(Select posts appear in interactive form on www.MySpace.com/MarcilleWallis.)

Blog Archives:  June - December, 2007        January - June, 2008

Many of the photos appearing on this page are presented as "thumbnails."  By clicking on the small photo, you will be re-directed to a larger version.  After viewing the larger photo, you may return to this page simply by clicking the "back" button on your browser.

August 3, 2008 (Swannanoa, NC)
Those of who you have visited our booth at one of the fairs/festivals know that I can usually be found sitting near the front of the booth, playing my heart out on the hammer dulcimer.  The scene at left is a "Marcille's-eye-view" of this weekend's Mount Mitchell Craft Fair (So that you would have a better view, I deliberately took the picture toward the end of the day, when the crowd had thinned out).  If you study the picture even casually, you immediately notice the mountain peak in the distance, and a much closer, tree-lined ridge.  You see a not-so-modern building on the left.  The lens on my camera is not "wide" enough to capture all of the color that I see in the artists' booths.  No matter where we are in the country, every time I look up from my dulcimer, I see a similarly picturesque scene.  That's what I enjoy most about the outdoor fairs -- that and the people.

The Mount Mitchell fair is in Burnsville, North Carolina, a town in and around which we've done a considerable amount of work over the years.  We also belong to the Toe River Arts Council (TRAC) that is based in Burnsville, so our visits to that town are a delightful mix of meeting new people and renewing old acquaintances.  A nice surprise at this year's fair was seeing our doll-making friends, Jose and Claudia Calle, who were making their first appearance -- and one of the sweetest moments was a little girl who came to our booth, clutching her brand-new "Claudia-made" doll: she was so thrilled that her new doll had hair just like her own!  I got to visit with my cousin Sally, and her husband, glass artist Judson Guerard.  And my long-time friend Pete McWhirter, who's such an imaginative potter ... and a budding songwriter, to boot.  There were many other artist friends there -- too many to name here.  But over the years I've managed to acquire a lot of their work: earrings from this one, a toothbrush holder from that one; soy candles from one, lavender sachets from another.  There's obviously little room in our Airstream trailer to collect much!  But if it's art you can use ...

We had a nice visit from my grade school/high school friend Clint Johnson, who's a noted author, and his wife Barb; they now live in North Carolina's High Country.  It's also fun to see the local fair-goers -- who have become friends -- from year to year.  Some of them can't wait to see what's new.  Some of them didn't wait -- they'd purchased A Mighty Fortress at the TRAC gallery!  One man came by and said that In Quiet Joy (a Christmas CD) is one of his family's favorite CDs -- in a collection of several hundred -- and that they love it so much they play it year round!

That kind of stuff means more to us than you can imagine.    

July 29, 2008 (Swannanoa, NC)
"So you're constantly on the road, traveling all over the place," an acquaintance recently remarked.  "Where's the best food?"

That's an interesting question for us, because generally we avoid eating meals at chain establishments, with their generic menus that are pretty much the same all over the US -- or the world.  We prefer instead to patronize local establishments and sample the local culture.  It's not always easy to stay away from the chains, particularly on travel days.  Take today, for example.  Breakfast was coffee and a muffin from Sheetz (a fuel stop/convenience store popular in Virginia and Pennsylvania).  Yesterday, however, we each had coffee and a buttered roll from Renee's Hot Stuff Deli, in Montgomery, New York.  Mmmm ... those buttered rolls.  Doesn't sound like much, 'til you try 'em.  But only in New York!

Where's the best food, you say?  Well, New York does have a lot to offer; they do have the best buttered rolls, hands down, and any New Yorker will sing the praises of New York style pizza.  Fact is, in New York good Italian food is practically a guarantee ... but they don't have the best Cuban food; that distinction belongs to La Teresita, in Tampa, Florida.  Certain areas of New York offer the most amazing Chinese food ... but El Pirata, in Arcadia, Florida, will amaze you with their Mexican food.

