Lake Junaluska

The explorers being shoved off by Mr. Monteith, the canoe owner. The Beelis enjoyed the extended canoe trip almost completely around the lake

Various poses

The girls with the wet sleeping bag; the sewing projects in action; Doris' wonderful breakfast; Rosalie working in her "stuff" corner.

Farewell brunch

Our sweet neighbor, Doris, took our group picture before we went to Waffle House. I set the timer there and captured us chowing down.

Beatitudes, projects, and artists

Evelyn led the girls in a devotion on the Beatitudes we had brought from the LLL convention. The other pictures show the work area for the birdhouse project, the finished products and the girls who decorated them. I had bought the birdhouses and split the corks so they could glue them to the houses. They each created and painted them as they wanted. Unfortunately, the card table top was ruined by the paint.

International dancers

Olivia and
Elizabeth had gone home, but Rosalie had stayed with us and was able to have her picture taken with dancers from Romania, Mexico and Netherlands.

Cooking and sewing

Wednesday the girls and women spent the day making food for the tea party planned for tomorrow. But first, our good friend Doris served us a country breakfast of biscuits and gravy, grits, redeye gravy, hot applesauce and juice. The meal was great and was just finished when the men from Dish Network came to switch us from Direct TV. They worked swiftly but tracked some mud into the house, an irritation. They showed me how to work the remote, but I know it will be some time before I am comfortable with the new system. I went to the nearby drug store to get some pills to relax Emily’s legs while sleeping. She has trouble with her muscles at night. The cooks made crepes, reeses squares, raspberry candies, and small sandwiches without crusts (a requirement for tea parties) and rested a short while. Then they decided to go to the indoor water park at the Recreation center. Evelyn had slept little the night before and was exhausted from all the sewing and cooking projects, so she used the time to catch a few minutes of sleep. The Cubs played again on TV and we watched--Rosalie and I. I also spent much time on the phone with Direct TV. I called to cancel our service, thinking things were fine. The agent told me that we owed a $300 disconnect fee because we had not finished our 2 year agreement. I hung up with him and looked at our records. We had been with them since July of 2006. I called back and got someone else. I explained our fulfillment of the agreement but was told that last December we had gotten a new receiver, requiring another 2 year agreement. I explained that the new one was given because the old one didn't work. Finally I convinced her to waive the fee. I went to bed much happier.

Folkmoot

The Beeli girls helped us take tickets for the closing candlelight ceremony on Sunday night. They had helped us usher at the college on Thursday the 24th. Sunday was the 26th.

Internnational day pictures

We got pictures of the Beelis posing in front of the bluegrass band made from old boiler and other machine parts. Olivia had gone ahead. We all found a craft tent and the girls spent the day making crafts. They all had a marvelous time.

Parting of the ways

Tuesday the girls came in from the tent but neglected to close the door and window. The rain later in the day dampened the sleeping bag and blankets, forcing them to sleep inside. I took Stacy, Olivia, Emily, Rosalie, Elizabeth, Evelyn and I out to Waffle House for brunch. For some reason we all like that place. Unfortunately, the Beeli girls had omelets that weren’t cooked well enough. I didn’t learn this until the afternoon and encouraged them to always politely send food back if it is undercooked. Stacy and Olivia had to leave for Roswell because Stacy had a job the next day. She cares for special needs children so the parents can have a break from what is usually intense care of the children. The rest of us went to do some shopping in Waynesville. We returned home and the girls continued working on their dresses in the afternoon. During the evening we continued watching the home movies from around 35 years ago. We also watched the Cubs game. Rosalie has become quite a Cubs fan. We had originally planned to play golf as a family but it was too late to begin by the time they were ready. Instead, since it was still dusk, we went to the Monteith’s and the Beelis used their canoe to cruise around the lake. They were out past dark, causing some concern for them but everything was fine. Frances had made a sheet cake so we enjoyed that and coffee while waiting for them to come back. The girls had to sleep indoors for the above cited reason.

Pictures of the girls

A friend loaned us this tent. 2 sleepy heads are waking from a good night's sleep. As a blessing, it did not rain this night but did other nights revealing that the tent leaks. It hadn't been used for 20 years.

