Bridge, Friends and RAIN at Park's Peak!

Jennifer, Pat, Deb, Diane, Chris, and Tommi

When you retire, "weekend" takes on a different meaning.  Any stretch of three days can be a "weekend"!!  Six of us gathered for a retirees weekend at Park's Peak - Sunday through Tuesday!!  Our mission was to play bridge, enjoy the mountains and teach Tommi to play!  Two out of three wasn't bad - it rained from Sunday night through Tuesday!!  So while hiking, shopping or boat tours didn't materialize... A LOT of bridge playing, laughing, wine drinking, snacking and good food did!!

Tommi had been reading her Bridge for Dummies and Dave had tutored her once before she arrived.  Sunday night she paired with Pat and Chris and began to get the hang of the game and by Tuesday morning she collected three 700 rubbers without her opponents scoring a point!!

She also had the hand of the weekend with 10, that's T-E-N clubs.  We looked up the odds on Google and they only gave them for 9 in a suit!! Astronomical!! 

With RAIN, rain, and MORE RAIN we did play more bridge than planned.  No one wanted to drive down the mountain in the middle of a cloud!!  So they will have to come back and explore Chimney Rock, our crafty nearby towns, and boat rides.

Of course when 6 women get together, there is plenty of food!  We celebrated Jennifer's birthday a few days early, enjoyed terrific ham biscuits (Tommi don't forget to distribute the recipe!), a honey baked ham, great veggies and slaw, and waaaaay too many brownies, jelly beans (the size of gems!), chex mix,  and some cheese and fruit!  Then there was the wine and tending the fire (and its almost MAY!!)

I hope this becomes a regular event at Park's Peak!

SPRING BREAK ON PARK'S PEAK

It's down to the wire for Emily in nursing school and she had to work 5 night shifts in 6 days during Abbie and Ella's Spring Break   We were delighted to help out by having the girls at Park's Peak.  The week was filled with painting, construction, swinging on vines, panning for gems, climbing to Hickory Nut Falls, and spending time with their Great Aunt Sharon and Uncle Richard!

The girls helped me paint the benches on the front porch and a "Directions Art Project".  We researched where towns were that bore all of our first names.  Mine was the furthermost at Deb, Nepal, India.  Abbie loved that hers was both on a beach, and had a French spelling, Cote d'Ivorie!  Dave has become the spray paint artist, and spray painted the tops of the leaf stools for me and a stop in Chimney rock for tea towels yielded pillows for the new rockers and old swing!

In between painting, the girls discovered severed grape vines from David's orchard project and imagined they were Tarzan and Jane flying over the jungle (at least 6 inches off the ground!)!!  While gnawing into an apple (that's what you do without any front teeth!), Ella preserved most of her apple seeds and had Granddaddy plant the core so that she would have an apple tree in the orchard!  This is what is so terrific about having the granddaughters at Park's Peak:  the best memories are those that cost nothing and come from exploring and their imaginations!!

Planting Ella's Apple Core

Dave's project of the month has been the laundry room.  He has been determined to get it finished.  I now have the best laundry room in Bat Cave!!  AND he has one set of doors out of the way so that he can start the next project (closet at the other end of the room).  He's trying desperately to clear out the basement of sheet rock and doors so that he can begin to work on the wine cellar (and my kitchen cabinets?)

But sometimes you need a construction break and a little "civilization"...so on Wednesday we ventured down to Chimney Rock and the gem mines.  Ella was afraid she was going to have to wield a pick ax in a cave and was delighted to pan for gems in the water flume!!  We know that the buckets are "salted" but that didn't take away from the girls delight at finding rubies, crystalite,  and geodes.

Thursday brought a visit from my sister, Sharon and Richard.  Good food, wine, and movies were followed the next day with a hike to the bottom of Hickory Nut Falls from Chimney Rock.  The grown ups earned their beers keeping up with the girls, and the girls delighted in both the falls and the river.  Family time is the best!!

Sunsets are always special with family

Then you get to tell stories by the fire... even in April!!

We made it!!

Niece - Aunt bonding time!

Beers in Chimney Rock.... while...

The girls eat ice cream  by the river

After the girls left, Dave and I returned to finish up a few projects and to prepare for Deb's Girls Bridge Weekend.  Dave had bought a soft top for his jeep and needed to take the hard top off and store it here.  While not heavy it was too awkward and high for Deb to lift so he had to rig a pulley system on the 2 story deck and pull it up so that he could drive the jeep out from under it.  I wish I had taken pictures.  First we tried to lift it to no avail... then there was the "thinking time in the hot tub", where he engineered the pulley and rope system... next, there was the executing of his plan.  Now this all started about 6 pm which mean dark and supper time was approaching... of course a 20% chance of rain (it didn't) meant he then had to put the soft top ON the jeep, which by this time we were in the dark (and up here it is DARK), which meant much holding of flashlights and words we were glad the girls were not here to hear!  Let's just say we ate hamburgers about 10:30 and fell into bed!!  And unfortunately, the next day was too chilly to ride with the top of the jeep open.  I'll take my BMW with its one button system, seat and neck heaters any day!!

EASTER ON PARK'S PEAK

Easter on Park's Peak had a terrific family theme!  The kids began arriving Friday about lunch time.   After exploring their old trails, Abbie decided she was going to help her Granddad shovel dirt.  Dave got her a short shovel, and figured she'd last perhaps 10 minutes.  She wore him out!!  He would try to take a break, and she'd announce, "I'm not a quitter!"  After they spread the dirt on Friday, she helped with the mulch on Saturday.  Meanwhile, Dave needed hot tub therapy badly!!

Abbie is the super helper

Of course with Easter comes dying Easter Eggs.  We broke so many we had to call and text Uncle Clay to bring up more eggs so that Mom could fix the Easter Feast Saturday night!!

With Uncle Clay's arrival on Saturday, the hiking began.  They explored part of Chimney Rock State Park that is at the end of Shumont  Road.  From one of the rock outcroppings, they could see Lake Lure.  Abbie proved just as strong of a hiker as she was a shovel-er!

Saturday night brought the Easter Feast of salmon on the new green egg (see in background of egg dying picture - Dave made a new, terrific nest!), sweet potato quiche and an Easter Egg made of fruit.  Ella proved she can measure flour and sugar and break eggs and  helped Gammy make carrot cake blondies. They were a hit.  We barely had enough left for dessert at the feast!  We timed the feast for half time of the first game of the Final 4 and enjoyed watching both games, though they would have been better with ACC teams!

Sunday we worshiped at The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Bat Cave.  David liked the old church pews and mountain architecture and the girls liked the egg hunt after church.  Having eaten all of the dessert at the feast was NOT a problem, as the Easter Bunny provided a LOT of candy.  

That is what is so great about  being a grandmother at Easter!  You sugar up the grandkids and then send them home with their parents!! LOL  Emily sent me this picture from the stop sign in Lake Lure...Looks like the sugar didn't last long!!

We ended the blessed day with Jesus Christ Superstar live... remembering the first time we saw it more than 45 years ago in Greenville among protesters from Bob Jones University!!  It stands the test of time well...