Family Fun. Part Two

 What better way to start a post entitled family fun than this silly photograph?

Perhaps you are wondering what exactly to make of this and I am here to explain. This is a new feature since our last visit to Deerwoode, a spring-fed swimming hole that some of us very much enjoyed as it was crazy sunny, and HOT.  Finding these floats to use, and because both Matt and Jonathan have very fair skin, not often exposed to the sun, they fashioned some ingenious shade for their faces. Come to think of it, apparently the apple does not fall far from the tree as this is the sort of thing Bruce might think of!

The dock is in the foreground and eventually your favorite blogger jumped off of it into the cool mountain water below. It was really neat because you would come across very cold spots and then super warm from the summer sun.

Count me surprised to see a Sanderling.

Actually I have that wrong, it is a Solitary Sandpiper, somewhat puzzling as there was a pair of them! Anyway, not the kind of bird I would imagine being in the mountains.

Speaking of birds, can you find the one below? Like a Where's Waldo?

There are apple trees adjacent to the garden, as well as peach trees. (Jonathan and I were near the trees when he spotted the Monarch butterfly.

He was not with me when I saw this one though,

nor this one that I came across on my solo walk on the trails. Holy Cow, a butterfly entirely new to me.

According to the information HERE, that Matt provided after I was having no luck identifying the elusive butterfly, it is a wonder I saw the above at all.

While I was walking on this maintained trail,

I suspect by now, having read your fair share of North Carolina posts that you can guess what happened. 

Bingo!

Alissa likes taking photographs nearly as much as I do. so one evening we went out to see what we could see. A colorful sky at sunset,

while this one was a little earlier in the evening.

Honestly, that is one of the other things I most love, the ever-changing sky.  This was a view early one morning from the front porch rockers. Note the large parking area where Nancy and I practiced pickleball with Jonathan being a pitch hitter. Is that too goofy of a joke? Okay, to put it plainly, he hit a few balls as well, and was way better than his mom! (The building on the right is in progress as a large event space that will open in the next six months for weddings, markets, and concerts)

There is a large lake for boating with kayaks, canoes, and a pedal boat for the guests to use.

I think Matthew left America a little less confident of his Mom's skill set these days as I looked pretty silly getting in both the pedal boat, and getting on and off the kayak. Mostly though, my problem lies with not being able to put much weight on my left wrist, making things look very awkward indeed. The fact that on a subsequent day our tubing trip proved to be slightly challenging because of a few unforeseen circumstances involving Mrs. Camera Crazy did not ease his mind much. Rest assured son, I am slightly stronger and more competent than I look!

Cookout under the trees!!

Cards were played, a mushroom foraging game learned, and a jigsaw puzzle was put together by Tom and Alissa in record time. Those two!!

I'm not going to lie, the weather was warm, but it is August so what was I really expecting?

I took the above from the swimming hole one afternoon. The one below, wow, the fog was thick on our last morning.

Taking a walk with Jonathan and Alissa, one thing that was so interesting were the multitude of spider webs we saw in the damp morning light. How cool is this one? 

While one is good, more is even better. These are made by a Bowl and Doily spider according to this. (thanks Alissa)

Amazing, right? Dozens and dozens of the delicate webs were to be found in the meadows that are left in their natural state. I can't remember how many are left alone, but it is a significant number of the 175 acre property because it is a nature conservation reserve. 

The garden is even better now that Scott is maintaining it. Bill, the previous owner for 40 years was working the garden on our first visit, however, he has succumbed to dementia and is no longer living at home. :(

More garden goodness,

and one of the pollinators of said garden must be included.

Having seen all that the place has to offer, is it any wonder I wanted to share it with our children? 

Fortunately I was sharing this boat ride with Tom who did all of the steering while we pedaled together.

photo credit: Alissa!  That boat ride was much better with the top on!

As you can imagine, I took far more photographs than what you see, but if I shared all of my favorites we would be here for a good long while longer. How about I just paddle off until my next post when the clan will actually leave the property?

