Nashville rhymes with Asheville....

Last fall when we were leaving the Richmond KOA, and heading south, the leaves had just begun to change. It was pretty (of course) but I remember thinking, "Thank goodness we won't be around when those leaves come off, I'd hate to have to rake them all up!!"

So, now we're back, and it's spring and apparently those leaves waited for us!! I spent about 6 hours today raking up old dead leaves from last fall and my arms are killing me!!

But my motto is "work hard, play hard" so I thought a good way to top off such a productive day would be to try the Asian restaurant we keep driving by that claims to serve sushi and and boasts a hibachi grill. Plus I thought my sore elbows might feel better with a little therapy (like repeatedly raising a gin and tonic to my mouth!)

Unfortunately it was a little disappointing. I haven't had sushi very often, but when I have, it's been really good. This, unfortunately wasn't. Kinda rubbery and fishy tasting. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up, this restaurant was really more of a Chinese buffet (and we're in Richmond, Indiana fercryinoutloud!!)

I felt kinda sorry for the owner. His english was difficult to understand, but I think his name was Tony. He was really nice and apparently trying to come up with new ways to drum up business. He's doing this "promotion" where nothing is priced, you eat however much you want, and pay whatever you think is fair. For some reason, it was a tough concept to grasp!! I could tell by some of the conversations I overheard that we weren't the only ones having this trouble. I asked him why he was doing it and he said it's tripled the amount of customers they get. I guess the local paper did a write-up. I asked him if he was getting ripped off, and he said that younger people were usually the ones not paying enough, but most customers were being pretty fair.

He was telling me what all they had at the sushi bar and was naming off the rolls, California roll, Pennsylvania roll, and I asked him, "where's the Indiana roll?" He was quite amused by that and said they'll have to start making one!! I don't know what they'll put in it though, corn?? Soybeans??

Even the hibachi part was a self-serve buffet. There's a variety of uncooked meat and vegetables, you take whatever you want and give it to the hibachi chef who cooks it for you and rings a bell when it's ready. It is a rather intriguing concept, and also a pretty gutsy experiment. I have to admire the ingenuity he's using to battle some tough economic times, but the food just wasn't that great and worst of all, they didn't serve alcohol!! Didn't get my therapy after all.

So, yesterday we spent the day in Brown County, Indiana looking at possible properties to buy for our more permanent abode. Last week we looked at a few, all of which were uninhabitable without a lot of work. There was one last week I liked alot with a little house on 20 acres. It had 2 ponds, some woods, a hayfield and a nice sized garage that would make a great studio with a little work. The house was condemned because the septic system wasn't up to code. It was a foreclosure, so we might put a bid on it, but it will be really low and if we can't get it cheap, we won't do it 'cos the house really does need to be gutted and completely remodeled.

Yesterday the properties were a little nicer. Most of them are at least 5 acres. There was one in particular that I liked. Part of it was an old hunting/vacation cabin that was built in 1934. That part would make a great pottery studio and showroom/gallery area. It has an small, old kitchen area, a woodburning stove, and a loft that you get to by climbing a ladder. Wide plank flooring, and that great, musty, old cabin smell!

This is the exterior, the part behind the tree is the older section. The 2 story part on the right is the post and beam section. Don't you love that huge tree??!

This is the old cabin area. You can see the woodstove and part of the loft area and in the back is the old kitchen.

This is the front half of the room. I think some display shelves and track lighting would make it a great gallery area!

The main living area was added in 1999 and is timber frame. It's a great room, a kitchen and bath and a large loft. The things we don't like about it is there aren't any closets or storage areas. I think it was built as a vacation home. It also doesn't have a bathroom upstairs, which is the master bedroom, actually the only bedroom. But it's a very large loft, I think we could build some closet space pretty easily and maybe someday even put a toilet and sink up there. Going to the bathroom at night is something that we need to do more frequently the last few years and I don't like the thought of negotiating the stairs in the middle of the night!!

This is the loft area, I love the window! They have a porch swing hanging up there, you can see part of it in the picture.

