watch Win Win. It was very good; I think all three of us liked it a lot. Since we were so close to the Barnes & Noble in Pineville we stopped off there so Ken could buy a Nook; he has some sort of geeky techy intention for it that I never fully understood. I don't think I probably ever could understand, but it made him a happy camper. After a sinful dinner at CiCi's Pizza (yum) we went home and watched Something's Gotta Give at Martha and Ken's suggestion (actually they recommended It's Complicated but there was failure in communication not worth explaining) and although I don't typically like romantic comedies, it was excellent. Since we watched the 'wrong' movie Saeed and I put It's Complicated in our Netflix queue at position #1.
Sunday it was beautiful again. I had to do some laundry that morning (Monday and the need for clean uniforms was looming around the corner) but we met for lunch at Moe's before our planned walk on the Riverwalk Trail.
Munchin' on some Moe's
The Riverwalk Trail is a 2 ¼ mile asphalt trail offering scenic views of the Catawba River. It is part of the City of Rock Hill’s Trails and Greenways System as well as the Carolina Thread Trail, a regional network of trails and greenways spanning 15 counties. The trail will eventually connect to other parts of the Riverwalk development. Nearly everyone we saw were walkers like us (there was one guy in a wheelchair too) but it is open for cycling and we did see two people on bikes. I think if there are a lot of walkers it would be difficult to safely ride very fast, but to be honest, the hilly terrain would keep me going slowly anyway!
Some of the trail goes close enough to the Catawba River for a nice view across to the other side.
We didn't need the rest but these four stump chairs needed to be sat upon.
In the distance we could see an old railroad trestle, not knowing that it would be at this point that the trail stops to loop around and go back the way we came.
I was standing at the water's edge looking back up to the King and Queen of the hill.
Halfway point below the trestle
Although the trail ends the river meanders on enticingly. If you enlarge this picture you can see some kayakers in the distance.
At home we ate dinner and then headed over to Ken and Martha's campsite. Here they are showing Saeed the marvels of RV living. It is quite amazing to think that everything one needs to live very comfortably for months on end can fit into the size of a Greyhound bus.
Ken built us a nice fire so that we could make...
... s'mores! Saeed had never heard of s'mores; I guess they don't have boy scouts in Iran, so Ken showed him how to build the perfect s'more.
Wearing a beard while eating s'mores is not advised.
Of course I have marshmallow all over my lips too, just not in my beard. What can you do? You just have to give it to the sticky perfection. Notice Martha's singed-black marshmallow. We decided that even burnt marshmallow tastes great, but we also decided that Martha is a marshmallow-roasting-challenged person. She says she does it on purpose. Uh huh. :-)
This last picture holds some significance for Martha and me. Years ago M & K took me to their campground in Woodhaven and we roasted marshmallows for s'mores then too. We took a picture just like this, only with fewer gray hairs and wrinkles. It's really hard to have your only sister 800 miles away. It's hard to stay as close as we'd like, but visits like this really remind me of how special my sister is and how much I want to stay close to her.
