Jack Frost Loves it Here!

 Jack Frost has most definitely been nipping at our noses and today is no exception with frost covering our yard and especially noticeable on the big cleared lot next door.

Of note this week, aside from the weather, has been all the excitement of the Christmas season in a small town. After months and months, our town's improvements are finally almost all in place. The tree was placed early last week and it now sits on grass, unlike the mostly dirt in this area for a good long while.

Aren't the pavers a huge upgrade? Don't be fooled by that blue sky because along with the frost there was plenty of rain this past week. No snow yet, but maybe next week before we take off for Florida? 

When you cook Thanksgiving dinner for two, leftovers are inevitable and what a treat to use them in new dishes, like the soup I made,

which was perfect in the chilly weather. As well, I dumped the leftover cranberry relish in with muffin ingredients and we learned that I should do that more often. Yummy!

For many folks sending Christmas cards is a thing of the past, but for me, it would not be Christmas without something to remind folks that they are special to us. There is a new paper shop in town and when I saw this address book there,

I knew it was finally time to update my twenty-plus year old book. I'm not getting rid of it because it does remind me of loved ones who have passed, but with so many names and addresses crossed out, it was time. Transferring names into the new one was one thing I did on the messy days. Saturday morning I wondered if the post office was open and sure enough it was and I walked right up to the clerk for my stamps, something that would probably not be possible in Orlando. Sure, lots of conveniences are not readily available, but it's just so peaceful here, we have cheerfully learned to live without most of them. 

Bruce is playing pickleball right now without me because I am taking a little break in the cold weather. Generally I don't mind the cold, but when I get hit in the hand on a cold day, I very much mind that. Because, despite playing for five years now, I am still one of the worst players, which while I wish it were not so, it is really to be expected. Nearly every person has some sort of athletic background; while they were pursuing sports, I was pursuing books. 😀

Speaking of our pickleball group, Friday was the day for Toys for Tots donations and our group did good.

Normally there are lots more folks, but it was a wet morning and only those brave enough to play on damp courts were there. More folks did come to the chili lunch at Buck Bald Brewery, about two blocks from our home. 

I joined them after helping ladies from our church purchase items for the middle school children's wish list. While I was doing that, Bruce was at the Big Brothers Christmas party held at the casino bowling alley. The kids bowled several games, as well as had an hour in the arcade, followed by a pizza lunch. 

That night, and luckily it was not raining, the first Friday art walk was held downtown. It was mighty cold so we spent more time indoors. This is Appalachian culture in action. 

My goodness, I almost skipped over some important events, including Thursday's Soul Table.

Note the colorful knitted hat made by Dotti, one of 75 she and another women made!! She is a wonder that's for sure. We had a big crowd who enjoyed a hearty soup, biscuits, and salad. 

I helped Bruce in the kitchen for a bit as he was finishing up the dishwashing which was around 2pm. Because a wintery storm was predicted for Friday night, the day of the scheduled tree lighting, the town made the decision to move it to Thursday at sunset. Sounds like a plan, except we were meant to attend Grayson's school Christmas concert at the nearby Baptist church. First things first...

Laura is introducing the little church choir to lead in the singing. Laura made the decision to retire from her town position, but I am hoping she will pass on my name as a ready volunteer.

After a few songs, the lights came on,

and we scurried to our car to drive the half mile to the church where a surprise awaited us. Cars and lots of them!! We learned when we went into the church that the concert included both the high school and middle school, so lots of families in the audience. So many so that your favorite blogger and her husband were fortunate to find standing room along the side.

It was our first experience seeing a singing Christmas tree.

The woman in the red sweater was the choral director and she was wonderful to watch as she had so much enthusiasm and clearly loved the kids. 

You have becme accustomed to Grayson playing soccer and now he is playing an instrument. 

As is his custom, Bruce does a beautiful job while wrapping gifts, the first two under the tree are for Grayson.

Although not to worry any of our children reading this, your dad is doing the same for you! It was a joy to put up the Christmas tree and just like our Vancouver tree, we keep it lit a LOT to ward off the gray weather. Last year Matt and Tom bought ornaments from one of the downtown shops and putting them on the tree made me happy. (Hint, hint, the ornament is one of my favorite subjects)

Good grief, there is still more to come!! Let's face it, most folks are ultra busy at this time of year, aren't they? 

