NC Arboretum in Asheville and Farmers Market

On Thursday I drove with a new friend G. Ann, up to Asheville NC for a Greenville Newcomers Garden tour at the Arboretum.  G. Ann lives close to me and we found we had a great deal in common.   I look forward to Bob and I getting to know her and her husband Al better.   They live in Taylors. I have talked often about wanting to meet new people and we are certainly doing that.  The trick is to also find people who live close to you.  For my Minnesota readers it would be like you live in Roseville and you want to meet people from White Bear Lake and most of the people you meet live in Minnetonka.

It was a lovely day to tour the Arboretum.  They have had very heavy flooding rains the last few days.   I saw where the river had flooded a camp ground. Is is a beautiful 45 minute drive from our house.  We got off to a rocky start.   The volunteer Arboretum guide called in sick and our garden group leader got stuck behind a truck moving a garage on the freeway and arrived late.  Fortunately, thanks to cell phones, she got hold of us and we didn’t  wait.  Everything is well marked and we had good maps so it was not a problem.

They have about 350 acres and a new exhibit center  which featured bird illustrations.  Beautiful and a creative display.  Not your usual “pictures hanging on a wall”.

The arboretum is known for their huge bonsai exhibit.  We saw the main exhibit and then took a “little walk” to two more big displays but not as fancy.   The “little walk” ended up being .6 miles (partly up hill) on a dirt path in the deep woods.  With all the rain there were all kinds of mushrooms growing in the woods.  I didn’t know there were so many kinds of mushrooms!  Toward the end it got pretty warm.   I was lucky because I wore walking shoes and had a bottle of water.   Some of my walking companions weren’t so lucky.  Thank goodness someone gave us a ride back.  My ankle has been giving me problems and I would have over done it walking another .6 miles!

After lunch at the Arboretum we drove 10 minutes to a farmers market in Asheville.  It is huge and a combination of food and garden items and gifts.  Lots of apples because that part of NC is a huge producer of apples.  I bought an assortment of tomatoes.   I want to try making fried green tomatoes.

Enjoy the photos.

Sedum Garden

I really liked this little garden.  Unique, easy to build, not to big and
takes care of itself.

Quilt Garden and a Beautiful View

Flowering Bonsai

Bonsai Arrangement

Bonsai in a greenhouse  not on display.

There is another greenhouse just like this.  They have hundreds of bonsai.

Next week calendar for Fay and Bob

Here is a peak at what next week looks like for us. Yes, that is just one week.

Fay and Bob -Tour of Greenville War Museum
Fay and Bob – Trolley Car Tour of Greenville
Fay – Tai Chi
Fay – Newcomers Coffee for new members
Bob -first of three classes on hand tools at Greenville Woodworkers Guild
Bob-first of eight classes on wood turning with Woodworkers Guild
Bob Fay and Bob – Quarry Tour
Fay and Bob – Travelers Rest Art Festival
Fay and Bob – create Newcomers 60 – 70 page member directory with Publisher

And of course the usual – pay bills, update Quicken, work on websites, keep organizing the basement and garage and mow lawn.

Have a great week.

T’ai Chi Chih: Joy through movement

I have taken two T’ai Chi classes now and really like it.  The form I am studying  was developed by Justin Stone and has 19 forms (or movements) and 1 pose.  So far I really like it.  The class is 8 weeks and the first four weeks we learn the 19 forms and then the last four weeks we put them all together in what I think will be about a 45 minute movement.  I think it will help my balance and flexibility.  I ordered the DVD and that should help me a lot to remember the movements and keep the slow pace of doing them.  T’ai Chi Chih focuses on circulating, developing and balancing the chi (in the traditional Chinese concept, a kind of spiritual energy residing in every living thing).  Sounds like my kind of activity.  No sweat, no sore muscles but yet good for me.  I gues the original T’ai Chi had

Here is a link to Justin Stone on youtube.com.  He is over83 now.

Cemetery, arboretum, Paris Mt. tours

Another very busy fun week.  Only bummer thing is Bob came down with a cold that kept him down for a couple days.  We are glad it is a cold and not the flu.  We are finding that are weekdays and weekends may be opposite to how we used to live.  We are very busy goofing off during the week and don’t have much on weekends so that seems to be when we do computer work, pay bills, clean house, etc.

On Monday I went on an OLLIE walking tour of Springwood Cemetery. It is on the national register of historic places in SC.  Our tour was led by Russell Stall, executive director of Greenville Forward. This is an organization I have been very impressed with.   They have helped accomplish great things to make Greenville a remarkable city.

Greenville Forward’s mission is to enhance the quality of life for greater Greenville by engaging citizens in continually updating, promoting, and facilitating a community vision for 2025 and beyond.

The earliest grave is 1812.   The cemetery is still in use today.  All the plots are taken but not all are used.  The cemetery originally was in the wide open spaces but now is in downtown Greenville.

One section of the cemetery has markers for unknown Civil War soldiers.  The photo below shows a part of this area.  The black markers have CSA (Confederate Soldier of America), the flag or the dates 1881-1865. The last photo also shows more of this area.