We really don't eat out all that much.  We cook "at home" a lot, using as much locally grown and produced food as we can.  (Not too much point in traveling, is there, if everything's got to be the same as it is back home?)  So here are some of our more memorable culinary experiences: a mix of restaurants we've enjoyed, and things we enjoy fixing for ourselves.  The list is in no particular order:

Asheville, NC -- Barley's Taproom (it's not New York style pizza, but it's awfully good) and Wild Wing Cafe (best wings anywhere, and if you go to the weekday buffet, you can try six different flavors)
Burnsville, NC -- Garden Deli (lunch is not just a specialty; it's the only meal they serve, and they only serve it six days a week)
West Springfield, MA -- Collins Tavern (world's best soups, hearty sandwiches, and hand-cut fries) and Memo's Deli (their breakfast is a great start to the day)
Columbiana, OH -- delicious locally-grown produce, especially corn, and a sausage ring sold at Sparkle (the local grocery) that's as good as any you might find anywhere ... even in New York
somewhere near New Waterford, OH -- a little shop that has the best, sharpest cheddar spread and makes yummy pepperoni
Great Lakes Region -- pike, walleye, and perch (I can never get enough fish)
Nashville, TN -- Jack's Bar-B-Q (by all means, visit the honky-tonks, see the legendary Ryman Auditorium, catch the Grand Ol' Opry but DO NOT miss Jack's)
Mount Dora, FL -- Sunshine Mountain Bakery (I keep sampling, thinking that eventually I'll find something there that I don't like -- but it hasn't happened yet!)
just about anywhere in FL -- buy some fresh shrimp, take 'em home and boil 'em up

July 28, 2008 (Edinburg, VA)
I'm writing from the road, on the way down to North Carolina for the Mount Mitchell Craft Fair.  We're camped for the night in charming Edinburg, Virginia.  We see so much of America in our travels! -- much more than I ever saw when I was a typical worker who had a typical summer vacation.  I'd never have thought of Edinburg, though I'd sped past it often enough, always on my way to some other destination.

But that can be said of many of the places we've stayed, whether overnight (as in this case) or more long-term.  It can be said of some of the towns that we've visited, however briefly, to take advantage of some service or to buy groceries.  Take this morning, for instance.  Having left Ansonia, Connecticut after the Renaissance Festival, one of the first orders of the day was to empty our holding tanks.  (You RV'ers know all about this task; non-RV'ers don't want to know too much about it.)  Our choices were somewhat limited, but we did find that there was a public park in Montgomery, New York, which seemed suitable.  Turning off of I-84, one of the first sights to greet us was the Goodwill Evangelical Presbyterian Church, of which I managed to get this picture by sticking the camera out of the window and asking Greg to slow down just a bit.  It's a lovely place, don't you think?

I wasn't as lucky in trying to capture some of the town's other sights: the Brick Reformed Church (which, except for the brick, reminded me very much of some late Medieval churches I'd seen in England), several homes and businesses that were located in 19th Century buildings, and the lovely Winding Hills Park.  Hmmm ... make Montgomery another stop on that ever-growing list of places I need to re-visit one of these days.

Some of the day's other sights: windmills atop a windy ridge in an area of Pennsylvania once dominated by the coal industry ... a farmer walking amongst his acres of corn, probably planning the harvest ... a herd of Jersey cows ambling -- almost perfectly single-file! -- along the path leading from their pasture back to the barn.

I briefly interrupted this writing to take Maggie on her evening walk.  We walked all the way into town.  Yes, campgrounds are usually in rural locales.  To get to today's campground we drove through the tiny town of Edinburg, made a turn down a country road, passed open fields, made another turn, then another ... you get the picture.  Way out in the country, right?  I was so enthralled with the picturesque scenery, I did not notice that all the turns were left-hand turns.  So when Maggie and I crossed the quaint one-lane bridge just outside of the campground entrance, then walked a block or so up the road, guess where we were?  All the way back in Edinburg, where we sniffed lavender that grows next to the sidewalk in front of the tea room.  We studied the menu for the upcoming Oddfellows dinner.  We read the historical plaques that adorned many of the houses, revealing that many of these buildings existed pre-Civil War.  Edinburg ... maybe another place for that list ... 

