Helene Spares Murphy

Most of you already know, but should you have not have already heard, the storm was just to the east of us and we suffered no damage at all. Barely any wind, and as to rain, we received about 6.5 inches over a few days. As I wrote about ad nauseam, rain showers this summer were few and far between. The fall leaves had begun shriveling instead of turning glorious colors and one of the most famous trees here in town, the "Taco Bell" tree, began changing early and we were shocked to see it looking like this before last week's rainy days. Some folks think it happened because of the drought.

During our one and only trip to Murphy two years ago, our friend Karen took us to see it and what a sight it was. Perfectly round and bright orange. Let's see if I can find it. Oh my gosh, I have found the post and you simply must click on this link to see the difference. At this point it is ridiculous of me to be sad when so many people have actually suffered so much.

There is no phone service in these parts for the last say, four days. While that doesn't seem terrible at first thought, imagine those folks who have no internet and need help. Now what? The photographs are just shocking to say the least. 

The power of water cannot be underestimated! 

As it turns out, I took some photos of the river from the bridge about a week ago to show how low it was. So let's take a look:

 And looking the other way:

This area, showing the Paynes Landing canoe launch is very dramatic when it comes to showing how shallow the water is this time of year.

As you can see, there is some color but how pretty it becomes is yet to be determined. During the two weeks we were back in Florida last October, according to friends, it was an exceptional year for color, however, with the drought, that may not be the case this year. Time will tell, as it always does.

So back to the water level post rain:

I am not sure if the photograph makes clear just how fast the water was moving.

The above are shots of the Valley River, but as you have come to learn, there are two rivers in town. We stopped by the Hiwassee River boat ramp and it too was quite high.

I have no idea how it was that it took about two days before I began looking at the news reports and seeing the horrible videos of the rushing rivers in Asheville and the surround communities. Some of you may recall that John and Laura have a condo in Asheville that was also spared. That said, they are just across the river from significant flooding. Should you be interested, check out images from the River Arts District and prepare to be dismayed. Bruce contacted the nice folks at Deerwoode Reserve, our favorite place in Brevard and she replied today, saying all of the cabins are okay but the property was innundated with water from the French Broad River that borders it.

Continuing on with the storm situation, Bruce went to pick up a prescription at Ingles and discovered that they were cash only as their systems are all down. Because they are based in Asheville, I began wondering how they would be getting food out to the various stores around the state because all roads out of Asheville have been either washed away or damaged. As it turns out, we heard that our local Ingles is closing because they are running out of food! No deliveries, made even worse because the Asheville Ingles warehouses have been flooded! Oh my goodness! 

This morning we went to the courts only to have rain begin almost immediately, thus we did some errands instead. One of which was to pick up a prescription for Eliquis from the hospital. 

Tell me more Gail!

Tuesday of last week I went for an appointment in nearby Hayesville to establish myself with a local doctor, that is if you call 17miles away local! :) Actually, I was thrilled to get the appointment and as it turns out, she was terrific, spending lots of time getting to know me. Amazing really. Anyway, she made me aware of a program at the hospital to buy Eliquis for a discount. She was not kidding!! I believe that I have complained plenty in this space about the ridiculous cost, to the tune of $500 a month with insurance!! Unreal! Count us tickled pink because when I went to the pharmacy window, the helper handed me the bottle containing three months worth for $90!!! Unbelievable was my reaction! Dr. Lohf suggested a flu shot, so I did that, along with blood work. Darn if I did not forget to rub my arm vigorously and woke up in the morning with a very sore arm and a fever. Neither lasted all that long, for which I was grateful.

Okay, back to the errands. Secondly we did stop by Ingles and saw a nearly empty parking lot. From there we went to Walmart. As we were heading inside, we saw a woman packing the back of an SUV with a very large order of groceries. Speaking with her, she said she had come from Bryson City, a trip of 60 miles, for groceries to distribute to those in need, because there was so little food to be found. 

This is getting a little scary my friends. We also learned that no deliveries had been made to Walmart for three days which means they are running out of food. Look at the shelves.

It brought back memories of shopping for food in the early days of Covid.

The lunch meat was about cleaned out.

