Apples, Sunshine, and Rainbows

This is the last of about 4 posts that I've completed today. Sorry it's so much all at once. I might recommend reading one post a day, so you can spread out the enjoyment for maximum mental health benefits.

We went to the Apple Festival yesterday. North Carolina, it seems, is the nation's 7th largest producer of apples. And this region is the largest apple-producing region in North Carolina. So we went to the apple festival, ate sliced apples dipped in caramel, tried to wash off the caramel on Adara's shirt by wiping chocolate ice cream on it, all while watching some incredible clogging. The performers simultaneously fiddled their fiddles while flashing their feet faster than you could blink.

The endless booths of crafts, concessions, and sidewalk sales, however, were just a smidgen different than other festivals I've been to. We saw a booth for the Republican party, and several people were sporting paper "I'm an Obama Fan" cooling devices. Then, apparently as a counter-response for the political booths, there were religious doomsday preachers with banners and signs.

My favorite part on that end was the post card we picked up from one of the preachers. The heading was WWJD: Who Will Jesus Destroy? That was followed by a list, complete with scripture references, of the various sins for which a person will be destroyed by Jesus when He comes again. Of course, on the back of the card, it explained that you can repent and then Jesus won't destroy you. But the author of the card, covering his bases, reiterated that unrepentant sinners would be destroyed. Just in case you missed the message earlier.

I'm not sure why I didn't feel motivated to go home and repent after reading that card. But I did go to church the next day, and we talked about performing service for your fellowman. ". . . the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience . . ." indeed. Or, in modern terms, "to each his own". Whatever else the Apple Festival was, it wasn't boring.

Here's a picture of a goat. I don't know why there was a goat. Actually, we saw 3 or 4 of these painted goats. Just another unique local tradition.

A Day in the Mountains

Here are a few pictures of our adventures into the Smoky Mountains. This first one was taken at an overlook next to the highest peak in the area. Mount Pisgah, I think it was. It was not at all what we'd been expecting.


The next stop was the Cradle of Forestry. It was interesting. I guess the whole reason forestry was started was to protect the forests from destructive humans. We have Mr. Vanderbilt to thank for getting the ball rolling on preserving the forests of America.

We made a few other stops - at the rock slide (we didn't go down -- it was about 40 feet of gently-sloping rock that ended in a shallow (8-10 foot deep) pool) and at a waterfall. Sorry I don't have pictures of either of those. Adara was great at the waterfall, though. If she could have, she would've walked right up to the falls and put out her hand. Luckily, the water was a little too deep for her at that point.

When we came home, we saw this little guy hanging from the tree in front of our house. The video clip starts with about 3 seconds of worthwhile material and after that it's too jumpy to see much. So pay attention from the beginning.

Sibling Rivalry

We babysat a 2-month-old the other day. Adara seemed to be enjoying herself pretty well at the time, but after the baby went home, I found this:

A Rural Southern Experience

We went out to dinner the other night with a friend who was visiting from Detroit. The restaurant we went to was recommended as a local favorite. That means barbecue. Which, here in North Carolina, means shredded pork. The best part of the meal was the deep-fried cornbread sticks shaped like ears of corn. Yum.



The best part of the experience was the ambiance. Adara's favorite decoration was the pig by the bathrooms. I think, with a little imagination, the store manager could have found a more hygienic place for an obvious children's attraction.





Just a short way form the restaurant was a well-decorated house that we just had to take a picture of. This is just a small percentage of the masterpiece.


Here's Jon with Adara and our friend Kathy at the ice cream parlor. And, finally, we went to Wal-mart, where Adara showed us her true self. As soon as she could get her hands on these t-shirts, she wouldn't let go. And thus ended a beautiful day in rural America.

Cutesy Stuff

Today's blog is about Adara. And her mama. It's a topic that I am slightly embarrassed to find myself interested in. I never thought I would be affected by it in the same way that other "cute-sy" moms are. No offense to cute-sy moms. I just don't think of myself as cutesy, partly because I'm not into most of the things that other moms think are cute. But today's story has formed a bridge between me and my cutesy mom counterparts.

The story is simple. Adara was playing with another toddler: a girl more than twice Adara's size. I didn't see everything that was happening while they were playing, but the important part was what I did see. Adara was running away from her playmate calling, "Mama, mama, mama!"

It was the first time she's ever done that, and at the time I was distracted from reflecting on the sentiments that arose from the event. Now, in retrospect, I feel all special and motherly inside. It's a new thing for me. And it's not too bad. I guess this is the feeling I'm supposed to treasure up in the memory chest of my heart, and whenever I need to polish my faith in my daughter, I can take out this memory and dust it off.