After we finished looking at properties, we went into the little village of Nashville to get something to eat. Nashville is the main town in Brown County and pretty touristy. Fudge on every corner!! It was fairly crowded for a weekday, but I think some of the schools are still on spring break and people were there on a little getaway. I picked up some brochures and last night I got online and did some research on some of the local artists, especially potters. They seem to have a fairly well-organized Arts Alliance that promotes the local artisans. I looked at some of the potters' websites and I think I like Greg Schatz work the best. He does gas and woodfiring and it looks like he has a very nice studio and gallery. I think that next time we're down there looking at property, I'll look him up. I want to talk to him and see if the artists (especially the potters) are friendly and welcome new potters to the area, like they seem to in North Carolina. From what I've seen, it looks like they have a close knit art community, but sometimes in that situation, the people can start to get a little exclusive because they're worried about competition. I hope that's not the case. I may have a pretty high standard in my mind from what I've seen among the potters in western North Carolina, but I figure it can't hurt to check it out and hope for the best.

So I guess this is about as close to North Carolina as I'm gonna get for awhile, at least if I wanna be involved with the new grand-baby.....and I definitely do!! I hope we can find a place soon and that it's in Brown County. I really got some good feelings when we were there, the area's beautiful and hilly, there seems to be a lot of art, a few potters, bluegrass music, and restaurants. And Nashville rhymes with Asheville, what more could I want??? Oh yeah, hippies!! Well, I guess that what Nashville lacks in hippie population, it compensates for with hillbilly population!!

I'm looking forward to the next chapter in the little adventure we've been privelaged to enjoy!!

Yet more food!!

I'm pretty sure I've put on a few pounds while we've been down here!! When we first arrived I lived under the delusional I thought that I might actually lose a little weight, get a little exercise, eat healthy. Yeah, right!! There's wayyyy too much good food that's too easily accessible down here! Not that accessibility has ever been an issue for me! No, I seem to be able to access food, and lots of it, no matter where I am!!

Night before last we went out for sushi. Steve got friendly with one of our campers who took us to a a great sushi restaurant where he is friends with one of the sushi chefs. It's called Mikado and it was great!! I've been trying to get Steve to go to a sushi restaurant with me since we arrived down here. One night when he was out of town, Ande and I ate at Green Tea Sushi and I've been wanting to do it again ever since. Of course he thought it sounded disgusting when it was my idea, but when a visiting camper talks about it, suddenly he's interested. Whatever! Our friend, Matt, alas, I'm afraid will never try it. He refers to it as "bait." I have to admit, that when I first got up the nerve to give it a try, the names of the entrees were somewhat intimidating. Of course some had rather innocent names like Butterfly Roll or Tuna Roll, but some of them start to sound like one of the Bizarre Foods you'd see Andrew Zimmer eating on the Travel Channel. Eel, squid, octopus......there's just no way to make that sound appealing to me.

The chef, Okki (not sure how it's spelled) was very patient with us and explained many things about the food. For instance, sushi is assumed to always contain raw fish, but that's not the case. Sushi is the word for a vinegared rice dish topped with other ingredients that usually includes fish. Sometimes, the fish component is raw, this is referred to as sashimi. And that's about as educated as I needed to get, I was ready to chow down!! As long as my meal's not staring at me, or still breathing, I'm not too picky!!

I do have to say that food is taken very seriously in most Japanese restaurants and that the presentation is as important as the taste. It's all considered an art form. I would love to visit some of the Asian countires someday to see the pottery and of course eat the food!! I find it pretty fascinating. I recently bought a DVD entitled Eat, Drink, Man, Woman that takes place in Taiwan. It's about a retired chef with 3 daughters. Much of the movie shows the methods they utlilize in that country to cook meals, many are primitive and somewhat graphic. They often start with the live critter and proceed from there to the table! Obviously our meat dishes here in the west begin with a live critter too, we've just managed to remove that step from the general public's concept of eating meat. I suppose we'd have a lot more vegetarians around otherwise. Rent the movie if you enjoy learning about other cultures and can stand to see a little fish gutting.

To top the evening off, Okki made us a special dessert (I don't think he put it on the bill which immediately made him Steve's hero du jour!) It consisted of fried bananas with chocolate sauce and whipped cream!! yum!

Today we went geocaching in a little town east of here called Old Fort. We wanted to be the "first-to-find" on a cache that was just hidden. We found it and then started searching for a place to eat. We don't need our GPS for that, altho I think I did punch "all food" in to the garmin in the car. It directed us to a restuarant on the outskirts of town that had a new name. It was called Tagi's BBQ Junction and that sounded pretty good to us!!

