Too Busy for Words?

Piper Sisson

Yipes! It's June already...and I haven't written a word since April. I can't blame it all on the beautiful black lab in the picture above but we have been busy since she came to stay with us in late May. Piper is 5 years old (acts like 2!) and I am fostering her for a family in Fayetteville. Her dad is deployed in Afghanistan and her mom is expecting their 4th child this fall. So Piper is staying with Pumpkin and me until her dad gets home at the end of the year. She is a sweet, bright girl who is afraid of everything. We are working on the theory that a tired dog is a happy dog and a dog who doesn't have the energy to worry about everything!

I remember a friend of mine in Raleigh, several years ago, telling me his cure for worry. You go out for a walk and keep walking until all you can worry about is how you are going to get home! I think of him every time Piper and I walk too far up the Blue Ridge Parkway and then I wonder if I will have to carry her home. It's good to have a dog again, if only temporarily.

It has finally turned summer in the mountains, but most days we can still go without air conditioning. I took my last trips for a while recently - one to Burke's Garden, Va. (if you've never been it is worth the trip). A very dear friend spent her summers there and so for her 90th birthday her family invited me to go for a visit with them. It was beautiful and fun...so many stories; all the better for being told by someone you love! I really had a good time. My other trip was to Fayetteville and then Topsail Beach to visit with friends in both places. I am not as fond of the beach as many but I really enjoyed this event which involved friends who are family. There is something about adding children to an occasion that makes it more fun. Our last night at the beach we were all children: dancing as if no one was watching!

So now I am home for the long summer stretch and ready to pull weeds, clean windows, paint the front door and welcome friends and family who come to visit to this mountain wonderland. And...I intend to write more here...so stay tuned to our adventures.