We’re back from a long trip to Cullowhee, NC, to visit family for Thanksgiving. Because the kids only had a short break, we ended up flying. Gordon is notoriously unbending when it comes to the airport arrival times, so we left the house at around 3:00 am for a 6:30 flight and ended up spending the first day travelling, then resting, then going over to visit relatives.
November isn’t the best season for North Carolina. It’s very beautiful in summer and fall, when all of the leaves change colors, but in November the branches are mostly bare and the mountains are grey and brown, with a sprinkling of hunter green pines along the crests. NC holds very mixed memories for me. That’s where Gordon and I met and married, and it’s where both of the children were born. But it’s also the place where we were crushingly poor and life was hard. When we come to visit, Gordon’s aunt, who is a very lovely lady, always tells me, “When I think of all the hard times you kids had…” I want to tell her to please not remind me, but I usually end up changing the subject in a sleek fashion like, “So Aunt Janie, where did you get this lovely yarn” or “Aunt Janie, can I turn down that bacon, I do believe it’s burning…” Left to my own devices, I probably wouldn’t go back, but that’s where the family is and we love them very much and haven’t seen them in ages.
We took Tuesday to visit Cherokee Indian Reservation. It’s been a long time since we’ve been down there and we wanted the girls to see it. We’ll have to come back in summer, when the shows are on. There is a really beautiful and sad production Unto These Hills that tells the story of the Trail of Tears, but it wasn’t running.
We bought some awesome clothes and dreamcatchers. We just finished hanging them this morning.
This is ours.
It was made by Clifford Robinson, one of the local craftsmen on the reservation.
This is Kid 2′s dreamcatcher. You can’t really see it because flash reacts with her ceiling, but it has beautiful emerald green beads in the twine.
This is Kid 1′s dreamcatcher. This isn’t a Cherokee dreamcatcher, it’s Monague, which is a family up in BC, but it was very beautiful. The five circles represent the five generations of the family.
This is a gift for our neighbor. It’s also by a local craftsman, Fred Arch.
We also got a lot of books about myths and books about the little people. It would be really fun to do something with the Native American myths, but it’s difficult to do this without inviting a comparison with Patty Briggs.
The next two days we spent with family. Gordon smoked turkeys and hams, I made the egg thingies from Innkeeper (Gordon and the kids don’t eat them, but everyone else does, and they were specially requested), and we got to visit. We heard all of the local gossip. Someone went off the deep end, someone moved, someone is getting on in years.
Kid 2 bravely volunteered to go Black Thursday shopping with her aunt Michelle and her two boys. We never go, so we kind of giggled since Aunt Michelle is a serious, hardcore shopper, and let her go. When she was returned to us in the morning, after standing for hours in the cold waiting for Kmart to open, Kid 2 told us that this was the worst decision of her life. While her sister was freezing, Kid 1 got to go with the other Aunt, Trish, and was permitted to try some moonshine, so Kid 1 took the next overnight shift with Aunt Michelle. It was her turn. Kid 1 got to wait inside, but she “had to fight for Aunt Michelle’s Xbox with grown men.”
Friday we flew home. Our flight was delayed due to a mechanical malfunction, which turned out to be an overflowing lavatory, and we made it in late. I didn’t write much but I knitted 2/3 of a scarf. Will post pictures when done.
And that was our Thanksgiving. How was yours?
Canadian so no Thanksgiving for me. But some peeps in our building had relatives over so smell of turkey throughout, living vicariously. Still to quote Mike from Canmore, “I’m thankful for the Canada Goose cause they go so good with Spaghettios.”
In Moscow the winter came. I spent half the weekend buying games on Steam (the sales were on and in Russia everything is cheaper in general so an extra copy of CIV5 cost $2.50).
And today I got Steel’s Edge – for which I thank you.
Happy Release Day! I have my eyes out for the audio version still, but I’m sure I’ll make it by B&N tonight.
No release day for me
I had to special order from the local book store so I wont get mine until Wednesday.
My niece just learned she does not have cancer, and offered to host the family at her house, she has a new appreciation for life and family, and we all wanted to be with her. We all had so much to be thankful for, it was a wonderful meal. I got sick and spent the last 5 days in bed but thanks to the wonders of technology I didn’t have to get up and go drive across town to one of the last remaining bookstores, I was able to download and read Steele’s Edge. Just finished and its wonderful. PLEASE promise us at some point you’ll write Lark, George, and Jack’s book/books. I have to know what happens with these kids, I adore them. You could serialize it and I’d pay for each chapter and I know I’m not alone! Steele’s Edge was fantastic! Love the Edge series
L. Blanchard recently posted..And The Winner Is……
Sounds like a good trip in all. Oh we love our dreamcatchers as well. I gave my son his first when he was little. I had a little one in my room, and he was having bad dreams. He couldn’t have been but about 5. I went and got it, soothed him with the story that night and hung it on his wall. He went right to sleep, and had no troubles after. He would look to it at night, and had to make sure it was close when I tucked him in. He still has it now in his room, but doesn’t look to it as he did eight years ago. But it is a permanent fixture in his bedroom attire.
Melissa (My World…in words and pages) recently posted..Throwback Thursday (93)
I had a wonderful Thanksgiving all planned out … dinner at my aunt and uncle’s home in Bethesda, then drive to Rehobeth, DE for the Black Friday deals at the outlet shops (some of the best outlet shopping going) and staying at their beach house through the weekend. Ended up cancelling all of it since I came down with a raging case of Bronchitis and a temp of 102.6 on Wednesday. I was feeling better by Saturday, but no deals for me. Oh well, there’s always next year.
I know this reply is late in coming but I for one would love to read stories with Native American myths or even First Nations/Aboriginal myths (I’m Canadian so different naming system). I have extended family that is Cree from Saskatchewan so the stories have always held a special place in my heart and there is so much to tell! I’m a big fan of Patricia Briggs but she’s only tapped a small portion of what can be told. Please don’t give up that particular idea and don’t forget there are many, many, many tribes and stories to choose from! Maybe more than if you were talking about the British Isle fairy tales. I also really liked the involvement of the Cherokee portions in Kate’s books.