Family makes me slow on the blogging...

December 23, 2010.

Mike and Kim and their cuteness. 

Asheville was a delight!  Mike and Kim’s apartment is cozy and comfortable and we enjoyed spending time with them.  Delicious food and beers were had, stocking trinkets were purchased, and we took in some of the beautiful waterfalls in the densest waterfall per square foot area of the world.  Mike was a great tour guide and as is his habit, he brought us to some very special places.  We saw Triple Falls, Hooker Falls, and High Falls, all of which were magnificent and thundering.  It helped that we had a 50 degree, sunny and crisp day, and leaving the city, getting into the forest, I wanted to sling on a backpack, tighten my boots, and walk off into the woods.  I have realistic visions of hiking portions of the Appalachian Trail this Spring: we could hop on the trail near Asheville, and Mike could pick us up a week or so later 100 miles away, my brain has it all planned out.  I’m realizing more everyday that I have a short list of things that make me happy, and the woods are one of them.  

The bearded fellows take in the falls. 

Beautiful Kim and the water. 

On the road back to Cincinnati, we have reentered snow territory, it began just north of Lexington.  It’s kind of amazing to change climate so much in only a few hours.  In Asheville, the ground is hardly frozen, it felt mild and springy, and we sat beside the waterfalls for long stints and wore sweatshirts.  We’re about an hour from Cincinnati, and the snow is still thick, no signs of melting.  I don’t even want to think about the snow in Chicago or Iowa.  

Asheville has a great energy.  I don’t know what the industry is, but it felt balanced.  The downtown was a great mix of restaurants and shoppes, and the focus is definitely on local and organic consumption.  And there is a yoga studio that offers several free community classes every day!  If we moved there I would immediately tap into my latent, wishful artist skills and I would create.  The town feels pregnant with possibility, like everyone is trying to be their best, healthiest person, continually accessing their own potential.  I can easily see how so many people love it, Mike and Kim are really happy there, and I am happy for them :)  

We are slugging ourselves back to Cincinnati.  Asheville felt so great, and there was so much more that I wanted to see and do.  I still have a little dread about the holidays, precipitated by my continued lack of preparation, but also just not ready for it.  In other years we thoughtfully craft hand made cards and gifts, and spend time getting into the holiday mode.  This year without a space of our own, and with busyness and traveling, the crafting part has been nearly impossible.   And every time I even think about holiday shopping, my mind always wanders to homey things like decorative bowls and cozy rugs, soft towels that would make a home, things that I imagine would work in our apartment (the one that we don’t have).  I have nesting syndrome bad right now, “home” feels like a foreign concept, and I don’t know where it is.  Asheville felt good probably because it felt like making a home there was possible.  

The more I write the better I feel, we’re almost there and we have dinner with Matt and Maggie to look forward to.  It’s a family bridging dinner (Maggies and ours), these sorts of things always promise some element of absurdity and hilarity.  Cheers!

Quick pic of the festivities.