Aren't You Here for the Color?

 Presumably, the fact that you know someone who lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina and given that it is October, you must be here for the color. Friends, I am here to deliver with this post! Along with that, you will attend, albeit virtual, a Pumpkin Chunkin! And an award dinner and more, lots more. Too much more.....

Before we move on to more fun and excitement, I would be remiss if I did not mention the Mannix Vanilla Company that our friends own. In my last post, I wrote about their visit and what I neglected to mention is the fantastic gifts they left us with!! 

You too can have handmade vanilla products if you visit their website. Shipping nationwide is not a problem for these entrepreneurs! I've used it for both some tapioca pudding, and molasses crinkles. It is just wonderful so please check them out if you love supporting small batch creators. 

Finally, after months, electricians came and went with excellent results. In our bedroom there were two excellent fans, but Mr. Peck was not a huge fan of the lights that came with it so they came down. 

I'd purchased black fans months ago and one thing we have learned is that having patience is necessary in a rural area with not nearly enough tradesmen. 

So no more light nor dangling pulls in our future.

Another project was putting a fan on the front porch. They did a super job cutting a hole in the porch ceiling,

and it turns out the fan I selected months ago works nicely.

Wouldn't you know it, just in time for the it to be getting cold and yes, it has gotten much colder, but so far it only lasts for  a few hours in the morning. The warm sun is keeping my tomatoes producing and the strawberry plant is back in action as well.

Let's keep our eye on the broccoli's progress.

Hopefully using the same location as the cucumbers before will be a boon to our fall crop!

Another week, another soccer game that did not end in victory, however the weather was good and the boys played their hearts out! Or heads for that matter. (Grayson in blue shoes)

Laura asked me if I would help with the annual "Paint the Town Fall" event and I was happy to do so.  It turned out to be quite fun as I got to interact with the folks and in some instances take them to their location where they are allowed to paint in a designated section of one of the store-front windows. Got it? It will surprise no one that I took a bunch of photos of the entries, many of which were good. Age categories were used for the judging which I was asked to do as well. Since I am not nearly as organized as my lifelong sweetheart, he came along armed with a clipboard.

But of course, Anna Claire won in her age group. 

The town provided the paints.

Surprisingly there were lots of adults who tried it, wanting to do something out of the ordinary.

Above was really a team effort with two young ladies I encouraged to give it a try. Upon their return to our table they claimed it had been so fun.

Maria, a new intern with the town, came at noon so by 2:00 I was relieved of my duties which meant I have no idea who did this fantastic display.

The one on the left won first place for adults. Lots of small town fun happening around our area including the Punkin Chunkin on Saturday. But before we went to that, we met up with our dear friends Keith and Patty (l), along with his brother Dale and his wife Patty, at the Crown. They are in our area for a vacation.

What a fun time we had. Patty had earlier made a reservation at the Mason Bar to see, what she learned earlier in the day, a very popular band. Fortunately we were a little late and ended up further back which was fine by us because while the band is good.

they are also loud! 

I promised color didn't I? And I gave you electricians. Insert here....a walk along the river.

It's coming!! 

Before we leave downtown, finally the pavers are going in as I type!!

Woo hoo!!

Let's go to "Punkin Chunkin" shall we? 

Never heard of such a thing before? Neither had we so it was really a must for us to check it out. I've mentioned before, well really countless times, how casual life is here and this event was no exception.  Maybe I saw one policeman, but then again maybe not? No bag checks, just pay your $5 and you can freely roam. There are vendors and this adorable bounce house is but one amongst many.

So here's a funny little story, or at least to me it was. At the Mason Bar there was a woman who was dancing the night away by herself. Not a care in the world who was watching, she was having a great time all by herself. Next afternoon, she was doing it again!

So what the heck is a punkin chunkin? Pumpkins are loaded into contraptions and sent high and far in a team competition.

Spectators line the field. 

And pretty much stare into the sky.

There was this cute train for young and old.

All good fun!

Later on Saturday I attended a dinner to recognize area volunteers with the mayor as the emcee. My seat was not ideal for photo taking, but he's the fellow up front.

As you might have imagined the room was full of people of a certain age who have been helping people in any number of ways. Because of Laura, I was recognized as someone who helps out with town events. I felt a little awkward not knowing many folks, but I did have the good fortune to sit with the publisher of our newspaper along with his wife. They began dating nearly as young as me and my honey. 

Sunday, after the church potluck dinner and Bruce's twenty minute nap, we took a drive in the country to look at leaves. Well, actually we drove to David and D'Anna's house because we had been alerted to the fact that with the rain and wind overnight, leaves were falling like mad and if we wanted to see color, we had best get in the car! 

Oh yes please!

Everything was wet which makes the color even more exciting. The temperature was dropping, so instead of our usual porch seats, we chatted indoors, but not before I had to take this shot.

All of a sudden it is getting quite chilly. Yesterday morning we had a plumber over to fix a slow drain so while waiting for that to happen, I took a neighborhood walk and I was thinking that I was glad not to be playing pickleball. Well, today we did play with Keith and Patty and after a few games we thought we might have had enough; fortunately the sun peeped out for a while which helped to keep us playing. And winning.

That said, we've just turned the heat on because the house downstairs is 62 degrees! 

Heat please! 

David and Michelle arrive tomorrow afternoon for their first visit to Murphy and the house on Campbell Street.  We are most excited to show off the little town that we have fallen in love with. I will let you know next week what they thought. Until next Tuesday, 

I remain, your friend,

Gail

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