My colleague and friend Cecil Bentley officially retired, last day, last event: his send off. He was a newspaper editor’s editor, an educator, a leader, a problem solver and a great lunch companion.

Big shoes to fill.

Today was A Day. We moved the girl into her college dorm and the boy started his dual enrollment gig at the university here in town. Everyone is growing up.

A pallet, left in nice light.

Band director and mulch, both from above.

Old letters in the windows of a great breakfast joint in Winterville, the Little City Diner.

Followed by walking the boy around campus – ID, bursar’s office, bookstore …

I have a cousin doing his combined MD-PhD in Birmingham, try to see him and his wife every few months, usually when his folks fly out from California. We split the distance and look for somewhere to have brunch or dinner.

This trip, I missed terribly on the restaurant. We diverted and found a pizza shop in Tallapoosa, then got caught in a downpour.

A fun time.

Two nice downtown restaurants closed, one is being gutted as part of a renovation, the other just papered over at the moment.