Introductions and Re-acquaintances

Spring brings with it all kinds of interesting findings. We here in Elk Park have been thoroughly entertained by the weather, the blossoming trees and various flowers, and by life itself. I have just marveled at how exquisite the rhododendron bushes are around here. I've never actually lived in a place where they just BLOOM!!! I've always had to "go to the mountains" to see them. I wish I had pictures to offer here, but that will be for next posting, they're on the desk at the office! Oops!
Anyway, our springs have most recently been filled with recital bliss, as you all know only too well. Now it appears that there are actually other things that happen in the spring time ... who knew!?!?! So I'm being introduced and re-acquainted with things I've long forgotten happen in the spring!!! For example, our grandsons pictured above (Austin, kneeling and Cade standing) have found baseball. Aren't they the most handsome fellas you've ever seen? I just love this picture and really appreciate it being sent to me! I miss these guys and we are very excited that we will get to see them on the 17th of June ... for an entire week!!!! Hope Elk Park is ready for this!!!!

I know you think I'm just trying to show you the trees on the street in the next photo, but actually it is something much more exciting than that! On Sunday Paul hollered through the house, "honey, there's a goat going down the road" ... not the normal topic of conversation, you must admit. So I tried to catch the image of the gentleman pulling the wagon with a goat in the back eating hay! If you double click on the image, it'll bring it close focus ... you might be able to see it if we're lucky. Oh my goodness! The things we just take as normal now! We're not in Kansas any more ... that's for sure!

These two lovely sunshine ladies are the women of Appalachian Specialty Real Estate. Caroline (on the left) is the wife of the guy who sold us our house, and I work for her on Wednesdays. Terri (on the right) is the broker in charge and lives next door to where Paul works now. I work for her on Fridays. We had a great Caribbean mambo open house last Saturday ... food, fun, sunshine ... never a dull moment with these two, as I'm sure you can imagine!

Paul managed to replace the brakes on the Volvo this evening, with the help of our neighbor Mike at Mike's truck garage. Mike has a real trucking business --- runs 18 wheelers down to Florida and back every week. Too bad we didn't know him when we were moving! Anyway, it'll be nice to stop the Volvo without the growling effect ... HA! And it'll be nice to drive it to Charlotte on Friday without the fear of not stopping in the traffic, which we aren't used to any more ... AT ALL!!!!!

I've been in withdrawal all week because The Dancer's Pointe is moving into the theater and having tech rehearsals and etc. I feel like I'm still connected by an invisible cord and I miss the hoopla something terrible! But Paul has been generous enough to send me down on Friday afternoon so I can see the show and support all of my dear friends, past students and their parents. I can't wait to see everyone and see a decent show! It's slim pickins' around here! I'll be coming home Sunday ... so the stay is brief, but welcomed and looked forward to! And I'll get to wish everyone good luck in real time ... but GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL in case I don't see you before the curtain. I know Mr. Paul will be sad to miss the show ... but I also know he's secretly counting the minutes until he gets to play x-box for 24 hours straight. :-)

School of Performing Arts had their recital last weekend and I understand it was just fabulous. I sure did miss dancing with the ladies. From everything I've heard, they were outstanding, as usual. The founding owner and co-director, Ms. Patti (Watson Walsh) is retiring, so there has been plenty of surprises for her from everyone who loves her and has been her students for the past (dare I say?) 30 or more years. I can't think of anyone who deserves to be showered with love and gratitude more in our industry. What a wondrous woman she is! And know she gets to look forward to planting in her garden and enjoying her home, which seems to be more precious to her than ever. So, bless you, Ms. Patti ... and all yours as well!

We hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Memorial Day. Elk Park was filled with American flags through the town center and it was a very powerful feeling, as well as visually beautiful driving through it. It was a pretty impressive set up. I opened the doors to the studio on Monday so that the 3 year old class and I watched the Memorial Day parade go by in Newland. It was nice to have the kids see the parade, but they were mostly interested in the candy that was being thrown to them from every moving vehicle and the policeman who was picking up the candy and handing it to them!!! Things are different here, have I mentioned that? The costumes came in for the recital ... so next week we'll be trying them on and having observation week. It should be a big time for everyone. Please send good thoughts! Yikes! Our recitals are June 15th and 16th at the Avery Middle School in Newland (the town with 2 stop lights).

Paul has been invited to be the host for a Broadway evening celebration at Linville Ridge on Friday night. It's one of the hoity toity communities here filled with rich, fun loving folks. Someone is throwing a great 70th birthday bash for one of the gentlemen there, and Paul is going to be the "red carpet greeter". They've rented a tux for him, hired him for the 2 hour cocktail/reception portion of the party ... and invited him to stay and watch the entertainment and such. So ... he should be well known in the neighborhood after this gig! Driving up in his Saab to boot! Quite a picture, to be sure. They love him here with his accent and his gregarious self. I don't think they understand they are the ones with the accent! HA!

