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 shimmesr 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 evemtually 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.

Punting out points of interest along the way our mission was 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 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 that Michelle is talking to.

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 more. 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 walked in the park along the river, admiring the river 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