A Wet Week

Not the whole week, but almost.

David and Michelle did not take the Sunday rain with them when they returned to Florida, instead it stayed, and stayed, and by Thursday, most of us were mighty sick of it. January in Vancouver came to mind when I would just put on a raincoat and go walking. Yup, that's what I did here too.

So what do you like to eat when it is chilly and rainy? If you said soup, so do we! DAnna's neighbor grew far more potatoes than they could eat, so she shared the wealth with me and I made chowder. Take a gander at these home-grown potatoes, not something one sees every day of the week.

To tell you the truth I wish I had more because the taste of the potato/corn/poblano pepper chowder was exceptional and I'm thinking it is the potatoes. 

Plus it made enough for two meals which I don't need to tell you is an added bonus. 

As you know, I have been working on a new queen sized quilt and I finally came up with a backing which is quite colorful, perhaps a hallmark of mine? This isn't exactly how I made it, but I'll show you the changes once it is quilted which should take me at least a week because we are so darn busy going here and there, even in the rain!

In the living room something much more significant is going on as Mr. Peck has begun working on the built in bookcases that will flank the fireplace. So here's a glimpse of what it looked like...

Taking measurements,

and checking the fit.

He's much further along than this but I will wait for a week or so to show you the progress. To say that I am excited is putting it mildly!

The sad thing is that the wind and rain did not help those who were here for the color; leaves and paths were wet and slippery, littering the ground rather than showing off their beauty on the trees. That said, I decided, as mentioned above, to go walking. One thing about photographic subjects being wet is the photographs can be moody and what's the harm in that?

Walking through the small cemetery, I kept thinking of all the previous Octobers these headstones have witnessed. 

Many amongst you are new readers who have no idea that I wasn't always just shooting pretty pictures. I am actually a fan of a little bit out of the ordinary.

These two were one of the handful of people I came across.

Every now and again, in my two hours of walking and photographing the sights, it rained hard but mostly just a miserable drizzle.

Another rainy day, walking into town, my favorite trees looked mighty sad.

What a difference sunshine makes!!

Your preference? Both have their merits, don't you think? 

That same day I stopped into the new Murphy Paper Company and what a neat store it is. Owned by the same folks as the popular Rare Bird here in town, Bruce had been in and said I was going to love it. He was right.

Anyone who loves clocks is got to be good in my humble, clock-loving opinion. Especially when they are antiques.

My mission was to walk the same way I had in the rain to show you what it looks like. Well, let's be honest, I wanted to see it for myself and because you are a captive audience, you are coming along on the walk. Which reminds me, this summer I was lax on walking because it was warm at the time of day when we had it scheduled. I'll be back at it now that it is cooler.

Are we lucky or what? To have this free entertainment every day of the year. Priceless, as they say.

I bought some shoes for walking before we came but it turns out these old Clarks are the best. Stayed dry in all of the rain.

Woo hoo! I am getting out as often as possible before all of the color has disappeared; fallen on the ground or blown away

Oh how we love this little town.

Everyone is thrilled that the pavers are going down. Not quite as thrilled with the mural as you might imagine.

Today we drove by and the street lighting is going in, so we are getting very close.

Back to a rainy day, because there were many, the wet boardwalks make me a little uneasy, enough so that I have turned around on occasion, preferring to walk on the gravel.

Rain=mushrooms.

And all manner of lichen and moss.

So back to the wet boardwalk....I ran into two ladies who looked pretty confidant, unlike your uneasy blogger. I started chatting, (!!!) and they showed me how to walk with confidence by using a marching technique. Furthermore, when I asked here if she had gone to Maine,

to check out the Maine Cabin Masters, indeed she had, although much to their disappointment, none were at the shop that day. All was not lost though because they went across the street to a stained glass shop and had a nice chat with Ryan's mother. If I had to describe him I might say, he's the scruffy one, married to Ashley and cheerful. Do you watch that show? We have in the past because we do love home renovation! 

But you knew that already, didn't you?

Back to the sunny day which folks, Halloween was when the sun finally came out to play! Sunny but very cold which actually did not materialize until the sun went down much to our relief.

I believe I mentioned in another post that we were going to participate in Trunk or Treat for the first time, and after our fun experience, we hope it won't be the last. Murphy folks show up in great numbers downtown and I do mean great. Everyone getting ready in our soon to be parking, lot adjacent to the church.

Because it was our first time doing it, we joined up with David and DAnna and it worked out well. The trunk was put together in a hurry because there was a misunderstanding as to the time so by 4:00, instead of 4:30, the kids were lining up already.

For probably the last twenty five years plus we have not had the pleasure of seeing everyone dressed up for Halloween for a variety of reasons, but now we have in spades. Estimates varied, but there were at the very least 1,000 children and families that came by our trunk. This was the calm before the storm!