Do hope everyone has a fabulous weekend and is well and happy. Paul & Cheri

The Yocals

WE thought we'd try to introduce you to some of our local yocals around here so you can visualize who it is we're talking about sometimes. Keep in mind, guys in hardware stores don't really like having their picture taken, so these are the best I've been able to come up with to date. People around here still think you aren't supposed to smile at the camera too ... hmmm. Anyway, from the top is Steve Brinkley. He owns and operates Brinkley Hardware, part of a long line of Brinkleys who have had the store since the early 1900s. And his "pa-paw" built a lot of the houses on our street. As you can see in the background of the photos, they sell EVERYTHING and I'm sure it's highly likely there is still inventory in the store from the early 1900s. But, I assure you the prices have gone up with the times!!!! ;-) The second man is David (darned if I know his last name?) who is one of the Floridian transplants from Ft. Lauderdale. I think David and his family have been here for a while. They go back to Florida for a month or so every year when it gets painfully cold around here ... smart!!! The third photo is Mike Davis. He is also our backyard neighbor, and has been most instrumental in our yard staying mowed!! Mike was born and raised here, as was his wife, Kim and their daughter, Kaley. Mike is our local councilman (republican ... in a big way --- don't you know he just loves me!??!) as well. Steve is married to Mike's mom and they collect classic T-birds. (57s in black, white and red so far) They show the cars at the Elizabethon Classic Car rally on Sat. nights. These three gentlemen have "kept us in line" since we moved here, and we've certainly donated plenty to the Brinkley Hardware bank account trying to get this house live-able. The guys have kept us from making some mistakes, and encouraged us to do it their way. The fourth picture is our next door neighbor, Bruce King and his girlfriend, Beth. Between Bruce and Mike, our house is still standing from all the time being empty, and possibly years before that. Bruce is a real local, born and raised in Roaring Creek (the heart of the mountains ... the hurricanes in FL, Ivan in particular, nearly flooded this world here and rumor has it, made the creek's roar even louder than it was originally!) Bruce is also a Cherokee Indian and measures about 3 feet across his shoulders! He is a retired head warden of the TN jail up here. Beth is from NY and we get along very well. She's been here long enough to have developed a very unique accent, consisting of NY and southern all mixed up together. As my son, Jon says, "her accent's all over the place!" He's right!

So ... now you know some of our immediate neighborhood! I'll post more as I get them to give me permission for the photos. These people are very humble, not much for show and tell! But we're trying to pull them out of those shells! Until next time!

Cheers to all! Paul & Cheri

Gardening does not a Gardner make!

We had an entire weekend filled with house stuff ... and still are not near the finish line! Paul drove down to Chesnee, SC on Saturday morning to tour a classic car junk yard, where he had a delightful time and came home grinning from ear to ear bearing SAAB emblems and such! E-gads, what a happy man he was ... until I reminded him that we had many chores on the list to do and it was time to get started!! Poor guy! I just don't sit still very often, and then I don't do it very well. He's really in a rather rough spot ... but nevertheless, he jumped in like a trooper and finished the weekend with a few things marked off of the list. First of all, it was time to get in the garden and start tidying up. For us Americans, it was yard work day. So Paul dug up the Alberta Spruce Pines that were in front of our porch (strangling to death because they had NO ROOM to grow) and we've replanted them on the east side of the house outside of the screened porch where the morning sun will greet and nurture them and they can thrive. Poor little things might have a chance now. Anyway, now that gives us two BIG OLE flower boxes to have a great time creating all kinds of color splashes and fun stuff!! Those will have to get planted next weekend, as we ran right out of time this past weekend. Then, we moved to this little "crawl space" room under the screened porch, which Paul couldn't wait to get into and dig out all the STUFF (some of it questionable at best!) and metal detect. And don't think for one minute that he didn't metal detect the dirt he dug the trees from ... and the new location holes he dug to put the trees into!!! Anyway, the lettering you see if where the original man who built the house signed the inside of the foundation under the porch! Pretty cool, huh!?! There is another place where he signed under the house, which was the original signature in 1924, I think. He also drew a little characetuere of himself ... very cool in our opinion. Not everyone has their foundation signed by the owner/builder! Anyway ... Sunday ended up with Paul sanding the claw foot bath tub so I can paint it this week and we can install it this coming weekend ... along with all the new flowers! So, you see ... we're busy, as usual!! And we're having fun along with it. As long as there is treasure involved, we're all happy!!!!

