I was a time traveler yesterday as Vivian and I took a day trip to Lake Lure. You feel like you have returned to the 50's and 60's with motor court motels, diners, and the downtown's of yester-year. Lake Lure is where Dirty Dancing was filmed. Chimney Rock and Lake Lure are quaint towns in the midst of the great outdoors. Since we were there to admire nature and not conquer it, we didn't go up to Chimney Rock. We heard on our boat excursion that the elevator has been out the past couple of weeks, and we didn't come to fish. We came to admire and take in God's handiwork and creation, have lunch and take the Lake Lure boat ride. I can heartily endorse doing all three things. I also made a quick trip into a t-shirt shop because if you know me, I like to get a t-shirt. The drive was beautiful, winding roads. The flowers are everywhere and the stacked wood fences make a wonderful backdrop for photo opportunities. We saw several shops we would like to go back to, one being a craftsman shop of woodworkers but looks like they will be open during the week once summer begins. Vivian is the best tour guide and she knows all the stories about the area. She is quite fun too, so there is a lot of good laughing amidst the factual knowledge of places. Since she is a native to the area, she can tell you about how places were when she was a child, just a mere few years ago. She knew where we would stop for lunch and boy howdy she picked a great place among many good choices. We ate at Genny's. You know when there are a lot of cars in front of a local place, it's most likely good food and good people. Yep! We were there early enough to have a booth outside overlooking the river. Nothing like the soothing sounds of a mountain river traveling over rocks and dead trees. It can lull you into wanting nap time. We had a delicious lunch, I won't bore you with the details of hush puppies, fried okra, handmade fries and blackberry cobbler. Oh, I won't bore you with ice cream on the top, cobbler served warm. We took the boat excursion on Lake Lure. Wow, so relaxing, interesting and informative. I did not know that pigs kill and eat snakes, like rattlesnakes and copperheads. I was telling Roy about this last night and he mentioned he had just read in the Wall Street Journal about a family that died when they ate one of their pigs, who had happened to eat some poisonous snakes. I don't know if anyone died after the BBQ of 300 pound pigs that had rid the island of snakes. For our return home, we took a different way back which can be somewhat biblical because sometimes God told people to go back the way they came or go back a different way. Before leaving though, Vivian took me to see up close a historic inn that has been there since the 1920's. All the movie stars back in the day stayed there and it had that Hollywood stucco art deco look. Just like our trip to A Pretty Place where we heard the history through an employment interview being conducted, we also heard history by the owner of Genny's and then our boat skipper had a trainee or someone on the boat and we heard the side stories since we sat in the back. I love how the Lord just puts icing on the cake for our days.
To make the day even feel more retro, the internet was out here at home last night. I could get on with my phone but only for a few seconds at a time. So no TV which is not even a big deal to me or computer, I did what folks did back then, I watered my plants and sat on the front porch watching the cows go home and the cars and trucks drive by. We are having cooler temps than the past few days and I was able to sleep with the windows open last night. It was in the 40's outside and the 60's inside. Yesterday, I also made the wonderful discovery that our back and side yards are covered with wild blackberry bushes and there are quite a few on the front part of our property. Hallelujah! I will let the birds have the cherries off the cherry tree but I will battle birds, bees, snakes and spiders to get some of these blackberries when these blooms turn into fruit.
The day called me away so it is now Friday morning. I had several errands to run and I discovered the Target near the mall. I like it much better than the Target in South Asheville. Then I headed to Whole Foods and The Fresh Market. On the way home I also stopped at a produce stand to get more strawberries and these strawberries were grown just down the road from us. They are very tasty.
Last night was our Sunday School potluck gathering. I got lost even with GPS but when one programs the GPS wrong, lost is to be expected. I talked to a lot of Velda's neighbors and even drove way back on a driveway that as soon as I pulled in, I knew it was the wrong house. No cars but I went to the door anyway and the lady gave me great directions and was so nice. For a few minutes I thought about making up a wild story complete with guns and disgruntled property owners but thought better of it. I made it to the party and the food was fabulous and the fun was fantastic. See how Baptist I am, alliteration. We played the game where you write down one thing that is true about you and one thing that isn't. No endorsement of lying was perpetrated at this gathering but some of us were better at it than others. What I enjoyed the most was listening to the stories of their history and how some are interconnected by marriage. I loved hearing the stories of how they met their husbands. This area is rich with history and how the area has grown. Before even coming here last August, as I looked at Zillow and Realtor.com, I kept being drawn to Leichester but yet kept looking in Waynesville. I am forever thankful that the Lord came to our rescue when our offer was beat out at the last minute for the home in Balsam Mountain....snow to the max in the winter and pretty far away from things really but at the time we didn't think so. The home we bought had an offer on it but the owner and buyers could not come to an agreement. It is the perfect home for us, close to those we love and close to church. We have a great view and nice and quiet neighbors...except for the loud dogs next door, but that doesn't really bug me. And by the looks of things, you don't go over there and complain about the dogs...I think by accepting the barking I am making a wise choice.
I had another bat moment this week only it was with a spider. There are lots of spiders in this area and for the most part we have respected one another's territory. They catch the little gnats and I stay clear of the webs. Except the other day worlds collided. As I walked outside the garage a spider and my glasses came into contact. Of course the waving of arms and jumping around trying to rid my glasses of the spider looks like a wall eyed fit from the distance and my elderly neighbor was watching my wild Watusi moves across the way from her driveway. This included ripping off my glasses, wildly messing up my hair to disengage said spider. When I felt I had rid my person of the spider and his web, I looked across the way to see my neighbor laughing hysterically at me. Should I approach her? Will she think I just had a crazy moment and might have one again? She came to the edge of her driveway and said, a spider must have attached itself to you. Experienced it and seen it many times. I felt so accepted at that moment. I don't want anyone to come up with names for Texans like they have for the Floridians that have almost taken over the area, somewhat like Texans take over Colorado. Instead of calling them Floridians, they call them Floridiots and then add they're all Yankees anyway.
The day awaits. Megan and Erin are coming in on Sunday. So all the things I have put off to the last minute? Well, their time has arrived to be accomplished, so I better get busy.
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