Good health news

Monday I fixed scrambled eggs for breakfast and toast. After cleanup (the girls have food prep every third meal) Rosalie began her strong suit--cutting a pattern and sewing on her apron. Evelyn gave each girl a dress and Rosalie wanted to make an apron for it to look more frontier like. She spent much of the time on that project. The girls had also painted the bird houses while we were gone. We had gone to the dermatologist to see how Evelyn’s wound was healing. It is much better and will likely not have to be “shaved” again. That was a big relief for both of us, especially Evelyn. We stopped to offer a prayer of thanksgiving before we went on into town for some more milk and eggs before coming home to work on the apron project. Elizabeth and I played some Yahtzee and cards while Rosalie worked and Olivia played her electronic game. At about 4:30, Rosalie, Elizabeth and I prepared to leave for our golf game when suddenly Olivia wanted to go along. This made things quite complicated, but I didn’t want her to feel left out of any opportunities to spend time with us. We drove to Iron Tree and couldn’t rent a cart as planned because there were too many. We walked instead. I had bought a bag and some ladies’ clubs for them to use and off we went. I had removed my sling strap from my golf bag and had to carry it. I had left my pull cart at home. We played 4 holes, and I tried to teach them some things about how to play but am not much of a coach. Olivia seemed to catch on quicker than the others, probably because she is older and taller. I think the clubs were too long for the other 2. In all we had a very good time and got a good workout--at least I did. That is a long, hilly course. The girls found 6 balls during the game, 4 before we got to the first fairway. We were home by 7 eating the hamburgers I had grilled a couple of weeks ago. We spent the rest of the evening watching home movies of the girls when they were 4 and less than 1. Emily’s girls really enjoyed seeing their mother as an infant. The girls went to the tent and everyone was in bed by 11.

A busy day

Sunday we worshipped at Peachtree United Methodist church near Maggie Valley. This church had been mentioned in one of the trilogy the girls had read and, lo and behold, one of the ladies in attendance had hosted the author, Carrie Madden, in her little cabin while she was writing the book. This was exciting for the girls. The worship used Ezekiel for the text and pointed out how God can do marvelous things--even restoring flesh to the dry bones--and can restore our lives and perhaps our country--even after Obama turns it into a second rate socialist country. We came home and enjoyed the etouffee for our lunch. After lunch I started the girls on the bird house project. We had bought 3 birdhouses earlier, and I had saved corks for more than 2 years to apply to the outside. I had split them, bought some Elmer’s glue and set up the card table on the deck. They all worked on them a while, but Olivia worked most diligently. Rosalie spent most of the afternoon watching the Cubs game while Elizabeth and I were in and out. Naturally Olivia has the most creative birdhouse. She is oldest and has the most talent for crafts. Hers looks really good. We then went the closing for the Folkmoot USA festival. It is held at Lake Junaluska and features all the visiting dance troops. It closes with a candlelight farewell service because many of the dancers from various countries have become friends and will likely never see each other again. We took tickets and the girls helped us again. We came home and had snacks before going to bed. The tent and its contents had dried out so the girls slept outside again. That tent is indeed a blessing because our little house is quite full when we all have to sleep inside. The girls really enjoyed the performances we have attended.

International Day for the festival

Saturday was the big International Day in Waynesville. We had a late breakfast and went downtown about 11. The performers from Folkmoot do various dances throughout the day, and many vendors set up tents to sell crafts, etc The performers also sell items they have brought with them. Selling them helps pay their travel expenses to this country. Once they are here the festival provides everything for them. We found a tent where children could do crafts and the girls worked there almost all of the time we were downtown. We went to O’Malley’s for lunch because Stacy wanted to have a beer. I had one too, but we aren’t ever going there again. The rest rooms are poorly maintained, the service is very slow, it is very noisy, and we were told that 2 of the items we had ordered were unavailable. This has happened before. We walked to the library to get some books and came home. We had planned to have crawfish etouffee for supper but had eaten so late at lunchtime, we decided to snack. Elizabeth and Rosalie went with us to HCC to help usher and did a fine job. We stayed for the first 3 acts and came home. We had popcorn and visited in the evening. We had found that some of the items in the tent were wet because someone had left the window open during the rain, so everything was brought back inside for the night.

Ghost Town in the Sky

We were up and eating cereal around 8:30. Don Perry brought his tent and we all helped set it up in the back yard. It was a very nice, large tent. Then the girls all got dressed to go to Ghost Town in the Sky. Stacy drove them and I went off to get some groceries, cash and butter. I brought them home and then loaded the golf clubs into the car and went to play 18 holes at Iron Tree. I did fairly well today. I arrived home at 5:30, just after the girls got home. They had a fantastic day, enjoying the rides, gunfights, and food. We had BOGOF coupons for six, so I didn’t go but am sorry now. There weren’t too many people there so the kids could even ride sometimes twice in each turn or go back in line but only waited 1 turn to ride again. They saw several different gunfights and some cabaret shows. They were quite tired when they got home and so was I. We had a light supper and then Emily, Rosalie, Elizabeth, Evelyn and I went to the street dance in Waynesville. We had a good time there while dancing in the big round dance. I danced with Elizabeth as my partner and then the girls danced together while I danced with Emily. It is always a lot of fun to dance with the girls but very hot. We came home and the girls watched the rest of the movie Olivia had been watching before taking the bedding to the tent where they went to spend the night. We will see how that works out when they come in tomorrow morning.