So, that's what's happening around the house. I am in costume mode ... it's that time again. I painted all the surf boards again because they needed to be pink instead of red. Now I will start "decorating" them with flowers and things to suit the dance. I need to pull together some things for the Be Our Guest piece ... and that'll be that! A little easier than the Dancer's Pointe recital days! We had Paul's new boss over for dinner Saturday night. Bruce and his little terrier, Sassy, were delightful guests and it was a nice relaxed evening. Tonight we actually went to an award ceremony in which they honored one of the "shop guys" with an employee of the year recognition for being the best school bus driver in the entire county! Pretty impressive accomplishment for a 22 year old guy! We all went and threatened to do the wave, but in reality we behaved and clapped politely. Interesting program ... an entire award ceremony in an hour! Not quite the population here that we are accustomed to! Thank goodness!

Anyway, the beat goes on here in the mountains. The days are warmer, the nights are still quite chilly. I, for one, am absolutely basking in the rays of the sun. Warmth!! Yippee!

Paul's mum and dad have returned safely from their cruise. We hope to hear an update soon about what, when, where, etc. The Dancer's Pointe dancers had their dress rehearsal this past weekend, and I heard all good things. Congratulations to you all! We miss you guys, gobs and bunches! I finally heard from the newlywed Mandy, and she's alive and well! The School of Performing Arts is having their week of rehearsals for their recital this coming weekend. I hope you all know how much I miss being a part of the shindig ... and even more so, how much I miss spending Thursday with each of you. I send you great big hugs and wishes for the best of luck. And as I hear Ms. Patti is retiring this year, we send special love to Ms. Patti and the staff, and best wishes for the new endeavors ahead!!!! Merde to you all!!!!

My arms are aching from the shrubbery trimming we did Sunday, so I'll take this opportunity to bid you good night ... from our house to yours. God bless, Paul & Cheri

Mid May already!

This month seems to be moving faster than the previous 6 ... probably because I'm not freezing any more! Although it is supposed to get into the upper 30's at night this week, the day times are high 60's up into the high 70s sometimes! It was 95 in Johnson City when we were there on Sunday ... and I truly got to thaw out ... delightful! But I love waking up, going to the kitchen, having my coffee and looking out at the mountain covered in morning mist. It is exquisite!! Driving back from Johnson City Sunday was beautiful ... the mountains here are just lovely to be around ... or in/on!!!

Well, Christian has gone home to mom and dad again, and we are back to our normal business around here. I began the wood stacking process when Christian was still here so he could help ... which he did! We're getting there. What is left to stack needs to be cut up first, so maybe this weekend! Our neighbor gave us some cement planters that we "scattered about" the porch and they look so nice!!! Christian and I got some flowers planted in them and the splash of color has added so much to the house!!! Of course, there is more work to be done on that subject too ... like replanting the Alberta Spruce's to another location and creating colorful flower beds in the front of the house ... but that particular project needs Paul's strength (another weekend project, I guess!). We need to get the shutters off of the house and repaint them .... they're in horrible shape right now ... and the weather will allow us to do this stuff soon enough! For now, I'm painting bedroom furniture and I've got the fabric cut out and on the dining room table for the bed skirt and we'll soon be finished with the bedroom (except the ceiling) ... so, although they're are projects on top of projects, it's finally becoming manageable ... and boy are we grateful! AND the projects can carry over to the outside! Yippee! Of course, it's going to be canoe/kayaking and weather very soon. Hiking weather is already here! Word must be getting out because the tourist season seems to have begun for summer in the mountains. I guess the smoke from the wild fires in Florida have driven the Floridians who are summer residents on up here, as we are fortunately smoke free! So y'all come and visit ... it's really nice here!

In getting things more liveable, Paul has found the peace of mind to dig out the metal detector and treasure hunt! He's found some real treasure ... one of the items being a 1917 dime --- right out in our front yard!!! He's found a 14k gold signet ring, a 1947 dime, numerous wheat pennies, and a bunch of stuff that he find absolutely astounding!!! It's so fun to watch him dig through his treasures! Christian was right there on the treasure hunting band wagon when he was here ... hmmm, must be a boy gene.