There were challenges getting the tape to stick to the car and get the decorations to stay put, but now we know for next year. Truth be told, the candy was given out at such a rapid pace, they probably did not notice. DAnna found the witches hats on a trip down to Atlanta, finding one for both of us along with some other cute decorations. 

At the same time a food drive for those losing benefits was held and when we were walking back from dropping off our donations, the crowd was dense.

Kids and adults alike dressed up.

All of the downtown merchants hand out candy, there are bands playing, and the mood is super festive. 

There were so many cool costumes I hardly know where to start.

Rather than do a trunk the three witches handed out treats from a decorated table.

Her makeup! Her Mom did it. 

Bruce and I were like, "we could do that costume". How hard can it be to find an apron and hat? The children of that family were so darn cute.

This little one was worn out.

And check this one out....finally a homemade costume and a clever one at that.

Because I was constantly refilling the candy bowls I did not get as many photos as I might have liked. The smile on Bruce's face shows you how very much he enjoyed the evening. While Michelle was here she suggested we get fairy lights, which arrived on Thursday evening. Whew. The only thing is, we did it so early it was only near the end that they showed.

The tape was not ideal but it was the only thing that would stick so you do what you have to do.

I just found this of both of us. 

You might be wondering about my lack of costume but perhaps you are not noticing my bat socks? 

Gosh it was a lot of fun and very little trouble. We bought a ton of candy as did everyone, and those who were not doing the trunks donated beforehand. It ran so smoothly, we will definitely put it on the calendar.

All that aside, I think this is the cutest of all.

Can you even believe our little Christian? Good night he is so cute I can hardly stand it. He turns one on Thanksgiving!! Wisely Fallon is having a very low key celebration because she feels, and of course I agree, he will never remember his first birthday! That said, we will do something when we head down to Orlando, mid-December.

Seriously, those big eyes!

Lastly, I saw that Crafted Dough was having cronuts on Saturday and I just had to try one. Oh my, oh my!

It's nearly dark outside now, at 5:45. I'm not much of a fan of the early darkness but with no choice in the matter I'll try not to complain too much.  Bruce is at a Big Brothers meeting and speaking of which two of our friends decided to become big brothers after seeing how great Grayson is. Because of all the rain, his soccer games were canceled but finally tomorrow is the championship game! 

I'll let you know how it goes!

your friend,

Gail

                                                                                                                                                          

A Family Visit

Last week's post was written on the eve of David and Michelle's visit and I told you that I would let you know what they thought of our sweet little town after they departed. Dare I say, they loved it?

I dare!

After writing that post, I took a neighborhood walk, admiring the diversity of houses and the changes that Autumn has wrought. For some reason I cannot get enough of Sandy's oak leaf hydrangea that shimmers in the sunshine, changing color as each day passes.

Hip, hip hooray!! The pumpkin bundt cake I made for Michelle came out of the pan without incident!

Not long after we moved to the house on Campbell Street, Pam and Glen visited and the lovely cake stand was a gift from them that I hoped to use with frequency. That has not been the case because before this cake, I have had zero success in removing the cake from the pan in a tidy manner. Alas, I checked once more on ways to get a clean release and finally Sally's Baking Addiction website had the answer. Leave it to cool in the pan for TWO hours, instead of the ten minutes I had been using before. It made perfect sense that the cake would contract as it cooled, and so it did. Game changer folks, game changer!

As well, I had time to prepare another favorite of Michelles and that is homemade macaroni and cheese from my Flying Biscuit Cafe cook book Matt gave me for Christmas years and years ago. Their flight was delayed and the drive here from Asheville was more challenging than they hoped for, but eventually we were seated around the dining table.

Our hearts were swelling with love having our family here after nearly 2 1/2 years! We totally get it that it is not easy to get here, but we were thrilled that they made the effort. 

Insisting that they take the top floor, Bruce and I tried out our new downstairs shower and it was great, as was our experience in the guest room with the double bed. Everything exceeded our expectations. The next day we were slated to go to the Alpaca farm at noon, however, before we did so, we walked into town. By golly, the first frost of the season occurred overnight. 

Walking into town we were treated to beautiful color.

Showing off points of interest along the way, our mission was to walk to the donut shop for bagels and another cup of coffee for them.

This was the beginning of their quest to stimulate Murphy's economy! By the time they left town, every merchant we visited was glad that we did! 

Me snuggled up under the porch quilt.

Alpaca farm here we come! 

The sky was blue, the air was crisp, and it was a neat place called Two Crows Farm. 

The tour began with the man of the house, explaining the how and why of their operation outside the barn, followed by a trip inside the barn where we were up close and personal with the animals. I say animals because there are both alpacas and llamas, both from the same family.

This is a llama,

and this is an alpaca.

