North Carolina has an abundance of artisnal cheesemakers, and we have two within an hour’s drive that you can easily visit during your stay with us. Out past Cherokee, is Yellow Branch Farm. They have both cheese and pottery tours (feel free to bring me a piece with that exquisite blue glaze). And stop on the way back to tube down Deep Creek in Bryson City, or take the seven-mile loop hike and see the waterfalls.
Heading east past Asheville, you can tour both Looking Glass Creamery (makers of my all-time favorite chocolate lab cheese) and, if you’re feeling adventurous, continue out to Hickory Nut Gap Farm for you-pick berries and apples to perfect your tailgate picnic. Of course, there are a bazillion little spots to recommend in nearby Asheville, but that’s a post for another day.
Not looking for a day trip, but still want all that fabulous artisnal cheese? No problem! Pop over to Waynesville (ten minutes away) and head down to the Montgomery Street Market for lots and lots of locally made yummies, in addition to all that cheese.
Or just laze away an afternoon upstairs at the Frog’s Leap Public House, with a lovely glass of wine, and a small-plate of local cheese. They usually have four or five… and I usually tell them to put everything on a platter and bring it to me… Now *that* is a fabulous lunch!
What a special afternoon! Ok, it’s like this… Every state in America requires that you obtain your marriage license from the state in which you are to be married. That same license has to be returned to that office, in order to be registered (Register of Deeds) and recorded (Vital Records), and only then can the wedding couple get a certified copy of their license. That certified copy allows them to update drivers license, insurance, benefits, Social Security, etc. We get lots of couples here from out of state – or out of the country – who’ve never even heard of Maggie Valley, never been in this part of North Carolina, or maybe even to the United States, but they loved the pictures (and apparently the zany innkeepers) of Timberwolf Creek, and they come here to us, to be married. After the wedding, they have to mail away to our local courthouse for their official copy of the license, and all that administrative stuff is just in limbo while they wait.
This time, it was a little different. Our very Irish couple (Americans) decided to come on Friday, apply for and get the license, and bring it to us here. We then had a handfasting ceremony, with witnesses, who signed the documents. Our couple then rushed back to the courthouse and registered their marriage! To celebrate the completion of all this running-about, they went on to have a couples massage at Mountain Spirit Wellness, followed by a leisurely dinner out at Frog’s Leap Public House.
The cords are burgundy, gold and green. The burgundy represents romance, partnership, and happiness. The gold is for unity, prosperity, and longevity. The green stands for peace, sincerity, and devotion. And in this case, the cords were all from the bridegroom’s graduations, as he has more than one advanced degree – perfect!
The wedding ceremony (traditional) will be Saturday, no further government intervention required. Voila.
A handfasting is an ancient Celtic custom, which allowed a couple to make a marital commitment to each other, for a year-and-a-day. This was important in places like the rural Scottish Highlands, because it could be many months before you’d see a priest. This way, a couple could be married, and then solemnize their ceremony within the church when the priest arrived later. They wouldn’t be living in sin, and they didn’t have to wait months to be married.
As the handfasting is on Friday and the wedding on Saturday, I’ve explained to the groom that he now is expected to produce a wonderful anniversary gift on *both* dates, for the rest of his life.
He’s ok with that.
And may they live Happily Ever After.
Could my job just be a LITTLE more fun? I think not.
Ok, I’d like to think I’m fairly intelligent, but have to admit that it took me fifteen years (that’s right, years) to finally figure out that when folks leave here with a picnic basket, it should be a memento of their time in the mountains, not a Made in China purchase. Good heavens. Years.
Yesterday, Larry and I spent a wonderful afternoon with Judy (my bride c. 2012) at the Church Street Craft Fair in Waynesville. Only it’s not on Church Street any more, it’s on Main Street. I think that’s a topic for another day. Anyway. Did I mention that I’m easily distracted these days? Ok. Where was I? Oh yes. Years.
I stepped into a booth and was just transported. Not that kind of booth. I mean, I didn’t go into a time warp or start talking into my shoe or suddenly find myself dressed in a cape and a shirt with a big red S on the chest. Not that kind of transported. I mean a vendor booth at the market – this one filled with the prettiest baskets I’ve seen! Each basket was wonderfully detailed and carefully crafted. Naturally I asked about who made them and the very nice lady in the booth told me that indeed, she had. When I said that they were just exquisite, she actually blushed. Clearly she was pleased, but by way of demonstrating my sincerity, I promptly bought all she had in the size I needed. And I couldn’t be happier about that!
Walking through the remainder of the fair (and what a fair! bluegrass and bagpipes! not at the same time – I don’t know if I’d enjoy that – but the entertainment was great) folks were stopping me right and left to admire my pretty baskets, laced up my arms and held every which way.
