Winter trip

The colorful leaves in my garden tell me that it's time to bring in the garden hoses and other summer things. We haven't had a frost yet, but it will come soon I suspect. The pink Fairy roses are blooming, which is normal. The Sombrueil rose and the hibiscus mutablis (confederate rose) is blooming. Both are late this year, but it's been an extreme summer/fall. This is one of the Sara's Favorite crepe myrtles in the white garden...yesterday, the leaves were half gold and half red. What a difference 24 hours makes!



We're getting ourselves ready for the winter trip to southern Mexico and Guatemala. Finally! Guatemala has been on our list for a couple of years, and we're looking forward to Antiqua/Xela/Lake Atitlan. First, though, we'll settle into the rhythm of Oaxaca for a month. I'll be happy to return to a favorite city, to eat the best food in the country, be a tourist in the mountains and see old friends there. Friends will be arriving here Friday, just before we leave. Ruby and Jack, and their cat Claude (I know, this is too corny to be real!) are between residences, so the timing is perfect for them. Not so for us, they'll be here when we're gone. What's wrong with this picture?!? But, Stuart and I are happy for them to have a comfortable place to live while they get details worked out on their next move. Jack retired from law enforcement about 2 years ago. We met while traveling. Ruby quit her job as an oncology nurse when Jack retired. They've been traveling the country in a 5th wheel, and are between rv's right now. Their new one, a custom made 5th wheel, will be ready in early February. The big problem? I have to not only pack for our trip, but MOVE OUT OF THE CLOSET so they'll have room while living here! OK, sorry. Ruby has promised to toss any of my clothes she finds that I really should have tossed a long time ago. What are friends for, I ask? She may even plant some collards in my garden while we're gone, but I've suggested that it may be late to get plants in the ground. Maybe some lettuce, she suggests...


I'm thankful for good health, the best friends a girl could imagine, and a husband who tolerates multiple unfinished projects all over the place. Happy Thanksgiving.

Footwear

I've been thinking about shoes lately. Seems that I have far more shoes than is reasonable, or necessary. Having said that, I have far fewer shoes in my closet than some friends have in theirs. Of course, I'm all about comfort. No torture shoes for me ever again. If the shoe is not comfy, out it goes! I've bought only one pair of shoes in the past 12 months...the cowboy boots in Austin, TX. These wide feet, these feet that would usually rather wear the boxes than the shoes, are really happy with those boots! And, the girlish vanity part of me is happy with them too. Usually, I wear Birkenstocks. I even have a patent leather pair for 'dressy' occasions. This collection of footwear took a short trip together last week. I think there is a statement of some kind here.


 

Color and rustic tort

I cooked a sausage and roasted red pepper tort last week. Lots of ricotta cheese, fontina cheese and parmesan cheese. From a cookbook by Briget Binns. The smell of butter, when it came out of the oven, prompted me to take it's picture.

 

The 'Sara's Favorite' crepe myrtles in the White Garden are suddenly shouting with color!
 

Boone Bikers

Our biker friends, taking off for The Snake, a particularly tortured section of US 421 in east TN. Biker's destination!

 
 

Barbeque and Moses Cone

Blowing Rock is the tourist shopping destination for the High Country. So, our last day with brother and SIL, we loaded up and drove the very short distance to BR. The downtown is about 2 blocks of small retail shops, many of them galleries showing fine artwork and jewelry. We poked through the shops, brother and Stuart spending most of the time waiting outside on the sidewalk. It rained last night, so all the convenient benches are wet. Our last stop downtown was the BR museum. Nice display of old hotel pictures, and a chatty volunteer manning the tiny place. Lunch. On the bypass, a good barbeque place that just called out to us. Woodlanders. On the wall just inside, there is a framed thank you note from Billy Graham. With the note, a photo of BG, with George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter taken at the opening of the BG Library last year. Woodlanders catered the lunch, which was apparently much enjoyed. And to think we just stumbled on the place! Our waitress was awol for a while. We learned, when she returned, that there was a woodchuck in the parking lot who had caught the attention of all the kitchen staff. Doncha love a small town?
 

 Thursday, after brother and SIL loaded up and headed east, Stuart and I went to the Moses Cone National Park. It's an estate on the Blue Ridge Parkway, just outside of Boone. Moses' father moved to America in the mid-1800's from Germany. Changed his name from Kahn to Cone. Moses lived the American dream of working hard and making big money. In 1896 he and his wife bouhght 3,600 acres of land around Flat Top Mountain. Between 1899-1901 they built a 14,000 sq. ft. house on the land. He died a few years later, Bertha lived many more years. She left the estate to the hospital in Winston-Salem, who gave it to the National Park Service when the Parkway was built in the mid-1950's. Today, the house is an American folk art gallery, and the estate is a quiet place for hiking and wildlife. The 25 miles of old carriage roads are open for hiking and horseback riding, not cars allowed. Stuart and I hiked to the family cemetary, picnic on my back. It was terribly windy, so we hunkered down behind a little ridge to eat. If the wind had not been blowing to wildly, we would have hiked further. The trail led us through some pasture land, and up a ridge for great views.

 

Dinner over the campfire, just the two of us tonight. Lovely day.