Photos fixed

Do programs change from year to year?

Or do I just forget what I did?

A loom

This morning we visited the NC Aboritum just off the Blue Ridge Parkway which looks just the same down here as it does in Virginia. The gardens were lovely. They have a splendid bonsai garden (with iron gates with padlocks -- bonsai being as portable as bears.) Their current exhibition is about flesh eating plants so there were school kids by the bus load. I had not realised that pitcher plants have flowers.

Later I put Linda's upright tapestry loom together. She had forgotten how and the only picture she could find was not exactly the same and very small. But we managed it with not too much blood spilled (mine.)

Tomtom works

And now she is talking to me, in the same Australian accent. So I got to Linda's more easily than if I had followed her directions. We have another thing in common -- the ability to say/write "right" when we really mean "left."  Jo has learned to watch where I point rather than listen to what I say.

The drive through western Virginia and eastern Tennessee into North Carolina got greener, steeper and prettier as I went east. There is still spring freshness in the trees compared to the full green in Vienna because we are quite high.

Linda took me to see Hendersonville's quaint Main Street with its painted bears before lunch. Google "hendersonville nc bears" to see them. They are on wheeled platforms so they can be secured overnight and so last from May until October when they are auctioned.

In the evening we wandered around Ashville which is a very different city filled with trendy restaurants, any number of beer bistros with entertainers in interesting, old buildings. It is a year round tourist destination so has its fair share of street people.

Tomtom fixed

Push the button. That is how children learn. Push the button yet again.

Arrived safely

From above, bright faces in clouds frolick

On land, a grey ceiling threatens 

Back to the Wolf Trap Hotel in Vienna. Our favourite Japanese restaurant has closed and the other one had a queue our the door so we ended up at the Amphora which hasn't changed their dishes or their prices for 30 years.

Today we will organise a car, my US phone and the Tomtom which still thinks that it is in Avalon despite the hours it took to upload US/Canadian maps. Maybe it is jet lagged too.

We are off

And left this behind.

All is adrenalin feuled panic rush for days

To wait 

Sitting

The airline pack was aimed at golfers and included these Argyl print socks.

Jo appreciated them, on me.

Falls Creek, 2014

We arrived on Monday evening, July 28 It was foggy but with lots of snow.

On Tuesady we stayed in the lodge because it was still foggy. 

On Wednesday we stayed in the lodge because it was raining. The rain absorbed into the snow but conditions were not pleasant.

On Thursday, the wind picked up to tempest rates. All the lifts closed, except for the gully chair. So we stayed indoors.

The weatherman promised snow onThursday night followed by a sunny, skiable weekend. 

It snowed foggily all day Friday. I could ski but Jo gave up after one run.

The weekend was glorious with clear, blue sky, crips air, a hard packed base with a light cover of fresh snow and all tows running. Of course, there were heaps of people but that gave us a rest in the chair queue.

But no wi-fi. I found one lodge that had wi-fi in it's foyer but no chairs. And the day shelter's wi-Fi didn't work. So I survived not only a week of variable weather at Falls Creek but also a week without Internet.

And I finished socks.

And almost another pair as well!