Mudbuddies meet for lunch

 We are a loose group of women, with interest in common at one point or another which led to Mudbuddies who sell their pottery during the summer months at the Saturday market.

But we did become friends and want to get together to keep in touch during the winter months also. 

Last Saturday we got together again.

My shy friends arrived...as I was already waiting by the window.

The wood fired oven is ready for pizza orders behind me. I was happily wearing the bright pink blouse I recently purchased in the thrift store!

Did I mention they are camera shy? We got there early (which is the way to get good service on Saturdays). 

One friend had the entre' salad.

And I had the side salad with only tomatoes!

I forgot to take a shot before eating almost half of my Shrimp Scampi on angel hair. This is one of my favorites, and of course half goes home to be another meal or two.

I ran into another former Mudbuddy this week in the studio, so our next gathering may include her as well! 

Today's quote:

Everyone is entitled to seek out their own path leading from the darkness into the light.

Unnamed Journal

A journal of each day for a whole week. (as hosted Here)

 Monday, August 22, 2022

Waited all day for a call from an insurance adjuster. Finally a call from my local agency. Gave me the name and number to call to have adjuster go see car in impound lot. After 5 so I waited till next morning.

Had a nice lunch with C. at Ole's Guacamole, my favorite Baja shrimp tacos. Listed to a Louise Penny novel in the afternoon and evening on the mini iPad...one I don't remember too well, as it took place in Paris (at least the first part). I probably have read it, but the advantage of being 80 is that I forget things I read 10 years ago!

Today was my dear daughter-in-law's birthday, Barbara B, who has a macaron business selling at various venues of pop-up variety and the street fairs of St. Pete and Tampa...as well as some conventions. Anyway, she's either baking them, or selling them, and couldn't take the weekend off to come to the mountains. I missed her fun quirky slant on things!

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Well it's finally here, the 80th birthday of this incarnation! I've led a rather unexciting life, but did push the envelope a bit as far as trying to do things that were not expected of me...at least from the former generation. I've talked enough about my life before on blogs.

Retired in 2007 at 65, and moved here to Black Mountain NC. where I spent the next 12 years making and selling pottery. Now after one heart attack I'm not sure what I'll do next. Something to help with adjusting to climate crisis I think.

Lunch at Trail-head, another wonderful restaurant here, with another wonderful friend (who's older than me!). Then she helped me do some errands. I got a call from insurance that in 48 hours I'll know what the status of the car is.

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Finally got a document from insurance about the car. They offered me a check for complete loss of car. They call it "totaled." I'm not sure that I can find another used car that's in as good a condition as this one. I had a good zoom conversation with two men from church to determine what the best course of action would be.

Thursday, August 25, 2022

H. drove me around to get some checks ready to buy some new (to me) car. She also took me to the impound yard to get the rest of my things from Grey Hawk. It's sad to say goodbye to a car that has been so reliable, and taken me so many places.

Friday, August 26, 2022

I just wanted to stay in bed. So I did. Till someone called with a recorded message. Oh well, I needed fresh coffee. And then look for cars on line. Ugh. I hate shopping of any kind. I will probably take the first car I see that meets my needs, price, durability, age, etc. I am definitely grieving for the loss of my little car.

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Friend took me to meet another friend for lunch, then to our big grocery where I got just what I could carry in 5 bags. Talked with son #2 about cars...and looked at my favorites of the ones my friend has posted. I haven't been able to find anything myself. Talked with friends at lunch as to what I could do with some left over Kaiser buns...for the pot luck at church tomorrow. They wanted me to make sandwiches. I don't have the energy to do that. May or may not take them, depending on how I feel in the morning. Friends will pick me up to take me and bring me home. What a great community meeting the needs of others.

Sunday August 28, 2022

Got a ride to church, and home. Didn't fix anything for the pot luck, and I was the last person to get a plate in the line (we don't use plastic or paper goods, being Green) and the few people behind me got bowls. I just decided I had enough to do, and making little sandwiches just wasn't in me. I did mention that I needed to find a car, around 10 years old. It was great to see all my friends too!

Today's quote:

George Santayana said "History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren't there."