Horseride up the mountain

Thursday featured a leisurely morning. Breakfast was scrambled eggs and bacon. Emily and I wanted to check out the Panther Creek riding stable because we had been told the owner was a rough, unfriendly guy. We didn’t want to expose the girls to that. We spent more than 10 minutes talking with him and his wife without incident. I told him that we didn’t want “sailor language”. He satisfied us and we went back home after going to the post office for Emily to buy post cards. We also went to Food Lion to buy some gluten free flour and brownie mix. We ate lunch and then Stacy drove to Panther Creek for our 3 1/2 hour ride. This was the main part of the “dude ranch” gift to the girls. Evelyn stayed home and made spaghetti for dinner. The ride went well. We went up to 4,000 feet through the forests and up some steep grade. We stopped to rest the horses and then went on to the top where there was a flat rock providing a fantastic view of the valley below. I didn’t recognize anything and didn’t know which direction we were looking. After about 20 minutes, we started down. I thought going up was hard, but going down was harder. I thought I would fall off several times. Both Emily’s and Stacy’s horses were constantly stopping to grab some grass. We got down much faster but were concerned when we went over small rocks, but the horses were sure footed. We returned home a bit late and ate the spaghetti before Evelyn and I left to usher at Haywood College where very few people went to see the Folkmoot USA performers. We came home and visited until bed time.

Welcome arrivals

Evelyn began to hurt in the hip so we didn’t walk today. I did take some trash, took things from the convention to church, bought some Italian bread and picked up my prescription. I returned home and tried to locate some other place to ride horses. We received a call from Cataloochee saying they were booked up for tomorrow so we will probably go to the Panther Creek location. Evelyn fed the plants, and I worked on the computer. The girls called and said they would arrive too late for lunch so we ate without them. Our neighbor who works at WalMart backed into Doris’ car, looked at hers and drove on to work. Doris thinks the car has been damaged and wants to show Marty when she gets home. So begins an opportunity for a fight in the neighborhood . Another call came indicating the girls would be even later. They arrived around 4:30 and barely had time to unload before leaving to see the elk at Cataloochee. Stacy drove up the mountain after stopping to buy chicken at Bo Jangles. The elk are 10 miles virtually straight up a steep mountain. The road has many hairpin turns and features around 4 miles of gravel road. We saw many elk (many were new calves) on the way to the picnic area. Some were young bucks with small antlers. We ate our picnic but didn’t see any. They usually come out of the woods at dusk but the cool weather brought them out early. They are protected and we were held up by some grazing too near the road. The ranger had to stop many cars until they wandered away. I couldn’t get any photographs because the camera battery was dead. We were home by 9:30 and went to bed about an hour later. It is good to see all the granddaughters together again.

The granddaughters are on thrir way.

We walked again for the first time in 6 days. It was quite cool, especially for July. We went to the bank from there to get cash for the visit beginning tomorrow. We then took our old flag to the VFW to be burned before going to the GO grocery. We bought some items needed for the visit and then to K-Mart for some pillows, towels, and cleaner. By the time we headed home I had just enough time to drop off a prescription at the pharmacy. We had to hurry home because we had ice cream in the car. We had soup and continued cleaning the house and the deck. Evelyn laundered the new purchases and ironed some. I cleaned the deck and swept the carpet. Evelyn’s back is hurting her so she lay down for an hour or so. I slept beside her. We can’t figure out why our backs hurt more now than a week ago. We can only assume it was sitting too much. We have been concentrating on eating things from the refrigerator so we could empty containers. We have done a good job today. The Cubs played the Phillies and did better than last night when they lost 10-1. We walked around the loop a couple of times. We called Emily at Stacy’s and they have arrived. They will try to be here around 1 for lunch tomorrow. I made arrangements for us to ride at Panther Creek Campground at 1 on Thursday, but we might be able to ride at Cataloochee Ranch on Thursday but won’t know until tomorrow morning.

Monday

Tom and Janet were in no hurry to leave, so we had a breakfast pizza and visited until 9:30. They left and we got ready to go to the Samaritan clinic about Evelyn’s sore on her leg. He thinks she is allergic to Neosporin which was in the bandages we had bought last week. He gave her some to last a week and wanted her to come back next week. We then went to have my pelvis X-rayed. From there to the Food Lion for supplies. We came home for soup lunch. I chopped rhubarb while Evelyn cleaned some of the tomatoes we had brought yesterday. We then rested in the afternoon before beginning the house cleaning. We had a nice shower in the afternoon just before we ate supper. We had a call from Emily who had trouble getting her boarding pass but evidently figured out the problem. I tried calling Cataloochee Ranch again to arrange our horseback ride but can’t get them to return my call. I hope we can get the ride arranged tomorrow. Tomorrow the California girls should fly into Atlanta. We are looking forward to their visit. I may not get many blogs written and posted for the next few days.

