"My teacher told me.....

......the best way to preserve something was to smoke it or pickle it......I've done both".

This is a quote from one of my Dad's close friends who unexpectedly passed away this week. John....or Wiggins as we called him was one of my favorites among my grocery business "Uncles". As Dad said on Thursday night....Wiggins lived life to the fullest and we were all just lucky enough to get to watch it. Wiggins and Peggy had a house at the beach just a couple of blocks from Dad's place. Every time I was down there you could tell that Wiggins had come to check on the place, that's just the kind of guy he was. He had either pulled in the patio furniture from a storm, let a repair man in, or drank all of the vodka. For girls trips to the beach, he'd call and check in on us and offer to join us in our festivities....now I wish he had.

I have 2 favorite memories of Wiggins. One is him making country ham biscuits at every MDI food show. He was ALWAYS there, and I can picture every detail in my mind. Who's going to make them now? The other one is from several years ago. We were at the beach with Luther and Libby and went to Wiggins for dinner. He had been out floundering and was frying it outside......when the regulator came off. There were flames shooting everywhere.....it still makes me laugh (after the fact anyway). He just reached over and turned it off....crisis averted.

Tomorrow will be a sad day, but Wiggins would not want us to be sad. He'd want us sitting around enjoying each other's company with some adult beverages. Going to the beach just won't be the same.

If he was here today I'd thank him for everything. I'm just glad I was lucky enough to know him. If this teaches us anything, it's to live life to the fullest....Wiggins sure did.

Here's the obituary from the Charlotte Observer:
John D. Wiggins MONROE -- Mr. Wiggins, 71, went to be with his Heavenly Father on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at Carolinas Medical Center-Union surrounded by his loving family. John was born December 1, 1935 in Bryson City, NC to Dee and Rosalie Wiggins, he Was a Korean War veteran and a food broker. Funeral services to celebrate the life of John will be 11:00 AM on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at Benton Heights Presbyterian Church, with his pastor, The Rev. Paul Saleeby and friend, Rev. Britt Hadley officiating, entombment will follow in Lakeland Memorial Mausoleum. Survivors include his wife, Peggy McManus Wiggins of the home, daughters, Bobbi Harter and husband, Gary, of Simpsonville SC, Jill Fagala and husband John of Monroe, NC; son, Tony Traywick and fiancee, Vickie Goddard of Fort Mill, SC; six grandchildren; sisters, Pat Lundsford, Marsha Croft, both of Gastonia, NC; brother, Bill Wiggins of Dyersburg, TN. In lieu of flowers, the family request that memorials be made to Benton Heights Presbyterian Church Building Fund, 2701 Concord Hwy., Monroe, NC 28110 or to Camp Debbie Lou, a camp for terminally ill children, PO Box 3967, Hickory, NC 28603. The family will receive friends from 6:00 until 8:00 PM Friday at the McEwen Funeral and Cremation Service of Monroe.

Wonderful book

I just finished "Vanity Fair" by William Makepeace Thackeray, all 754 pages of it. I was not excited about it at first, but it's on the reading list I'm using, so I decided to give it the old college try. It was wonderful. Some of the best character developments I've read in a long time. It may even be my new favorite book......that's a pretty long list though.

Onto the next one.

Wish we were there...

The two future roomies in Spain.....I think they're in Barcelona now. Kristen is in Europe this week with a group from Hibriten. I'm sooooooo jealous. On the left is her roommate to be Chelsea and Kristen's on the right. Congratulations are in order for Chelsea too. We found out yesterday at lunch with Dad and Debbie that she made the dance team at State.

Good news this weekend....we finally have a healthy "child". Patches got a clean bill of health yesterday. Yippee!!!! It's a good thing too, I was about ready to get a part time job at the vet to see if I could get a discount. Ha. Pet insurance people......get it while they're young, it's worth every penny. The two boys survived their procedures on Thursday and are doing well. They're back to their same old rotten selves.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there! Hope it was a great one!

P.S. Looks like the Heels just lost.......there's still hope though. Go Tar Heels!!!

We laughed until we cried......

