We have visited many of the galleries downtown enjoying the art of locals--sculptures, pottery, paintings, clothing, jewelry. We did the River Arts District Studio Tour visiting seven or eight studios. Very interesting to see the artists at work--glass blowing in particular is fascinating. We sought out a painter named Jacqui Fehl whose work was on the cover of the April edition of The Laurel of Asheville, a magazine representing the arts and culture of communities across the mountains of Western North Carolina that we picked up somewhere along the way. Very whimsical and brightly colored. We didn't buy a piece at this studio but later did purchase a print from a downtown gallery also displaying her work. (Look, I appreciate art as much as the next guy, probably more than Ken Jones, though not as much as Wade Taylor or Brad Quicksall. But 438 galleries go a long way to satiating my art needs...)
Catching Up - Jacqui Fehl
Alicia arrived late afternoon on Thursday for a weekend stay. We were excited to have her visit--she has been visiting Asheville for the last 10 or 15 years. We knew we could count on her for great adventures and we were right. We strolled through Asheville's downtown browsing our way through some of her favorite galleries and boutiques; went to the NC Arboretum hunting for spring blooms (which we found in abundance); lunched in Hendersonville; visited Black Mountain's Town Hardware with an inventory of 35,000+ items many of which made us nostalgic--hoola hoops, Necco Wafers, and 61/2 ounce bottles of Coke from an old timey cooler all sold by Bill who had to be 85 years old and told us he didn't know how some of the other businesses in Black Mountain survived given that they don't open until 10am or later. Town Hardware opens promptly at 8am even on Sundays! We also drove through Montreat which is quite near Black Mountain and happens to be the birthplace of Billy Graham. It was a really pretty, affluent little community with a small Christian liberal arts college.
NC Arboretum Entryway Pool
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| Oh, Great Spirit by Neil Bannister Scruggs |
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| Luminaries by Ralph Berger Rutherfordton |
(Old timey???? You mean from like when
I was a kid???)
We have decided to hike one day each week and this week saved our hiking day to do with Alicia. We took her back to a couple of our favorites from past hikes (Looking Glass and Sliding Rock) and then decided on a 4.2 mile hike that included multiple waterfalls. Turns out it was more of a car drive than a hike. Jim was excited because he got to use the all terrain feature of his new Subaru Outback.(Excited? More like scared to death. Two ruts up the side of a mountain. Luckily, I met only one other car and I had the hillside of the road. Lucky for them, the trees stopped their fall...) The waterfall that we saw was beautiful but Alicia and I were disappointed because the actual hike was pretty short. (On the other hand, Zoey and I were fine with a short hike.)
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We spent the afternoon looking at real estate in Asheville--just curious (arrrggghhhh)...followed by a great dinner at Posano featuring local, seasonal, sustainable cuisine.
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