More From The Not So Far North

My goodness have we been busy since my last blog post. I think I mentioned in my last post that I might crochet some dishcloths to add to the Christmas Boxes for the elderly. Well I have six done and I'm out of yarn. I may make a run to get more yarn and make a few more. They are easy, I can do it while sitting outside or watching TV or chatting, whatever. 

Friday I went to another dulcimer practice. I'm getting better but these ladies really know their stuff. I'm having a great time sitting in with them and playing (a little bit). They are planning a performance for August 11th. I'm not too sure about that, but we will just have to see. Friday night for dinner we'd planned on some pork chops and those buggers didn't thaw at all, so we had to have a fall back plan. (Aw shucks!! Don't mention this to Steve but you can really retard the thawing process if you put things back in the freezer. Gosh I hope he doesn't figure that out. This little plan could work again.) Anyway I really had been jonesing for pizza and there was a place I found on Yelp that had excellent reviews so off we went. Oh the pizza was GOOD!

Saturday we went back to the curb market in Hendersonville. The Pegs and Jokers game Lester made for me didn't sit right if you were only going to play with four. Since Lester had never heard of the game and looked it up online to see if he could figure out how to make one it didn't really surprise me that it needed tweaking. He immediately picked up on what I wanted and promised to fix it for me. This man really is very nice. I'm so glad we chose to support a local business instead of just ordering something mass produced from the Internet. 

Sunday we were relaxing as is our way anymore, and there was a knock at the door, of course this was a surprise cause we weren't expecting anyone. Don't you know it was Rich and Carole!!!!! They had mentioned they may visit on their way back to Florida but that had been almost a week prior and when we didn't hear anything else we thought it just didn't fit into their plans so we forgot about it, and yet there was Rich standing there with a sheepish grin. It's always good to see friends. So, as is the Happy Zone way, we pooled resources and put together a nice dinner and ate and talked and just had the best time. 

Monday Carole sat in with the dulcimer group and she had a toe tapping good time listening to us practice and joke and mess up and laugh. The group of ladies enjoyed getting to meet a new friend too. It just so happened that Rich and Carole picked the best two days for a drop in. Talk about your serendipity, Steve found in the local Sunday paper that there was going to be a bluegrass music group and cloggers in the Hendersonville square on Monday night. So we had our plan for the evening. After a light dinner we packed up lawn chairs and headed into Hendersonville. We found out this was the 97th Annual Street Dances in town. From mid June to the middle of August they have live music on Monday nights, Friday nights, and Saturday nights. Friday and Saturday nights they throw in a classic car show too. It was so darn much fun. We were there in plenty of time to get our chairs situated so we could see Bobby & Blue Ridge Tradition and right in front of us was square dancing and the cloggers performances. What a great area of the country this must be to grow up in, summer nights you're entertained with live music and dancing. It was fun.

We made sure we said our goodbyes to Rich and Carole when we got back to the campers. God knows they like to see the sun come up and be on the road right after, that is NOT our way, so we knew we would't see them before they headed off. We got on the road early ourselves, although nowhere near as early and we drove to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was a perfect morning for a drive. There was a light mist and clouds hanging low over the mountains. It made for some pretty driving. We got to the Pancake Pantry, of course there was a line, but since it was just the two of us our number was being called before Steve made it back from parking the car. Breakfast was the typical Pancake Pantry, VERY GOOD!! From breakfast it was off to Cade's Cove Scenic Loop. Well let me tell ya, there wasn't much to see. Of course the vistas are spectacular, but no wildlife today. We were there at the wrong time of day for the wildlife viewing. I did get to see a woodpecker going to town on a fence post, Robert and Celeste will appreciate that. I guess there weren't many picnic tables to feast on for the poor guy.

After going through Cade's Cove we drove home by way of Cherokee. We had no plans other than a nice drive and scenery until Steve announced he wanted ice cream. Don't you know after that we passed a sign that scared the hell out of me, I thought I might be having a stroke. I couldn't read the sign, the letters didn't look right, but it was a sign on the road! Then I realized it was written in Cherokee. I had to get a photo of that. We made a turn and there was an ice cream shop, again serendipity. 

Well enjoy the photos, I'll write again soon.