The owner (and chef) welcomed us warmly. His name was John but he went by Tagi. They weren't very crowded because it was late in the afternoon so we got all his attention. He was extremely friendly and recommended we try the sampler platter when we admitted we'd never been there before. He and his wife opened the place last January and he wants it to be the catalyst that puts Old Fort on the map!! He said he specializes in "fusion" BBQ, which means he uses a combination of secret spices. All I know is, it was pretty doggone good (and we were stuffed!!) The sampler included hushpuppies, french fries, cole slaw, baked beans, pinto beans and rice, a veggie burger, a beef brisket sandwich, and a pulled pork, plus 2 kinds of cake for dessert!!! SHWEW!!

I have to say that my favorite dish was Tavi's Special Cake. OMG!!! It was so good. It was a yellow cake with fried apple slices on top soaked in reduced balsamic. If you don't watch the food network, that balsamic part may sound a little gross, but lemme tell you, it was wonderful!! He even brewed me a fresh pot of coffee to wash it all down, no you KNOW that put him on top of my list!!

It was an unforgettable experience. One of many we've had down here. Most of them seem to involve great people and great food!! I suppose it's better for my health that we'll be waddling up to Indiana soon. Although, my son-in-laws family has a lot of good cooks, we may be in BEEEEEG trouble!!

Looking for a home

I'm beginning to realize that we won't be here a whole lot longer and it makes me feel sad that we'll only be here a few more weeks. The time has gone quickly. Part of me feels ready to get somewhere and become more settled in. I'm anxious to find permanent living arrangements. But another part of me is definitely going to miss this area, the new friends I've made, and all the pottery opportunities available here.

Oh yeah, and the food!! For a town that only boasts 80,000 permanent residents, there sure is a LOT of food! I'm sure that the tourist industry and semi-permanent residents play a huge role in that fact.

From a health standpoint, it's probably a good thing we're NOT staying! This week I found a great BBQ place. Even better than Fiddlin' Pig! (Well, they don't have live music like the Pig, but the food is better - and cheaper!) It's called 12 Bones Smokehouse and it's located about 1 block away from where I do my pottery!! How convenient! The only INconvenience is that they only serve lunch, they're open 11-4 Mon - Fri. And I believe that there's a line out the door no matter what time of day or day of the week you stop in. That's cuz it's gooooooood!! and reasonably priced as I mentioned....a pulled pork sandwich with 2 sides is 6 bucks. Delicious sides too, I might add. I opted for the jalepeno grits and mashed sweet potatoes. They must've had 20 people working behind the counter! It's definitely not a fancy joint. I noticed the thermostat said it was only 59 degrees inside. I guess it keeps the help from over-heating. Anyways, if you're ever in Asheville, you need to visit 12 Bones. I stood in line 20 minutes to get my food and it was definitely worth the wait!!

We think we may have found a campgrounds to stay at in Indiana while we're waiting for the grand-son to arrive (and looking for our new home.) It's called Hidden Paradise and it's located in St. Paul, Indiana. It's about 50 minutes SW of Dustin and Megan's place. I actually came across them when I was on the geocaching website. I think our friends from Cincinnati found a cache there. What really caught my eye was that I saw there was a cache hidden there that you have to scuba dive in order to find! That intrigued me!

The campgrounds has a 15 acre spring fed rock quarry thats average depth is 25 feet. They claim that visibility is usually 10-15 feet. There are also some sunken "treasures" like a sail boat and a mini-bus. Additionally they introduced paddle fish in 2001 and claim that they're now 3-4 feet long. It gives scuba divers something to look at I s'pose. During the late summer they say you might encounter rare, fresh-water jelly-fish. They're not very large, the size of a quarter, and non-venomous. Steve and I don't scuba dive ourselves, but his brother and our neices are certified and would probably enjoy paddling around. Maybe we can talk them into finding the cache!!

Of course they also allow swimming in the quarry and have what they refer to as a "water-park" which basically consists of inflatable slides, rafts, etc. I think it sounds like a fun place for the family to come and visit and won't be too far of a drive for our Ohio clan and our Indiana clan. Oh yeah, and the Kentucky clan.

It's a fairly large campgrounds with over 160 sites, plus a few cabins. Some of the sites are on a river that runs through the campgrounds. I think it sounds nice and I think we'll enjoy staying there more than at the Indy KOA which, of course, is right next to the highway. It's probably near the area that we'll be looking to settle in so that will be convenient for house-hunting.

