STONE MOUNTAIN — She stepped lively up the mountain trail, ignoring my occasional suggestions to give Papa a break. I dubbed her “Scout,” and she took the job seriously, staying just ahead of the three big fellows dutifully behind her.
The grand girls were in town last week, and I determined the older one, now 4 years old, was ready for her first mountain climb.
Better than any of my sons at her age, she made it to this peak in record time, never hesitating on the trail despite her father’s best attempts to get her to pause for water breaks.
On the summit, we found a shady spot and spread a picnic of sandwiches, raisins and cookies and basked in the glory of reaching the 2,305 feet elevation of this bald rock with a nice view of the surrounding mountains. Uncle Michael toted the food and water. All I had to do was follow Scout.
Buzzards circled overhead, but that didn’t worry us. They live atop the mountain.
A little butterfly lit on my shoulder, and Cayden managed to move it onto her finger, where it lingered for a minute.
The butterfly might have been impressed with Cayden’s red cowgirl hat acquired at my favorite Bixby consignment shop for the hike. There was no chance she would get lost while wearing that.
We descended down the backside of the mountain to the waterfall, and she doffed her shoes and stepped in.
It was a fine time. I’ve climbed this mountain at least 20 times, but last week’s trip was the best.

Welcome Back
Football Season

Our football contest is back with this issue. Football also is ending the dog days of TV broadcasting, that dismal period of July and August when there’s nothing to watch. The Olympics gave us a brief respite, but last week there was nothing on.
High school football sprang to life last Friday with Davie County spanking last year’s state champion Greensboro Page. West Forsyth fell hard to East Forsyth, once a whipping boy on the schedule. West was the only team in the Central Piedmont Conference to lose on Friday, meaning that a lively season is ahead.
It’s an exciting time of the year as all the teams make plans for a championship season. College football returns next week. The NFL preseason will soon end, and we will be awash in pigskin …