Monday morning is beginning a little later than I would have liked because Sunday night there was an extended bedtime. Feeling quite good about an earlier bedtime was short lived because Buddy got the yips. She could not settle. I tried all the usual things that work and finally after falling asleep and waking up three times in forty five minutes I followed her downstairs and gave her a treat and then checked on her litter box and took care of anything that might be bothering her. Washed my hands and trudged back upstairs to go to bed...to sleep with a pillow over my head. Whatever I did must have been the thing because she was upstairs and ready to go to sleep not too much afterwards.
I really enjoyed the Studio Tour this weekend. In fact, I think I liked it much better than Weaverville's Art Safari and that is probably due to liking the mediums the artists worked in. My first stop was at the Addison Farm Winery which had about six artists showing their work. I was there to see the blacksmith. He was self taught and very good. I bought a couple of pieces and then went inside the winery to see the other artists. Because I am always on the lookout for gifts made in the area, I talked with Terry who worked there about the wines and vines. So interesting to hear their story and the plans ahead. They design their labels too and they were quite interesting and well done. I bought a couple of bottles for gifts because their wine is a drier variety and if I am going to drink wine I like it on the sweeter side. Terry told me I needed to go see Marlo and the brooms he made and also make a stop at the quilter studio. It was a very beautiful drive but yet I think I drove through some of the area that Vivian had told me not to drive in alone. It was not intentional, it was the directions I was given. Friendswood Brooms did not disappoint. He and his family own an old building that formally was a general store. It was a feast for the eyes...all the things to see. I bought a hearth broom and it was the wood handle that sold me on it. They only open up that building for the studio tour but if he is back next year, I am totally going back. I felt like I was pretty far into the middle of no where and the quilter was even further out. The gravel road up to her house was a bit scary going up due to not knowing where I was going but the trip down seemed much shorter and not as dangerous. The quilts were gorgeous but modern. I went to a couple of other places but loved that I started with the ones I really wanted to see and got the added bonus of beautiful mountain scenery. Just when you think it cannot be more beautiful, you take another turn and the beauty multiplies.
The day was capped off with a trip to Lowe's for a lamp harp and finial for the new lamp. Found what I was looking for and came home only to be disappointed that the harp wasn't going to work on the lamp. That is when I looked out the window for inspiration and saw another black snake up near the top of the rock tier.The dumb squirrel, he really is dumb and already looks like he escaped from something with two big bites on his back, was moving right toward the snake. Granted I don't like the squirrels but if I could help him escape...me being at a safe distance...I would. So I opened the door, screen door securely in place and yelled to scare the squirrel, thus saving his life. So I did what any modern person does, I posted the pic of the snake on FB. Had many comments but I love that my pastor, Pastor Jeff comments. Hey I even got a shout out from the pulpit on Sunday morning... Everyone says get moth balls, which I have and need to get more, but Pastor Jeff added turpentine to the list of repellents. So I have some to make a line of demarcation and I am also calling a company in Asheville today about coming out and giving me a bid on clearing out some of the vegetation. Oh, I digressed, but I had to go back to Lowe's and get another harp for the lamp. I know everyone wanted to know how the lamp debacle turned out.
I figured out why I never read the Mitford Series. I had all the books even but I think I knew at that time if I started reading the series, it would make me want to move and find such a place and I knew the timing wasn't right. I just started the first book several nights ago and I can happily read knowing I found such a place as Mitford.
A blogger I follow is Andrew Feldman and he wrote about a book he's reading, Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer. by Brother David Steindl-Rast. It is very good but it is one of those books you can only read a paragraph at a time and then think about what you just read. My goodness, it took me forever just to read and think through the forward of the book by Henri J M Nouwen, who is no slouch with words either. I am finally to the chapter on Prayers and Prayerfulness and I am being blown away by the thought that discipline is flexible and creative verses what we think discipline is, regimentation which is rigid and brittle, lifeless. The example he uses in prayer and especially prayer with others is so basic but so profound. Sardines are side by side in a tin, in a box that is opened with the key attached. They are side by side and together like we can be in prayer but watching a school of fish, sardines, in the water move spontaneously in different directions as they share the same space and life, he concludes that is how prayer with others should be. The sardines in the box are dead, they know neither spontaneity nor sharing. He asks when we gather together in prayer which sardine do we want to resemble? And he adds this aside, remember the side by side ones had to sacrifice their heads to fit into the box.
The day holds forth of things to do and thankfully it holds time of things to be.
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