Going into OZ

We received an invitation to lunch at Vicki Lane's, and Susan knew how to get to her house! So I got to be a passenger on the drive to Vicki Lane's home. I'd attended a reading and discussion of her latest book in Black Mountain a few weeks ago, and afterward we'd had lunch with our mutual friend Susan. It was a lovely ride up through Madison County, including seeing a deer on a steep slope above a creek (too fast to photograph of course.)

The first house we saw as we drove up the gravel road...there were at least 4, maybe 5 before we met Vicki at her barn, where she was in a four-wheel-drive vehicle. She said that was necessary to reach her house, and I agreed completely after we lurched up over many rain breaks across the road.

Finally we were at Vicki's home. I'd seen so many snaps of different parts of her farm and home, it was somewhat a dream to have them flow together into a reality in which I could walk. It felt like being in Oz. (But just to be clear, Vicki isn't anything like Dorothy...in my mind anyway!)

She showed us her azalea which has three colors of blooms on it, on the side of the path.

Susan was ahead of me on the path...

What happened to this photo? I love the gate with the moon, so I'm keeping it. If Vicki wants to share a version of it which is more proper, that's her choice!

Vicki made fresh Focaccia bread to go with a fabulous mixed salad. Her kitchen was reminiscent of everyone's grandma's...if they'd been good cooks at least.

It was great to see the "Castle People" and the cabinet where Vicki's granddaughter plays with them.  We even were able to see some new art by Vicki and Josie

I enjoyed her pretty orchids...still blooming while mine have all stopped for the season.

We had a wonderful view of mountains and valleys, as well as a blue feeder for birds right outside the window. A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visited there.  While we ate we enjoyed learning more about Vicki's life, and just having great relaxed conversation.

Vicki Lane

Susan Moore

Vicki Lane and Barbara Rogers 

Desert was served in "Calamityware" which causes chuckles for those who look closely at the designs!

Such a beautiful vista of mountains from Vicki's porch! She's a wonderful gracious hostess, and has a wealth of information about the area where she lives. It was like having lunch with any author, just think, like L. Frank Baum talking about OZ. Yep, we went into another world. I asked Vicki if they'd named their home...like lots of older mountain homes. Apparently someone gave them a sign that says "No Fun." That's just about the opposite of my experience!

And I'll finish this lengthy report of our lovely luncheon visit with the Foxglove, which I think she's also shared on her blog. And if you don't already look at her blogs,  here's a link to it!

This is a photo of her mystery novels which take place in a location much like her own home (and Asheville.) And her latest (below) is a historical novel, taking place in Shelton Laurel and Marshall NC.

Today's quote:

Embrace the light and let it guide you

beyond the winds of desire.

There you will find a spring and 
nourished by its sweet waters
like a tree you will bear fruit forever.

 —Rumi

Lunch under the red umbrellas

 Lunchtime in Black Mountain!

Author, Vicki relaxing with choices for lunch before she returns to her Madison County home.

Friend Susan who I've lunched with in the past at the Lake Tomahawk lunch program for seniors.

Some days a selfie is just not worth taking!

We had had an enjoyable reading by Vicki Lane at the Library, of her latest book "And the Crows Took Their Eyes." The program was jointly sponsored by the Library and the Swannanoa History Museum. 

Both Susan and I had met Vicki previously...and she mentioned us in recognition of our support on FaceBook and her blog while her book was in progress. Susan had even contributed some letters from the period during which it took place...which Vicki used to help develop the voices of some of the real historic persons in her book.

I've mentioned that book before...Here.

If you like historic fiction, I highly recommend this book...about a massacre that really happened during the Civil War, and some of the people involved on both sides of that conflict.

Today's quote:

You say ‘I’ and you are proud of this word. But greater than this — although you will not believe in it — is your body and its great intelligence, which does not say ‘I’ but performs ‘I’.

—Friedrich Nietzsche
Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Sunday lunch

 

I toast my little skinny bread so it's stiff.

Then I put the whole tiny little avocado on it, and salted it.

