Payback...

The place is coming together. Well, the deck is anyway.
Actually, the couch is due to arrive today. With all of the delays so far though, we'll try not to get too excited until it's actually in place. ***UPDATE: the sofa arrived. Pictures to follow...***


So the deck is shaping up, thanks to the addition of a couple of adirondack chairs and all weather pillows. Since the deck is the biggest "room" in the house it still feels spacious and uncluttered despite the additional furniture.

Nancy seems to have found a new favorite spot too – the chiminea.
I guess the sun heats it and provides her a warm cubby-hole in which to hide/sleep.


Payback Time
A couple of weeks ago Elizabeth ran me through the family gauntlet at her father's 80th birthday party.

This past weekend I returned the "favor" by hauling her out east, to Durham, NC, to meet some of my immediate family. We also attended the 4th annual John P. "Jack" Bond Memorial Golf Tournament in Charlotte– a fund raising event for a professional organization that my father was very instrumental in and supportive of when he was alive. The event was very successful and, mercifully, not 104º like last year.

My second cousin – an admitted golf addict (though not seeking help) – even flew out from his home in Puerto Rico to attend.



(photo courtesy Jasmine Powell – my niece)

Here we are with my mother at Duke Gardens, on the campus of Duke University in Durham.
Elizabeth had to face my mother, sister, niece and nephew, maternal grandmother, great aunt, uncle, second cousin, assorted family friends (including the renowned historian Dr. John Hope Franklin). Not quite the extended family I faced, but daunting none the less. She doesn't look too stressed in the above photo, does she?

Following are an assortment of photos from our walk on Duke's west campus, including Duke Chapel and Duke Gardens...