Walk the mountain trails on Cloud 9 properties and hunt for the rare Lady's Slippers. This is my favorite time of year to find these gems in the shaded woods!
Lady slippers are my favorite flower. They are so beautiful and smell absolutely wonderful Our woods used to be filled with this rare orchid, but it seems they are becomming more scarce. Cal
If you like beading, there is one store in Asheville you won't want to miss...Chevron on Lexington Avenue. I love to go in and look at the magical star lamps, drool over the huge selection of glass and semi-precious beads, pet Millie, the shop dog, and get mesmerized by the salt water flurescent aquarium. Can you tell I signed up for a beading class. They have programs all through the year to learn how to make your own necklaces. Check it out!
Telly Comes to Asheville
Puppets Rock in this Mountain Town
Puppet Central
There's this great group located in Asheville called the Puppetry Alliance that is becoming a magnet for extreme puppetry...the professionals, some live here and bring in their friends for galas. Here I am meeting Telly from Sesame Street who came to Asheville for a visit. What a guy, so loveable and crazy, too. You can see performances in the summer at Asheville festivals for the young and old alike. Hobbey Ford of Golden Rod puppets creates "Foamies" which are large animal puppets carved out of a block of foam. He teaches how-to-make workshops for kids and teachers. Liza Sturz of Red Herring puppets builds larger than life puppets for Henson productions, Disney and museums AND goes into the schools for workshops and shows. Puppets sure caught my imagination!
"The Lure of the Dragon" Boat Races
Photo credit to Johnetta Woods
Those Crazy People in Boats at Lake Lure
You've got to come see this on Saturday, May 16, 2009 at Lake Lure. Colorful dragon headed boats with paddlers and a precariously seated drummer behind it...such a hilarious riot. The event is a major fundraiser for non-profit programs and services for area youth. It’s a festival too. Help celebrate our Asian-American and Southern cultures with music, dance, food, exhibits, crafts, and a kids’ inflatable play area. Heavenly Hideaway cabin is still available for that weekend.
Ahh, yes, the funnel cakes, those funky bands, the improv street music, the craft art...so unique and NOT made in China. Get your feet on the street for Bele Cher and stay at Cloud 9 where you can come and go as you please... from quiet country to the noise of fun in downtown Asheville...you can have it all.
Bele Cher Festival July 24-26, 2009
Coming soon so Book Now!
Need a Gift? My favorite place to go!
Sanctuary of Stuff out in Woodfin (north Asheville) is my favorite place to go for a unique gift. I like the hand stamped one-of-a-kind cards, the signs painted on farm-used pieces of tin and the uses of curled bittersweet vine for handles on teapots...all stuff I wish I had time to make here on Cloud 9 Farm! You must go!
Can't Hide Mud
So here I am after falling flat in the muddy creek trying to cross it in front of 2
So here I am after falling flat in the muddy creek trying to cross it in front of 2 engineers and 3 workers. They pretended like they didn't see my most embarrassing moment but they did. So much for being a macho farm woman.! We are making a cattle crossing so the trout down stream will have fresher water without lingering cows in the creek. After this project through the Soil and Water Conservation service, my small herd of angus beef cattle will have their own private drinking fountains from piped in well water and be completely fenced off from the creek. Cloud 9 is a conservation farm!
Leading Ladies By Ken Ludwig Directed by Michael Lilly January 16– February 1, 2009Performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00, Sundays at 2:30
The best part of coming to Asheville and staying awhile at Cloud 9 is a chance to go to local theater. I've been to the Asheville Community Theater many times and the talent here is incredible. Here are the two upcoming plays: One is a hilarious comedy, Leading Ladies, where two English Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, find themselves so down on their luck that they are performing “Scenes from Shakespeare” on the Moose Lodge circuit in the Amish country of Pennsylvania. When they hear that an old lady in a nearby town is about to die and leave her fortune to her two long lost English nephews, they resolve to pass themselves off as her beloved relatives and get the cash. The trouble is, the relatives aren't nephews, but nieces!
