Last night I spent the greater part of an hour Googling bookstores, stationery stores and shops that carry cards made by local artists in Asheville. I am such a NERD! A couple of weeks ago I read an article all about vacations centered around some of the greatest bookstores in the United States and the freebie thrown in, libraries one must see. NERD ALERT! I want to do this but I will need to find a book nerd to travel with. Roy, Dena and others let me look and peruse but I feel guilty and always kind of rush through bookstores. I am coming to realize there is much I haven't seen in Asheville since until recently when I have finally left the Biltmore Estate to see other sites. On this trip for sure, I want to go to The Grove Arcade which is only a couple of blocks from Malaprop's Bookstore. Not only is there a bookstore dedicated to Southern lit, there are all kinds of artist shops. The building all these shops are housed in is beautiful! The man who designed and built The Grove Park Inn designed this building as well. There are a couple of other stores downtown that have my interest.
This week as Roy and I were talking through the next few weeks with our schedules he suggested I might want to stay around those days between Biltmore and Megan's graduation. Even with all the improvement with my heart and circulation, long trips are difficult. So after I take Erin back to Nashville, I will head back to Asheville for the next few days. I'm excited to have tons of fun with Erin and then get to spend time alone at one of my very favorite places. So now you know why I am researching bookstores and such. Bless her heart, I won't drag Erin to every nook and cranny stationery store and bookstore...unless she wants to do that.... And this just in....I'm doing major drawer clean out today. The shredder is resting for a bit but while going through a drawer I found the $25.00 gift card to Malaprop's that I thought had been long lost. Each time I have shopped there they have sent me a gift card to thank me for shopping at an Independent bookseller. Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy...I have $50.00 for this next visit. I have been looking for this card for over a year and this morning as I cleaned out a desk I prayed and asked God to show me where I had placed it. I was a little disappointed when I finished up and didn't find it. The chest in the guestroom wasn't even on the radar but right before lunch it occurred to me that I needed to go through the drawers. And there it was in a stack of paper. I should have prayed about this a long time ago.
Today the generator has to run for about ten minutes. It does this once a week and Roy chose 2:00 pm on Wednesdays. At first it sounded like a lawn mower, then for a few moments it sounds louder than that. Here's hoping our next door neighbors don't weird out over it. It would have been so much better if we could have put it on the side of the yard next to the green space but because of gas lines etc., it had to go on the side of the house by the laundry room. These neighbors NEVER come outside. Only pulling into the garage and sometimes if he does the lawn. Since they had a baby in Nov we thought they might be out a little but no. This couple has made it clear to everyone on our street they don't want to be talked to or bothered. Maybe they are in the witness protection program?
Thursday morning...overcast and I awoke to the rumbling of thunder and a smattering of rain. The birds are out early at the feeder. Yesterday was a banner day in the lives of birds that gather in our yard. The young mockingbirds are learning the lay of the land. Their mom demonstrated for them how to clear out a feeder as to have it for yourselves. Soon one of the younger MB tried its hand, I mean wing at it. Not as forceful and it found itself being harassed by one of the crow like birds. The other funny sight was the young MB on the feeder facing a dove with its mouth open like a baby bird does for his mother to feed him. The dove looked at him for a bit and then beaked him on the top of his little bird head as if to say I'm not your mother, feed yourself! You're too big to be acting like this.
Yesterday's clear out was good for several bags of shredded envelopes and such. I got a few things rearranged. Happy with this portion of spring cleaning.
The last thing for this post today is, on Wednesdays Red River BBQ has fried shrimp as the special of the day. Twelve cornmeal friend shrimp, two sides and a hushpuppy all for $14.99. Cornmeal fried shrimp is the best!
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