We bought a new piece of art while in North Carolina. We haven't bought art in a really long time and hadn't intended to come home with anything this time. But we visited a beautiful gallery and once we were in there, this began to call our names. It was hanging in a very small window within the gallery and we just thought it needed to be liberated and shown in a larger space. So, even though we are trying to pare down our belongings, we decided that we were not dead yet and so bought the piece. We are so glad we did. However, just so you know, we left two of our belongings in North Carolina in order to make room for something new. That's our new philosophy.
We left our old gas grill next to the dumpster at the campground. And we donated a large back pillow (brand new but didn't work in the trailer) to a thrift store at the Crossnore School. More about this school in a future post. It is a wonderful residential school that is creating a place of safety for very needy, struggling children in the North Carolina mountains. In the meantime, we will garner joy from our stained glass each time we look at it.
The Soap Shed is a definite "destination location" we discovered during our mountain explorations. It is not on a main road and you cannot find it without doing some prior research. It's a left turn off the main road, past two houses on the right, and then a hard left up a sloped drive to the main house. Once there, we were surrounded by beautiful gardens frequented by many birds coming to the various feeders. 
Once inside, we were treated to at least sixty different "flavors" of soap made by a former science professor using fresh goat's milk. You select your soap, write the name of the scent on a card, then place both in a small plastic bag for future reference when you get home. One of our friends will soon be undergoing chemotherapy so we bought a type of soap especially created for the skin problems that often accompany that treatment. Our intent was to see a soap-making demonstration. However, the weather did not cooperate so we will do that next time. This is a beautiful place with wonderful soaps both scented and unscented; a tiny turn off the main highway, but a great place with wonderful energy that will be a "come back" place for us.
I am a fly fisherman. I consider it one of my art forms. I love to catch fish but the catching of fish is secondary to my love of casting on serene or moving waters in the mountains. When I am there, I don't worry about alligators or other Florida reptiles. I just enjoy the beauty of the spot, the birds that visit while I fish, and the rhythm of my casting, back and forth, back and forth. I believe that after so many years of practice, I have developed some satisfaction with my casting. My roll cast and side cast pleased me this trip, a rare thing. For me, fly fishing is like dancing; like a ballet on the water. I can stay planted in the same spot for hours because the water changes, even if my location doesn't. As the water laps against my legs and boots, I drop my fly gently on the water and wait for a fish to take it. The fish I caught were small but that's ok. I released them back into the river so they could grow a little larger for someone else to catch someday. 
As I come out of the river, my wet boots gather some of the fallen leaves on the bank. I call this The Remains of the Day. I just love to fish.
We bought a new piece of art while in North Carolina. We haven't bought art in a really long time and hadn't intended to come home with anything this time. But we visited a beautiful gallery and once we were in there, this began to call our names. It was hanging in a very small window within the gallery and we just thought it needed to be liberated and shown in a larger space. So, even though we are trying to pare down our belongings, we decided that we were not dead yet and so bought the piece. We are so glad we did. However, just so you know, we left two of our belongings in North Carolina in order to make room for something new. That's our new philosophy.
