The Gear Shift, a small Novel

In more ways than one, the gear shift is in play.  As I mentioned last post, the intensity continues to grow here and the demands of time seem to inflate rapidly ... much like my waist line. Yikes!

Here is my morning, whilst trying to firm up a couple of articles, check all the emails, catch up on my blog reading and writing, pay bills and update social media.  I'm usually exhausted by the end of the list! But have my trusty assistant, Spartacus to ever keep my spirits high.  And my coffee.  And the view outside the window.  Lovely.  Life is good.  Gratitude is over whelming.

 In the gear shift category ... Paul has yet again ordered cables for the Vespa and we anxiously await their arrival.  SO close to completing the task ... yet so far away when one blasted item is in California and the Vespa is in North Carolina.  Onward ... We await the UPS truck with a level of anxiety that is impressive...and abundant.

First Gear.
 I have finished gluing this stepping stone.

 Her name is Lauren because she was inspired by Lauren Burch, a designer.  I have a pile of these to grout now.  If only I had some time when the sun was shining.  Timing!  'Tis everything, truly.

As my friend Patti brought to my attention, I make these stepping stones to sell at the Crossnore Gallery, where I support the Stepping Stones program.  (click here for link)  The program is for the children who have surpassed 18 years old, have graduated from High School and are pursuing either college or technical training.  The still live on campus, but have transitioned from the normal cottage residency into a group home cottage where they are all learning to become adults, be accountable and responsible but still have a resident counselor who is available for guidance and support.  I am proud to be a part of such a wonderful program.  And honored to be able to contribute.  And grateful to Heidi Fisher, the director of the gallery for having me there among such lovely artists.  And praying for grouting weather. ;-)  If you only knew how ironic that statement is ... grouting is not the favorite part of making these...

There is another one on the table, of course.  This one more abstract and leaning toward a water color look... we shall see!  That's my plan of attack.  Plans often change. 

Her name, thus far is Test Kitten.   You can see the inspiration for the stone in the upper right hand corner.  I bought the magnet about 5 years ago.  I just needed some experience and shifts to take place first.  Excited for new things! 

New things *** In the weaving arena, I began this pattern ...  and then did lots of colors with it!

Lots of table runners for our DAR Continental Congress Conference later this month in D.C.

Paul and an amazing intern helped the owners of the Trosly Farm, Amos and Casey put up their greenhouse last weekend.  It was a great thing to watch.  I had lots of other things going on ... but eventually I showed up to take photos.  My favorite!  Please visit the Trosly Farm in Elk Park.  It is a great place to take the kids, buy some local organic food and see how a small family farm runs.  If you can't go in person, visit the website. Or do both!  Totally worth the time. To visit the website click right here

And this tree is there - 100% gorgeousness!

I finally received my LeBarre training kit.  Oh my! Totally humbling.  I should not have quit dancing.  It was easier to stay fit than return to fit.  Learn from my experience!

It's very fun to have my daughter teaching me in my very own living room whenever I like.  But the fun wears off when it gets hard, even though she is continuing to smile and chuckle.  She knows I'm flailing, I'm sure. Guess it's payback for when I taught her ballet. ;-)  Christian, her son was watching me.  I asked him what he thought about having his mom being on the t.v.  He said "my family always knew it was going to happen. We are just glad it finally did!"  Kids! Seriously tho, Y'all need to get one of these LeBarre things.  I'm going to have a rockin' body back soon.  And my bum is going to perk back up.  Once I get over the pain. Yikes!

This guy is here visiting and keeping us filled with joy.  His facial expressions are priceless, photo worthy and hilarious.  He keeps me filled with wonder and love.  Grandkids are the bomb diggity.

 Second gear ...

We are community gardening this year.  It is super helpful to keep each other motivated and accountable.  Also, it's fun to have a community.  Even if it's just two families.  But look what else is fun! These two beautiful, precious little souls who come over to help with eating dirt.  My heart melts every single time I see them.  The twins, Stephen and Everly who live across the street and are the children of Tammy & Robbie.  We are so fortunate to be a part of their village.  And Tammy loves to pull weeds ...total bonus!

 Everly

Precious Princess

 Stephen

I'm betting Stephen will be the mayor as soon as he is old enough.

And we actually have food growing, thanks to Tammy planting some.  Paul digs and mows, Tammy plants and the babies add the good juju for the growing process.  Mostly I walk around and do other things.  Don't know exactly what.  Lately my ability to concentrate is non existent.  I'm lucky to have the little folks for distraction.  I can concentrate on them! No problem.

So much FUN!