All that white used to be filled with products.

I neglected to mention that before any of the other errands we went to Truist to get some cash and deposit a small check from the store that sells my prints. Not open and neither was the ATM. Fortunately, Walmart somehow can process cards, which was a blessing because we spent far more than we planned! Running into another friend who had left the wet pickleball courts, as we stood there talking in the crafty aisle, she picked up an artificial Autumn spray, if you will. Hmmm....wheels began turning and with a talented husband by my side, I said to Mr. Can Do Anything, "do you think you could make a wreath for the front door?".  As you have come to expect, his answer was sweet as sugar, "whatever you want, honey".  A few hours later, here we are.

We roamed the whole store, buying things ranging from stadium seats to a small heater for the basement. As well, plants were on sale, as was fertilizer. We got both.  Plus some fun pillows for the front porch rockers. Although we try celebrating fall in Florida, it is hardly distinguishable from summer. This is very fun!

Check out the droppage in the back yard of Chestnut hulls. It is so weird, I cannot think of any other term to call them. Ideas?

I mentioned that I would show you a close-up of those dangerous things, well here it is!

I speak from experience, those spikes are SHARP! Actually there are no Chestnuts to be found on the ground which puzzled me, however, a friend said that the squirrels hide them for winter food. The basket-full I have will be returned to the back yard because they need them more than we do. 

Speaking of celebrating Fall!

What is most interesting to me, aside from the wide variety of pumpkins, is that while it was closed today, everything is left out in the open. Those tomatoes look delicious!

Woo hoo...look who had baking success!! A loaf of Apple Cinnamon Bread!

Finally, or so it seems. This afternoon I made a new version of blueberry muffins that I cannot wait to try in the morning. Cornbread blueberry, a recipe I found in the Joy of Cooking. I will let you know how they taste.

It's puzzle weather!

A friend gave me several puzzles and it was time to see what we could do. The card table! What a find.

Another find was during our trip to Blairsville for a doctor's visit for Bruce. Weird week, right? Anyway, they have two huge thrift stores, both interesting, although because the rain from Hurricane Helene was already happening, Bruce did not really want to go to the lesser of the two stores. Little Missy here convinced him otherwise. I am so happy he did because I found some goodies. The fabric was around $5.00, the tray, $2.00 and the notebook (super crazy, right?), was $2.50. You absolutely never know what you will find is why I like it so much. I used to say the same for Marshalls, Ross and TJMax, but with them being too far away, thrift stores will have to suffice. Plus they are far less expensive. 

Color is coming to the mountains, hopefully soon.

This post was hard to write because my thoughts keep turning to those affected by the storm and the hopelessness people are feeling. The truth is, while North Carolina was hit hard, so was Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. A big swath of people who are in pain. The stories are heartbreaking. All we can do is contribute to food drives and funds to help with recovery. 

It is hard to imagine that there are more storms brewing.Heaven help us.

your friend,

Gail

Homecoming

Homecoming, of the high school variety, is the main subject of today's post. Let me tell you, you won't want to miss this one because, while Jonathan tells me that it is somewhat common, homecoming in this small town, in the very most Western part of North Carolina, is nothing but common to this blogger.

Perhaps you remember last year when the pictures graced the back page of the front section of the Scout and I expressed my disappointment for missing seeing it in person? Although I had written it down on the calendar, if not for Bruce I would have missed it again!  As is so often the case, we have so many activities to do that forgetting some of them is what is common! 

I will get into some of those stories, but let's face it, this outing deserves top billing!

Acting like our Florida selves, we thought it best to arrive early to get a good seat. How did that work out? Plenty of empty seats! The sun was in our eyes big time as the band played a little number.

Apparently there was a time when more students joined the band, but although they were small in number, they did a great job of keeping the energy up once the game commenced.

Yup, that is pretty much it. 

As we were walking into the stadium, we saw the opponent's cheerleaders warming up.

Holy Cow did they cheer in spite of having nothing much to cheer about. I suppose if you had come all the way from Greenville, South Carolina to cheer at a football game you are going to give it your all.

Okay, game time!!

The action is quite close as you can see on the kickoff.