So. No more made-in-china baskets. Now, when you get a picnic lunch here, you’ll have a hand-crafted basket, lovingly created by a local artisan. And Miss Laura Ann has burned her initials on the bottom corner of each one: her signature. All the baskets are different, with painted flowers, or braided rope, but all the ones I got have the curled wood at the top, which the artist told me is called a tulip edge. I got completely distracted by that, and we had a nice long conversation about tulips vs lilies vs iris. I probably thought of ‘iris’ because she had a whole row of them worked into one basket in a beautiful blue. Not quite a violet blue, but more like a periwinkle. Like an iris would be. The little Siberian iris, not the bearded ones – those come in oh so many beautiful colors, not just periwinkle blue. I couldn’t get that one because it wasn’t nearly big enough, but oh I did love the Siberian Iris blue colored tulip edge! See there? Distracted.
These are a generous 15×12 and 9 inches tall (plus the handle) and nice and sturdy, so they can hold a healthy-sized picnic lunch, complete with a pie. I do love finding a whole entire pie in the bottom of a picnic basket, don’t you? I mean, that could be distracting for anybody, not just me…
And you can take home your hand-crafted Appalachian artwork basket to enjoy for years. That’s right. Years.
This is just a marvelous program – North Carolina Wildlife Resources has a Mountain Heritage Trout Waters program that makes it a piece o’ cake for you to fish for trout while you’re staying with us! Three miles of hatchery-supported trout stream in Maggie Valley have been designated for fishing within this program, and $5 gets you a three-day license.
No rod & reel? No problem! They have loaners. And every registrant receives a first-time gift of a mini-tackle box with assorted lures.
We are, according to the USGS (United States Geological Survey, the official mapping service of the federal government) in both the Appalachian mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are part of the Appalachians.
The Great Smoky Mountains is a national park. While we are not physically in the park, we are colloquially in the Smoky Mountains. (USGS actually refers to our area as the Appalachian Blue Ridge.) For instance, Dolly Parton is ‘from the Smoky Mountains’ and sings ‘Smoky Mountain music’ and has an album called ‘A Smoky Mountain Christmas’. None of these refer to the national park, but rather this particular region of the Appalachian Blue Ridge, which is in immediate proximity to the borders of that which Roosevelt declared a national park.
We are, legitimately, in: the Smoky Mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the Appalachian Mountains, simultaneously.
This also gives credence to why the Appalachian Trail passes by us, from Georgia on its way north, and also the Blue Ridge Parkway’s immediate presence.
So, Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian Mountains… it all comes together for you here at Timberwolf Creek.
Ok, maybe you can help. I’ve spent endless hours on Google, trying to identify my hostas. These are the ones I have in abundance, planted in the outdoor wedding chapel gardens… but there are others… I’ve learned more about hostas than I ever dreamed there was to know! Margins and leaf shapes and textures, etc. The variety is astounding. I had no idea! And while discovering that there are something like 10,000 different hostas out there, it came as no great surprise that they are lilies. Because, after all, I do love lilies. (And yes, I know: they’ve been reclassified but I don’t care. They are lilies for me, and that’s a Good Thing, as Martha likes to say.)
I’ve done my best, with names, and invite you to correct me. If there’s a searchable database, where I can enter “hosta, small, narrow leaf, tri-color, wide green margin, white center” that would be fantastic. The best search result has yielded “Fire & Ice” but I’m not convinced what this one is…
But it sure is pretty. 🙂
The next one may be right on target, but again, your assistance is welcome! It appears to be Diamond Tiara, which is ok by me.
And these are just ENORMOUS and fabulous and propagating like mad. Not that they’re sending out runners or anything, just that we started with three and are up to 15! Each one just as impressive at the original.
I think this one’s called Niagara Falls. It truly is amazing. Here is the row of seven, just a couple of days after they were all split. And they are already gorgeous, and look like they’ll need to be split again in the spring!
See what I mean? Fantastic! (This is the driveway to the Black Bear Cottage in the Woods – where we have the Streamsong and Woodland rooms.) The plants have been remarkably forgiving. And where I’m concerned, that’s a Good Thing, as Martha likes to say.
And finally, I have this gold-margined beauty, that’s really come into her own this year. Just couldn’t be prettier. Somebody, let me know her name!
It was time to take a walkabout as spring looks like it’s coming to an early close, with summer right on its heels. I took a picture of the last of the daffodils, the last of the hyacinth, the early azaleas and peaches. But the real bonanza is these crazy hostas! They are insanely huge, and very happy. Here are some photos.
Last of the daff and hyacinth…
And here are the early azaleas. I do love azaleas, especially the whites. They’re like little tiny spring-time lilies, ha!
And peaches – we’re going to have a nice abundant crop of white Georgia peaches, this year! Unless that family of raccoons recalls where they had the all you can eat buffet two years ago…
And the trillium came en masse, this spring – so many that I may need a new bed for them!
Oh my goodness, would you look at that? This post is already so big, I’m going to have to let the hostas have their very own! So here it is, only the middle of April, and spring is well established and on the wane. It has been a spectacular one so far, I must say.
