Peaceful Village

Ice on the Blue Ridge Parkway

After another beautiful day yesterday, snow is falling thick and fast outside, obscuring the horizon and fast covering the ground. The little houses nearby look vague, nestled into their hills as if to shelter from the wind.


The Farm

Yesterday I spent the morning on the computer, working on several different projects. I did decide to 'blog' the book reviews for Greenberry House; have to get another written today, maybe. I spruced up some of the sales pages on the web site and worked a little on my sister-in-law's, putting in some navigational links. Then Sue came over and we took some pictures for a Round the Mountain slideshow. I don't know if they needed scenery or will use them, but along with pictures of Sue and me in our studios, I sent some shots of the unique rock churches here and of our little community. I may try to get more pictures of town in the snow today.


Sue in her studio

Sue has set up a charming place to work, in a little building outside their house up on Mountain View. She works with natural materials and her benches and tables are adorned with the elegant shapes of deer horns and the soft curves of dried plants, shells, nuts, feathers and the many textures and shapes of the gourds that serve as raw materials. Overhead she has bundles of dried plants and broom straw, and a storage area piled high with more gourds gives a hint of big plans for many beautiful pieces to come. Sue has been creating gourd art for only a year and a half, but her pieces are beautifully done, with a charming simple style and character all their own. I'm scanning in some pictures (slowly!) and we hope to add a section to her web page offering her gourds for sale very soon.

TJ went along for playtime with Lucky, although he spent a lot of time checking out Sue's shop and trying to see what we were doing. I had to crop him out of the best picture; he showed as a brown blurr by her chair. But he was really very good, running in and out and then spending a couple of minutes on a rug by the door. He didn't snatch any of her lovely materials, fortunately! He and Lucky romped hard in the house, with TJ discovering suddenly that he could jump onto the sofa instead of painfully crawling! They invented a game of tag that involved TJ tearing around the chair, up across the sofa and then down to plow into Lucky as hard as he could, where she tumbled him over only to have him scramble away and fly around the room again!

Last night I visited my mom and Wendell, and came home with another selection of grape vines for starting. We had a lovely visit and a good meal of chili! When I went down it was warm, and I had planned to walk back. But the temperature dropped abruptly just before dark, and I was glad to accept a ride back from Wendell. When I took the dogs out for their last ramble of the day, the sky was hazed with clouds, while stars peeped through in a hesitant show. A nip in the breeze shorted our stay out, and I came in to knit in my corner, with my big shawl across my shoulders, a spaniel by my side and a worn out puppy at my feet.