They love their football here in Murphy. Probably not everyone, but certainly a whole bunch!

The weather could not have been any more perfect and for those folks who participated in the night, the weather wasn't the only thing that was perfect. The team was on fire, the cheerleaders cheered their hearts out, and the homecoming court....we are almost there.

We sit right across from them as we love watching their enthusiasm. Another thing we loved was seeing them kneel down when a player was down on the field with a potential injury. It was all super sweet. 

The scoring was fast and furious and the half time score was enviable to teams, like say our own Florida State Seminoles, who although they had a victory on Saturday night, it was a wonder that they won at all with such a sad offense. 

The young girl sitting behind us was mighty happy when those 38 seconds ticked off, telling her Mother she could hardly wait for the half time show. The crowd was also very happy.

And so it began with the placing of the balloon archway created by none other than Rambling Rose Florist. Not exactly the right name, but something of that ilk. Nevertheless, even though the name might not ring a bell, you have seen several beautiful bouquets created by them when, for instance Matt and Tom, along with David and Michelle, both sent me gorgeous arrangements for my 70th birthday. You can see them in this post, the first of 2024. 

Look at this line up!!

I don't know what I was thinking, but I left my zoom lens at home, something I will not do next year. So, the couple comes out, actually I think around the balloon contraption and while she is announced they do some little fist bumping thing. Seriously, I have no idea how to describe it, so use your imagination! There were four seniors, maybe three juniors, several sophomores and freshman as well. The accomplishments and school activities were all announced as was their church affiliation. 

It will surprise exactly none of you that I do have photographs of each girl/gown/date but perhaps that would be too much? If not, let me know in the comments. Something like, "hey Gail, show me the lavender gown, will you?" Or perhaps the peach, ivory, teal....

I'm including this couple because it was amusing to see how they managed those gowns, with some fellows being a little more aggressive with their assistance. It is also worth noting that everyone was wearing athletic shoes and can you blame them? Oh my goodness these kids were so cute!

As we were leaving, following the crowning of the homecoming queen, we came across the above little couple as they were changing part of their outfits near the concession stand. I have no idea what their shoes were, but the woman with them said something like, "it is Croc time! If you are not Crocking, you are not rocking?" Am I just so far out of touch that I've never heard that before? Is this a tag line? Help a girl out.

The moment everyone was waiting for! 

The woman in the pant suit is the school principal and she is standing with last year's queen. With that, there are three homecoming queens on the field because she also wore the crown for Murphy, several decades ago!

Last year we learned from Laura that there is no dance so what I have shown you is the extent of it. The gowns are crazy expensive, as you can imagine, what with how elaborate they are.

This morning, while counting the offering at church with Lori, a Murphy native, we first walked to the bank to pick it up as it was deposited on Sunday. The young woman who handed it to us was cute so I asked her if she had been part of the homecoming court at some time, and if so, what happens to those dresses??? I guessed right and was delighted to learn that her cousin wore hers down in Georgia. Well, as it turns out, about 15 years ago Lori's daughter was in the homecoming court and had to buy a gown. Her recollection was that they paid between $250-$300 back then. Take a guess how much some of these gowns cost? If you guessed in the thousands you are a winner.  

What the heck, one more!

It really was a lot of fun with non-stop action. After one of the many touchdowns, I heard this intense cheering close by. Turns out it was our next door neighbor Jude. When he and his sister Farrah were playing in our sprinkler yesterday afternoon, I asked him about the game and he said he loved it, especially the dresses. 

From what we witnessed, I would say he is not the only one who loves the dresses!

While on the subject of the sprinkler it should be noted for posterity that rain has been almost non-existent this summer. Sadly, the leaves are shriveling and falling rather than being showy. I will show you what a drought looks like in this photograph that I took while walking along the river yesterday afternoon.

Hopefully it looks a wee bit better as we did have a shower earlier, just as I was walking home from church! It came down really hard for maybe ten minutes during which time I stood under a tree large enough to shelter me from being completely drenched. But has been the case all summer long, the sun is back out, some might say, with a vengeance.

On Thursday the pickleball ladies, or at least some of them, met for lunch at the Chop House, a restaurant within walking distance from the house.

