Hendersonville Library Presentation Tues. – Nov. 7

This election day was a day of pouring rain.  Bob and I didn’t really expect anyone to come out in the bad weather to here me speak but we were wrong.

10 brave souls showed up and they were a wonderful audience.  I worried that I would not have enough to say in 1 hour and 45 minutes but I did.  Bob said I did a great job and I think I did also.  I had a 35 slide power point presenation and a short video of Helen and read parts of the book and I added information about the orphan trains and NC orphanages.  The audience seemed interested.  The library had a nice set up for doing the program.  You can see a web version of the presentation at http://www.usucceed.com/helen/power_point.htm

One woman was from a local woman’s shelter and she commented that like the children in Helen’s orphanage who carried all their belongings in a little bag stored on their chair, many of the children that come to the shelter have all their belongings in a Wal Mart bag and they really need suitcases so the kids have something to call their own.  Heartbreaking.

There was a couple from International Falls, MN who came because of the Minnesota connection.

A woman who works at a local children’s group home came with a young girl who she thought would benefit from hearing what happened to Helen.  I talked with them afterward.  The girl has had a tough time of it.  I asked her if I could give her a hug.  She looked down shyly and said “I guess so.”  We gave each other a big long hug.  I hope it made her feel a little better.  I know it made me feel better.  I can’t get her out of my mind.  I gave them a book for their home.   They thought some of the girls might read it.

I went to bed feeling good about what I did.

Looking for Houses in the Carolina’s

Bob says – Very exited about finding a home here, one with lots of room and really cheap

Hilton Head, here we come – Nov. 9-12

We are getting very excited about our trip out to Hilton Head, Savannah and Beaufort SC on the ocean.  Our Westin Hotel  looks wonderful and since this is off season was pretty reasonably priced.  We are looking forward to getting our toes in the sand and our bodies into a swimming pool and hot tub and most important, weather forcast says 72!  We could not leave the south without a little warm sun before returning to Minnesota where it is forecasted to be a high of 54 and a low of 42. 

Speech Writing – Mon. Nov. 6

I have a presentation to give tomorrow night at the Hendersonville Library.  It is from 7-8:45 so I spent most of the day finishing a 35 slide Power Point presentation.  I’m really happy with the way it is coming together.  I don’t have any idea how many people will be there.  Bob is coming and Dot, the person we are renting from is coming, but beyond that who knows.  It is election night.  Click here if you want to take a peak at the presentation in web page format.

Good bye to friends & research time – Sun. Nov. 5

After hours more conversation we finally had to say goodbye to Lynn and Bob about 12:30. They gave us many things to think about regarding moving because they have already relocated from MN to SC.  Of course, they would like us to live by them in Charlston.   It was so wonderful to see them.  I hope they had a good time.  I know we did.

Bob and I spent time this afternoon on the internet researching the Greenville area.  After looking on line at the homes for sale in Greenville county, we are estimating that a home that cost $350,000 in Greenville would cost about $425,000 in MN.  Our big decision will be if we think we (mainly Fay) can take a little more heat in the summer as the trade off for an even milder winter.  Asheville is 22.8 % cheaper then Minneapolis and Greenville is 28.1% cheaper (mostly housing)!!!!!!  That is significant.  We will be going back down there again before we leave. 

Carl Sandburg, Pisgah Forest & Ribs – Sat. Nov. 4

Carl Sandburg’s home for the last 20 or so years of his life is only about 5 minutes from our house so we went with there with Lynn and Bob.  Another sunny but cool day (mid 50’s) so perfect for sightseeing.  The farm grounds are beautiful.   Mrs. Sandburg was very well known for her herd of about 200 goats with extremely high milk production.  The prize goat could do 3 gallons of milk a day! There are still some goats on the farm as well as a big tiger cat who warmly greeted us when we arrived.  Since we have been here we have seen huge crowds of cars by this home and were so glad that when we went there were only a few other people there. 

