We had a lovely day yesterday and really a good trip overall, but it is so tiring. Going to work today will be hard. The mountains were so beautiful; I can't wait to go back, maybe to somewhere a little closer. We stopped at Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi. The observation point at the top was amazing, although it was pretty cloudy. It reminded me of skiing. It was nice and cold there and still warm and humid here last night. This morning it is in the 60s. The ranger at Mount Mitchell took Vanessa and the Captain to the top in a little truck he had (he took others too). We all enjoyed feeling on top of the world; there were lots of others there, people with kids and dogs. We stopped a little further down and ate a picnic lunch, the same as the day before, bread and cheese and meat and lettuce and mayonnaise; the last of the cookies, potato chips, and pears. Then we stopped briefly at the Folk Art Center, which I love. Beautifully locally made arts and crafts, most of them incredibly expensive: baskets, weaving, glass and wood items. Once back in Georgia, we stopped at the produce stand in Rabun County (Osage Farms) and bought more apples, as well as some other things. After that, we started looking for a place to eat. Well, everything was closed on Labor Day. (We didn't try the Dillard House, not the kind of food we wanted). Eventually, we found a Longhorn's in Cornelia. Apparently they are open every day. We enjoyed it, although I was almost too tired to eat. The Captain, as is his wont, enjoyed talking to the young waiter. We were home about 9:30. Just enough time to unpack and fall into bed.

It's almost 6 am, but I can't get back to sleep. I am in a motel room in Blowing Rock, a nice suite. In addition to my husband's breathing, which sometimes keeps me awake at home, I have my mother and father in the next bed. There is the overhead fan and a trickling water fountain outside. I have a headache, maybe from the wine I drank last nigh (Vouvray). We are having a good trip, but I have trouble relaxing. I knew I would be grumpy if I stayed home for the three-day weekend, but now I miss it. I think of the things I might have gotten done--in the yard or cleaning up the mess I left looking for my passport two months ago. And the money we are spending--probably about $500 for our half of the trip.

When we decided to come on a little getaway, about a month ago, we looked hard for a place that we would all enjoy that wouldn't be too expensive. I am not sure how we ended up here; maybe it was listed on the state tourism website, but there are certainly many other places to stay in Blowing Rock. This guy quoted me a rate of $179 for this suite and we decided it was the best deal for us. It was quite a drive to get up here, although very nice. We ate a light breakfast and were on the road by 8:30, after dropping off the bird, Van, at the neighbors' and the dog at the vet's. About 10:30 we stopped at a Waffle House in Anderson, SC and had another breakfast. Then we didn't stop again for almost 3 hours, when we stopped at a tourist info. rest area in Marion, east of Asheville. The weather was good, the scenery was nice, the traffic was on the heavy side, but not a problem.

When we got here, we checked in and quickly headed to a place we could have lunch, the Village Cafe. Our host called to make sure they would still seat us at 3. It was very enjoyable, we ate in a courtyard (except for the bumblebee that was too interested in our flower centerpiece). The prices were a little on the high side--we ended up spending almost $100, but we did have drinks and desserts, as we usually do. The 3 of them had grapefruit juice mimosas, which were very good, but a little too grapefruit-y. The town was more crowded with tourists than we like. Although there were some very nice arts and crafts, most of the shops were more the candles and fake flowers variety.

