I haven’t disappeared – I’ve been on vacation! I left for Floyd on June 23 and stopped at the Greek restaurant just outside of Willis for a gyro before getting into Floyd around 1 p.m. I found that the owner of the restaurant had sold it and opened a new restaurant in Hillsville. But the new management still serves gyros and they are as tasty (and messy) as ever! If you’ve never had one, you should venture on down there (it’s only about 7 miles south of the traffic light on 221) and try one.

After resting up for an hour or so, I met June, of Spatter, at El Charro and we had a great time, chatting up a storm and learning more about each other. June’s partner, Judy, had been in town, so she stopped by with Shaynee and introduced me to her. I had read a lot about Shaynee’s struggles with Cushing’s disease on Spatter, but I didn’t really know what the disease was, so it was good to learn that the disease is manageable by paying close attention to diet and avoiding placing Shaynee in stressful situations. June and I are both about the same age and are both from South Florida, so we remember a South Florida that was slower and prettier than it now is. We had never met in person – just through blog comments and some short off-line e-mails, so it was really great to meet June, Judy, and Shaynee in person! I had a wonderful time!

We met again later in the week, at the Friday Nite Jamboree, and all of us sampled different pizzas at Dogtown Pizza, a portable wood-fired-oven pizza from a couple of great pizza makers out of Copper Hill, VA:

After the Friday Nite Jamboree got going, Dogtown Pizza was doing a great business. I should have taken a picture later, but it was jammed with hungry folks and you couldn’t see the oven or the young lady selling the pizzas!

Here is a shot of the crowd in front of the Floyd Country Store:

Groups of musicians play on the sidewalk in areas built specifically for them. The improvements were financed by a recent community development grant and the results are much safer for the musicians, who used to perform on the sides of South Locust Street. Mike Mitchell, who is playing the fiddle here, is one of my favorite musicians. Check out his music on his website.

Because I was so busy, I never made it to the Country Store to buy his latest CD – I’ll have to order it on-line, like lots of other folks. Mike has a great voice and plays a mean fiddle!