I know all of my friends at the Dancer's Pointe are getting ready for dress rehearsal this coming weekend ... GOOD LUCK and keep calm! It'll be great, just like it is every year! Wish we could be there ... our recital is going to be June 15th and 16th here. Our rehearsals are the Wed. and Thurs. prior ... so .... that'll be my "crazy" week. But I must say, it's pretty low key at this point, especially compared in size and such to what I'm used to! I have been painting surf boards, as I have some 3 year old "itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikinis" this year. They make me smile ... and laugh right out loud sometimes! :-)

Paul seems to like his new "gig". He's making iron "things" that are new to his skill set ... hehehe! The guy who he is working for now makes ornamental garden items, such as pot plant holders, firescreens, window boxes, etc. He seems to be having a pretty good time and that's what matters! He comes home with a smile on his face and a very relaxed attitude ... thank goodness! Makes things so much nicer for him, and the rest of us in turn! We are in the process of bigger and better things ... but it's all-consuming, so we're going about it with just that attitude so we don't miss anything. They're are even a couple of courses at the local education center that we hope to take to learn all we can. Then we hope to be armed with everything we need to pursue our entrepreneurial venture!!! (Big deep breath)

I'm back to work at the real estate office this week ... and the volume should be picking up in the next couple of weeks as the tourists arrive. Just to think, we were tourists looking last year at this same time! Maybe our adventure story can entice some buyers! It worked for us!

For all you tap dancers, this month's Dance Magazine has some great tap dance articles worth reading if you get a chance to pick it up at your local book store. It'll make great reading for the wait between dances!! Check it out!!!!

Please let us hear from you ... and feel free to book our "guest suite" for your mountain vacation. Cheers! Paul & Cheri

Thought provoking ...

If you want to have a thought provoking conversation, just hook up with a 3 year old for a little bit!!! So far today I have learned that Christian wants to be a tiger when he grows up (now, how do you compete with that dream?) AND he's going to be eleven years old on his third birthday! WOW! It's just like being in the 60's again!!!! Needless to say, we're having a very fun and enchanted visit!!

Paul's sister, Janet and her family are moving to Charleston, SC from Orlando today. We want to send GREAT wishes for a wonderful journey and a happy life in their new world. Please think good thoughts for them as they all transition to "the real south"!!

Paul's mum and dad are leaving Sunday for a cruise!!! Have fun, y'all.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there! Hopefully it will be a day of rest and relaxation for all!!! For now, I must run ... there are pirates to conquer, apparently!!!

Happy Trails, Paul and Cheri

Contrasts and Changes ...

Spring has truly sprung around here and we're just trying to keep up with the changing of the season and all the contrasts it has presented. It's all so amazing ... the way things are waking up and "greening out" around here. There are so many trees who are standing right next to each other where one is in full bloom and the other is still sleeping! There are also so many trees that seem to have come to life over night! We drove down to the water fall Sunday with Christian, and it was many times greener this weekend than it was last weekend when we went down there with Pedro and his family. The way spring waltzes in around here is just as extreme as what we discovered with the arrival of winter! It's great fun to watch everything and become educated. I'm trying my best to decline the temptation to plant colorful flowers and such because it's still dipping down into the high 30's at night here! Not the best idea to plant yet ... but it's so hard to NOT put the color around now that the season FEELS like it's the right time! I'm sure I got enough sun Sunday to have some pink around the edges while we were at the falls. Christian and I laid out on some of the rocks while Paul treasure hunted amongst the pools of shallow water. It was a lovely afternoon and such a treat to get out in the wilderness and enjoy nature!

Christian and Jennifer arrived on Friday about 6pm. Jenn spent the night and left EARLY Saturday morning for a seminar she was teaching in Gaffney, SC, but Christian is staying for a few days (or a week :-) ... ) and we've had a tremendous amount of fun already. He's certainly a great source of entertainment. And the interior of our house has already changed dramatically. We have been bicycle shopping and trying to find just the perfect bike ... so far we have the perfect helmet, knee and elbow pads!! The search continues!

Friday was Paul's last day at Blue Mountain Metal Works and now the transition begins! We're very excited about our new endeavor and are planning and preparing for the new business. If you find yourself with a desire to do so, please send us some positive thoughts for our new and exciting adventure! We certainly appreciate the positive support, as always!

Most of the schools up here had their graduations this weekend, so I'm assuming that's kind of a nation wide thing. So to all you graduates, CONGRATULATIONS!! And best of luck with your next step in life! So many choices! Have fun and enjoy the journey.

Happy Birthday to Valerie Varney (I sure do miss you!) ... I know all of my dance teacher friends are busy getting ready for recitals and panicking as it is dress rehearsal and recital time all over the place. Good luck to everyone every where as you prepare and conquer!!!!

Will update when I can as I have a very busy little bee visiting ...

Paul-Paul came home with the perfect bicycle this morning ... sooooooooo cute!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who are celebrating motherhood this coming Sunday. No one deserves a day of celebration more, in my humble opinion!!!!

Best to all!! Paul & Cheri