Tammy also has a teenaged son who is a great baseball player.  We have been to a couple of his games.  A nice kid ... James. Handsome and kind.  And a heck of a pitcher, even though his preference is playing at short stop.  It is a pleasure to know this young man.  Restores my faith in the future of mankind when I meet this kind of middle school kid.

 What a stretch!

Third gear ... 

There have been a lot of projects around here.  Trying to get some flowers planted, plants in the right places, trash from the winter cleaned out, quilts down from the door frames where they block the cold air in the winter time, windows washed from the little bit of propane we use, heavy winter drapes down and summer fun window treatments up, house plants cleaned and taken outside, clothesline washed and ready for summertime use, art studio straightened and cleaned, winter clothes put away and summer clothes brought out, spring cleaning, articles written for Carolina Mountain Living, art work created, and working at the weaving room.  Just had a week long class of lovely women learning to weave.  I so enjoy the progress from day 1 to day 5 and the look of accomplishment and happiness on their faces when they finish the week.  It's a good life.  I am always grateful to meet new friends and promote weaving.

Tonight I attended my very first ever fulling class. We are knitting a hat and felting it.  In theory.  Mostly, I am panicking over the knitting.  A hat! Holy circular knitting needles. I am lost.

Fourth gear ... reveing up nicely!

 Recently my daughter had a wonderful pathology report come back.  Cancer markers gone. G-O-N-E. G.O.N.E.! Not there.  I say grace on a consistent basis.  But the goodness in that pathology report is overwhelming and transforming.  And it reminds me of one beautiful word in our language

MIRACLE

  

Oh, such a wonderful, lovely word.  Especially when it hooks with your life, dreams and desires.  Jenn has been a consistent reminder to me about belief.  Her entire family are walking miracles.  Her faith is strong and unwavering.  Her family believes together and the strength is testimony enough to honor their belief and power in their faith. And encouraging enough to try it out on your own!

Victor & Jenn, love you guys.

Here's another miracle in my humble opinion.  This beautiful woman, Virginia Coffey turned 80 years old on May 30th.  We call her "Granny" at her own insistence.  She is such a joy and still works 4 days a week in the Weaving Room, adding richly to the experience of weaving and learning.  Happy Birthday, Granny (Virginia).  And many more!  It is an honor to know you, work with you and call you a mentor and friend.

  Paul's beautiful niece, Sara graduated from high school last week!  There was a family party we had to miss.  :-( I am sure Sara had a splendid time any way!  Congratulations, Sara! We are so very proud of you and wish you great success at the Citadel next year!

The list of our past dance students who graduated this year is long and fills us with pride! Our hope is for these lovely young adults to go forward with their lives, find happiness and success, and be good people who do good things.  Congratulations to you all!  Adding to my previous list of graduates are:

 Kristin Hardy (Samford College graduate)

and from High School

Sara Winch

Vanessa Marozzi

Kaley Suero

Paige Spears

Katie Wilkes

Morgan Carr

 Andrea Carreno

 Sarena Nelson

 Mary Otto

 Rachel Pierce

 Manuela Velez 

and all the wonderful seniors who graduated that I don't know about!

Cruising in over drive now ...

Tomorrow begins the summer string of Birthday parties on the veranda. This one, first up, is for our dear friend, Cindy Michaud.  check her art site out here!  Happy BIG GIRL birthday, Cindy.  Can't wait to celebrate!!!

Happy June everyone and

Blessings to all!

Hitting the Next Gear

This happens every year up here.  It's freezing, then it thaws, the seasonal residents return and life goes from 0 to warp speed in the blink of an eye. Swoosh!  So why does it surprise me?

It's Memorial Day weekend, which is our official kick-off up here.  From now until Labor Day, we rock ... HARD.  So while I still have half of a brain, here is the condensed version of what is happening at the Glover house.

 I've been baking ... kind of fun to do something so random and different.

I have every intention to grout this and the owl tomorrow if the weather holds out.  We shall see!

I have a bird on the table now.  She's had to go on hold because we were called to some yard work. But here she is in the works - not a worthy photo, sorry ... phone.

My sweet husband came home with THE BEST surprise in the world last Monday!

His boss sheered his sheep and gave us all the wool!! Oh if I could just type with the ecstatic feeling that is inside my body! This is so exciting for me, the wannabe fiber girl.  So, Paul has washed a little of it a time or two.  I think it is going to take a  L O N G  time to get it all washed, then it has to be carded, then dyed if I want to ... then spun if I want! Oh, the options! I'm a definite kid in the candy shoppe!

