The Snow Won’t Go!

 After five days the snow looks almost like it did when it first finished falling!

When our frozen pipes thawed, it turned out that we had a burst pipe at one of our outside showers.  Our neighbor spotted it and turned our water off, then our other neighbor, Javier, went over and fixed it without our even asking.  Ocracoke is always the best place to live!

The flower beds were all prepped at Christmas time, so, they were really happy for the snow to come.  I fed them as the snow came, then the melting snow will take the food down to where it needs to be.

The best thing about being home was this:  Josh Goforth came for the week at our house and we had a great snow time visit.  We were supposed to leave on Wednesday and would have missed his performances.  Since we were stuck at home, we got to still be on the island for a wonderful Friday evening show with Josh playing with our own Martin Garrish and magical twelve-year-old Dallas Mason.  It was an evening of magic in the middle of winter.

Another reason to live where we live!

We love the way this community all works together.

Snow Birds!

 More snow fell yesterday afternoon and we started worrying about the songbirds.  The entire world was under deep snow and there was nothing natural exposed for them to eat. So, Trish filled two of our larger bird feeders and put them right on our decks where we could watch them from the windows…in normal times the birds would never come this close and it might take them several days to find the feeders when we first out them up.  Not so yesterday!

In no time the mourning doves located the feeders and they seemed to call all the other birds to join them!

We had brown catbirds, purple finches, house finches, and multiple small songbirds.  Then the cardinals arrived.

First one female, then another female, them another female.  It is unusual for cardinals to feed near one another, so, three females in one spot  was a treasure.

Then the males arrived. First one and then a second.  We never saw three males at once, but they really worked the feeders up until the edge of darkness.  It was beautiful.

Today they have not been back yet.  Maybe they found other food or maybe they will come this afternoon.  Whatever, we hope they are well fed. 

Ocracoke Snow!

 I have lived in the island more than thirty years, and, this is the biggest snowfall in that whole period of time.

It started snowing about eight pm last night and didn’t stop until noon today.  The accumulated total this morning was ten inches and by the time it stopped we had a good eleven inches on our decks.

Josh Goforth is with us this week.  We couldn’t get out of the house until Josh, who is staying in our guest house next door, shoveled a way for us!  In no time the path was again filling with snow.

We rode all around the village looking at the beauty everywhere.  It is almost unbelievable!

When we drove out to the beach, the wind was bone-chilling, but, we had to take a look at snow down to the ocean.  The strong winds not only blew the snow, it sent us all back home in a hurry!  What a fine day!

Christmas at Biltmore

 Every couple of years Trish and I spend a few days at the Biltmore Estate during the Christmas season.

Following the terrible damage suffered from Hurricane Helene on September 27, it was important for us to go this year to help support the tourism industry in Asheville where so much destruction happened.  We were so glad that we made the effort.

We went to wine tasting in the late afternoon and then visited the house just at the edge of sunset.  It was a magical time to be there.

The Palm Court was especially beautiful this year.  There were lots of beautiful plants there.

As always the Grand Dining Room was a centerpiece of wonder.  The triple fireplaces, the table set for 36 guests, the forty foot Christmas tree.  It all goes together to form a wonder of sight, smell, and color.

This year the weather was warm and the doors to the porch was open off he Music Room.  We got to take a walking break on the porch and watch the sun move toward setting toward Mount Pisgah.

Growing up only 27 miles away in Waynesville, I never got to visit the Biltmore Estate.  My mother was just not comfortable even visiting a place so grand.  I came here first on my own in adulthood.  And, I shall come again and again.  I admire this family so much for their preservation and deep commitment to the culture and economy of Western North Carolina.

Chiluly at Biltmore

 The year ends up with four final performances, two in Georgia and two in North Carolina.

Trish and I had a couple of days in between, so, we decided to stop over in Asheville to visit the Chihuly glass exhibit in residence now at the Biltmore Estate.

The photos of Dale Chihuly’s work can only give a hint of the wonder of color and shape that he creates.

At the beginning of the exhibit you see a number of different sets of individual pieces. These are called “soft cylinders” and all I did is want to touch them.  How can someone do this?

Then suddenly we entered the room where the entire ceiling is glass above which the work explodes in color and shape to make us feel like we were under the sea.  We could have spent hours picking out individual shapes in this part of the exhibit.

Next came the chandelier room.  Part of the wonder here is about how the these massive works are assembled once the individual components have been created, and, how did they transport them here from his workshop in Seattle without breaking everything.

When you think you can’t be surprised any more, you turn a corner into the garden room to meet a glass flower garden of spectacular proportion. 

The final room was a sublime display in subdued lighting of glass and wood.  What a calming finish. Pieces like this surround you and produce the only light in the room.

Layer in the day we will visit the Biltmore House itself to finish a splendid pre-Christmas adventure.

San Antonio Riverwalk

 Trish and I had three extra days between jobs in Midland, Texas, and LaGrange, Georgia. So, we decided to linger in San Antonio on our way to enjoy Riverwalk decorated for Christmas.  What a beautiful place at this time of year.

In 1921 a terrible flood did massive damage in downtown San Antonio.  Afterwards an architect named Robert Hugman proposed building a bypass canal to handle massive amounts of water in flood times.  The plan was approved in 1929, but, due to the Depression, it was not built until 1941. 

Mr. Hug a moved his architectural offices to the Riverwalk to prove to people that it was safe to do business and live there.  Today the Riverwalk is the most visited tourist attraction in the state of Texas.

Trish and I walked and walked, ate in Riverwalk restaurants, and took a total of four boat rides to cover different times of the day plus after dark.

River walk is beautiful at all times of the year,  it, as you can see, it is especially stunning throughout the Christmas season.  We had a great and restful time.

Midland, Texas

 It had been my great privilege to have been a featured teller for all thirty-three years of the Midland Storytelling Festival.

Rex Ellis and I were here for that festival and in the years following the featured roster had grown to eight tellers each year.

The Festival starts off with a school day.  Some of the tellers do school visits.  This year Laura Pershin Raynor, Willy Claflin, and I had two large groups of second graders who traveled to Legacy High School auditorium for the performances.

A special feature this year was having Cowboy Poet and Musician Andy Hedges at the Festival. Andy did a special pre-show at the Haley Memorial (cowboy history) Library in addition to the Festival itself.

Before the Saturday evening show, we were treated to Christmas Music by the West Texas Gospel Chorus, an event that gives us a great start for the season. Sue Roseberry, the Festival Director also directs the chorus.

As Featured Tellers, I was joined this year by Charlotte Blake-Alston, Willy Claflin, Barbara McBride-Smith, Antonio Rocha, Laura Pershin Raynor, Bil Lepp, and Andy Hedges.

The 2025 Festival will be held in Midland at the Bush Convention Center the first weekend of December. Join us then.