Thursday. But It's About Jack....

Jack was in a snit again.  He finally got over his little tizzy about the Vermont trip and started coming out and photo-bombing everything again.  He waited.  And he waited.  And he waited some more.  Until he ran out of patience, which honestly took longer than I might have thought it would.  Jack was back, but I was not posting his pictures for his fan club.  In Jack's mind that club is quite large.  Let's just leave him with his illusions intact, shall we?  He believed he had no choice but to take drastic measures.  He took some of my books hostage.

So even though it is Thursday and technically I have designated Tuesdays as Jack's day, here we are.  Oh, that Jack!

Earlier this month Jack went to the Big City with me to run errands.

I told you he had adapted to car trips in the South, didn't I?

It was grocery shopping day, and I do grocery shopping like my mother used to.  I scope out who has the sales and I go to multiple stores.  On this particular day we wound up at Sprouts Farmers Market (new to our area and still have their introductory prices going on)

Then we went to Aldi's (my favorite)

Jack likes the roomy cart.

We also went to Sam's and later to Walmart, but Jack was worn out with shopping by then and opted to take a nap in the car.

Later, we went by my brother's house to drop some things off for him.  Jack was quite impressed with all the potted plants they have.

He finds container gardening more suited to his stature.

When we got home Jack directed the unloading of the groceries from the car (what would I do without him?!).  

This  past weekend Junior invited me to go to Gallabrae with him in Greenville, SC.  Having grown up in Greenville and not having been back for many  years, I hastily and gratefully accepted.  Junior is not, however, a member of Jack's fan club.  What Junior doesn't know won't hurt him, right?  Jack rode in the back seat this time.

When we got there the pipers started tuning for the Great Scots! parade through downtown.

Oh, that Jack!

I'll write more about the trip later ~ this is Jack's post after all.  It was a fun walk down Memory Lane.  I was all ready to take Jack's picture where we stopped for supper that night, but I had to measure Junior's displeasure with Jack's hurt feelings.  Jack got over it.

The next day we took off bright and early for Furman University.  Furman is a lovely place.  Both my brothers, my middle sister, my oldest brother's wife, one of my cousins, and numerous family friends all attended there in the 1970's and 1980's.  One summer I went to String Camp there for two weeks.  Yes, I used to play the violin.  Despite String Camp, it didn't take, but it was a fun two weeks.

Once we got Junior unloaded, Jack and I took off for a walk.  We found so many lovely places.

 Furman's famous Bell Tower,

The dining hall that looks over the lake,

The rose garden,

 

The old Italian gazebo in the rose garden,

I have to tell you, that is one big campus for a small(ish) college.  We felt as though we had walked for miles.

We were both relieved to find these at the Activities Center.

We walked past the football stadium.  Jack wanted to have his picture made, but it was locked up tight and he did not want to try to balance on this fence.  Can you blame him?

There is an interesting story about Furman football.  Back in the 1970s Sports Illustrated wrote a little blurb just before the national championship about Furman.  That was the year that Furman should have been in the championship game.  And they should have been playing themselves.  You see, Furman beat the team that beat the team that beat the team...etc....etc....that was in first place.  Furman also beat the team that beat the team that beat the team...etc...etc.....that was in second place.  Those may have been the only two games they won that year, but win they did.  So truly the game should have been Furman vs. Furman.  You see?

Jack saw.  He was so excited he called Sports Illustrated to confirm the story.  Jack has connections; I don't know how he got through, but they confirmed the story.

After the games were over ~ and Palmetto Pipes and Drums gave a respectable performance ~ Jack and Junior and I went for a quick tour of some of my favorite places in Greenville.  

We visited Second Presbyterian Church where my Dad was the pastor from 1964-1975.  It is a beautiful place.  I still dream about it sometimes.  It has more buildings now, and more security concerns (which means we were not able to go inside.  Sniffle).  A funny thing has happened since 1975.  My memory is that there were two stories above the Sanctuary level in the main building.  Oddly enough, they have torn down the top story so that there is only one story above the Sanctuary now.  I don't know how they managed to do that and leave everything looking so good from the outside.  Junior suggested that my memory was slightly impaired.  Nonsense!  

When we were little the Scout Hut was out back in the far corner of the parking lot.  

It is still there.

Then we drove from the church to the street where I grew up.  It was a loooong drive (and an even longer walk) when I was a little girl.  Somehow they have removed some of the distance since then.  Before I knew it we were turning onto West Prentiss Avenue.  When I was a little girl, West Prentiss Avenue was miles and miles long.  Again, somehow the city of Greenville has managed to shorten the street.  Before I knew it we were right in front of the house we lived in as children.  I stopped.  I informed Junior and Jack that I was going to take a picture.  They elected to stay in the car blushing at my boldness.  The family who live there now have three small children, and the entire family were playing in the yard.  I asked if I might take a picture and they were so kind and gracious about it.  The Mother took a picture of me standing on the front porch.

The window on the top left was my room.

After a brief visit, I got back in the car and we drove home.  I would have loved to have seen the old schools, and playgrounds, and zoo, and friends, and cousins.  However it was the tail end of a long day, so we opted to go on home.  We were all quite glad to get back again; Jack is still recovering from all the excitement. 

I imagine that we will be in the car and going again soon.  It's hard to keep still when your Garden Gnome is an adventurer!