One afternoon I walked into town, mostly to admire the window displays. Our merchants are vying for glory for their decorating prowess.  Proving that photographs are not always what they seem to be, our church is actually behind me unlike the reflection shows it in the shop window! 

Marketplace Antiques windows are always great and especially so at Christmas time.

Following Grayson's concert we saw this fun window at the book store, Narrative,  located near our restaurant destination, Perrones. 

Before we get into the Saturday night Christmas parade, two things of interest. Because we were helping with the parade I did not participate in the Memories with Santa event at the church where not only are there photos with Santa, there are games and gift bags. Marji made all of the fabric bags you see; thirty in all. Count me impressed.

This photo has nothing to do with Christmas, but I thought you might enjoy seeing what a loofah looks like when it dries out.

This post shows it green. I was wondering how long it took to go from green to ready to be peeled. The outer skin is quite brittle and the loofah is absolutely cram packed with seeds. 

I learned from Linda yesterday that the parade used to be held in the daytime which truth be told is probably not a bad idea because parts of the route are not well lit and the folks on the floats are throwing candy into the crowd with kids scrambling to pick it up off the road.  I dodged plenty!

I thought the train was super cute as were many of the floats. I was so happy seeing the creativity and joy. 

A snow globe! Our realtor Donna is beside the tree. 

We never got a good look at Grayson on the soccer teams float, but I'm sure it was so fun for them cel;ebrating their championship. Speaking of that, Murphy High School is in the state 2A high school championship game this upcoming Saturday. How about that? 

 The local girl scout troop had a winning float.

More snow and candy galore on the street.

Fortunately it was not nearly as cold as last year! After we put our last group into the parade, we walked alongside it and folks were waving at us as if we were in it! For the record, we waved back.

Walking past our street and into town, following the float with the high school band on it, they were doing a great job. Overall the parade was darn impressive.

Whew!! Lots to write about and there is more, but I will save it for my next post because, Lord knows, you probably are tired of reading, basically the same thing as last year. Am I right about that?  I do have one new thing and that is that we went for dinner at Mark and Mary Beth's new home in Hayesville with the Libers. This was our first time seeing it and am I ever thrilled it was on a cold winter's night because with so many bare trees, the view was out of this world. They went from being riverside to being atop a mountain.

Of course it took a narrow winding road to get there, but our friend David was up for the task! More to come next time.

I have just looked at the ten day forecast and the prediction is for five sunny days in a row which I will believe when I see it. The days are not too bad, but holy cow, one night will allegedly be 18 degrees! We are most definitely in for a temperature shock when we return to Orlando!

As always, I remain your friend,

Gail

Thanksgiving and Then Some

Good morning my dear readers! Thanks for stopping by! It is a cold day here in Murphy, NC, to the tune of 38 degrees at 11am, however, and this is a BIG however, the sun is finally shining again. Plenty of rain and gray skies has been our norm of late, although Thanksgiving was a beautiful day for which we were grateful.

We are living and learning as it pertains to plants in this climate. One might be tempted to think we should have been practicing common sense, but one would be wrong in some instances. I did bring this plant indoors and what is so remarkable to me about it is that it is blooming much more vigorously than it was in the warm weather. Go figure. 

The Lowe's ad for Black Friday contained poinsettias and we fell for it hard. Fortunately they were but one dollar a piece because by Shop Small Saturday, they looked like this.

Not just one but two urns like the above!! Live and learn is a good motto to follow, especially the learning part. 😀

As was probably the case for some of you, grocery store runs were more frequent than typical in the days before Thanksgiving. On one such trip I saw that yeast was on sale so I picked up a pack and at the same time noticed that Fleishman's has a pizza dough yeast. Well, why not try it, especially because it requires no rising time?

I've got to say, I am sold! It was crazy easy to work with and while the taste was not as robust as had it proofed, it was excellent for a homemade pizza on a cold winter's night! It was so easy a child could make one with ease so my advice to you is check it out should you be a pizza lover! 

