Respite

It had been a very long time since my Sweetie and I were off to ourselves.  Last week, the hospice team arranged for a five day time out for me and took my mom into their care.  We left the same day, heading for the hills.  ...Mountains actually near Asheville, North Carolina.  I captured a haul of gemstone beads at Beads & and Beyond.  The store used to be in the historic downtown area of Asheville, but has recently moved to a small town a few miles away.  I say town but it really is off in the boonies on a winding mountain road.  We thought we were lost but kept going and eventually found it.  We had an educational  and red-carpet tour of the new store by it's owner, Barry, who loves talking about his treasures from all over the world and ancient beads were in abundance.  I loved the patina that time that had left.  Some of the beads were worn smooth and had a luster from hands passing over them countless times.  I came away with beads I had been wanting to work with ...lapis lazuli, faceted quartz nuggets, ocean jasper, lovely larimer, faceted crystal beads, ancient glass, cinnabar, and several other gorgeous stones and beads.  Not many in count, just a good handful, but I like to use just one or a few in a piece.  I think it features their special beauty better than large numbers in repetition.  ...And did I mention that I even got an assortment of Freebies?

In the Historic Downtown, we found street performers on every corner.  We especially enjoyed this musician playing his steel drum and didgeridoo...

 

I had a great time spending my pocket of fun money.  Terrible thing what shopping deprivation can do when one is set free in an extraordinary place intended to make one's purse strings get loose.  I found fabulous leather scraps, to include some jade ostrich leather that I drool over, a soft beautiful olive green, textured chocolatey brown and metallic silver as well as natural linen cord at Earth Guild ...an institution for artisan weaving and textile supplies.  I grabbed aromatic incense at their next door neighbor, The Open Door, where you can find lots of hippie style clothing and jewelry.  ...'scuse me while I go light up a stick of Jasmine and get heady....

I was hoping for a perfect trip, but began to feel ill the afternoon of the second day.   ...Digestive tract.  The following morning, I noticed that the manager of the Quality Inn Motel where we stayed was handling the food for the Continental breakfast with his hands.  BIG UGH!!!!  Ya just don't know where those paws were last!  ...And what does that say for the behind the scenes preparation?  So, it may have been a bit of a bacterial thing and/or eating strange foods.  It took 24 hours to get myself right using my trusty oregano essential oil.  I haven't traveled without it for years.  Anyway, my plan for non-stop feasting and marauding though stores and sightseeing was stopped dead in it's tracks.

All in all, it was a delicious trip and the hubby and I find ourselves wishing we could return very soon.  That's all in greater hands than ours however, so we are just very grateful for the time and adventure we had.