My husband was asked to be a “celebrity slider” at the first ever Slide the City event, here in Fayetteville Arkansas, and he agreed with his usual enthusiasm. As we were leaving the house to get in some practice slides, friends were, by happy coincidence,  parking in front of our house, so we all walked down together.

– setting up the slide down Dickson Street

I wasn’t planning to slide, but wanted to go down and see what it was about, support my husband, and take pictures of my family sliding, however my son asked me to don the big green tube and bright orange mouthpiece and slide with him, and I couldn’t resist. Thankfully I hadn’t worn one of my usual dresses, and was able to modestly, if slowly make my way down. It was a super fun event, raising money to benefit Soldier on Service Dogs, a nonprofit organization that raises, trains and gives away service dogs to veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries.

– our family following our first slide down

I had baked Chocolate Cherry Scones for breakfast, and they sustained us all morning. After lunch with our friends, and exhausting our sliding opportunities, my husband stayed on Dickson Street to have a couple of beers with another friend who had come down to support him, while the kids and I ran errands, including a stop for ice cream

CHOCOLATE CHERRY SCONES

2 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 cup cream, divided

1/2 cup fresh cherries, chopped

4 ounces coarsely chopped chocolate

Heat oven to 450F. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture until crumbly. Freeze 5 minutes. Add 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cream, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Turn dough onto wax paper, gently press or pat dough into a 7-inch round. Cut into 8 wedges. Place wedges 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush tops of wedges with remaining 2 tablespoons of cream, just until moistened.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until golden.

Recipe adapted from Southern Living, December 2012

www.southernliving.com/