Despite me saying a cold winter's night, we are still several weeks away from the official start of winter. They filled up our gigantic propane tank about two weeks ago and I keep wondering how long it will last. As you may recall, it supplements the electric power when it gets/stays cold. This upcoming summer we must remember to buy propane because by the time he came to fill it in early November the price had risen significantly. Another live and learn scenario. What a blessing to have new opportunities for learning, right? It, and the multitude of stairs is keeping us youngish. Yup, youngish because as I type I am thinking of a multitude of folks we either know personally, or through others, who are 90+! Living another twenty years seems impossible, but then again, why not? 

Because Bruce and I were celebrating Thanksgiving as a couple this year, my kitchen duties were not so much that when D'Anna asked if I wanted to ride down to Elijay in order for her to pick up a Honey-Baked ham, I was, let's do it!! It had been quite a number of months since last I was in a larger town and it felt sort of weird  to me, seeing all manner of chain stores, including HBH.

One reason I agreed to go was because, and this will probably sound crazy to some, but I wanted to visit their large thrift store where I was hoping to find some new things for the bookshelves and a mirror for over the fireplace something I have mentioned ad nauseam. Not being much of a thrifter, despite that it was not much in her realm of experience, she agreed to take me there. She has been in a Goodwill a time or two so not completely a novice, but definitely not one with thrift in the name! Well shoot, it was closed for Thanksgiving! We decided to head to Blue Ridge where there are thrift stores and lunch. Way past lunch time, when we got out of the car after being fortunate to find a parking space, I saw a pub right there and I suggested we try it. The streets of Blue Ridge were teeming with tourists so eating at an out of the way place made sense to me. Another new experience for her, going to a pub and adding to that, eat at the bar! One of the things that I so like about her is she finds great pleasure in simple things, something I think I do as well. So, birds of a feather and all that.....

The menu was extremely limited, so with few choices she ordered fish and chips and I had chicken tenders. The owner was the bartender and we learned after a while not to ask too many questions. A woman sat down next to me who owns a big brewery across the street and knows him as sort of cranky. It was she who told us as much. She also said he was once an Irish Catholic priest who found a different calling. 

That would be him behind the bar because according to our new acquaintance; that's the only way he likes it.  At any rate, it was a new experience for her and maybe one day she will sit at the bar with intention. 

Once she dropped me back at our sweet house on Campbell Street, I got to work making Bruce's apple pie for Thanksgiving. Really, it is not workto me so perhaps I should say that I began a pleasurable experience, peeling lots of apples, making a crust and hoping for the best on getting it off the was paper!!

The apples were local from Mercier orchards in Blue Ridge. 

Our menu was a simple one, made even simpler because we only bought a turkey breast which was most certainly a first for me. Gosh, the big dinners I once made! So many people! To combat dryness, I made a compound butter, using fresh herbs from our little garden, including parsley that for some reason had not frozen, along with rosemary that has been robust and hopefully will make it through the winter this year. As well I made the simplest cranberry relish, one I have grown to love. You know the one....three ingredients and for some folks they use a food processor but not having one, the grinding function on my thrift store blender made a find stand in. Oh yea, an orange, a bag of cranberries and a cup of sugar.

Bruce started to take a photo of the table, so I took a photo of him taking said photo.

Bruce's favorite dressing turned out well, as did the green beans with lemon zest and almonds. Shockingly, the turkey was way better than I expected. Another star of that show were the mashed potatoes, nearly my all time favorite food. I believe I read an America's Test kitchen post that claimed that rather than cutting potatoes into chunks, cut fat slices instead. Not only did they cook faster, but they just mashed so well. Thus, a new tip you may want to try to add to the pizza yeast trick!

Pretty much as soon as Bruce was in the kitchen washing the dishes, I was gathering the Thanksgiving decorations making way for Christmas! Having only four tubs in our upstairs closet made it easy. I would rummage through and find things to carry downstairs, including two second-hand goods. 

In some regards it almost makes me sad to think how many hours it took someone to do the cross stitch on this placemat as well as the two others, along with three red napkins, for $1.25. May she, and I am only assuming it was a she, never learn how little her work was valued. 