July 24, 2008 (Southwick, MA)
Tomorrow begins  the last weekend of the Southern Connecticut Renaissance Festival.  It's been pleasant to be in New England these past couple of weeks: working in Connecticut on the weekends and staying in Massachusetts during the week.  We've had a lot of rain the past few days, but it's helped to lower the temperatures and add a deliciously lazy element to our waking hours.  And who doesn't like falling asleep to the sound of rain falling on the roof at night!  Now hoping that the rains will hold off for the next three days, so that the RenFest has a strong finish.  

I've been reading Janisse Ray's Wild Card Quilt, a book lent to me by my friend Candy.  It's more or less a sequel to Ecology of a Cracker Childhood.  In "Ecology" Janisse writes of her experiences growing up in rural Southern Georgia, and while I grew up in rural Central Florida, I did find that a lot of what she had to say resonated with me.

"Wild Card" tells of her return to her small hometown after a seventeen year absence, and her rediscovery of those things which make small town life so rich.  I definitely can identify with that!  When I was a kid, I could not wait to leave my hometown of Arcadia, which I found impossibly backward and lacking in those things that I thought were a mark of culture and refinement.  These days, when I'm back in Florida, I live about 30 minutes away from Arcadia, and find that I prefer doing business there, over doing business in much larger Port Charlotte.  I like calling the Ford dealership to make an appointment for service on my van, and getting my high school friend Bill Kelly on the phone.  I like taking Maggie, our dog, to Dr. Overcash, the vet who's taken care of generations of Wallis cats and dogs.  When my mom was alive, and still had accounts at First State Bank of Arcadia, I liked calling the bank and getting my cousin Lee Ann on the phone; she never had to ask my mother's maiden name -- she knew it as well as I did!  Yes, it's true that pretty much everybody knows everybody else's business in a small town.  But that's not always such a bad thing -- I see that now, as an adult.

I'm sure I'll be writing much more about these important books in future posts.  In the meantime, if you are a friend of rural places, or of the environment, or of simpler times you may enjoy reading these books yourself, whether or not you grew up in the Sunny South.

July 15, 2008 (Southwick, MA)
I've always felt a sort of "connectedness" to New England.  Ever since my first visit up this way -- a post-high-school-graduation trip to the Cape Cod summer home of my friend Nancy -- I've felt very much at home.  It's sort of odd, really, that I should feel that way, since as far as I know I have absolutely zero family connections to this region of the country.  Maybe it's the sense of history, or the emphasis that New Englanders tend to put on family; maybe I like the architecture -- just yesterday I made a comment on how much I liked the houses that were connected to barns or garages by breezeways, and how they looked like "home" to me.

We're currently staying in that agricultural area of Massachusetts very near the Connecticut state line.  In fact, today's banking errand was to Granby, Connecticut.  And that brings me to another thing that fascinates me about New England: the occasionally odd juxtaposition of old traditions with the ultra-modern.  The Bank Of America is located in a classically New England building resembling a small Colonial style home ... yet the drive-through teller speaks to you via remote camera -- a first for me.  I had to laugh!  To get there, I'd driven along winding lanes; New England, I do believe, defines "winding lanes."  I'd passed farms that were easily a couple of hundred years old.  Granby, itself, was probably incorporated back in the 1700's.  And yet the bank uses 21st Century technology not commonly used in other -- newer -- regions of the United States.

You gotta love that.

July 13, 2008 (Ansonia, CT)
We have just finished the first weekend of the Southern Connecticut Renaissance Festival.  So far, It's been a delight:  well-organized and some of the friendliest and most helpful people we've ever worked with.  We'll be here for two more weekends, and I must say, I'm already looking forward to them!  Here's a little bit of what we saw this weekend: sword fighting, magic, knights on horseback, dancing, and general merriment.  (Click on each thumbnail for an enlargement.)