Judy, the "finisher" at the weaving room (the genius who takes the woven cloth and turns it into something clever) very generously donated some beautiful plants to Paul and I.  Saturday we went to her house to dig them up.  What a gorgeous view, eh? The sky is gorgeous during this time of year.  Anyway, we have spent the weekend gathering some lovely plants for the yard from our friends, Heidi and Lesa included- then rushing home to get them back in the ground.  I'll take some photos when it all gets in the over the shock of being transplanted.  But for now believe me, Paul & I are both sore from using our digging muscles, which have been dormant for a while now!  Aging is an interesting experience.  I never really understood it when my mom used to mention it.  I've got the concept now, though!

 Speaking of aging, I've reincorporated this gem back into my daily routine.  It's so wonderful for a complete body workout, and I add the treadmill or a live walk to get the cardio in.  I can feel the difference and it isn't killing my knees and ankles like some other workouts do.  But I'm only really using this until ...

I get my very own LeBarre equipment!  Look at this! That's my daughter, the cover girl on the front of this magazine.  How wonderful! So, I will be certain to let you know about the workout when I get a hold of it.  Mean while, it's Pilates, which I dearly love and have always enjoyed doing.  But for the first time in my very active, athletic life it is super hard for me to find motivation.  I'm hoping with the passing of the winter, the influx of Vitamin D, and something new to learn it will all be an easy transition back to active athlete.  I am entertained by my sudden stubbornness about this.  But I think I better turn it around, for obvious reasons!  My clothing being too snug not withstanding!

My sweet boss, Lisa at the weaving room let me start on a new pattern Friday.  Double Diamond.  Another very exciting adventure.  I LOVE doing the patterns.  This will be a table runner for the DAR conference that we will be attending the last week in June in DC.  The weaving room has begun to jam.  Busy, and then some.  Love the buzz in the air. 

Oh, and Remember this?

Paul is (as I type right now!) in Mark's garage working on putting her back together again!  Another exciting maneuver here at the Glover home! We are just filled with springtime happy! Gosh, it feels good too!  Please send Paul some good thoughts for getting this all back to top performance because he has waited for a complete year to get her back.  I cannot wait to see those dimples shine again atop his trusty scooter.  Yay!  Scooterman shall ride again ... very soon I hope!

I know I've left out gobs of things ... but I'm tired and weary.  And I Love that feeling! Finally.  We are alive once again.  Life is Good!  I hope all of you feel the same way.

Many Blessings!

 

Happy May!!!

It has been so long since I posted that I had to go back and figure out what you already knew about us, and what you were waiting (anxiously, I'm sure) to hear about!  A quick catch-up.

I committed to a goal of 6 stepping stones.  Here is the first! A sweet little owl under the night sky with a full moon on a branch in a tree.  Got all that? HA! I love her.  Should be grouted and in the gallery by week's end.  Next up is to finish a cupcake (random, right?!) that I started late last summer! There are birds on the drawing board ... and some other ideas looming.  So happy to be back to the mosaic world.  It's a contentment like no other for me. 

I worked for a lovely man for a few years, Hugh Fields.  The Crossnore School holds a golf tournament for fundraising each year and they have renamed it in Hugh's honor.  His children always participate in giving the winners their awards, and choosing raffle winners, etc.  From left to right are: Lawson Fields (Hugh's son), Sarah Whitfield (Hugh's daughter), Keith Crane (the son of the late Phyllis Crane, director of The Crossnore School), Tom Dale, golf pro at the Linville Golf Club and huge advocate for The Crossnore School, and Brett Loftis, the new CEO of The Crossnore School.  I was included in the participation for the day because I work with wonderful people who are generous and understand my previous connection.  It was such a splendid day, one Hugh would have delighted in on the course to be sure!  Just as a side note, there are not too many better ways to spend a day in the mountains than on the premiere golf course up here!  Glorious!

It was Mother's Day ... missed that, too, I see.  I so very completely miss my mom.  She's been gone 20+ years now, but I can still hear her wisdom and ask for her direction when I'm stuck. 

And, here are my sweet babies ... albeit all grown with babies of their own.  My first born, my daughter Jenn Hall, who is an incentive to me each and every day.  She inspires me to be the best I can be ... whether it is a mom, a human, a teacher, a child of God, or whatever.  So proud of her, and proud to be her mom.  My little girl.

This man, Jon Adams has been the source of my sense of humor, sense of adventure and never ending patience since the moment he arrived.  I am so proud of the man he has become, and so grateful that he chose me as his mom.  And he still calls me "mommy".  My little boy.

I have been blessed with a step daughter, a son and a daughter in law, grandchildren and literally hundreds of students that I also feel like a mom to.  I am one privileged woman, and grateful for it every single day.   It is with great pride and love that I get to witness these people becoming who they are meant to be.  And it just totally rocks!

Paul has been gardening, I had one iris actually bloom today (!) and many more preparing to blooms out, and life is slowly but surely warming up and getting into my soul.  It makes such a wondrous difference in my attitude.   Thank goodness it has arrived.

