BARBARA'S BIRTHDAY BONANZA

Daily highlights from our recent journey:

MONDAY: Arrive in Greenville, SC @ 11:30am, rent the hot red Mustang and drive east & up towards Mt. Toxaway to Pinky and John's house. We arrive at 1:30, hang out until 6pm when ak's mom is to arrive for birthday cocktails. We hid in the bedroom until Pinky announced that someone special should give his mom her 70th birthday toast. Axel and I came out of the bedroom, and she was absolutely floored! She COULD NOT believe that we were there! Many bottles of bubbly were consumed, and the group went to our fave Italian restaurant and really whooped it up. A very special, fun and emotional evening :)

TUESDAY: Rainy day, hung around the house and viewed ak's mom's new paintings, and picked 4 of her pieces for an upcoming show at the country club. Grocery shopped, gabbed, and she taught us to do Suduko...I got a migraine doing my first puzzle and had to medicate myself.

WEDNESDAY: Sunny day, walked around the golf course. Her house sits above the 2nd tee, and the flora/fauna array is amazing, especially with all the rain they've had. Ak's mom played in the regular Wed Nite Twilight golf game, and then we met the whole crony crown up at the club for dinner. What a riot! As usual, akjn fit right in with this crowd, and were the last table to leave. The wrinkle ranch crowd can down vast quantities of alcohol, and akjn kept up, mainly because they can't last past 10:30 (especially when thier cocktail hour starts at 3:30pm) The best couple of the night were Dave and Carmen-Dave is full USA grade(corn fed and 6'5"), and Carmen is from Mexico City, is 5 ft tall, and talks a mile a minute with her hands...we found out we both were obsessed with Project Runway, and were just overjoyed with each other, yelling "auf Wiedersehen" & "Make it work" across the table. Back home we hung out in front of the fire, and laughed about the evening.

THURSDAY: Dinner party at Pinky and John's. The gentleman who ended up across from me grew up on Ardmore, PA, and we remarked on how small of a world it really is. He went on to tell me that his wife Mimi was the founder and editor of Gourmet magazine....I then hoped that I would not say anything stupid, but was pleasantly surprised at his interest and questions as to the technologies akjn use, how blogging works, what kind of TV we have and what should he get, and our opinions of the future....sometimes I have weird flashes when I realize that I am a grown-up, not 17, and have opinions and viewpoints that are valid...this was one of those times. Great conversation is so satisfying.

FRIDAY: We went for a shopping trip into Highlands, NC, another 20 or so miles down the road due east. They have a walking street, reminiscent of Media's State Steet, minus the Esacada, Gucci and Rosenthal Furrier stores. It was a perfect end of summer-beginning of fall crisp day as we toured shops and many galleries showing exciting art exposing new techniques, materials and concepts. I was so inspired that actually did some sketchng later in the day, surprising myself as I have not done so since high school.

SATURDAY: Akjn was supposed to return to PHL this day, but decided to extend our trip until Tuesday-just having to much fun, as well as trying to get our schedules coordinated for the holidays coming up. Ak's mom and I decided to take a short "walk" down to the waterfalls of Horse Pasture River. On the way, we cut into a small path that opened up to a clearing that was a small family cemetery..the dates on the stones went back to he 1600's. It wasn't creepy, but amazing that this family has left their mark on that land forever. We then continued down to a set of falls, and met with some fishermen and kids skipping stones...very Norman Rockwell. Every 2 minutes or so, a trout would try to jump up the falls. Then she decided we should trek to the other side of the falls to see them from the other perspective-this is when the walk turned into the hike. At first, I was only on the look out for snakes and ticks, until ak's mom says "oops, I should have brought the bear whistle with us". YIKES! It was all I could do not to freak out, so I plodded on over roots, spongy ground, ancient creaky wood bridges, avoiding suspicious sand, and trying not to fall on my azz into wet, moldy, 'don't know what's under there' leaves. We finally made it to the other side, stayed about one minute, then we both practically ran back they way we came...of couse we laughed about it as we walked back to the house, but I needed and took a Valium once we got there.
Later, we went to a dinner party at Bunny's, met the artist Bette Conningsby, and a woman named Dotsie that lived in Swarthmore and attended Media High School...again with the small world. Akjn had to back everyone's car out of Bunny's driveway for them at the end of the evening-again with the drinks :)

SUNDAY: A rainy day...did some home repair and cleaning, ak hooked his mom up with wireless for the house, and we made a tree inspection around the property-we found 1 dead pine that should come down. We then went and visited with Wanda and Pete, friends from FL, and checked out their new gazeebo on the Horse Pasture River. Outside party palace is more like it-the 'gazeebo' is fully equipped with kitchen, bar, working tap, and three sitting areas. The only thing missing is a loo for the ladies. Had a casual dinner out with them, then came home and watched a movie in front of the fire.

MONDAY: We were up at 8:45am to watch the Ladies Summer Final golf tournament. Ak's mom and foursome showed up at the 2nd tee at about 9:30am...we waved and gave encouragement. They had a big luncheon at the club afterwards, so ak and I had lunch in the "grille" downstairs, which was full of the grumpy husbands of the wives upstairs-pretty funny.
Once the luncheon was done, the three of us hit the driving range. It was hilarious and fun, and making me think a bit about the golf-another fun thing to do with ak's mom. I can't do the tennis with her-too sweaty, and you have to show some thigh in those short skirts.
We ate a great dinner at a new sushi place. They had a crispy crab salad that we are attempting to recreate in our kitchen. We'll share it once perfected. Again we enjoyed sitting in front of the fire, and I can do the Soduku now, but only when I feel like it, not daily. I come home to find out that my mom totally rocks at it!

TUESDAY: We had a wonderful brunch, then packed the car and headed south back to Greenvile in the 'Stang to catch our flight home. The Greenville airport is regional and small, but also clean and chill. There was a bar next to our gate that allowed you to walk around with your drinks. Our flight was delayed an hour, which usually causes ak to get peeved actually became delightful- ak got a bit bombed and was singing out loud to his ipod, walking around with his vodka-tonics. Good times, good times! We were sad to leave, but are looking forward to our adventures with ak's mom in November.

Editor's note: During the trip, ak pointed out to his mom that many of her friends have working girl names: Pinky, Bunny, Mimi, Dotsie....she found it pretty funny!

Also, don't forget to check out the pics from the trip below in my pevious post!