I do look a little goofy don't I? In my defense, I was wearing a dress in mixed company!

your friend,

Gail

Four Days of Family Fun

When I made the suggestion that what I really wanted for our anniversary, in lieu of a party, was for the family to get together at one of my favorite places, Deerwoode Reserve,  it was met with mixed reactions. Two sons were in and two sons were out due to work obligations. At the time I had no idea that we would ultimately be spending the summer in western North Carolina so with those who could come and those who could not blessings, I reserved Coyote Lodge for four days. Turns out that even though I was booking early, our actual anniversary was unavailable, so having learned in my 69 years that it pays to be flexible, I booked the lodge.  

How could we actually pull it off was the next burning question? Ingenuity is how.

Here's how it all came together thanks to everyone's flexibility:

I invited Nancy to join us as we would have an extra bedroom and that turned out to be a huge blessing! My sister Nancy, the driving queen, drove to Murphy first, drove to Brevard, drove both Matt and Tom back to Murphy, followed by driving them to Orlando where they were to spend a week in our condo!!  None of the driving, btw, is easy, but I will get to that in a bit. We were ever so grateful for her help.

Matt and Tom flew to Asheville from London, via another airport I've forgotten. At the same time, Jonathan and Alissa were doing their best to fly into Asheville from Austin but it was not easy with delays and whatnot. Nonentheless, in the end, the two parties met and Jonathan subsequently drove them all to the lodge. 

Whew! Bruce drove us to Brevard and what a drive it turned out to be! 

But I am getting ahead of myself.

Nancy arrived on Friday afternoon after making the long drive from Orlando. Whew! It seems like a long time ago now but as I recall we took her to our favorite wine shop hangout where she got to meet Jen while relaxing after the long drive. The next morning we were invited to Curt and Nancy's mountain top pickleball court where we had a lot of fun.

On the way up the mountain, this little one ran across the road, much to our delight.

Talk about some fog! When we began play it looked like this, however, after a few hours we were once again able to see all of the mountains. It is really extraordinary to this Floridian!

I took a small walk in their adjacent woods while the other four were playing and I came across this which reminded me of a compact disc. Remember how revolutionary they were at the time? I still remember our first one;  Annie Lennox singing Why? While I haven't heard that song in ages, having just done so, wow, what a voice!! Bruce asked me how in the world I remembered this and my only explanation is because, at the time, the sound from a cd seemed just remarkable, filling the room with her gorgeous voice.

What still seems remarkable to us is the presence of deer, one of which I spotted while on this little walk. It seems almost magical to see such a beautiful creature appear out of nowhere.

Nancy spent the night at Hank's house and we were all going to meet up at the rodeo in Andrews, however, a big storm came up, nixing that plan. Instead, Bruce and I went to see Barbie, leaving with mixed reviews. 

Here's a little funny story illustrating small town life. We actually thought Nancy was coming into town to join us at the movie, so I waited on the sidewalk for her while Bruce bought the tickets and secured our back row seats. Turns out there was a little miscommunication and she was not coming after all.  So I went inside, finding Bruce settled down into our seats in the back row. While watching the scenes unfolding on the screen I noticed Bruce getting up and acting a little strange. As it turns out, he was suffering a huge leg cramp, something that happens on occasion and is most unwelcome. Swallowing mustard works like magic, so after I asked the theater workers if there was mustard in the house and receiving no for an answer, I explained the situation, walked out the front door and crossed the main street to retrieve the emergency mustard from the car. Because everything is so small this was accomplished with ease and soon Bruce was, once again, settled comfortably in his seat. Not making this stuff up friends!

Leaving the next morning, we decided against following one another, but we would keep in touch.  As we rounded one of hundreds of curves we were greeted by a phenom, or at least it is to me. 

Naturally I asked Bruce to stop at this viewpoint to see what I could see. I saw a lot, including these beautiful butterflies near the railing in the photo above.

Mostly we stayed on US 64 except for a bit, far longer than anyone had hoped for, which took us on a two- lane road that had so many curves, when we met up with Nancy in the town of Cashiers, even she, who you already know is a road warrior, was catching her breath. Whew! 

Finally we arrived and it was as beautiful as I remembered. Rustic beautiful is maybe the descriptor that some folks might use. It is not only the history of the place but the peacefulness and expansiveness that appeals to me. This is our third stay, each time in a different cabin. The Coyote Lodge is the grandest of the ten.

