A Week in the Outer Banks!

I had a wonderful week in the Outer Banks with several ladies in my subdivision. Here are a couple of group shots - very Outer Banks tourist shots, aren't they? We are at the Lighthouse at Cape Lookout (but couldn't climb it because they were in the midst of repainting it; one of the perils of going off season). The othe is at the Right Brother's Memorial at Nag's Head.

A Day in Rodanthe

Do you recognize this house? It was the one used in the movie "A Night in Rodanthe." It's actually in Avon which is next to Rodanthe, but it really is a REAL house. I walked in the same spots as Richard Geere! Unfortunately it has been condemned and will be gone with the next hurricane.

Me as a SHRIMP!

One must do something silly while at the beach! We were in Nags Head and found a couple of cutouts to stick out head through - so of course we did.

The group at Jockey's Ridge

This is the group of ladies from my subdivision that I spent a week with at the beach. We have just finished running to the top of Jockey's Ridge. JoJane stayed back at the cottage and Karen is taking the picture. Back row, left to right: Frances, Jo, Connie, Cheryl, Lynn, Kathleen, and Pat. Front row: Marilyn and Priscilla (because we can still kneel down and get back up on our own).

Dolphin puzzle completed...

Four days, thirteen people, and a thousand piece puzzle with only one small picture and no dimensions given. The puzzle was from a yard sale, so we didn't even know if all the pieces were there. They wee, and here is the result!

Outer Banks!

On this vacation I actually wore a bathing suit! Of course I am taking this picture and did not appear on my blog in a bathing suit... Kay, Sharon, Pat, Frances, and Marilyn would kill me if they knew this picture ended up on the internet!

Mom Turns 90!

Thom and I went down to Burlington, NC last week to celebrate mom's 90th birthday (October 25th). I took a Dulce de Leche cake for her. The kitchen staff lit the candles (actually only one per decade) then brought it out carrying fire extinguishers and sang happy birthday.

A Memorial

Thom's mother, Helen Hammond Hill, passed away on October 2, 2008. She was 91 years old. A beautiful memorial service was held at Glenaire Retirement Village where she lived for the last eight years. It was a joyful occasion, as she is now reunited with her husband of 58 years, Louis.

Life goes on!

These are pictures of my grand-nephew, Louis. He is named after Thom's father. At the memorial service for Helen, we snapped a great shot of Grandmother Irene (Thom's sister) and Grandpa Josh holding the next generation. One life goes and another carries on!

Car Fire

One Friday morning we got an alarm that there was a car fire in our subdivision. We raced out and found the car fully engulfed. Thom drove engine 43 and Engine 4 came from downtown Black Mountain. We put the fire out with foam, but as you can see there was nothing left of it. The cause of the fire? Mice had built a nest under the hood and when the nest and all their winter food provisions got hot the car burst into flames.

What's blooming on October 1st?

Morning Glories!!

and

Nasturtiums!

BookOpolis - September 26, 2008

The 2008 BookOpolis show at Bookworks in Asheville, NC was wonderful this year. The next several posts show some of the books and the Interlude Editions Fundraiser for the year. To the left is one of my favorites in the show - Girl in the World. Enjoy the next few psots showing some pictures from the show!

This was the book that evoked the most emotion in me - Letters Never Sent to Evelyn. Pictures were used from an old typing textbook and a college yearbook from the 1930's.

Here is the wonderful book made by my friend Clara. I wish you could see it in person! it is full of color, texture, and oh yes, LAYERS!!

Bookworks sponsored a series of little books to raise money for Interlude editions. One of the books is by Lisa Blackburn (can you believe she made 30 of these??). A "home" for the books, made by Sandy Webster, was created. Chances were sold and the winner was Phil Diehn, Gwen's husband. Gwen had an edition in this 2008 series.

This is another of Carol Norby's wonderful tunnel books that she entered into BookOpolis!

BookOpolis

Here are two books by Annie Cicale that were in BookOpolis.

Slow Book Salon show in Burnsville NC

My pictures aren't nearly as good as Clara's, so please vist her website @


http://www.ashevillebookgirl.blogspot.com/

The weekend of September 6th and 7th, sis-in-law Irene came up from Raleigh to take another class with Gwen Diehn - this time learning to make paints from clay and other minerals that we we collected in the area. It was supposed to be an adult/child combo. so I guess I was he child. We got about 6 colors from gray to black to green to several shades of red. It won't be that expensive to do in the future.

A view from the gardens

Fall in Asheville! Flowers at the Biltmore house! I love living here!

Biltmore House

We have a yearly pass to Biltmore. Thom and I love to walk the trails and visit the flower exhibits. This one opened last week. It's called a carpet of flowers and is based on a patterned rug inside the Biltmore house. As you can see, there is lots of maintenance going on all the time, but isn't it a beautiful view?

Catching Up!

Friends Natalie and Jim got married in Austin, Texas on August 16, 2008. I have known Natalie for over 10 years and I am so glad she found a wonderful man to share her life with.

Thom at Work

I love these two pictures of Thom! They were taken by Craig Bannerman who is the deputy fire chief in Black Mountain. They were doing a day of pump testing at Lake Tomahawk. You can see the reflection of the water in his sunglasses.

A Visit from Cindy and Mary

Cindy came over from TN on Tuesday afternoon and Mary Stori (who I met through Cindy) came over Thursday for a visit and a wonderful girl lunch at the Veranda in Black Mountain. Mary showed us her latest work. She is a remarkable beader who teaches all over the country and creates artwork on wool. Here are two of her latest - the link to her blog is in my list to the right if you want to see more of her work.

A surreal book trip

Sis-in-Law, Irene from Raleigh (r), joined me in Asheville to take a workshop at Bookworks taught by Gwen Diehn (l). We wrote a poem based on some watered down acrylic colors we splashed on some Arches text weight paper. Then we manipulated the text, separated the sentences, and wrote a poem. We chose a layout, designed a book, and typeset it. Each person received two bound copies of the poem. As soon as I stitch it into the book I will post it on my blog.

Pages of my mica book

I made another mica book for the Slow Book Salon's Burnsville show. It hosts writers and poets and invites us to participate with books. The theme for this year is "The Beloved Community" and I did a theme book. A poem was also written - but only a few people did a book to go along with the poem. I used names for groups of animals to correspond to the beloved community of people.

Second Caught in Canvas Book

After our initial marathon weekend of painting and making caught in canvas books (see previous post) I finished a 5 x 7 canvas photo album called "WE"  I have entered it into the Slow Book Salon Burnsville show September 12 - 14.

Pipe Organ Journal

This is my own personal journal ( finally filled up my last one) called "Pipe Organ" because of the decorative stitch along the spine. Unfortunately it doesn't show up in this picture.

What's blooming in my garden on August 1st?

It's hot here (comparatively) in August and many of my flowers stop blooming. The pictures of the Stargazer Lilies show them a little past their prime, but the Morning Glories are in full bloom. They are shriveled and dry by noon, but have a brand new set of blooms every morning!