Curb Alert

I have a new man in my life...His name is Weber and I am already deeply in love. In less than the time it took to cook two juicy medium rare ribeyes on the new grill the old one was scooped up by two young men in a Chevy pick up truck with the words "Hauling ass, Sucking Gas" emblazoned on the rear windshield. They were so excited. Nothing beats the sound of squealing tires and an engine revving in reverse when you've got something sitting out at the curb that you want to go away yesterday. There's a cookout in their future - Yeehaw!

We've had more than our share of rain but it's been good for the garden. It looks to be a great year for poppies,peonies, rosesand hydrangeas. The rest of the garden doesn't look too shabby either! We're uncertain how the shade gardens beneath the former maple tree will fare now that they sit in full sun. I'm pretty sure I'll have a little transplanting to do soon...

The father of a former student came by today to load his jeep with wood to make us some bowls. He is an avid wood turner and passionate about his craft. I have a lovely bowl he made me as a gift when his daughter graduated several years ago. He carefully picked out what he wanted and then put us all to shame by lifting the 100 pound chunks into the back of his car. He is one happy camper and in a year or so we'll have some precious momentos of our lost tree.

Home

Ahhhh...nothing is as sweet as rounding this corner and seeing our sweet little Newfield farmhouse
after a week away from home.

We were greeted by three excited kitties who demanded first some crunchies (if you please) and then a few pets. Peter and Pippa are glad to see us but Lillie is working on her annoyance with a good-natured pout and will likely ignore us until it's time for dinner.

We'd planned to shun-pike our entire return trip but after a slow morning yesterday (it took four hours to travel 60 miles) we decided to head to Harrisburg, PA via I-81. Before taking to the big roads though we made it to Galax, VA and had one last barbecue lunch at Aunt Bea's. Dark skies, enormous flashes of lightening and tornado warnings seemed to be just ahead of us the entire day.

For me the pros almost always outweigh the cons when it comes to shun-piking.

Sure, we had a little of thisand thisand this.But when the guy holding the STOP sign came over and asked us to hold tight while he went to the porta-john we knew we were glad we'd come home this way.

The views were sweet
and sometimes a little odd.

We stopped here and shopped here, and enjoyed a lovely lunch from the general store. All in all, it was a most memorable, peaceful, fun and relaxing vacation and I'm happy to be back home.

A Twelve Dollar View

Today we had our share of mild disappointments and happy surprises. First off we were disappointed to find that Fort Defiance had indeed defied us by taking advantage of its “hours of operation are subject to change” policy. We considered hopping the driveway chain but instead opted to look for lunch. When we first arrived in town we inqured at the ABC Liquor store about recommendations for where to eat. Without hesitation the lovely sales clerk said enthusiastically that Woodland Barbecue was the place to go. Her co-worker growled “I don' eat in Blowin' Rock” when asked the same question. Ken and I have spent the last two days trying to perfect our southern accents by using this phrase (be sure and ask us for our rendition when you see us next time).

Woodland Barbecue is the kind of place where the seating is picnic tables with benches and the napkins are a full roll of Brawny paper towels permanently fixed to the table. The crowd looked to be locals, truck drivers and the occasional “city mouse” on excursion to the country. We didn't see any high falootin' hoity toity Blowing Rock country club matrons there for sure – it was definitely our kind of place. Ken order the sliced pork and I ordered the combo platter of ribs and chicken. How was I to know that my selection would contain one half of a giant chicken and a half slab of gigantic ribs? The table almost tipped over when the waitress set the plate down and she seemed to delight in announcing in that sweet sweet southern drawl of hers that I'd seemed to ordered enough food for the two of us. Well I'll be...

After about thirty minutes this was all that was left...

After lunch we decided to see what all the hoopla was about THE Blowing Rock. Turns out THE Blowing Rock is a privately owned tourist trap with a cheesy “legend” and a $6 admission fee (though after walking away from the $69 admission to the Biltmore House in Asheville this seemed like a bargain). The views are extraordinary and the grounds are beautiful.The gift shop however is loaded with every kind of kitschy souvenir known to man – from bumper stickers to snow globes to tee shirts and back scratchers. We deemed it a mild disappointment and every time we saw a beautiful view out the car window we'd say "Now there's a $12 view".

Our last stop of the day was a trip to Bolick Family Pottery Studio. The brochure proudly annouced that they were a family of potters dating back five generations. Lula Owens Bolick is the proud daughter of famous NC potter M.L. Owens. She lives and works on an old homestead in a holler just outside of Blowing Rock that has been the “home place” of her husband's family for generations

The property is dotted with old out buildings

several outhousesand log cabins, and even has a small covered bridge spanning a little creek.

