saturday i headed down to asheville with jill and two of the nurses from aaron's office, kendall and michelle. first off, i got about an hour of sleep the night before. (yes, insomnia still plagues me) i did manage to function without being too cranky most of the day. we hit the downtown area for a little shopping. mostly window shopped and then grabbed a quick bite to eat. we then headed to ox-ford (there's a hyphen, which was quickly pointed out to me) farm, where we would be residing that night. met dr. hapke...or i should say frau hapke. a former pulmonary doctor who now owns and operates the bed and breakfast. she sat waiting in her little golf cart by the entrance gate.
"did you tell her when we'd be arriving?"
"no!" we all glanced at each other, eyebrows lifted.
we followed her up the drive. past cows, sheep, peacocks and various other animals. including four large, white sheep dogs. we reached a tattered-looking little house nestled among some trees. how quaint. roosters crowed, sheep baaed. it was like stepping back to the old country. the house itself reminded me of anyones grandma's. outdated and packed full of knick-knacks. cranberry bread and tea sat waiting for us. quick tour of the rooms and history lesson on the house and farm. four rooms. we had two and four other women had the remaining two.
we had a few hours to kill before the concert. we sat out on the porch. sipped wine, relaxed and took in our surroundings. yes, i'm a little overdressed for the weather. it wasn't as cold as i make it look to be. we headed downtown after a while. grabbed some drinks and appetizers then made our way to nickel creek show. by this time, sleep was calling. i sat most of the concert with my eyes closed. not sleeping, resting. bela fleck played first. mind you, i went to this concert not knowing any of the music. bela plays nothing but banjo i soon found out. wasn't too bad, but i'm not a fan of jammy type music, no matter what the genre. at least for me, bluegrass is a bit more tolerable then most. nickel creek, by far, the better of the two. found myself enjoying it more than i expected. already downloaded an album. stand-up bass, fiddle, mandolin and guitar. it's surprisingly good...i'm slowly becoming a mountain girl.
i was ready to crash when we got back to the farm. tea, coffee, cobbler and cranberry bread awaited us on our return. breakfast at 9:30 we were told. headed off to bed, no difficulty falling asleep. although jill and i chatted for about another hour before i dozed off.
9:07 i was up. didn't want to upset the frau by being late for breakfast. walked into the sitting room and met one of the four women also staying there. everyone else was out and about, checking out the farm. kendall and i sat and chatted with jane. the frau announces breakfast will be later than usual. we met up with the rest of our party and decide to take a hike up to the top of the property/hill.
it was a trek. dodging cow pies and avoiding electric fences. after documenting our accomplishment, we headed down. i went on a picture taking frenzy. mostly capturing my surroundings. orbs and gnomes...both deserve their own posts later.
got back to find a hearty breakfast waiting for us. we had worked up an appetite. bacon, eggs, applesauce, potatos, homemade bread/toast, grits. my first time eating grits. pretty good, not something to write home about. the frau told us stories while we ate. mostly of how medicine and nursing has changed over the last 50 years. three of the other four ladies were also nurses. new fact i learned: early nurses weren't allowed to be married if they wanted to make medicine a career. they had to be at the beackon call of doctors. my how things have changed.
after breakfast, we headed downtown again before leaving. we all decided we wanted to hit up the chocolate fetish before heading home. i splurged and bought 15 truffles. mostly for aaron, cause i know he loves chocolate. i did find i'm a bit of a dark chocolate fan. tried one made with cayenne pepper. sounds gross...but it was so yummy. mmmmm. i'm getting hungry smelling them.shopped a little more. stopped at a pottery show on the way home. got home a few minutes after aaron got home from chicago. all and all, it was a good weekend. and i had to head back the following evening. this time to see family. what a busy week.
tomorrow aaron and jerome are going to the app. state game and then we're all headed to see big bad voodoo daddy on campus. another great weekend ahead of us.
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Now playing: Nickel Creek - When In Rome
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