Rocking chairs both upstairs and down, we spent a lot of time on them in the morning and evening. The swings too, were great.

Here's one view taken from that big porch.

Before everyone arrived Nancy and I took a walk to the Bamboo Forest. Plus we walked through it, the heavy cover was welcome shade on that super hot afternoon.

We walked around the big lake,

where those big pink blooms were, as well as loads of Goldenrod all over the property.

Finally, after Jonathan and Alissa's flight snags, everyone arrived after a short drive from the Asheville airport and rooms were chosen, leaving the stairs to the younger folk. 

They were bemused by the rustic decorations, none more so than upon seeing the lodge namesake.

The above was taken a few days into our stay with the coyote sharing space with all manner of our hats, bags, and very much appreciated bug spray! 

From the upper level it looks like this.

It was so comfortable with multiple couches, large and I do mean large chairs with big ottomans, and not just the bar for eating, but four picnic tables as well. Honestly should you care to do something like this, we cannot recommend it enough. 

Four bedrooms and four bathrooms along with seating on the upper and lower level porches as well as a what I believe would be labeled a mezzanine with these super comfy rocking chairs.

So now what? We have an awesome place to stay, what do we do now? Because we have been here before we made the suggestion that we go to see the nearby Looking Glass falls in Pisgah National Forest.  Situated alongside the road going through the forest, it was an easy first choice.

Lush would be one way to describe things here in North Carolina at this time of year. While Jonathan is on the rocks in the hat and blue shirt, Nancy is making her way back up the stairs.

Meanwhile Matt and Tom were going from rock to rock with Jonathan joining them.

For those of you new to this space, that would be our eldest, Matt on the left, and Jonathan, our youngest, on the right. 

What happened with the rest of that day, for the life of me I am drawing a blank, at least for now anyway. I do remember some stargazing and firefly spotting from the front porch ,as well as some very good laughs when I tried to use the hula hoop. Nancy had brought one and it lit up when used. As it turned out, even our master hula hooper struggled to get it going, but that was rectified a few days later when a standard one was purchased at WalMart. Let the hooping begin!

And really, anything else that strikes our fancy, because as all of you know, should you have been following this blog for very long, now that our children are all safe and secure, we are "doing all that we can, while we can." Having lost two sisters, one of whom died while we were staying at Deerwoode, how precious life and good health are becomes something we no longer take for granted.  

We stayed in another cabin when Maureen died which I wrote about here. 

We had some adventures that I will write about next time, but for now we were so grateful to be able to spend the time with part of our family. Plus, I was happy to see the birdhouses which have all had a fresh coat of paint.

Now, if only I had seen more birds!!

your friend,

Gail

Another Visit to Deerwoode

Did I tell you it was hot in North Carolina? Oh my goodness! After leaving Hendersonville, we met up with our realtor, Katie, who drove us around showing us potential properties. Potential being the operative word. Meanwhile, I called Dione at Deerwoode to see if any cabins were available. As a matter of fact, there was one we could rent so rent it we did. 

Sunrise it was, the closest one pictured. What a different view of the property from this location! On our last morning, this happened making me very happy indeed. 

This also happened!

Not only did we see this deer, the previous day on our hike we saw three!! But, I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's go back a day.

Adjacent to our cabin there was a trail that took us up Sugarloaf Mountain, a somewhat arduous trek for these Floridians! So not only can you hike around the valley, you can go up a mountain too if you so fancy.

Although there were some rhododendrons blooming,

it was nowhere near peak as I saw gobs of buds ready to burst open. How glorious it must be to be in the midst of the cool forest with blooming flowers everywhere.

I will admit we lost our way for a bit, but all is well that ends well, and we eventually came back down on the main road. "How about we hike the river trail honey?" Holy Cow, he said yes!

The French Broad River must be mighty long because, well wait a minute...I have Google for that! 219 miles, as it turns out. Anyway, it circles the property making for a peaceful walk, albeit warmer than we would have liked. 

On this visit I was able to show Bruce the hidden cabin in the bamboo forest.

