Four-generation breakfast

Friday morning we all met at the Inn for breakfast. Barbara and Vee and I woke up at the Days inn and drove up there. Ben and Wolf and Nathaniel drove up from their apartment in Arden, and Brandon walked over from his employee housing. The dining room at the inn usually has a spectacular view, but it was rainy and foggy this morning. But the view of little Nathaniel with his mother and father, his uncle, his grandfather and grandmother and his great-grandmother, all sitting around the same table was beautiful. It almost brought tears of joy to my eyes. Everybody was happy. After breakfast Nathaniel went to the doctor for his eight-week check-up, and to get some inoculations. All is well. We met over at Ben and Wolf's later, and sat around quietly while Nathaniel and Wolf took naps.

In the afternoon, we went to a Chinese buffet for a late lunch and then drove to a shopping center to catch a shuttle bus into downtown Asheville to see their big annual street fair and festival, known as Bele Chere. (www.belechere.com) There were vendors, performers, street musicians and thousands and hundreds of thousands of people. Most of the main streets downtown were closed to traffic and opened to pedestrians. We walked all over and had a great time. Finally, around 9 p.m. we ended up at the marble slab creamery, where we got ice cream. Then we took the shuttle back to our cars and returned home, exhausted. Even though I am an experienced runner I was very tired. I can only imagine how tired my 87-year-old mother-in-law was.