In a weekend full of nice surprises, one of the nicest was Gene, who arrived at our booth dressed in late-Medieval peasant garb with a pouch full of bones.  Bones -- the musical percussion kind, not the gravedigger kind!  Gene and I played a few tunes together and had a great time.  Also, I finally got to meet some fellow musicians that I've heard of for years: The Harper And The Minstrel (Abby and Jay Michaels) and Thyme Awaye (Geri) who is a MySpace Friend.  

Tomorrow it's off to Massachusetts, just a short ways up the road, to camp in the country, make a trip or two to Collins Tavern, visit with friends ... and rest up for weekend #2 of the Southern Connecticut Renaissance Festival.

July 8, 2008 (Boone, NC)
Long before I'd ever even imagined doing a craft show in the High Country, I'd come to this area as a sightseer.  The building that houses the Highland House Ski Shop, pictured at left, has delighted me as a landmark for as long as I can remember.  It's at the intersection of Highway 105 and Highway 184; once upon a time this group of buildings was a rather lonely little beacon that signified you'd come to the road leading up to Banner Elk and Beech Mountain.  Now it's one of many buildings in a shopping area called Grandfather Village, in the shadow of Grandfather Mountain.  

Charming as the Highland House Ski Shop is, it's not the most noticeable architectural feature of the immediate area.  I'd have to say that designation belongs to a high-rise condo that is perched atop nearby Sugar Mountain.  That huge, glaring white building is visible for miles -- and while it may offer its occupants a spectacular view, it is a jarring sight to anyone else.  A monument to someone's failure to blend with the environment, it should be a mandatory field trip for every student of architecture -- Just because a thing can be done, doesn't mean it should be done.  Look at what you shouldn't do.  If you're curious about this monstrosity, you can look it up for yourself -- I don't want a picture on my website as a constant reminder that there are people out there who have such disregard for the natural world!

Greg and I went into Banner Elk for errands today, and, on a whim, we checked out the Grandfather Campground.  That's where I managed to get this photo of Grandfather's profile.  I'd almost despaired of being able to get a nice picture of Grandfather Mountain, as it seemed I was never in the right place at the right time.  

Grandfather is the highest peak in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and is certainly one of the most recognizable peaks in the world.  I read recently that there are smooth round stones, like the ones you'd find in a riverbed, near the top of Grandfather.  If they're commonly found at the bottom of a river, how'd those stones get on top of a mountain?  Geologists say that 750 million years ago, these rocks were carried by rivers and deposited in a valley.  A continental collision pushed that valley upward, making it into a mountaintop.  Amazing.

There are so many other fantastic natural features in this world, many (if not most) of them created by similarly cataclysmic events.  I once asked my father, a man of science who was a devout Christian, what his beliefs were with regard to the creation of the world -- there are Christians who flatly deny that anything on Earth can be more than a few thousand years old ... as there are scientists who offer geological evidence as proof that the Bible is false -- what did Daddy believe?  We were standing on the rim of Tallulah Gorge at the time, reading about the forces of nature which produced this deep gash in the Earth's crust anywhere from 250 to 500 million years ago.  Without hesitation, Daddy referred to the second verse of the first chapter of Genesis: "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep."  No timeline is offered, nor even implied, in this portion of the creation story, Daddy said, so it more or less rendered moot any argument by either side: the passage does not rule out the possibility of seismic events and floods which occurred hundreds of millions of years ago, thus -- in this instance, at least -- there is no dichotomy between belief in science and belief in the Bible.

Oh.  He sure had a way of explaining tough concepts in a way that even a child could understand!

July 6, 2008 (Boone, NC)
The laurel pictured at left is what gives Laurel Creek its name.

We've been camped directly on the bank of Laurel Creek, near Boone, NC, for a little over a week.  We came to participate in two fine craft shows in nearby Banner Elk.  Both shows were very nice -- the promoter, Pat Fay, does a fantastic job of organizing a craft show.  As a crafter of jewelry herself, she has obviously applied her years of experience on the "circuit" to put together a show that is highly `appealing to the public and yet tailored to the needs of crafters.  All of our fellow vendors, both weekends, were so cooperative and easy to work with -- very considerate of their neighbors.