The tiny lamp was a Christmas present to us because we love little, and think that after the paint dries, it will look sweet on the bookcase. 

Now because we are going to Florida for a few weeks, Bruce was not terribly excited about putting up the tree, but his love for me prevailed and we now have a beautiful tree.

I don't expect anyone to remember how last year, after having the tree up for about a week, all of the pre-lit lights went out, forcing us to undecorate and put on new lights. (Google thinks undecorate is not a word but Google has never had the pain/pleasure of undecorating before! Maybe it isn't a word but for our purposes we will stick with it.) You are seeing the aftermath of Bruce's efforts to cut off the previous lights.

This is but a fraction of what he cut off!! 

And now the living room looks like this, including the finished second bookcase behind the television!!

Vancouver taught us the power of Christmas tree lights on gray and gloomy days.  (one of a ton of posts from Vancouver should you be interested)

Friday afternoon, on Black Friday I walked into town with the intention of shopping local for as many Christmas gifts as possible. My first stop was a winner, and not only did I buy two gifts, but I received some Murphy dollars, if you will.

Ignore the expiration date because I promptly spent the one I earned that day at another shop. So far, so local. 

I did see this going through the town sometime last week.

Look at that gray sky! In addition to the sky, take a look at our brand new pavers and grass!! It is so exciting! The project that has marred downtown's appearance for most of the year is nearing completion and it is turning out lovely. 

Below is a first for me. Saturday morning, the mop I'd left in pine sol water on the back porch was frozen!

Live and learn Gail, live and learn.

We were there for Shop Small Saturday and we will be there for the rescheduled Christmas tree lighting which will be held tomorrow night rather than Friday because of....you guessed it, predicted rain on Friday night. Hopefully folks will see the notice and we will have a good crowd.

I will be sure to let you know!

your friend,

Gail

p.s. life got in the way and I am finishing this at 6pm.

Life is Full of Surprises

What I was doing the other day when the thought occurred to me, I can't say, but it popped into my cluttered mind and has not dislodged yet. Surprises. According to my limited research, the word surprise means: an unexpected or astonishing event, fact, or thing. 

Friends, moving to North Carolina qualifies as an astonishing event. 

Over the years we have known loads of folks who visited North Carolina with regularity, enjoying the climate and the beautiful mountain views. Were we some of those folks? A resounding NO! Our North Carolina experiences had been few and far between. Many of our NC friends visited yearly, or had a cabin here for years before committing to full time living. Us, we come here once and decide it is for us! Frankly, I am surprised and astonished that we did this, and even more so that we could not be any happier despite our inexperience. So, yes, life is indeed full of surprises!

Now let's see what surprises were in store for us this past week.

Before Christmas rushes in, a few more autumn images. A big surprise to this life-long Floridian is how darn long a pumpkin lasts on your front porch! Chastity and Daniel's pumpkins have been there for easily a month. Those suckers would have caved long before had they been in Orlando!

Having rain with frequency this past week, it seems to have hydrated the Japanese Maple leaves, keeping them on the tree, albeit in a rust tone these days.

I will say, despite last week's mowing to pick up leaves, a whole lot more leaves are currently carpeting the lawn.

With a Lowe's only about two miles from the house, visiting there is easy and necessary when Bruce is either fixing something at the church or creating something in our home. The garden center is my favorite and this time of year there is some seasonal confusion going on.

Each year the decorations are weirder and weirder. A rooster, while in the crucifixion story, has no place at Christmas. 

Then again, does any of the above fit? 

It is 5pm and nearly dark, in part because it has been a very gray day. The Christmas snowflakes come on even in the middle of the day if it is dreary which is most welcome.