Those not pictured are Peg and Debbie who came by the house beforehand to see what all the fuss was about. Once a month there is a social activity so a planning and idea session was due. 

The day before, that would have been Thursday, we attended a fundraiser put on by the local churches, of which there are many I might add. A giant potluck with most of the food prepared by the pastors, it was to raise money for those who have trouble paying their rent, power bill, or maybe both. We learned from the Scout this week that poverty is more prevalent than is evident, or at least to our eyes. I remember last summer we stood behind a woman who paid for her Wal Mart purchases using three different methods. Insensitive as I was back then, I questioned the cashier about how what we witnessed. She was quite snippy with me, rightly so, and said some folks around here just need a little help. Sadly that is very true. 

According to Wil, over $2,000 was raised, a figure that won't go too far, or so you would think.

A funny thing happened at the event. One of our friends was sitting with her friend who spoke out, "you bought my daughter's house!", obviously taking us by surprise. Turns out her daughter, living in New York had been looking for a Craftsman house and was all set to fly down here to look at 77 Campbell Street. I am thrilled we beat her to it!

Bruce took me for a doctor's visit in Hayesville in order to establish a relationship, should I need healthcare. Dr. Lohf was a very sweet young doctor whom I liked a lot. Perhaps I told you that I had tried making an appointment here in Murphy and the appointment was set for April 10?? Wild, right? Along with some other things, there is a shortage of doctors in this rural part of the state. During my visit, I received a flu shot which has made me feel not nearly myself, so I am going to say goodbye for now. Most of this was written yesterday after my time helping at the church, but between the visit and making dinner, and now not feeling my best, well here we are.

You can well imagine I have more to say, however, that will have to wait for next time. Oh wait, here is a crazy tree if ever I saw one.

your friend,

Gail

How Did This Happen?

 I just finished lunch a bit ago. Bruce has gone to meet with Marji and David for a lesson in caning. As I sat at the parlor table, eating my ham sandwich, watching not only a beautiful Goldfinch at the feeder, but twin hummingbirds flying in and out of the porch before landing on their feeder. A squirrel was lapping up the water from the bird bath, which explains why it has been so dry of late. Yesterday morning as I went on the back porch I could just make out the bunny rabbit down below. The days are shortening at a rapid pace now. As are the changing trees. 

Following Hank's departure last evening, I peered at the sky and watched as the nearly-full moon appeared from the cloud cover, something that has been in very short supply here this summer. Clouds I mean.

We had him over for an early birthday dinner, although when I scheduled it, I thought yesterday was his birthday. 83 years young by the way! Once he has his new hearing aids he is going to be get-to-go.  Still giving flying lessons I might add. And riding his motorcycle to Asheville. Nancy is the keeper of the dates and in my foolishness I did not confirm the date with her, leading to my slight blunder. He could care less if we had him over on Monday or Thursday, he was thrilled having his birthday celebrated.  I have a whole series of birthday cake photographs of yet another failed baking attempt, fortunately saved by a suggestion from our friend Suzann. I will spare you the flop, but all is well that ends well. 

Maybe as you age you just find rolling with the punches is the way to go? Or maybe it is just me? 

At any rate, as I turned back toward the house, I was struck with the thought that we could not be any more pleased; it is like a dream come true, living in this sweet house with the scallopy screen door and crazy textured walls.

Wonder of wonders, those clouds produced some overnight rain that continued falling softly as we began the day.

It has been like a part time job keeping all my planters watered. I've never had so many pots of flowers before and it is glorious. Rain will make the job a wee bit easier.

I've got gold, red, orange, white and purple mums for the first time in my life. My whole life!

Perhaps you remember, well scratch that, of course you do not! Anyway, last early Autumn I purchased six plants of yellow mums, putting them in tiny pots along the front steps at the cottage. Circumstances dictated that we leave for two weeks, during which time we returned to Florida. Predictably, the mums died in our absence. Ever the optimist, I put them under cover of the cottage porch. We brought them here and if you can imagine, lo and behold, they began growing. Well those back porch steps were calling for some floral delights and by golly they are almost blooming! 