It's tough to get up at the crack of dawn, drive to the show site, set up a tent, carry in and then set up your wares -- a few hours of tough physical work precedes a show.  Then, just when your body really craves a few minutes to relax and put your feet up, the "workday" -- the actual show -- begins.  Now you need to completely shift mental gears; you must be "on" -- ready to answer questions, demonstrate your craft, whatever, all with a smile.  

So when you get to a show and find that you're going to be working alongside genuinely nice people, it's a relief.  It means that no one will have their cargo piled up in your space; no one will block the load-in area with a huge trailer; no one will whine about doing a show by him/herself and then interrupt your work flow by asking for a bunch of favors.  And then, as a complete and lovely bonus when you do a Mountaintop Promotions (Pat Fay) show, you are greeted with a big hug, personally shown to your site, and provided with coffee and breakfast goodies.  As physically demanding as the shows, by needs, are, it's easy to start with a good attitude at Pat's shows!  

Of course, our time here hasn't been all work and no play.  Yes, we're usually dead tired at the close of a craft fair day, but in this particular area, the drive to do weekday errands is pretty pleasant, surrounded, as it is, by mountains.  The weather has been mild and comparatively cool (this Florida native has had to sleep under a coverlet some nights!).  And in the evening, we occasionally build a campfire.

I'll leave you with one sorta creepy thought: the stone campfire ring pictured at right is also home to a snake -- we believe, we hope, that he is a harmless watersnake.  Of course, we had no knowledge that we were building a fire on top of someone's home when we built our first campfire!  We didn't really encounter our slithery little neighbor until after several fires.  And we can't figure out how/why he wants to live in a place that obviously gets so hot!  But now we often see him in the mornings, sunning himself on the rocks.  I'm sure he was there all along, every morning, and we just didn't notice him.  He blends in so beautifully with his environment ... but ...     Shiver.  Although he most probably is harmless, as I said before, I can't help but remember the exclamation made by my friend Eleanora Keen, many years ago: "Mebbe thet snake cain't hurtcha, but he c'n sher make ya hurtchaseff!"  

July 1, 2008 (Boone, NC)
June was something of an "off" month for me, as blogging goes!  Hoping to do better in the months to come ...

So here's a brief re-cap of my activities:

After our van was finally road-worthy again -- and here's a big thank-you to the DeSoto Auto Mall in Arcadia! -- we headed off to Swannanoa, North Carolina and the Asheville East KOA, which has become our "home away from home."  

The first weekend in June, I made my seventh appearance at the Black Mountain Arts & Crafts Festival.  That show is always a delightful one to do, as Black Mountain is one of the prettiest towns we visit ... one of the most quaint, yet forward-thinking towns anywhere.  Greg and I are members of Black Mountain's Old Depot Association, which sponsors the show.  And, of course, Black Mountain is home to Song Of The Wood, our favorite dulcimer shop.  The next weekend, I made my first appearance at the Taste Of Scotland festival in Franklin, North Carolina.

Other highlights of the month included a visit to TRAC (Toe River Arts Council) galleries in Burnsville and Spruce Pine, accompanied by my cousin Norma; a surprise visit from my cousin, Richard, who lives in Hawaii; getting to see my uncle, Charlie; a spur-of-the-moment visit from my brother, Marsden, and his wife,Sheila; a trip to the Pisgah Brewery with our friends Sheryl and Bill Bragwell.  Here's a funny aside about our relationship with the Bragwells: they, like us, live in Florida, but they're way out in Pensacola, many miles and hours away from our Port Charlotte home; in fact, they're in a different time zone!  We actually see more of them outside of Florida, having run into them in North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia over the last couple of years.

We left Western Carolina on June 28 to come into the High Country: we're staying in Boone and doing two shows in Banner Elk.  To view photos and read a little bit about this area, check out my archived blogs from June 27 and July 5, 2007.