Here's a neat downtown story for you. Continuing my quest to find interesting books for a song, I filled two grocery bags with them after studying the shelves. The sale was ending on Friday and I think instead of a bag of books for .50, the price was rising to .50 a book. What's a bargain hunter to do but get them while they are hot? Anyway, as is SO common, I ran into a friend at the library and I almost asked for a ride home because those book bags were heavy! Mostly I have become somewhat efficient on the steep streets, including ours, but on this day, for a minute, I thought maybe I would catch a ride with Bette. Then I decided to just go for it. As I was walking, only a very short distance from the library, and ditto that to our home, a woman pulled up in her Subaru, slid the window down and asked if I wanted a ride because my load looked heavy. My initial reaction was that I was okay, and then I thought this is why you live in a small town now! She was quite pleasant during our short time together and in the end I was grateful.

LOOK what is happening with this heat and rain! My creeping phlox are blooming along the front wall!

Oops while we were on the subject of downtown, I walked by this the other day and thought, wow, I forgot how old North Carolina is compared to Florida.

Showing off my ignorance is what I am doing! Unlike lots of folks that have moved to Murphy and never bothered to learn a thing about the town, maybe because we live in town, we do know some things. Earlier today, while doing a task at church, my partner is a native who when she saw a name said, oh yes, that is one of the local families. I like that. When we walked by a shop, she said the owner was her cousin. I like that too. 

This past week Bruce has been hard at work on bookcase number two and if fact, he is working on it in the living room as I type. This one he built in his shop, rather than in place.

I waited the requisite week for the paint to harden before putting much on the completed case. Using mostly what I could scavenge in the house, or of course my bargain books, I've had fun with it although who knows how long it will stay like this.

It is not unusual for us to spend plenty of our time either volunteering or attending things at our church, and this past week was no exception. The Soul Table meal was well attended, and by all accounts, the food was terrific. Cobby and Diane had some help in the kitchen this week preparing the Thanksgiving meal. Plenty of guests and volunteers.

Oh look!! Your favorite dishwasher in action too!! Both ham and turkey were served along with the usual suspects. I was making name tags like they were going out of style! 

Sunday following church, a bunch of folks helped to decorate the church for the upcoming beginning of Advent.

Lest you think that is all we do, we did go out with John and Laura on Friday night and had a scrumptious meal at Poor Parsons Pub. Cozy and fun, that too, is one big surprise how we landed at their cottage and have become good friends. On Saturday she came over with her sewing machine and we worked out a few problems she was having while making napkins.

Projects around here though, were the star of last week and I am so happy to report that the machine sewing on the quilt is done!

That is because the lines are two inches apart and you might be wondering why? Maybe not but I'm going to tell you anyway! The last one I made they were quite close and it is a style that I like, however, the quilt is just too stiff for my liking. Hopefully this one will be soft and comfy! I told you the back was pieced and I was not kidding!

Seriously polka dots just add so much fun to anything!

Good night, Monday rolled around and we were back at church with a bunch of other volunteers, making boxes, 

which truth be told, were a pain in the butt to assemble;  talk about stiff....holy cow!! 

The boxes were then filled with all kinds of farm fresh ingredients from around here, including large chickens that were added when the recipients came to collect their box. Farmers carried in their produce, or in the case of the potatoes, brought them the day before. Two fifty pound bags worth!! 

Today I learned that the potato farmer lives quite near David and D'Anna and is still farming by himself at 83! Also included were apples, carrots, greens, pumpkin pies made with fresh pumpkins, cornbread, lettuce,

homemade jams, eggs, honey and well, that sound like enough doesn't it? Grant, (below) applied for a grant that paid for the food so not only were the farmers blessed, so were the families who signed up. Very much a win-win situation. 

Homemade potholders and dish cloths were included as well.

So yes, we do spend a lot of time there, but with time on our hands to donate, why not? 75 boxes were assembled.

I've got a notice above all of my own typing that Google wants me to try a new AI feature that promises to produce a more engaging reading experience! Well, should I?

Videos are coming in fast and furious of Christian walking!! Yes, walking! I reported he was close last week, but by golly he is sailing into his first birthday on his own two feet!That's an awkward sentence isn't it? You get my drift. They are just so fun to watch on repeat, or at least to these grandparents they are. 

Mrs. Mockingbird says hello from a bare tree, matching the gray of the day,

however, the sun is coming out tomorrow and if all goes as has become common to this old couple, there will be surprises waiting!

your friend,

Gail