As you have probably already gleaned, there is a lot to keep you busy at Deerwoode! Perhaps I have not even mentioned that they are part of conservation lands? 

That said, we decided to visit downtown for lunch and exploration.  And here we are arriving when the digital thermometer atop the cute movie theater reads 91 degrees.

Oh honey, let me see what this is!! 

 On this visit, we decided to have lunch at Mayberry's and were not disappointed. We sat at the counter, after ordering our food, and it was just wonderful, both in atmosphere and food. It's the kind of small town place with desserts under glass domes.

With a name like Mayberry's you just knew it had to be good! Because I was seated with an easy view to the outside, I realized that it was raining. Well, that was an understatement! Making our way to the door this fantastic small town scene unfolded.

Yup, a sheriff is giving some folks a ride! So, it was raining hard, followed by strong winds and hail. Eventually it slowed just enough for us to move down the sidewalk where I saw this sign that would seriously ring true for me! I also noted that the rain was coming down the sidewalk because, well the ground is not flat! Duh!

Keeping with the reading theme, we popped into a four story store that caters mostly to men with antique stuff. Forgive me the simplistic description because that is exactly what it is...simplistic, however, it is a hard place to describe as it is filled with all manner of old things, including this:

There are a whole host of readers who will find the above very, very familiar. That illustration!! 

Exiting the store we saw that although it was still raining, it was growing darker so a run-for-it moment occurred and not a minute too soon. 

Pretty ominous clouds, right? As holds true here following a storm, the temperature dropped a bunch.

Remember I said not a minute too soon? Indeed, blinding rain began falling making for some nervous driving conditions in an unfamiliar location.

The nearer we got to Deerwoode, which btw, is way closer to downtown than you might think, we began seeing foliage debris on the lawns. Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, it began hailing way hard again and Bruce pulled under the covered entry of a super cute place called The Sunset Motel. Soon thereafter, the owner arrived and we had a chit chat, learning that he is from, you guessed it, Florida! A very common theme in Brevard as you may recall that Deerwoode is owned by a couple from Lakeland.

Eventually the hail stopped, allowing us to continue on to Deerwoode where we discovered, as we drove down the private road, Scott and Bill using a chain saw to remove a large tree blocking the road. That was just the beginning of the damage caused by what they called a small tornado coming through the property. The saddest of all was a huge limb came down from what they deem a 400 year old oak tree. We were parked right where part of it fell before leaving the property!

Calling it a limb, which in reality it is, makes it seem as if it might be small except it was bigger than many whole tree trunks.

The fall was so strong it left it's mark on a neighboring tree!

Because Scott's brother was in Florida, he had to call upon Bill, the 83 year old former owner to help with the clean up, including another large tree that fell in front of one of the cabins. The sound of a chain saw filled the still air.

Amazingly enough, all the cabins were spared! Bruce picked up and secured all six of the kayaks, one of which had blown 75 feet away from the stand, while I piled up tree debris. We couldn't just stand by and watch while they worked! This little guy found a new perch just above ground level.

According to Ann, another guest whom we spent the evening with, it was super scary indeed. And just why did we spend the evening with Ann? It was our good fortune to have picked up a pizza in town before coming back allowing us to have something for dinner that did not need heating up because the power went out during the storm. Sitting on her front porch, she with a gin and tonic, while we had a glass of wine, the discussion began about being Floridians in search of somewhere cooler. Except on the few days we were there it was anything but!! Anyway, at 9:30, as we were chatting, the string lights festooning her porch came on as we sat watching the fireflies. Wishing her luck, we made our way back to our cabin for a restful sleep before beginning our morning's journey back home.  

Also according to Ann, she has already fallen in love with Deerwoode. As her job can be done anywhere there is internet, her day begins with a hike, followed by work, followed by another hike, either along the river or up the mountain. I told her I totally get it for sure!

And you know what? There are even apples on the trees.

And more of that cool fog stuff.                                    

Cool plants,

and pretty skies.

In other words, my idea of heaven!

your friend,

Gail

p.s. I would be remiss if I forgot to pass on two excellent novel recommendations. 

Anxious People by Frederick Backman is charming, as is The Lincoln Highway by Amar Towles. NPR calls the later a joyride and indeed it is.