Stone Wall

This afternoon I was at the house for a meeting with the architects, builder, and sub-contractors to coordinate details on the cabinets, countertops, tile work and iron work. This is a stone retaining wall going up along the driveway.

Moon & Bears

Last Thursday evening we were at the house with our friend, Barbara Page. This was the moonrise off our screened porch. It was breathtaking.

Friday afternoon as we were going up to the house we saw this mama bear and two cubs by the roundabout. This is about 1/2 mile from our house.

House Update

Shown here are 2 pictures of the kitchen cabinets being installed, the master bath and guest bath cabinets and a stone walkway with wall.

Sourwood Festival & House

Sunday afternoon we went to the annual Sourwood Festival in Black Mountain. The idea of the festival is to celebrate the Sourwood Honey which is made by local bees from the flowers of the Sourwood tree. I didn't see any bees or honey but saw a lot of funnel cake and polish kielbasa stands. I think we can skip it next year. Unless, of course, I enter the "Sourwood Idol" competition. And win.
After the festival we went to the house. The trim is finished on the lower level and one of our salvage leaded glass windows has been installed.

A Cat's Life

As you can see, Charlie is very comfortable in his Hospice care. Plenty of sunny spots, extra hugs and he even had a burst of energy and got a little crazy helping me make the bed.

Construction Update

The front porch columns are going up. The interior trim is being done. These are rooms on the lower level - the media room and Robert's office/exercise room and the wine cellar.

Asheville Cat

We had some sad news this week. Our beautiful boy, Charlie, has cancer. His prognosis is 2 - 8 months. We've decided not to put him through any treatment which will probably not help him anyway. Our goal is to make him as comfortable as we can for the rest of his days and help relieve his pain. We've been giving in to his food demands and feeding him from the table (like we didn't do that before) and giving him extra puppy food in his dish. Also, maximizing his sunny spots for naps, increasing his number of daily hugs and belly rubs. Harvey is already showing a bit of jealousy so we have to give him equal time.

Construction Update

Now you can see why it's taking so long to build the house. Actually, we caught everyone at lunchtime. Things are moving really fast now. The siding crew has been working on exterior details and are working on the front porch columns. The hardwood floors are installed and now they're working on the tile floors. The interior doors have been delivered and those are being installed along with the window & door trim. Our fireplace mantel pieces were delivered so those are ready to go on. The kitchen cabinets are scheduled for installation on the 12th. They plan to have us in by mid-October.

Friends Visit

This past weekend Phil & Antoinette DeLucia came to visit us. They are old friends of Robert from London, Ont. eh? They arrived Saturday and came over for dinner. Sunday we went out to the house for a picnic lunch and to show them Creston. After lunch we took them up to the Community Center then down to Allison Falls. That evening we went to the Grove Park Inn for cocktails then they took us to dinner at the Savoy where Antionette and I kicked off our Birthday Month (hers is the 28th.) Monday we walked through the Botanical Gardens then went into Asheville for a little shopping and lunch. They came to our house for dinner. Robert grilled steaks and Phil made us delicious risotto and introduced us to broccolini. It was all very good. They weren't able to spend a lot of time here but we appreciated them coming so far to see us.

Moonshine Junction

I know I'm behind on my blog so I'll try to catch up.

A week ago Sunday we had nothing better to do so we took a ride down to Lake Lure to have a drink outside at Larkin's on the Lake. We've been to that restaurant a few times but always in the winter, rain, etc. and each time said, "We should come back here in the summer so we can sit outside and have a drink on the lake." So we did. And a snack, too.
On the way there we stopped at Moonshine Junction. We have passed Moonshine Junction a few times but it was off-season and not open. For some reason, the place intrigued me and when we saw it was open I yelled, "STOP!" I went inside and they had all kinds of souveniers. Authentic hillbilly slingshots and peeshooters, jewelry, hand-made birdhouses, honey, jams & jellies, all kinds of metal hooks & hangers with bears and other local and non-local animals on them, t-shirts, antiques (junk) and much, much more. Everything but moonshine. It wasn't even at a junction. More like in the middle of a hair-pin curve in the road. They did have some interesting lawn art, though.