Oh, and not to ruin the moment or anything (dangit! I just ruined it!), I wanted to comment on the picture at the beginning of this post. I took the picture last month -- well, I should say that Jon took the picture last month. It's a good portrayal of the kind of growth Adara's experiencing: a lot of the growth is in her physical abilities, but she's also learning a ton of language and that is the coolest thing ever! Okay, most of the time she sounds like Flipper singing opera. But it's the thought that counts. Literally. (You could almost see the thought-wheels going when, as we watched Starfire II, Adara signed 'Papa', then 'Mama' alternately as she recognized our voices acting out the parts in the movie. Y'think she knew she was watching science fiction, or does she actually think that that's what reality is like?)

Oh, and one final side note. Think about the picture for a minute. If mama is at the top of the slide, and papa is taking the picture, who's at the bottom to catch Adara?

Checking In

There's absolutely nothing new to post here. Just checking in. While I'm here I guess I could chronicle some of the music that my wonderful husband has been listening to:
Everything John Williams: "Star Wars" theme music, "Olympic Spirit", "E.T." soundtrack, "Legend of Zelda" music, and the "Mission Impossible" theme (remake; he did not write the original theme).

The last song that came on before he decided to throw in the towel was from M.C. Hammer: "Whoomp, there it is." The only reason I know how to spell "whoomp" is because Mr. Hammer spells it as part of his lyrics. How original.

Other interesting items, though not directly related to my life, are:
The return of a dear friend, blog name apaperbackwriter, to the United States. Although the joys of travel are missed upon returning home, I am glad she is home. It just feels good, somehow, to have her back, despite the fact that she and I live over 1,000 miles away from one another.
The upcoming celebration of my grandmother's 80th birthday. She will be celebrating in Salt Lake City, and given her health and state of mind, I would like to be there for this one. I don't know if it's possible yet, but it is a possibility.

Publishing

I am very excited to announce a breakthrough in my career-oriented endeavors. The editor of a local arts magazine replied today to my suggestion to him that I could volunteer as a proofreader. It feels like I've been trying to get started in this direction for a long time. It's a relief to have something definite to show for my efforts.

In other news, this past weekend I went tubing with the youth of our stake. We drove for more than an hour to this place, which was near a city named Cherokee. I was interested to see what would be in the city of Cherokee, since I possibly have ancestors from that tribe of Native Americans. Unfortunately, and I should have seen this coming, the biggest attraction in Cherokee was the casino. That was a bit sad.

But I did get a chuckle from the motel across the street from the casino. The hotel's marquee said, "Can walk to the casino", or something like that. The sign was literally 30 feet from the casino, which was about 20 stories high and had the word "CASINO" written in huge letters across the front. " I think that hotel needs to do some marketing research.

The other really different thing I noticed about Cherokee was the crosswalks. On a stretch of very tourist-y road about 400 feet long were about 10 crosswalks spaced about 15 feet apart. I could not understand what necessity drove the city to put that many crosswalks on that street. Any ideas anyone?

Oh, and as for the tubing, that was fun. My tube, naturally, was the only one that went flat. And the water level in the creek wasn't very high, so on top of having a slow leak, I kept hitting rocks and further flattening my tube. It was fun, though. It was doubly fun because I was there by myself, sans husband, sans baby. They spent the day together, apparently successfully, because when I came home everybody was happy and there was no permanent damage done to either the house or the baby. It was a rare occasion for Jon to spend the day alone with Adara, and he did great. I think I'll have to leave the two of them alone together more often now . . .

That's Entertainment

Yesterday we had one of our first video calls with Adara's Poppy and Nana Wilson. Everybody is tickled to get to see each other and talk at the same time.
This is Adara's favorite kitchen toy. When I'm cooking or cleaning in the kitchen, this is usually what she does. Well, this and also put random things in the cupboards. I found a shoe of hers inside the frying pans the other day. Lovely. Reminds me of fairy tales and eating boiled leather soles.


On Friday night we went to a free Shakespearean festival. This month they are performing "As You Like It." It was good, if obviously short of funds. The costumes mixed various time periods, but don't ask me to guess which time periods those are. The only one I can identify for sure is the modern one. For the most part, I thought the modern clothes fit in well and did not distract from the performance; however, when Orlando came on-stage at one point wearing ear phones and singing "We are the Champions", I thought that was a bit distracting.

Otherwise, the inclusion of modern and local North Carolina cultural elements added a unique flavor to the performance. I especially liked the banjo player who strolled and plucked around the stage during scene changes. Very fitting for the setting we were in.