Notice the pan on the steps as you read this next bit. Because of all the heat, the hummingbird feeder developed mildew which I finally figured out how to get rid of.

I tried bleach which did a little, but after a while I discovered that hot water and bleach might do the trick. The hot water did wonders, along with some vigorous shaking and finally it was clean. A bottle brush should be on my shopping list. Anyway, little missie here, screwed up, which come to think of it, is a bit of a theme in this post. Regardless of my botches, I seem to come out okay in the end. In this case, I mixed the sugar and water and set it on the burner on high. Duh, bad time to go out to water.  If you have ever smelled burnt sugar before you get it. Unpleasant indeed.

Something more pleasant is an example of how I love the lighting in this house.

As I walk through the rooms, I cannot resist documenting the many ways that the light comes in. The little tomatoes are from D'Anna's garden. 

Stick with me friends, we are a long way from being done!

Changing leaves, oh how I love thee.

Looking to the left from our front steps, the houses heading up the hill have more leaves to show off and as each day passes there is increased vibrancy.

Thinking of the steps reminded me of this little incident that is another example of all is well that ends well. I walked out that cute screen door and discovered this.

It is rare for a bird to sit still, so between that and seeing the red, I thought the finch was injured. Calling Bruce to come outside, he watched for a bit, wondering what he could do for the bird, when fortunately, he flew off. Not far mind you. It flew into the bushes near the feeder, resting for a bit before eventually flying off. Whew!

While we are on the subject of birds, I have some exciting photos to share with you. but not before an introduction. Or maybe explanation is a better choice of words? In any case, for nearly all summer long I have avoided walking and most especially the part called "Fisherman's Loop" because my experience has been one of misery on that portion due to an excessive amount of mosquitoes. As you well know, that is not a winning combination for me. Because we have had cooler nights (56 degrees), I assumed it might be safe. Ever the optimist, I took my chances and was I ever rewarded!! First, I saw a cool butterfly with a long name. Red-spotted Purple Admiral. That's most certainly a mouth -full!

A Buckeye. I always thought this was a Moth, but I stand corrected.

Those were good sightings, especially because I was not expecting much happening on that day and walk. But then, as I came closer to the confluence of the Valley River and the Hiwassee River, I heard a familiar sound. A Belted Kingfisher!

A very rare sighting for me, but that pales in comparison to seeing an Osprey!

Both birds are common as the day is long in my neck of the woods, but here? Not so much. I'm pretty sure I've seen neither since I've been in Murphy. Good stuff!!

Here's more good stuff. The Taco Bell tree is changing!

When we visited two years ago, our friend Karen described it as such because it is in their parking lot. She also described it as her favorite tree and I cannot wait to see a huge ball of orange before we know it!

So any idea what these are?

If you guessed Chestnuts, we have a winner! They are raining down from our backyard tree, as are leaves from an adjacent tree.

I will show you the case they pop out of in my next post. Scary business, covered in little spikes.

I'm still not done!

Not a week goes by without a stop at our favorite thrift stores. Above are the goodies I discovered in a  cookbook I had the pleasure of finding. During our first year of marriage, my dear husband bought me a set of these cookbooks for Christmas and I was so touched, I bawled like a baby. There's a picture in Orlando of that day. Look at this beautiful handwriting which will be legible to older folks.

Supper and card party!!! Isabelle! The letter in the photo above is from the Southern New England telephone company stating that they had no choice but to raise rates, dated November, 1968. Nothing new under the sun, right? 

You just know how much I love finding that kind of stuff!

I took lots of fun pictures of a great party we attended on Sunday afternoon with good friends and an outstanding setting. Most of those will wait for my next post but this one showed so much joy I want to include it today.

The first three ladies from the left are sisters and I have two sisters as well. I used to have five though. Typing that makes me feel super sad. By the way, these ladies are dancing in case you could not tell!

But as someone who believes that there is a reason for everything, I try not to dwell on that, instead I concentrate on the future which is bright. Especially when I concentrate on how much beauty there is yet to be discovered in our little corner of the world.

How did this happen??

Heaven only knows.

your friend,

Gail