Now I better sign off, it sounds like Twiggy wants to go for a walk.

Bavarian experience and a visitor

Christmas was nice. The weather was sunny and warm. We sat outside on the deck most of the afternoon chatting with our fellow-workamper, Matt. He's a former navy brat, cowboy, RC plane pilot, fly-fisherman, etc. so we all get along pretty well. It was basically a mutual BS session. Not a bad way to spend the day.

Later in the evening we finally got the video feed working on the computer so we could "participate" in the Wray Family Christmas Celebration in Ohio. That was a LOT of fun, almost as good as being there!! We watched everyone open their presents, and opened the ones they sent us, then part of the family played wii and the other half played p-nuts. Except for Grandpa and Mark, who I assume took their obligatory Christmas naps. I'm pretty sure I heard some snoring going on.

Last night Steve and I went out to eat at a local German restaurant called the Bavarian Lodge. It was good food, good service and a good time. A little pricey, but we hadn't eaten out for awhile. I think the "goodness" may have been somewhat enhanced by the litre of German bier that accompanied my meal!! Holy Cow, yes I did say a LITRE!! And it was QVITE GUHD, DA!!

On the way back up the mountain, we finally saw "The Bear" that's been making occasional visits to the campgrounds. As I reported to my children, we actually only saw the the portion of the bear which has become famous in American sayings for the product it is reported to expel in the woods. I've been hoping we would catch a glimpse of him, and a sighting from the comfort and safety of the car was definitely my viewing preference. Coming upon one while hiking in the woods would be my least favorite scenario. Hopefully we'd have the dogs with us if that happened. Not that I think they'd protect us, I was thinking more along the lines of tossing one of them to him as a snack to distract him while we make tracks in the opposite direction!! (Just kidding Twiggy!!)

I think we're going to have a New Year's Eve Bonfire on the campgrounds. That should be festive. The campgrounds has been pretty busy through the holidays. We even have some tent-campers coming in tonight. It shouldn't be too cold for them.

Now we're off to finish some laundry and cleaning!

Weaverville and NC Arboretum

Today was sunny and warmer than it has been (that means it made it up to the 40s, I would guess.) We went out to breakfast in Weaverville with Ande, our boss. First stop was breakfast at the Well-Bred Bakery. Steve and I got strata and I had to get a piece of apricot rugelach for "dessert." Steve had a chocolate chip cookie. Ande had a bagel with "schmear." (Apparently, that's jewish for spread.)

Then we toddled around Weaverville, what a delightful little town! The Miya Gallery has beautiful pottery, fine art, hand-blown glass, wrought iron and jewelry by local artisans. One of the jewelers works there, or maybe is the owner or manager. Her name's Elizabeth Hake, and she was extremely friendly and helpful, and very talented! I purchased a pair of her earrings which I'm sure I'll enjoy for years to come!

There were 2 potters whose work I thoroughly enjoyed! One was Liz Zlot Summerfield who makes sweet little handbuilt boxes and other containers out of earthenware. She calls her work, "small and intimate" and it is!

The other pottery I really liked was by a potter named, Julie Covington. I like her forms, and the designs are bold yet simple with earthy colors. I'll have to visit her studio next time I'm in the River Arts District.

The next stop was Mangum Pottery, maybe 2 doors down from the Miya Gallery. I had seen their website and wanted to visit this place for awhile. It's a family operation, today we met Beth Mangum, whose mother-in-law founded the business. Her daughter was helping out in the shop today. They have some great functional pieces and some nice work that incorporates other mediums, like wood. There was a gorgeous grand-father clock made out of clay and wood! It was 7 feet tall and will cost ya almost 7,000 smackers!! They also make ceramic instruments! There was a banjo hanging on the wall on strung and in tune!! How cool was that?!

After that we visited a little eclectic place called The Shop Around the Corner, the ladies there were so friendly. Then we enjoyed a trip down memory lane looking at all the old stuff at Preservation Hall, which was neat little shop featuring architectural salvage and vintage hardware. They had literally HUNDREDS of old keys!

Finally we stopped at a Maggie B's Wine and Specialty Shop. I purchased some local beer and some stuffed grape leaves and mozarella cheese balls in oil. It was a great morning and afternoon, but it wasn't over yet!!