This is the style of the oldest graves – above ground and made with bricks. Many are also surrounded by waist high wrought iron fences.  Many of the fences have been vandalized.   Their original purpose was to keep animals out.

Here is a view of part of the cemetery.

Later posts this week will be of the garden trip to the Asheville NC Arboretum featuring a garden quilt and bonsai and a guided nature hiking trip Bob and I took on Paris Mountain, only a few miles from our house.

Bob’s Pride and Joy

Bob has been working on storage in the house.   See what he did in the garage!

Fay’s 5 minutes of TV fame

I was interviewed by Kelly Coakley on Sunday morning about my blog Life Part Two on local channel WYFF 4.  A total of 5 minutes in two short videos. Check them out at the links below. Pretty fun way to start a dreary Sunday morning. Getting up at 5:30 wasn’t so much fun but watching the tv process was very educational and worth the early wake up.   Bob came with for moral support.  The time you are interviewed just flies by. 

 http://www.wyff4.com/video/21018967/index.html

http://www.wyff4.com/video/21019040/index.html

Our Stories

I forgot to tell you about this.

When we were in Naples FL last month we got to spend some quality time with five 20 somethings young adults ( 21-25) realized something special.  We were a little worried about what we would talk about for a week.  Not to worry.   We worked hard all day but then at dinner or while we were cooling off in the pool Fay and Bob entertained them with stories from our life.   I guess I never really thought about all the things that have happened to us and what we have learned in our 60 years.  They definitely were  listening and asking good questions.   Bob especially has some over the top stories about his time in Vietnam and elsewhere in the service.   Made us feel good.

Greenville Woodworkers Guild

On Monday night Bob and I went to the Greenville Woodworkers Guild meeting.   I have written about them before.   They have over 600 members!   My favorite part is “show and tell” when the woodworkers bring in items they have made.   Absolutely beautiful.  After the “show and tell” a representative from Minwax talked about how to use stains and finishes.   Makes me wonder how I ever managed not to ruin all the things I have refinished.   Guess I had beginners luck.   Last year Minwax gave this group a $5000 award.

Minwax^® Announces 2008 Community Craftsman Award Recipients

Greenville Woodworkers Guild earns Grand Prize by building wooden office cabinetry and holiday toys for the Meyer Center for Special Needs Children.

Like Greenville Newcomers, the Woodworkers Guild has a big component of their organization where they do projects to help others.

Enjoy the photos.  Click on the little photo to see a big photo.  These items were so beautiful I got goosebumps holding them.   I never knew there were so many different woods!   Bob will be taking some classes from them at their shop to learn how to use some of the equipment.

Caesars Head Mountain, Lake Lure and Coffee Party

On Monday Bob went with the Greenville Newcomers Hiking Group for a 5 mile hike on Caesars Head Mountain State Park, about 45 minutes from our house.   He said it was a beautiful clear day and just the right temperature.   The park is about 11,000 acres and has a peak of 3200 feet and a 420 ft waterfall.  He had a really good time.

Enjoy the photos.

On Thursday we both went with again, Greenville Newcomers, for a pontoon boat ride at Lake Lure, NC.  It is a gorgeous one hour drive to that lake from our house.  The lake is man made in 1927  and surrounded by mountains. I grew up in the land of 10,000 lakes and many of them are breathtaking but this lake nestled in the Smokey Mountains is really spectacular.  The day was overcast but that just gave a feeling of  erieness.   You could definitely see wisps  of “smoke” in the mountains.  It looked like a film shoot from the TV show “Lost”.  This was also where part of the movie “Dirty Dancing” was filmed.   They do many weddings where the gazebo is.  After the boat trip Bob and 20 ladies went to lunch at Larkens on the Lake.    Both Caesars Head and Lake Lure are places I would bring visitors to.

On Tuesday Greenville Newcomers had their Kick Off Coffee Party.  Bob came and took a movie of a cute skit we were in to introduce the officers and standing committees.   One of our big events this year is the play Wicken and so the skit was a play on that with Oz, Dorothy, etc.   Really cute.  The event was a huge success.  About 175 people attended.   Each of the 30 or so activity committees (hiking, bridge, golf, Cocktails R Us, Explorers, etc.) had a table to explain their activity and a large gift basket that people could bid on in a silent auction.  This year Newcomers will be supporting Safe Harbor. This event is one of several we have through out the year to help them.  Safe Harbor helps victims of domestic violence, providing safe emergency shelter, counseling, legal advocacy, and community outreach and education. A very worthwhile cause.  I was exhausted when I came home.  Many of the board at 6 p.m. went to the Greenville City Council to hear the mayor proclaim Sept. 15 as Greenville Newcomers Day!   Pretty cool.

It’s been a very busy fun social week!

The last week has been so busy I haven’t had time to get my photos off the camera and write in my blog.   We have gone hiking on Caesar’s Head Mountain, toured historic Kilgore-Lewis home in Greenville, attended the Greenville woodworkers guild meeting and learned all about Minwax stains and finishes, took a boat tour on Lake Lure NC, started Tai Chi classes and helped with a huge Greenville Newcomers coffee.  Bob also has been swimming and working on projects around the house and I am visiting the massage therapist and chiropractor to try to get my ankle better.

I will show and tell more in the days ahead.