HELLO THERE, IT'S BEEN A WHILE...NOT MUCH HOW ABOUT YOU?
It's been a while since I've written a blog entry, so I guess I better catch up a bit before it gets too overwhelming. You know how you SWEAR you're gonna keep a journal, then you don't because you get behind? That's the way it's been with this blog. So here is a capsule summary of what I've been doing lately.
I'll start with this past weekend and work backwards. Makes as much sense as anything else, right?
INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING FESTIVAL
Carol had heard about the International Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN since before we moved. One of the LSU music professors and a friend of hers had insisted that when we moved we should go to this once a year festival. It's in its 40th year, and since it sounded interesting to us, we decided to go.
We took Dora the Explorer, my 17 foot Casita travel trailer, and headed to Jonesborough on Saturday morning. We had reservations at a riverside campground and had purchased tickets online for the Saturday night session and the Sunday session. We had recently been through Jonesborough on our way to DC with our friends Jo Paula and Bob, where we had stopped at Tennessee Quilts, one of the area's best quilt shops, according to JP. We knew we liked the looks of Jonesborough and were excited to get back there. It has a great little downtown shopping area, with some specialty shops such as the chocolate shop Carol fell in love with. Of course, the weather did NOT cooperate, and it was rainy and cold most of the time we were there. Big tents had been set up for the various sessions, so we were dry at least. We did have enough foresight to dress warmly, so it really wasn't bad.
This event was one of the most unusual I have ever attended. The audience seemed to consist of a lot of regulars who return each year. There seems to be a ... (it's hard to describe) cultural connection among this group. After all, how many people in today's society enjoy hearing people tell stories? No gimmicks, no flashy stages, just good old fashioned, spoken word entertainment.
We heard stories from people who "specialized" in Appalachian culture, such as the young woman who told about miners in a cave-in. We heard a variation of the myth "Baucus and Philemon"; we heard a Cuban-American tell wonderful tales of her childhood as an immigrant; we heard hilarious stories that could be described as stand-up comedy with a personal twist. We heard protest songs and African American poems. There were others, of course, but this was the kind of stories we enjoyed in our short time there. I guess, as one speaker said, many of the audience members were librarians and English teachers, but there were lots of other folks too. Older people mostly, of course, but some younger ones as well. It is hard for me to describe just how good these tellers were. And I was amazed to see that there is a community of tellers who travel to international festivals and are well known to their audiences. If you have any kind of appreciation for people who can move you to tears or make you laugh until you cry, then you might consider this festival. It's kind of expensive, but we found the money to be well spent.
And the scenery between here and there is gorgeous, especially with the fall colors.
OUR TRIP TO THE OUTER BANKS OF NC
A few weeks ago, we went with our friends and neighbors Mike and Sue to the Outer Banks. Although they've lived in NC for years and own a beach home in the southern part of the state, they had never been up to the northern end of the OBX. Carol and I were very excited to share this adventure with them. Mike and Sue have a large trailer they just acquired, so we caravanned (sp?) with them. The weather AGAIN was pretty lousy the first few days. It rained over four inches at Ridgehaven during that time, but we managed to avoid most of the worst weather.
We saw the most northern part of the Outer Banks, including Nag's Head, Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers Memorial, Cape Hattaris and a total of four lighthouses, Ocracoke, Roanoke and the Lost Colony site (not necessarily in that order). We took two ferries, saw a few beaches (although not enough in my estimation), stayed in a couple of pretty bad campgrounds (not a lot of choice), and ended up in a great national forest campground for two nights. We did enjoy the town of New Bern, and I had my first shrimp and grits there. My gosh, that's an amazing dish. How have I not eaten that before? I'm not really a beach person, and I would have enjoyed a little more time ON an actual beach instead of just experiencing the ocean "breeze" and humidity. My hair looked a lot like Bozo the Clown's on this trip, but I enjoyed the whole experience. I don't think I need to go back to the Outer Banks, but I was glad to see a large part of my new state that I had never seen before. VISITORS COMING TO RIDGEHAVEN!!
I'm being totally lazy today (stll in my pjs at 1:45), but I will need to get it in gear soon since we have guests arriving on Thursday. Two of Carol's friends from her stint at the EBR Library are coming for the weekend. I'm a little bit shy around strangers, but she likes these ladies a lot and I'm sure they're quite nice. I have housecleaning to do and a bit of tidying up, and I have the lawn to mow. I HOPE I only have to mow maybe two more times this season, but then there will be leaf clean up. While they're here, I suspect I will do some leaf peeping of my own in the surrounding area. Now that the weather has cleared up and the sun is shining, it will be perfect weather for looking. We went out on the Parkway last week and watched a glorious sunset, and the colors were already changing up that high. I need to monitor that, I think, just in case the foliage needs my help!
I'm having much of my family here for Thanksgiving. Laurie, my niece, and her family are coming, along with her parents, and we're still hoping to hear that my nephew Greg and his family can come as well. It will be fun having them all here, and we think the house is in pretty good shape for viewing.
A few days before my birthday later this month, we're going to take Dora to Cataloochee and camp for two nights. That's where the elk herd is, and there are lots of hiking trails as well. We're taking the bikes since there is a long road through there, so it should be fun. I suspect the way the fall foliage is going around here that we might be past peak, but I bet it's still pretty. We have never dry camped in Dora so I'm trying to get ready for that with a new battery, some LED lights, and learning how to save power.
All in all, it's been a good month. By the way, I think the hummingbirds have gone. I saw a lone one yesterday in the rain and felt sorry for him, but I'm keeping my feeders up for the stragglers. I'll miss you little guys!!
Here are some pictures of our recent outing to Waterrock Knob for sunset. Pretty darned nice.