I also had a couple of handfuls of dry roasted peanuts. Then my legs got swollen and I had to put on my compression socks...which was the exercise for the day! When will I learn the connection of salt to my swollen ankles! 

OK Barb, I've also done lots of good things today. Now to celebrate by watching some old NCIS shows and putting my feet up!

Today's quote:

We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. -William Somerset Maugham, writer (25 Jan 1874-1965

Lunch al fresca

 

Met with friends for lunch outside at Black Mountain Bistro. We all brought home some of the food we didn't finish. And we caught up on the doings of each other. It was fun, on a coolish fall day with little heater fires in small portable fire pits. Our fifth member of the group took this photo for us. Thanks, Judy!

And here's a shot of the left overs from my salad which I enjoyed the next day at home!

Two of my friends split a desert of coconut cake, but this amount went home as a left over as well...but not to my house!

Here's a cute video song about RBG...pretty good! (Blogger can't find the video as YouTube, but here is the link).

I am Ruth!

Ornish eating in the time of covid,

  We arrived in the dining area to find our whole lunch had been served and was waiting for us.  We took off our masks (mine shows partly at the top right)

A sandwich of thin bread (which I prefer toasted) with lettuce and tomato and a tofu egg salad (no eggs). It was good, considering I've never eaten real egg salad! The soup was delicious white bean and carrot in a vegetable broth (lots of onions). The blueberry desert had had strawberries, which I don't eat. So I gave mine to another woman. A regular green salad with a nice vinaigrette dressing.  And that was all prepared for us which we ate while learning from the dietitian more about eating low fat vegetarian food.

Cooking at home, here's a plant-based burger...which was seasoned a bit more than I would have chosen, so I ate only half of it. I've learned any "fake meat" is usually not to my liking at all.

You'd think peas are just a vegetable, but I've learned they are a starchy vegetable, much like corn, potatoes and squash. I don't mind what kind they are, they are pretty good without any garnish.

Today's quote:

When we deepen our awareness of the simple truth that we are here through the creativity of the stars, we begin to feel fresh gratitude...what a stupendous mystery!

BRIAN SWIMME

Lunch group

I was barely awake the other day...deciding to maybe lie there as I slowly became aware of the world, rather than pad into kitchen to get some caffeine to help my attentiveness....when I received several texts that made no sense.

Apparently some friends from church were getting together and were deciding where - for lunch today. They would text back and forth. I finally said, this is me, and I don't think I'm invited. Another woman said this is Tina...and apparently one of their phones had switched my phone number with Tina's.

She called after scratching her head and said she somehow was sending to Tina and it went to my number by mistake. By then the other 3 people had been sending a few more messages about the lunch plans on a patio where they could social distance.

As we talked in real time, we laughed, and I uninvited myself. Ruth, the person on the phone, is a very loving member of our church. She and several others stand in the town square at least on Wednesdays,  at 5:00 pm, and hold signs that just say "Love." It is a great gesture of sharing smiles, and some passers-by will honk their horns.

I explained that I supported their efforts, but wasn't up to a lunch yet. I'm doing much better recovering and waiting for a heart monitor to find out if there's anything else going on with my heart. I did venture to a grocery store that morning after talking with her...and found carrying groceries was a bit beyond me for now.

We laughed together. That was worth the call, the texts. And of course that gave me plenty of energy to get to the coffee.

Today's quote:

Not until black demonstrators resorted to violence did the national government work seriously for civil rights legislation ... In 1850 white abolitionists, having given up on peaceful means, began to encourage and engage in actions that disrupted plantation operations and liberated slaves. Was that all wrong?
-Ingrid Newkirk, animal rights activist (b. 11 Jul 1949)

The beginning and first stop

 All my stuff for over 2 weeks...and the pink bag is just food, and white plastic is too!

 And I find out my friend doesn't do 'photos' so I posed alone.

Saw a bit of the beginning of fall as we wound through the southern Appalachian Mountains from Asheville NC to Knoxville TN.

A comfortable lunch stop in Crossville TN...not very long, but we got to stretch our legs.

Today's quote:

The seed holds a very great secret—it never gets old. It is the eternal YES to life.

Anat Vaughan-Lee