Sunday, October 22, 2006

where have I been?

It may look like Shangri-La, but this is the morning view at the John C. Campbell Folk School in the Great Smokies, where I just spent a week. It is in a gorgeous setting. Hills turning all the colors of autumn, woods, and manicured lawns. If you leave the grounds and drive about 1/4 mile down the road, you'll see this sign.

Slightly to the right is the town center.

The Folk School has no radio, no tv (which was fine with me, since I never watch it anyway), no Internet access except for one room in the main building which is not convenient unless you are living in that building. We were not. Hence, silence from this end of the world. But now I'm home and will try to make up for lost time.

Helene and I stayed in one of the charming residences called The Farmhouse. Let's call it rustic. Here is the livingroom, taken at the end of the day when I was finally off my feet. The sign on the right says 'watch your head" and there is another posted further up the stairs that says "duck." It is a command, not the name of an animal. Ouch! I didn't. Our housemates included Raymond Houston, who was teaching in the quilt studio last week and had a very enthusiastic class. ( You may recognize his name from his posts to the QuiltArt list.) We hung out with Raymond and he is great fun!

The accomodations were so good that the local ladybug population decided to room with Helene and me one night. Ray had them in his room across the landing, too. Here is Fearless Helene, picking ladybugs off the curtains.

I am such a wimp, but that's what comes of being a City Girl. Yes, yes, I know that ladybugs are 'good' but not when they outnumber the civilians! They were mostly gone the next day.

The locals laughed it off - it's ladybug season, so of course you are going to have them living in the house with you. No big deal. Yes, big deal.

Tomorrow, a bit about the class.

2 comments:

Karoda said...

i feel ya rayna...so how far is the nearest civilization? unless it is 30 minutes away that is just a little too "rustic" for me.

Teresa said...

Those are not lady bugs, they are Asian beetles and are a nusance. They pinch and stink when you kill them. They are an introduced species to deal with aphids on soybeans. I just hate them!

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