This post is a preview for a weekend that cannot come soon enough. 


Sunday will mark the first day in over two weeks that is not scheduled as a work day.  I am not moving, mowing, painting, tearing out or installing anything for anyone, even myself. My wife is off work and free from the evil pager that could potentially call her in at any moment, day or night.  We are free to relax with each other and the world’s best six-year-old on his last weekend before he officially becomes a first grader. I am so excited about our plans that I feel compelled to share them with you.

Sunday morning we will go to church.  This will not occur in the conventional indoor style with pulpits and pews and lots of stained glass but in my preferred and less organized forum where I can look out on the beauty of the world around me and take a quiet look at my place therein. Sunday morning we will start our day with a trip to Table Rock State Park for a hike, some much needed serenity and even more needed time together as a family.  Considering the heat and physical exhaustion I have endured as of late, I can guarantee that this hike will not involve a climb to the mountain top or anywhere near it.  I am content to take things in from below, possibly from the refreshing comfort of a rock under a waterfall near the base of the peak.  Regardless, peace and comfort will reign over our morning in the woods.

Our next adventure is a new one to me and will not even require leaving Table Rock State Park. Between 2pm and 5pm we will drop in on the Eighth Annual Birchwood Book & Author Fair at The Lodge at the park.  We have not visited The Lodge since we were married there last June so I am looking forward to the visit on a cheesy, nostalgic level.  However, the primary draw is well worth your attention even if you have never gotten hitched in this building.  The Birchwood Book & Author Fair is not your standard book sale but an event that features local and regional authors selling, signing and discussing their work with any who care to listen. The flyer I have in front of me as I type this also suggests porch readings and storytellers with promises of “merriment and hospitality”.   As both a bookworm and a man who never misses an opportunity for merriment, I am nerdishly* excited about this to say the least.

Finally, no trip to this part of The Upstate would be complete without at least a drop-in at Victoria Valley Vineyards. I am certain that our appetites will be rumbling by the time we leave the book fair so where would be better for snack time than the winery five minutes away? Sandwiches, a cheese tray, and a first-rate bottle of red wine to take home for dinner should be a nice way to end our adventure.


Allow me to recap: On Sunday all of my soulful, intellectual, culinary, and libationary appetites will be served. I call this a good day in the making.  Additionally, if we see you anywhere along the way I would have to say that it would be even better.  Enjoy your weekend… I know I will.

*Apparently “nerdishly” is not a word but I have no other way of describing this style of excitement, so therefore I deem it so.  I will contact Webster’s Dictionary and Microsoft’s spell check department in the morning to rectify this oversight.