We purchased a red pitcher with a wood-fired glaze from her and four gorgeous mugs with the same glaze from her daughter who lives and works next door. Guess that makes it six generations of traditional NC potters in the Bolick family. This is Lula's lifetime collection of face jugs.Some are a little scary...

A small music shed is permanently set up in a grove of trees for pickin' and grinnin' and the house band's competition ribbons are proudly displayed there.How we wished we'd timed our visit to hear them.

At the end of the day we eventually found ourselves on the gravel road and at the gate leading to the cottage.

Only this time I made Ken stop the car so I could get out and take some shots of the creek that runs along side of the road. Near the edge of the water a group of butterflies were congregating. I have never seen so many in one spot and in so many colors.

Tonight is our last night at Sherwood Cottage. It's been wonderful to be away from the hectic nature of our daily lives. I am starting to miss my kitties and my friends though. Tomorrow we begin our journey home.

Man-tiques

After waking up to this amazing view we enjoyed a breakfast of eggs and country ham,

headed back down the gravel road,

and out onto the Blue Ridge Parkway

to investigate the nearby town of Blowing Rock.

Since we aren't so much into prissy touristy boutiques and “mining” for gemstones while playing mini-golf we opted to peruse the local antique shops (surprise, surprise). We spied some interesting sights in town

but other than that didn't find much that piqued our interest or our curiosity. I was sad to find so many “antique” shops (and I use that term lightly) loaded with reproduction furniture and we marveled that the shop owners almost seemed proud to tell us that the furniture was recently imported from Indonesia. Just as we were about to call it a day we spied this sign.

Turns out Hatchet Jack is also the local U-Haul dealer as well. His 8,000 square foot warehouse shop is a festival of taxidermy,man-tiques, cabin décor and honest to goodness real live antique furniture and smalls!

Fur pelts, taxidermy and Depression glass...now that's a table setting any man would love!

It was fun to chat him up about the state of the antiques biz these days and after exchanging business cards he promised to look us up if he ever found himself in Ithaca. I came away with a perfect vintage Fiesta two pint pitcher in gray.

We planned to explore the cottage property on foot this afternoon but an afternoon thunder, lightening and hail storm kept us inside.
The fog and the lightening were so dramatic it elevated weather watching to a whole new level.

Namaste y'all

We took off for vacation last Thursday evening immediately after work and managed by some miracle to make all the way to Harrisburg, PA some four hours away.

Friday was spent on Route 81 hightailing it to Asheville, NC.

The highway vistas were unbelievable and I could feel the outer layers of the year's wear and tear begin to soften and start to melt away. We had three nights at the Garden Retreat Cottage in Asheville and the company of our dear friends Tina and Tom to look forward to.

The cottage is situated on a very private wooded lot, on lake right in town, with a sweet little front porch and a dock nearby.

There are so many special restaurants in Asheville that eating our way through town quickly became a number one priority. Gallery hopping, boutique shopping and people watching came in a distant second, third and fourth. Seeing the guy riding on the super-duper snazzed up bicycle dressed in a full-blown old fashioned whimple, now that was something even we'd never seen before!

While packing up on Monday morning to head for the mountains I everheard our lovely Buddhist host say “Namaste y'all” to someone on the phone. I can't wait to come back to this peaceful, hip, welcoming town. Before heading up the Blue Ridge Parkway for the cottage at Blowing Rock we decided to take in a few antique shops in Asheville. Now I guess this vacation is officially a business trip!

The Antique Tobacco Barn is ten times as large as FOUND - that makes it whopping 70,000 square feet! It's located in a big old metal barn/warehouse and is likely a death trap in the summer since it has no AC (what were they thinking?). We saw all kinds of great stuff and a lot of it was BIG.

In fact you could use either a standard grocery cart to shop
or push one of these babies around...

Yep, you guessed it. This is one of those heavy duty carts you use when shopping for dry wall and 2x4's at Home Depot. We saw a lady pushing around a big old chair like it was a carton of milk and a loaf of bread. Funny!

Sadly, the place is packed with reproductions...Grrr...

Oddfellows Antiques is a lovely shop loaded with great architectural treasures, furniture and art. I scored a RED folding laundry basket on wheels.

Many more photos and updates later. It's time to go exploring!

Namaste y'all!