The other is Narnia , the musical based on the C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe March 13-29, 2009 The perfect show for the entire family and bring your family to Cloud 9 Farm would make a perfect spring vacation.
Beer Festival in Asheville
2nd Annual Winter Warmer Beer Festival! You better hurry and get tickets because this event sells out! Asheville has some of the best microbrews of anywhere! My favorites are Highland Gaelic Ale and the Kashmire IPA. Over at Asheville Brewing I like their new Old School just released….then there are the Green Man ales… Tickets are $36 but you get to do a lot of sampling, listen to music, get a souvenir mug and nibble on local catered foods.
call 828-545-5181
Are Toy Trains Your Delight?
Well then, come to Asheville, stay at Cloud 9 and visit the WNC Land of Sky Train Show Feb. 20-21 in the Exhibit Hall of the Asheville Civic center. You can get tickets at the door. toot-toot!
Bele Chere Festival in Asheville July 25-27 Book Cloud 9 Now!
3 days of FUN on the Asheville streets
What a fun street festival Asheville has. Don't try to interpret the French name, Bele Chere (pretty lady) just think of it as "Share the good times" like I do. This year the music includes Cowboy Mouth, Doyle Lawson, Edwin McCanin, The Grascals, The Lee Boys, Steve Azar, Travis Trill and The Wailers, plus lots of crafts and food vendors. AND it just so happens Cloud 9 is available for rent that weekend of July 25-27, 2008. Just 15 minutes away from downtown. Places to stay are hard to come by that weekend so call now!
Meet Janet
Honeybee education makes her CRAZY!
200 Private Acres of Stewardship Land
My latest adventure in my "retired from teaching" life is stewardship of this land. One realtor scoffed, "What are you keeping it for, the squirrels?" Well, yes, and the wild turkeys, and the song birds, and the honey bees, and the deer, and the cows, but most of all for this peaceful valley where the public road cuts through, but yet no development houses are in sight and you can take a walk and hear...nothing but nature. Special people who've rented here feel like my extended family and become friends I'd like to keep in touch with. So many of you are entwined in your busy world that I hope this journalizing will be a breath of fresh air and a way for you to relive some of the memories of your stay. You want to know what I'm up to? Here it is. For new folks, if you book a vacation rental, you can experience it for yourself.
Cloud 9 is a mountain home with 4 bedrooms and hot tub on the deck. Every window has a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Asheville is just 15 minutes away.
Heavenly Hideaway Cabin is a cozy place for two in the woods with a hot tub and fireplace. Each place gives you privacy and 200 acres to explore. So what are you waiting for?
Grove Park Inn-It's FREE
Here's my friend, David, on tour of GPI.
Well, at least free for the looking! I always recommend a visit to this historic Inn built in a massive man and horse labor frenzie with steam shovels during 11 months of 1913 all with rocks, no boulders, from Sunset Mountain behind it. The best relaxing view of the golf course and Asheville on the GPI terrace...sipping a cool drink...scheduling a spa treatment in "the cave" (whoops, sounding too much like an ad)... touring the unusual handcraft gift shops, Homespun museum and antique car museum...you must see this place built by EW Grove to entertain his friends like Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone and Henry Ford. Here's my friend, David, admiring the view on one of those "free" visits.
Arboretum Bonsai Collection
100 quality display specimens. It is a 20 min. drive from Cloud 9 and well worth seeing. Free on Tuesdays, other days $6. A must go!
New Destination Center, Blue Ridge Parkway.
Just 8 miles from here, this place just opened, and it's free, air-conditioned, with beautiful displays of WNC mountain destination. Then I'd go a mile north on the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Folk Art Center, free also.
1 comment:
Lady slippers are my favorite flower. They are so beautiful and smell absolutely wonderful Our woods used to be filled with this rare orchid, but it seems they are becomming more scarce.
Cal
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