Walking in Memphis

My husband and I spent the last four days in Memphis, TN, visiting with my brother and his lovely family. On a radiant day on Thursday, we went peach picking, which I'd never done before. Other than the errant horse fly, the outing was fun and we came home with a good crop of white peaches.

My brother also picked some delicious nectarines, which, along with the apples and blueberries we bought at the orchard store, made for quite the bounty.

With the peaches, my talented niece learned to make a cobbler on Thursday and then an apple pie on Friday. Both were delicious although we all agreed that the white peaches were not as sweet as the yellow ones so we're going to stick to those for pie making in the future.

Also on Friday, after lunching at Gus's Fried Chicken, our very favorite, we went to the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum in Memphis, which was very interesting and educational for everyone. The magnolia tree in front of the house, which served as a refuge for escaped slaves, is hundreds of years old.

The visit to my brother's was wonderful and spending time with him and his family was a great bonus in a summer that has, up until now, been mostly work, work, work and little play.

Today, I'm back home but with no scheduled trips to my small college on the hill over the next two weeks. I'm definitely going to make the most of the unscripted time before it all revs up again on the week of August 19 when I'm already scheduled up there for four of the seven days. Classes begin anew on August 29, which seems much too soon.

Here's hoping that my short time off doesn't fly away too quickly!