If you are noticing the mouth, and seriously, how could you not (?), here is the scoop. They only have bottom teeth and they chew their food in a figure eight motion. Kind of fascinating. Michelle took the opportunity to feed them.

We learned quite a bit during our visit including that the males are generally kept outdoors whereas the females use the barn. At one time they bred them, but that time has passed as they are not young folks any longer. More like our age! 

As it is, they have seventy animals on their farm and what they do with them is their annual shearing provides wool that is used in making all manner of products and yarn, all of which is done by local artists. We were treated to an interesting talk by the Mrs. of the operation where she explained the process of how the coat comes from the animal to how it is turned into yarn.

Here are four Pecks in a row!

After our son purchased one of the alpaca blankets, gifts for his Mom and Michelle, Bruce drove us back the way we came on the lovely drive back into town. 

We had lunch in town and then roamed around for a while.

Eventually we ended up at Jen's new place that I photographed when she first opened. As was the case at her first venture, she's been making lots of changes, including serving a little more food.

During their visit we ran into lots of folks we know, including Pat and George shown talking to Michelle.
Both she and David were great about chatting up the locals! 

On Friday we drove back to David and D'Anna's house for lunch and activities, but first Michelle wanted to meet the chickens.

While I don't remember the above chicken's name, I do remember Henrietta, D'Anna's favorite, who is poking around the declining garden while we chat.

Following some yummy chili and salad, we took off, beginning the tour at the waterfalls on River Road.

It was a short walk in a beautiful environment, one that is completely new to the two of them as adults. Michelle remembers a little bit as a child growing up in New York but David has had no experience as an adult of both winding roads and changing leaves. 

Next was a stop at Nantahala Lake that has been lowered for the season and if you want to know why that is the case, I cannot tell you without googling it and if I ever want to finish this, that is not happening!

Back in the car to head to Wayah Bald, the same place D'Anna took me a few months ago when the leaves were green. and the clouds were thick. 

Following them,

after plenty of winding roads, we turned off onto the gravel road for the 4.4 mile trek to the top. As we began ascending, David was not loving it so much, but although I have no shot of him doing so, he did go into the tower for a very brief look out on the stunning landscape.

Unlike in August the view was perfectly clear. Michelle and I making memories.

Meanwhile we could not get down fast enough for David's liking and in fact, he was anxious to get off the mountain altogether. 

So long Wayah Bald, until we meet again. (maybe never as Bruce was not keen on the drive either!)

After that experience it was deemed that staying in town was just fine by them, so before we began our long day of shopping, eating and drinking in our little downtown, we took them to see the cottage where we spent the first months of our time living in Murphy. Bruce showed them John's shop and Laura was out with the dogs, so they were able to meet her.

We were super excited to see a couple of deer on the road coming in as well. We followed that up with a visit to Harshaw chapel where they got to meet Ricky who was meeting a painting contractor. So if you are counting, it is up to at least ten people which is not all that hard to do in our small town.

Roaming around town, visiting the shops and meeting the merchants.  

Michelle bought some clothes from Tonya at Gray Matters, a cowboy hat from Lisa at Indigo Mountain, and the jacket she is wearing came for Latasha's boutique, Journey.  They met Linda, Anne and Kerry at Fairy Cross, followed by Ken and Linda, before we finished off the evening at Poor Parson's Pub which was just as delicious as our last visit. 

Sunday morning we walked to the River Walk, but not before I had to get another photo of them on the front porch.

While planning what to do while they were here, we put together a list of activities we could do and were surprised when Michelle said they just wanted to hang out with us. Well, she wasn't kidding.  

It was chilly and drizzling as we walked in the park along the river, admiring the scenery and the adjacent sports fields.

I was leading them to the place where the river is accessible and David took advantage of it.

They were both fascinated by the landscape, wondering about the trees and foliage just as I was when we first arrived. Thank goodness for digital helpers! 

We walked home over the bridge,

stopping at Yogi's for lunch before their drive to the airport; a necessity they were not looking forward to.  Folks around here are so used to driving through the Nantahala gorge but to us Florida folks, it is not something we look forward to. Thankfully, they made it without incident, however, the weather was a bit uncooperative delaying their arrival in Orlando. 

As is always the case, when one of our children visits and leaves, we are saddened, so in an effort to combat that we popped over to church to a service that included area Methodist churches, followed by packing disaster relief hygiene kits. As we all know, many hands make light work That is Pastor Wil standing taller than usual on a chair to make himself heard.

Since they left it has been raining off and on with chilly temperatures. Bruce is with John and Eddie and he is following that up with a visit to Grayson at school as the rain has made the soccer games impossible. 

Me, I am writing and next up is a walk upstairs to the sewing room where the quilt backing is in progress. Hopefully tomorrow things will dry a bit so we can get back to pickleball. We shall see.

Thanks for reading! 

your friend,

Gail