After working around the house all night, we caught up on this year's "Last Comic Standing". Thank God for Gerry Dee! We had to pause it we were laughing so hard.

As promised....

As the title of the picture said....."Proud Pop".








My new guilty pleasure for Summer 2007....."So You Think You Can Dance?". I just love it. I think somewhere deep down, I have a inner dancing queen.....now if I just had the talent.

That by the time we get through, The world will never ever be the same

We're back from our million mile weekend. Hooterville to Hudson, to Lake Junaluska, to Lenoir, back to LJ, Hudson again, and finally back home. It was worth every mile. Congratulations again Kristen! We are both so very proud of you. Thank you for letting us be part of your big day.




Our graduation gift to Kristen was a college survival kit (she'll need it....she's going to that red school down the road). It had everything from Ramen noodles to blue books. We had to explain what blue books were, she'll know soon enough. Thank you to all of the girls for giving me ideas of stuff to put in it, Mike's mom for embroidering the blanket, and to Mike for carrying it around for me.


Saturday night we took a walk ALL the way around the lake. The chapel is one of my favorite spots.











On our walk we saw several of the lake's natives. This is one of many rabbits that blessed us with their presence. We got to see the resident cairn terrier, Halley, again this year too. I said before we started that I wanted to see lots of animals.....man did I get my wish.




Could someone please tell me what kind of tree this is? It is right across from the cottage we stay in and I love it. All I know is that it's in the dogwood family, but the blooms are square. I've got a fairly green thumb and as a North Carolina girl, I know a lot of the plants.....but this variety has me befuddled. I've got close ups if needed.



It's Race for the Cure time again too! We hope to have our blog for Harold's Angels up and going again soon. In the meantime you can check out our team page at http://www.komencharlotte.org/goto/haroldsangels. Thank you to Mike's Cousin Jack for starting our fundraising efforts....first again this year.

Congratulations are in order for Matt F. from college. He is the proud new father of Liam. Of course the pictures are on my computer at work.....I'll try to remember to post one tomorrow.

In the words of the Salutatorian Friday Night at the end of his graduation speech......Go Tar Heels!!

And just like that....it was gone.

This morning around 10:30 am what was once known as "The Hive" to many of us was imploded. Mike made fun of me, but I got kind of teary eyed (but again, I do that at a lot of stuff). This is where I saw my first concert, went to my first professional sports game with my Dad, attended many UNC games (ACC and Pepsi Tourneys), and was where Mike took me on one of my favorite dates early on to the circus. I wonder what happened to the souvenir vendor Gloria? She sold us my stuffed elephant.......that we named after her. The Charlotte Coliseum holds many memories for both of us and was around less than 20 years. It seems like it's been longer than that. How will I tell people where I work now.....next to where the Coliseum used to be? We enjoy the new arena, but it's somehow just not the same....but we'll cheer on the Bobcats and the Checkers the same way we once did the Hornets. Those first few seasons were a special time, and I know I'll cherish those memories for many years to come (and memories of Rex Chapman).

We've had a pretty laid back weekend. Mostly just hung around the house and vedged....we don't do that often enough. We finally got some much needed rain, although I think it was too late for one of our bushes.....it is FRIED. We attempted to venture downtown to "The Taste of Charlotte", but the wind and rain made them close up shop early. I think I've been every year that I've lived here, it feels weird to not have gone this year. So instead we grabbed some pizza at Fuel and went to Southpark-the new "fancy wing" is that. Who would have thought that Charlotte would ever get an Hermes store? And whoever says that the economy is slowing, has not been in an Apple store lately.

Things we have learned this weekend:

1. All the Blokus games are awesome. Thank you to Mike's co-worker for recommending them!!

2. You CAN add too much sugar to homemade tomato sauce.

3. Seeing Puss n' Boots and Donkey switch bodies is HILARIOUS!!

and

. When you own a house, you are very happy to see rain so you don't have to water.

We have a busy week coming up and we're headed to Lake Junaluska/Graduation at Hibriten next weekend, so we promise to have some pictures posted when we get back. Congratulations Kristen! Good Luck on Finals this week!