End of a weekend blessing

We were up and in the convention center for the final Bible study before the worship. It finished the conversation about creation and was very well done. Then came a wonderful worship service featuring a magnificent sermon on breaking down barriers by telling His story. We were blessed throughout the weekend. We drove west and I began to develop back pain. We only stopped once before going to lunch in Asheville. We went to the Farmer’s Market so Tom could buy some peaches. We had to carry them on our laps because the car was very full. We arrived home much earlier than expected because we were able to leave Greensboro early. We were able to rest a bit before having to go to the Folkmoot performance. We had given Grotrians as well as Doris and Frieda. There were only 6 groups performing but everyone enjoyed them. We came home and talked with Emily for some time. She was blessed to talk with Tom and Janet since she had grown up with their kids. We enjoyed our last evening together and went to bed a bit early.

These flags represent the countries in which there are broadcasts of the Lutheran Hour and uses of their ministries.

final day of the convention

We didn’t have any early meeting, so we didn’t get to the center until 9:30. We looked at some exhibits and went to the final business session. The Bible study was a continuation of the creation/evolution taped discussion. The discussions have been very uplifting. There was a changing of officers and a decision to begin having bicentennial meetings in 2012. We then went to the Thrivent lunch of salad with a chicken breast on top. We returned to our room, and Evelyn napped while I posted more pictures. We dressed a bit more formally (long pants) because the worship was a bit more formal. We helped by carrying one of 42 flags representing each country to the stage. The message was brilliant, emphasizing “a word from our sponsor”. The sponsor is God and the word was Savior. The Lutheran Hour speaker once again gave the message. We went from there to dinner (it was 5:30) and enjoyed roast beef. The Lord mercifully sat the president of the Texas district at our table. We were able to talk after the meal and entertainment. He implied that I might be able to get an endorsement from the Valley district. The entertainment was “Peculiar People”, a husband/wife team that gave a good witness. They travel with Steve Brown quite often. We came back to the room, packed one suitcase, put it into the car and watched the Cubs with Tom and Janet.

Another day of blessings

Friday We were off to the convention after the meager breakfast of tiny blueberry muffins. We were blessed by the opening Bible study and reports from the visiting Lutheran Hour speakers from throughout the world. We then went to the luncheon where Ned Jarrett, a former NASCAR driver, spoke about what God has done in his life. He was even a Lutheran! We then went to 2 “breakout sessions” emphasizing how and why to share His story with the world around us. We had a little time before dinner, so we visited some of the booths where Lutheran organizations displayed their missions and gave trinkets as reminders, hoping to receive donations. They all have hearts for God in their work and most have small recourses to work with. We then went to the dinner and entertainment. It was LLL Mayberry night because Mt. Airy (Mayberry) is close to here. There is a team of “actors” who must nearly all summer in the town. They were hired to come here and were funny. They were followed by the Cockman family. A real family who plays bluegrass together. We have seen them for the 4th time and love their harmony. We also love their witness because they are primarily a Gospel singing group. After their performance, the group of diners sang hymns with their accompaniment. We had a day of blessings and were back to the motel by 10:30.

The Cockman family, a real family gospel Bluegrass group, was the singing entertainment. The Barney Fife actor sang one number with them and was really quite good. The Mayberry cast did a lip-sync of "I am a man of sorrows" from "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?". They did a funny rendition.

Pictures from the convention

Mayberry night at the convention. The entertainment was partly the men who play the parts of the characters on the Andy Griffith show. They were all very good.

Pictures from the convention

Strolling among the exhibits, the interior of the hotel and waiting for dinner. The Lutheran Hour speaker, Ken Klaus, enjoys visiting with friends.

Pictures from the convention

Ned Jarrett, former NASCAR driver and analyst, spoke to us of God's guiding in his life.

Pictures from the convention

Phyllis Wallace and Pastor Ken Klaus address the convention.

Visiting with friends

Yesterday, July 15, I took my prescription to a local pharmacy and got my medicine before we took Tom and Janet to the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. They had not been there, and we wanted them to see the beautiful grounds. We walked around, drinking in the sites, for a couple of hours. The hotel is around 100 years old and is made nearly entirely of stone. There is also a spa. It is an attraction to many stars--President Nixon, Victor Borge, Bill Tilden, Bobby Jones, Dave Bruebeck and many others. We then went across the street for lunch. It was a bit late and we were tired, so instead of going to the arboretum, we went to the Farmer’s Market to look at peaches. We then drove home for a dinner of country style ribs and watched the rest of the South America DVD before retiring early. I stayed up to watch the weather for tomorrow. We talked about many of our friends from Fort Wayne and the area. It is good to learn about what is going on in Fort Wayne.

We attended the International Lutheran Laymen's League convention in Greensboro, NC. It was held in one of the Sheraton ballrooms. The pastors served Holy Communion.