We walked back to our motel, about 2 blocks (downhill this time) and took our things up to our room. It was nice, with a kitchenette and a balcony and a large bathroom with jacuzzi and two sinks. When I got around to looking at the recieipt, though, I was horrified: $443. No way the tax on $179 could bring it to that. Ray went to talk to the guy and he said there was a $15 per night charge for an extra person. Well, I was livid. The reason we drove all this way was because of the price he had quoted me. And he knew full well there were four of us! Why is this suite priced for 3 people, with an extra charge for the fourth? That's crazy. I went down there and told him I was angry and accused him of lying to me. He got really mad and yelled back. His wife came out and made him leave; he was too loud. She was mad, too, but she eventually gave me a credit. Don't come back, though, she said. "And we are not servicing your room in the morning!" It really made the whole experience unpleasant for us. I tried to explain that if we liked it, we would tell everyone and if we didn't, we would also share our experiences. He said, "I can't believe you would get so upset over $30." I wonder how many people fall for that kind of misleading stuff. How could I have avoided it? Get it in writing? I guess, although we make reservations on the phone all the time and trust that people are honest and mostly they are. Obviously, look at what you are signing and ask questions. I don't know what other options we might have found here if we had known from the beginning.

Yesterday, we went up to Price State Park and rented a canoe for an hour ($12). Ray and the Captain took it for half the time and then Ray and I went out. It was pleasant, not too hot or cold, not too much wind. Vanessa said her back first started bothering her just about 3 years ago, after they took Dinda's canoe out, so she was not going to get in a canoe again. We took our shoes off and stuck our toes in the water.

We bought sandwich makings and ate in our room. Three of us (not the Captain) went to tour the Cone estate; I had made a 3:00 reservation. Bertha lived there more than 30 years after her husband died, 6 years after they built it in 1901. No children, she did not want the house to go to the Parkway, but no one else could afford to keep up the 3600 acres. They had planted apple trees to make the estate pay for itself, but they are gone now. He was a textile magnate in Greensboro and this was their summer place. She had two sisters, Sophie and Clementine, who spent about half the year with her, helping run things. He had at least two sisters, Etta and Claribel. Claribel studied at Johns Hopkins and became an ob/gyn when that was quite unusual. Etta and Claribel were friends of Leo and Gertrude Stein and visited often in Paris. They got to know Picasso and Matisse when they were starving artists and bought a lot of their works--they are now in a wing in the Baltimore art museum. Of course, unmarried women did not have income of their own--it was their brother's money.

Today we will head south on the Parkway, taking a picnic lunch with us. I have eaten so many good meals, I don't know how I can be hungry. I suppose I could have some fruit and bread. And tonight we will be home and tomorrow I will go back to work. Such a bittersweet pleasure, to have work to go to again. This time last year I was looking forward to scoring essays for the second time, and happy to have any work. But I am really glad not to be doing that again.

It's cool again; in fact, I would have liked something more than my sheet to cover me this morning. My back was really bothering me last night, fortunately not the spasming that I get sometimes, but the lower left side that really hurts when you try to stand up. It's a lot better this morning, but i am nervous about it.

Yesterday, Becky and I had a good lunch at the National, except it cost more than $50. Admittedly, we both had dessert, as well as something different to drink. Work was okay; it is great to have interns. One of them went to the grocery store for us. I just couldn't get the accounting stuff done in the afternoon; too much going on. When the school-age children come home and turn on the TV, I have to leave. Somehow it was after 4, even though I thought I was leaving early. And traffic on Friday afternoons is crazy. (well, I know it's worse in bigger cities, but I still want to avoid it). We had to buy a new dresser and the best we found was $40 at the Habitat store. Good used dressers go fast, so I bought it, even though I think we could have gotten it for free if the director was in town.

Ray and the Captain took down a dead pine in the morning, before Ray gave blood. He was still at UGA in time for lunch with the guys.

Courtney was at the office yesterday morning and she was reassuring about the grants and some other things. She was the director until about a year ago and now she is on the board (and in law school). The Homeless Coalition meeting was at noon and I enjoyed being greeted by many of my peers that I know and like.

But the funnest thing I did yesterday was to go help Allen with a play he is directing. I think I will be stage manager. It made me very happy, but I was gone for all evening. Everybody was in bed when I got home.

Cool and dry here overnight--yay! And a full moon. I am full of energy (we won't call it stress) and woke up several times in the night. Barking dogs and even car horns came through the open windows. I was good when we played racquetball, but no matter how well I played, Ray played better. The thing about racquetball (or tennis and similar sports) is when you make a really good play, you don't always get a point, just a chance to serve and maybe get a point. But at the end of the second game, Ray was able to let me get ahead and I won, 15-13!

