It's a beautiful day here in Murphy, North Carolina. We missed playing pickleball this morning as it had rained overnight, albeit only a smidge, but the courts were wet at our normal time. The sun is shining brightly now, and the doors are open to the cool breeze. Mr. Peck is downstairs making magic with his saws and other tools, while Mrs. Peck has been doing the quilting on her latest project. Made from thrift store finds and other sources, it is coming along nicely, if I do say so myself. More on that topic later.
The leaves are mostly gone now and many trees look more like this.
And while I would be a bit of a fool to declare that this is my preference over what we have just witnessed, I really don't mind it at all. I kind of like being able to see birdies so clearly.
Lots of ground to cover today as I have left so much out and it is important to me to document the seasons and folks we encounter. Seriously, I really need to up my game on the posting because things are happening all of the time! Our field trips have been few and far between of late, and maybe that is because we have plenty to love here at home? I took this on the river walk the other day. Just lovely.
With that in mind, let us go back about two weeks and begin from there. Knowing that the end of the colorful leaves was approaching, we took a ride along Junaluska Road, a beautiful drive beginning in Andrews. Of course anything to do with the Andrews landscape is going to be fantastic, or so we have learned. If only the town could catch up to that beauty! On our way to Andrews the fields are plowed and if I am not mistaken that red is sumac. Is't it striking?
There is this beautiful home in Andrews, probably one of many that I have yet to see.
The drive was still beautiful in spite of the drought which has diminished the color somewhat. Our friends, David and DAnna's home is off of Junaluska Road near Nantahala Lake, but we had yet to visit them there. Although we tried calling, a common theme here in the mountains is no signal which is what we experienced. Except, after turning around and once back in Andrews, David called saying please come back! And so we turned around and went back.
Oh my goodness do they have a special place.
I can't remember how many acres, all of then beautiful. The house! Holy cow. One of the porches!
The views!
The cute birdhouse!
The multitude of birds flying around their yard was a joy to behold! They have had a place in the area for quite some time that they visited fairly often because they are from Atlanta where he was a police officer and she was a social worker. About two years ago, they decided the mountains is where they wanted to be and moved up full time. Really great folks. While Bruce marveled at David's "toys", she drove me over to Nantahala Lake, a very short drive away. Oh my goodness!
Of course I took more photos than the one above!!
What a beautiful sight to behold! Here's hoping next year there is rain and it will be even more beautiful! Be still my beating heart.
So with my enthusiastic post about the trip to Gibbs Gardens, I left out something very important to the life of Murphy and that is Halloween which is celebrated with great enthusiasm. Yeah, I meant to do that because really there is no other word to describe what we witnessed downtown. My pictures will no do it justice, I am afraid to say. Finally we have a home again where we could have candy for trick or treaters which is not allowed in Lake Pineloch Village, our Orlando residence. Except, after consulting with neighbors, we learned that no children go door to door, instead they go from business to business downtown. Walking the two blocks to see the festivities, they did not disappoint. We will start with Laura who was manning the booth for Downtown Murphy. I love that smile!
Please note the short sleeves on October 31, a warm evening indeed. In the parking lot of church, some friends dressed up, giving out treats from the back of their vehicles.
We have never seen the sidewalks packed with people before, but now we have!
There were loads of great costumes on both kids and adults alike. The business owners get into the act as well. This is the staff of a real estate company.
So cute! As was our friend Lisa and her friend Samantha. My goodness, Lisa (l) was barely recognizable! Her voice gave her away though.
The people kept coming and coming and from what we have heard, many folks gave out more than 1,000 pieces of candy! Have you seen the price of candy lately?
Because we went home to Orlando last year we had no idea, but now we most certainly do. Speaking of Halloween, a few days before the above we were invited to a party at our neighbor's house across the street. I'm mostly a non-costume kind of gal and here, even more so as I don't have much to work with yet. About half of our clothes are still hanging in our Orlando closet, making putting anything together more difficult. Bruce said let us go to Walmart and see what we can find, words that I never dreamed my husband would utter just two years ago. Now, it is the answer to everything.
He found a costume alright and it requires some explaining. Ages ago, while visiting Jon and Alissa in Austin, Jonathan introduced Bruce to a whiskey called Fireball. Actually it was a cocktail that not only had Fireball but ginger beer and a squeeze of lime as I recall. Already a fan of ginger beer, the addition of cinnamon whiskey was a match made in heaven for him. Fast forward some years and people got wind of him enjoying that cocktail every now and again and the gifts of that whiskey came flooding in. By now some of you are chuckling because you know how easy it is to drink and sometimes to excess. The nickname "Fireball Bruce" was born.
So.....
this was a bit of an inside joke that went over quite well at the party.
Remember what I said about gifts? A ten pack of shot size had been in the pantry so I said to Bruce, "why not give them out at the party?" He's making his bag of them and once at the party he had no problem finding takers.
The house is about thirty years older than ours and huge, with five, yes five, fireplaces, all of them identical to ours and don't work like ours either. They kept the lighting so low it was really something.
Pretty creepy, right? In spite of not really knowing anyone, aside from Michelle and Zach, it was a fun time and now that I think of it, we ran into some folks we had met before. I told you it is a very small town!
Winding this post down, a few things from our wonderful home. Actually stuff we have been making, one of which I know will please you to see.
A SUCCESSFUL CAKE! It's true! Finally I discovered what had been vexing me since we moved in. A disposable tray set on the bottom shelf that was here when we moved in, explaining why the oven was so clean. It came to me one evening, so the very next morning, I baked some muffins and voila! I am a baker again!
The very same pumpkin cake that failed a few weeks ago, turned out delicious and looked good too. I took it to the bi-weekly free community lunch where we are volunteers. In a bit of a funny twist, there were two other pumpkin cakes brought in by others!
Bruce finished the caning!! Gosh it turned out beautifully.
At the same time as he was working on the above, he began making a small cabinet for us to use in the parlor. It's been a long time since he built a piece of furniture but, of course, it is turning out great. Don't tell him I told you that because he will get mad at me. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but he is so darn humble it is crazy.
Here's what I have been up to. Or at least this is what things looked like a week ago,
I am about three-quarters of the way done with the quilting which is, as mentioned in the beginning of this post, going very well.
Finally, almost out those bedroom windows, it looked like this two weeks ago.
I am already dreaming of next Fall. Well, that's not entirely true because we are dreaming about having a grandchild, and of course having snow. One of them is a guarantee, only three weeks away, while the other, we shall see.
Thanks for coming along this crazy ride we are on.
your friend,
Gail
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