Is anybody still reading this?

I feel so torn about blogging these days. I love to write and to make myself do something relatively creative. Discipline. A creative discipline. It's a nice element to add to my days (which are comprised of a lot of things that aren't really creative). I enjoy writing and taking pictures and thinking of things to say.

Unfortunately, I also seem to get mentally tired more quickly these days, thanks in large part to chasing a toddler around and trying to entertain her when her attention span is so very, very short. So, by the time she goes down for a nap or for bed, I'm either needing to catch up on housework or I'm just no good in the thinking department. Thus, the struggle.

All that to say...I am way behind on things I want to say.

For example, my parents visited almost two months ago, and I am just now posting about it. They popped in for my dad's birthday weekend, and we tromped around Durham for a few days. We visited Kipos, the Greek restaurant in Chapel Hill that we reallllly like, as well as Bull City Burgers (which has a corner full of toys and books and kid stuff that is AWESOME). Everyone was a fan of everything, food-wise.

We wandered around part of downtown Durham, which was really a nice surprise. Durham has been working very diligently on revitalizing their historic downtown area, and it is really quite nice. Durham has a VERY tobacco-y history. There are lots of old tobacco factories in downtown, and the city has been turning the area into a historic district full of quaint restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and little shops. The Durham Bulls (minor league) baseball stadium is also right smack in the middle of downtown. By the way, the Bulls feed into the Tampa Bay Rays. In case you were wondering. 

Kind of hand-in-hand with the history of tobacco industry, Durham has a steep history of racial tension, as well. I was really encouraged by the efforts the city seems to be making (small though these symbols might be in the grand scheme of things) to elevate the history of the black community of Durham. Outside of the baseball stadium, there were plaques commemorating the Black Socks, the all-black baseball league that used to play in Durham. There was also a plaque marking "Black Wall Street," which I'm planning to research a bit more. It sounds fascinating.

Around the Lucky Strike factory is a lovely, restored walking area (that proved to be nice for walking on a pretty Saturday morning).

Outside the Bulls stadium was this bull-shaped bike rack.

Playing at Bull City Burger.

We also went up to Duke for an afternoon. We started at the basketball stadium, which, of course, was closed. Oi. Also, I'm not supposed to admit to you that I didn't know how to pronounce the men's basketball coach's name, but it's true. I didn't. Here's a sign with his name (plus "ville"), in case you've never seen it written:

Apparently, it's pronounced "Shi- shevski." Did you know that? I don't think I deserved the look of shock and disbelief I received when I didn't know it. I am a) not a basketball follower b) not an ACC fan and c) don't speak Polish. Cut me some slack, y'all.

Here's the stadium.

And Mom and Dad posing outside the closed stadium.

Clock tower walking into the residence quads.

So, there is a ton of construction happening around the chapel and all of the fences surrounding the construction are covered with plastic that looks like the stones of the buildings. Isn't it impressive?

Outside of the Divinity school where Brad has most of his classes.

Koi pond in the Sarah P. Duke gardens. It's absolutely beautiful. And, those koi are gigantic. I think they could probably eat Claire, and would, if given the chance. 

I snapped these pictures of Mom and Claire singing/reading "You Are My Sunshine." They're some of my favorite pictures! Claire is making picture taking difficult these days, so these shots are gold.

So, although I still miss Boston every single day (which isn't hyperbole...the struggle is real), we are learning more about our new city and are doing our best to love it. We hope to continue finding things we love and making it our home. Come visit, and we'll take you to the Incredible Man-Eating Koi Pond. You'll never be the same again.