I had the good fortune to again be published in the Carolina Mountain Life Spring edition.  If you get the chance, check it out.  The entire magazine is filled with info for the High Country.  Things to do, people to meet, places to go, etc.  Click right here to check it out.  I interviewed and wrote an article on an incredible folk art quilter!  She is such an amazing lady.  Worth getting to know Virginia Greene!

This was on facebook's Dancers over 40 page.  This man is amazing, yes?  Anyway a friend of mine suggested he should be made into a bottle topper.  I'm right there with that idea! Wow!  The site is really good.  This is Weston Krukow of Amy Seiwert's Imagery — with Luciano Gomez Câmara and Kuah Ming, according to the post.

And one more for those of you who adore muscles and pointed feet.  Oh.my.gosh!

Matthew Powell, NYC Ballet — with Kuah Ming.

Hope ALL y'all have a wonderful happy week and a safe Memorial Day.  That's just in case it takes me a while to post again.  Since I've gone "back to work" my organizational skills are being challenged. Imagine that!

Blessings!

Up in Here

It does seem like the pedal was to the metal for a solid month, and this weekend came to the rescue as R & R time.  None too soon, and ever so grateful, even though it was mandated to "fast".  Oh. my. gosh.  THAT was unpleasant! But I sure did get some rest!  And that was my main goal.

~~~~~~~~~

My son and his wife (Jon & Melissa) are on their way to Maui!! I am green with envy but certainly overjoyed that they will have this experience before their precious little pink bundle is born.  It might be a while before they'll get the opportunity again ;-).

Those are the smiles of two happy travelers.  Safe journey to you two!

My daughter (Jenn) is in Orlando teaching at Orlando Mania this weekend. Here she is with some of the other trainers there at the SCW fitness education.  (Jenn, top left)  

My son-in-law and grandson (Victor and Christian) are having a boys' weekend!  Here is Christian all fashion-ista for the movies.  This kid is one of a kind. ;-)

Victor and his beautiful momma, Mary have been staying close to the hospital as Victor's dad heals there.  Any prayers and good wishes for Roscoe are absolutely appreciated.  (All of the above photos were pilfered from Facebook. :-) )

This is one happy Englishman.  He has begun receiving the parts he needs to get his Vespa back on the road.  I am so happy for him I could bust.  It has taken us one entire year to save for these.  Since spring/summer has taken so long to get here, it's been great timing.  I am sure Paul is beyond ready to get back on his trusted steed.  Ride on ... Sir Paul.

I have returned from the PA DAR conference with a renewed understanding of how things work at the School, and what the relationship really is with the DAR.  It was a wonderful experience for me with opportunities I am astounded at having had!~ So very grateful.

This was our booth .... long and full!  It was great fun setting up.

 The set up process ... and my travel partner, Jim who was/is an incredible asset! Jim is the new Chief Advancement Officer at the Crossnore School.  His enthusiasm and dedication is perfect for the job.  He is, above all else, a fundraiser.  His ideas are voluminous and his knowledge is impeccable.  His brilliance, totally impressive.  It is such a pleasure to welcome Jim aboard.

The last night we were in PA we had the opportunity to see the Philadelphia Symphony! It was amazing.  This is me trying to see if I looked alright! I was laughing so hard I couldn't get the photo to focus.  It's hard when you travel alone...

I had to ask the housekeeping lady to help me out with tags and such!  I put on a beautiful blue stole from the weaving room and off we went to the city! THE CITY! I walked around a real city! Ladies and gentlemen, I have been reborn.  SO GRATEFUL!

I was able to really WEAVE this past week...

Green stoles and blue scarf ... I was a HAPPY WEAVER!  It's lovely to get back to the loom after a bit of a dry spell ... Whoo hoo!  The weaving room is busy, busy, busy.  It will be a challenge to keep up with orders, retail, book work and new and improved ideas on the drawing board.  Onward!

A BUNCH of my precious friends, who at one time were my ballet, tap & jazz students, graduated this past weekend.  Most of them from college! ( holy smokes - where did the time go???)  I am so proud of them I don't know what to say!  There are so many geniuses in that group.  And they will all go on to do amazing things.  Congratulations to you all, you beautiful, lovely women!

Angela LaGambina

Emily Smith

Kaley Komanski

Samantha Hudson

Kristin Holysz

 hopefully I have named everyone, but will be revising this as the high schools begin their commencement ceremonies.

Meanwhile,

I have a goal of 

~6 stepping stones this month

~some kind of felted journal cover

~planting the garden later in the month

~practicing grace

~and getting my health on

Warmth, please come on up here!

Blessings to you all,