We dropped Ande off at her condo and decided that after we stopped and let the dogs out for a brief walk, we would go hiking at the NC Arboretum. This is a wonderful, educational nature area just outside of Asheville. They have gardens, nature trails for hiking and biking, and a visitor's center with a gallery, and gift shop and a restaurant. They have various exhibits and activities throughout the year. Their December Events include a photo exhibit inspired by Henry David Thoreau. There's a $6 entry fee per car, we went ahead and purchased a memberhsip for $40 so we can come and go as often as we like! I'm sure we'll return.

Here's a picture we took using the camera's timer of us on a rock next to Bent Creek ............(I didn't think Steve would make it into the shot on time, the camera was sitting on a stone bridge.)

To see more photographs from the Arboretum, visit my picasa site.

That was definitely enough fun for one day! Tomorrow I'm going to Suze Lindsay's studio in Bakersville to see her pottery and her collection of work from other potters. Then we're going to visit a few other studios in the surrounding area! I'm taking my camera, it should be another great day!!

housekeeping

Today we got a taste of what our housekeeping duties will probably entail for this month. We had to clean all 3 Yurts and one of the cabins. Plus the daily cleaning of the bathhouse. It was a rather long day. 2 of the yurts absolutely had to be cleaned because they're booked for this evening. The rest could've waited until tomorrow but we decided to get it all done so we won't have much to do tomorrow and if someone calls wanting to rent them they're available.

I thought I would really dislike so much cleaning, since that's kinda what my life was about when the kids were home and I was doing all the housework. But it's no so bad. The worse part about cleaning my own house was dealing with all the clutter. We don't have much of that. And since we keep up with them, they never really get all that dirty. And we can walk outside and take in the view!!!!

So we're caught up with the cleaning for today. Tomorrow all we should have to clean is the bathhouse. That's a building that houses 4 private bathrooms with showers. It takes less than an hour for both of us to do the whole thing. I think we're planning to visit the nearby small town of Black Mountain tomorrow. It has a 5/3 bank and it's supposed to be a quaint little town.

Yesterday we did some geocaching in Weaverville. The caches we've found down here so far haven't taken us to as interesting of places as they did in Richmond, IN. I think we need to do a little more research. (Disclaimer: The aforementioned disappointment in no way reflects our feelings towards Weaverville! It's a great little town and we will probably visit there often. Great restaurants and quaint shops. We just seemed to come across more "off the beaten path" kind of parks and hiking trails while geocaching in Indiana.)

Downtown Asheville is very quirky and quaint. I LOVE the fact that there are coffee shops virtually EVERYWHERE! There's a sweet little coffee shop just at the foot of our mountain where they actually roast the beans on the premises fresh every day. I'm going to become an even worse coffee snob than I already am!! I just bought some beans that are called "Dirty Nekked Guatamalan." It makes a superb cup of coffee!

After a long day of cleaning, I kicked back on the deck and phoned the kids to see how things are going. Megan told me that she and Dustin heard the baby's heartbeat at her doctor's appointment today! I wish we weren't so far away! Danny told me that he has a job interview tomorrow at Southland Church in Lexington. I hope this works out for him! He's supposed to call tomorrow to let us know how the interview went. Life down here would be perfect if we only weren't so far away from friends and family!!

Oh, the other day when we were hiking on some trails here on the campgrounds we came across an extremely LARGE pile of animal poo. It was definitely too big for dog poo. It almost looked to me like that fungal growth you sometimes see in your flower bed. So, being the curious type of person I am, I picked up a stick and poked it to see if it was in fact poo or fungus. It was defintely poo. And it seemed to be full of seeds or pits. We mentioned it to Matt, the maintenance man here. He said that it was probably bear poop and there was at one time a small black bear who was known to hang around the area, but fortunately had not discovered the trash bins or made a nuisance of himself yet. He told us what he had learned about bears in Alaska. He said that up there the tourists wear bells and carry bear mace. Then he asked us if we knew how they identify grizzly bear poop in Alaska..........because its full of bells bear mace. hahaha.....I'm figuring Twiggy will make enough of an hor'devor for me to make a clean getaway!!!! (Just kiddin' Twiggy!)

I'll sign off with a picture of our deck. It's a delightful place to sip our morning coffee or kick back and relax after a long day! It was a pleasant suprise feature of our campsite here. Note happy puppies huddled on their blanket!