I must admit that my knowledge of Mr. Sandburg was pretty slim.  I had forgotten what a talented poet, writer, musician, biographer of Abraham Lincoln, Nobel prize winner, and writer of children’s books he was.  Of course we took the house tour so those of you who are interested can ask me about all the “insider informaton” we got.  I would certainly recommend this as a place to visit.

After that we went to downtown Hendersonville to see the famous Curb Market where they feature only homemade food and crafts.

Our last afternoon stop was out to Pisgah Forest where we showed Lynn and  Bob a couple waterfalls that we had seen our first week here and also a stop at the Ranger Station, which we had not visited before.  Did you know that this is the birth place of modern forestery?  It is called the Cradle of Forestry.  Visit the web site to find out more.  Without a doubt, the mountains of NC are a dream come true for anyone who likes to bike, hike, camp and fish.

To finish off the day we went to Breakwater Grille in Hendersonville for dinner. Blackwater Grille is Carolina’s original Appalachian Grille, serving an upscale chef-inspired Southern Highland Cuisine.  Delicious.  The young chef was a delight.  I can’t remember when I last had the chef come to our table several times to meet us and talk about his food and restaurant.  I tired collards for the first time and liked them.  The main entree was a whiskey smoked ribs with a blackberry BBQ sauce.  Yum!

Lunch Date & Company from Charleston- Fri. Nov. 4

Another busy day.  We met Dot and Herb Drew, our landlords, for lunch at Fatz, a local southern chain.  What a delightful couple.  We learned more about each other and share a love of gardening and animals.  They both have had such interesting lives.    After lunch we got some groceries and Bob broke his glasses (just lost a screw) so at 4:30 he is driving to a Vision store to get them fixed. 

Our good friends Lynn and Bob arrived about 5:30 and we talked non stop until we all started to nod off about 10:30. 

Greenville SC and Caesars Head Park – Thurs. Nov. 2

We drove about 30 miles to Greenville SC and had planned to also go to Clemson SC today but got so charmed by Greenville that we didn’t make it any farther south.  It was a beautiful sunny day and we came down from an altitude of about 2200 feet to 1000 feet and what a view we had of the colorful mountains.  It is hard to explain what it looks like when you are surrounded by mountains of color as far as you can see.

What a beautiful town Greenville is !  It is about 60,000 and has one of the prettiest historic downtowns I have ever seen.  There is a beautiful waterfall, unusual foot bridge, fountain and park. We did not have enough time to spend in the shopping area but it looked really charming.  The weather is noticably warmer down 1000 feet.  It was 74 when we had lunch at a cafe overlooking the waterfalls.  We picked up lots of information at the tourist center and it looks like Greenville also would have all of the features we are looking for when we relocate but a slightly warmer winter and summer then Hendersonville.  After that we drove around the suburbs of Greenville like Simpsonville and Travelers Rest trying to get a feel for what those towns were like.   We are pretty impressed.

On the way home we took a side trip to go up to 3000 feet on Cedar Mountain to Caesars Head Park which we had been told had a beautiful view of the mountains below.  Unfortunately it was kind of hazey so we could not see real well.  The temperature dropped about 20 degrees from the low country to the mountain.  I just can’t get used to how such small distances make such big difference in the climate.   The road up the mountain was what I call “the white knuckle drive”.   My fingers are clutched, I am constantly hitting the break and I’m not even driving!

A work day Tues. Oct. 31

Pretty quiet day.  I worked on UMN project. Did not go anywhere.

Another trip to the Fountain of Youth – Wed. Nov. 1

Today I had 1 1/2 hour therapeutic massage with Steve.  I think my neck is about 50% better and that painful kink is gone.  I took some time to drive around Hendesonville by myself which was nice.  Being a passenger and being a driver are definitely different.  Hendersonille has many one way streets so that takes some getting used to.  Everyone is so helpful from the clerks in stores to customers in stores to strangers on the street.  I found the Flatrock Postoffice and several cute little shops that I will visit soon.  It was a beautiful day.  Weather was 74 at noon and then it cooled down at night.