Work was pretty good. The evicted family has found a place to live and the parents are helping with the first month's rent. Interns went and got groceries and wrote thank you notes. Amanda is one of them; she and I spent a couple hours visiting some of the resources in town. The Homeless Day Services Center is in an old house off Lexington Road, near a not-always-great neighborhood. There are men standing and sitting on the porch, there are men in the front room standing and sitting. Ed came to greet us; he knew who I was and had heard I was at the Shelter. He was on the phone trying to help someone. There was a woman in the back doing laundry and drinking coffee and another guy came and asked for deodorant. We sat on folding chairs. I would not enjoy working in that space; but he is doing good work. People come there to do laundry, take showers, use the phone. They can get mail and phone messages there. Sometimes they can get some help there or referrals to other agencies.

Potluck and choir rehearsal finished the day.

Yesterday did not start off really well as it was one of many where I was angry at Ray for making us late. But he dropped me off at work on time, then took Vanessa and eventually left the car for me and walked to his office. Work went well; the new time clock for the Job TREC office was well received. It appears that I am working on a reputation as someone who actually follows through when needs are expressed.

I lunched by myself at Siri Thai, enjoying the Guernsey book. I left about 3:30 and Ray and I played racquetball. I feel like I have improved about as much as I am going to, and yet Ray (naturally) plays significantly better than I do. If I return a difficult shot, he just hits it back and I lose the point. Either I can't run fast enough, or I hit it awkwardly. I wonder if it would be more fun to play with someone else or to do something else with him. We enjoy being together, making up silly ways to say the score (5-6, pick up sticks).

We were home a little after 5:30 and started right in on supper, while Vanessa and the Captain had drink and snack in front of the tennis on TV. Ray made the pasta and I made the omelette and side dish. It was the kind of meal I really like, lots of veggies, wtih a little pasta and one egg (per person). Although the weather is a little cooler now, the humidity is quite high. Ray was sweating while he cooked and getting progressively more and more grumpy. If I were cooking by myself, I would be grumpy. So when we sat down to eat, he was quite a pill. Then we didn't leave right away for Clela's book signing so he could cool off and pull himself together. By the time we got there, everyone was leaving. Apparently she had read some of her poetry, I had just thought it was a signing. We got the last copy of the book. I'm still glad we went. Vicky Joiner asked about the girls and told us about her kids. Benjamin graduated from high school and was working at the bookstore on campus. We saw Conoly and Al Hester, too. She was in my dance class with Alice DePass years ago and she seemed really old to me then. Now she seems younger...

One odd thing. Vanessa said her instructor did not show for yoga this morning. He is very reliable (Ash Raymond) and I am concerned about him. I suppose he could have overslept. Anne Brightwell, who taught Molli and Amelia math at Clarke Central, led the rest of the group so they had class anyway.

I slept well, but in spite of exercise and diversion and planning trips and everything going well, I am feeling stressed this morning and really want to figure out how to deal with it. A walk would help, but it is pitch black here almost until time for me to go to work.

Yesterday we had to evict someone from the Shelter. They were not pleased and very unpleasant. I am not looking forward to going to work today, as they have two weeks to make other arrangements. In other ways, it was a pretty good day. I got answers to most of my questions when Alison came by and brought some files and other things.

Sunday we had a congregational meeting at the Fellowship. The only thing worse is a KR meeting. Democracy is so hard! Some of the people I like best were opposed to one of the bylaws amendments. We had to invoke Robert's Rules a lot and it went on for two hours. But the results are good; decisions were made. I don't think anybody went away mad. Vanessa and I went shopping and got her some new sneakers--Keds--at Steinmart. TJ Maxx didn't have anything she liked. They have to be mainly white and not too "clunky."