Since all of you are planning to attend the August First Friday Lunch, I decided that I'd better get specific with the times. I decided this right after someone told me I had no times listed at all.

We don't want to keep you any longer than necessary but we do want to make sure we have the time to cover all of our topics and answer all questions.We have reserved the room at the Southern Kitchen starting at 11:30AM. Go ahead and order lunch and dig in. We like to begin the discussions at 12:00. We will be done by 1:00, but any remaining questions or comments can be addressed after we turn the room back to the restaurant.

I encourage all of you to stop by the Southern Kitchen between now and Friday, August 4th to try it out. If you find something especially good, list it here as a comment to this post. Likewise if you try something not so good that we should avoid.

I think I'll go there today for lunch.

For a long time, I've been trying to get someone to take an aerial photo of Jubilee Heights for us. Sooner or later someone will. In the meantime, I've been looking at a satellite photo of Jubilee Heights on the "Google Earth" website. It is a free site and I encourage all of you to check into it if you haven't already. Google Earth is a photographic portrait of the world as seen from a satellite. You can zoom in for a close inspection or pull back to understand the bigger picture. I typed "South Charleston, WV" into the search box and Google Earth flew to a point near the mound in SC. I was able to scroll a little west and south and there was Jubilee Heights! The photo displayed was from early 2005. The foundations for House #99 (Casto) and House #100 (Peoples/Barker) are in place but no construction has started. It looks like the last house completed was Virginia Butler's. Hopefully Google will update their satellite shots soon.
For viewing Jubilee Heights, Google Earth is great. It is a fantastic tool for viewing any part of the world.

Even though we've missed a couple of monthly sessions, we are still convinced that the First Friday Lunch is a good idea. Trying to find a spot where our small attendence is welcome has been a bit of a problem. The places we've met before did all they could, but saving their meeting room for our little group has to hurt their lunch service. We've met at the Golden Corral and at Shoney's (both buffets) but didn't fill half of the room they provided. Rather than test their courtesy any more, we searched for a place that may be able to accomodate our group without hurting their lunch crowd.

So....Friday, August 4th, we'll have our First Friday Lunch at the Southern Kitchen in Kanawha City. This Charleston landmark has a meeting room on the second floor with it's own entrance from the front of the building. You don't have to wander through the restaurant , just take the steps from the parking lot. This time, it's not a buffet. You can order from the regular menu. If any of you have eaten there before, you know that this is superior home cooked food (be sure and check out the pie selection) and very reasonably priced. Those of you who haven't had the pleasure of a Southern Kitchen visit should run down there right now and check it out! Remember, it's locally owned and operated...a rarity in these days of franchised and formula eateries. This place has a real personal touch and they make you feel like family.

Considering the accellerated pace of building so far in 2006, there is a lot to plan, figure out, learn about, explain and comment on. Get there when you want but be ready for a noon start to the meeting. As usual the staff will have some short discussion to present but we want to know what you want to know. Do you have questions about streets in Jubilee Heights? Curious when we'll be building in North Hills? Wondering how the Mountaineers will do this year? We'll even give equal time to Herd fans.

Come to lunch. Learn stuff. Leave smarter.