I went to Asheville, NC, to see Laurie and Sue who were housesitting at Susanna’s place while she and the kids were in the Galapagos for an extended stay.
Monday, January 27
I flew from BWI to Asheville on Delta via Atlanta. We had a slight delay when they had to switch planes in Atlanta due to some kind of mechanical trouble. I guess that’s one reason it’s good to go through Delta’s Atlanta hub: they have extra planes. I arrived in Asheville mid-afternoon, pretty much on time. I found Sue and Laurie in the airport and we had a drink and chat before heading to Susanna’s.
This was the first I’ve seen Susanna’s house, a rambling 1970’s home that is big and open after they’d done some renovations. I got Reef’s room — it’s nice to have my own corner of the house and a bathroom. There’s a friendly dog (Lolly) and cat (Mouse) as well. Mouse made herself at home in my room for a while. This turned out to be the only picture I took on my trip. Sorry, Sue and Laurie.
We decided to do dinner and a movie for our first night. We went into downtown Asheville to Red Ginger which was the only restaurant that I had scouted out ahead of time. I chose it because they specialize in dim sum at all hours, and it happened to be a few blocks from the theater. We had good scallion pancakes, a variety of dumplings, some shrimp and a small fish dish. All good. Then we saw Parasite — Laurie liked it and Sue didn’t. Sorry, Sue. I liked it a little bit better than the first time, but still think the last act goes overboard, counter to the subtlety and light touch of the first half. I don’t think it should be Best Picture, but it’s quite good.
Tuesday, January 28
Laurie made me a nice yogurt, fruit and nut bowl for breakfast. She’s very pleased I’m eating yogurt and that we’ve cleaned out the drawer of old yogurt in our fridge. Her bowl was much better than my little yogurt cups but I’m not likely to start investing in fruit.
In general, Laurie is very enthusiastic about Asheville and finds it very welcoming. She likes the college and yoga classes she’s taking, and Weight Watchers. She has quickly found a large community of folks, many older and energetic, with progressive ideals and activities. Plus, they speak English. For example, Sue and Laurie found a group that gathers unused food from restaurants and distributes it to others for free, three times a week. Sue and Laurie got a bag of vegetables and a tai chi lesson. Laurie is already trying to weigh how to maybe spend more time here, balanced with time in Segovia near Maggie and the boys. There are a lot of variables at play, but it’s great for her to find a place where she feels somewhat at home.
Sue and I went to lunch together while Laurie went to class. This class was about how fitness for older folks. Her classes are through an education for older folks organization…I have to get the name again (see below, Wednesday). Lunch was at The Chestnut in downtown Ashevile, near the theater we went to last night. I had steak salad and a nice chat with Sue, catching up on all manner of things. We waited there for Laurie who came after her class to have lunch and I had a bowl of bean soup for dessert.
In the afternoon, we visited the Black Mountain College Museum in downtown Asheville. I hadn’t known anything about Black Mountain College which operated from 1933-1957 as a progressive new liberal arts school. The exhibit at the museum focused on the work of women students and faculty. It was eclectic and reasonably interesting. The pieces l liked best were wire sculptures by Ruth Asawa, whom I did not know beforehand but had a fascinating life.
In the evening, Laurie and I went to Isis for dinner and a bluegrass show. The free act turned out to be Damn Tall Buildings, a touring group based in Brooklyn, NY. They were quite good, more entertaining than I’d expected. I had a decent seafood risotto dinner while Laurie had a fried chicken sandwich.
Wednesday, January 29
I drove Laurie to her 11:30 class at UNC-Asheville about mindfulness for aging folks, or something to that effect. Her classes are through a program called Olli, for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. I should look into it further; she’s enjoying her courses and wants to come back for more. While she was at class, I went for lunch at Home Grown, a “slow food, done fast” restaurant nearby. I had a fried chicken sandwich with a side of cheesy grits. It was tasty enough but sure felt unhealthy. There seems to be nothing healthy about southern cooking.
After fetching Laurie, we got Sue and went to the Folk Arts Center which is tied in with the Blue Ridge Parkway National Park visitor center. We learned about the Parkway and wandered through the folk arts exhibit and large store. There were lots of pretty things but nothing I felt compelled to purchase. I eventually noticed that the whole center seemed blind toward any indigenous or African American folk art. I had also hoped for at least some focus on musical instruments but all I saw were two dulcimers for sale, and some folk music CDs.
In the evening, we went back into Asheville for dinner at Rhubarb which is near the same theater where we saw Parasite. We planned to catch a special film about the art of Leonardo Da Vinci. Dinner was a tasty selection of small plates including Hoppin’ John, fried hominy, a shrimp plate and a variant of hush puppies with a hot sauce. We finished early and Laurie did some shopping at The General Store which is a nice touristy shop selling a variety of clothes, housewares, toys and local gifts. When it was time for the movie we headed over and bought tickets even though the guy in the ticket booth was a bit puzzled. Only once inside did we all realize that the DaVinci showing was on Wednesday, February 26…we were a month early. We all had a laugh, including the ticket taker and a couple of others in the lobby. They gave us a refund and we decided to head home.
I’d been telling Sue and Laurie about “Latin History for Morons” so we settled in and watched it on Netflix downstairs. As I rather suspected, Laurie found it over the top and very simplistic. I think Sue and I were more engaged. Laurie was surprised that anything in it was new to us, but then she’s been teaching very much the same material for several decades. I intend to speak more about the program and my slowly evolving perspectives on history with her tomorrow when we head out to Black Mountain together.
After Latin History, Sue headed to bed while Laurie and I took in the first couple of episodes of Fleabag. This show, which airs on Amazon which I don’t get at home (yet), has been winning every award for TV comedies over the past year, it seems. The first two episodes prove to be funny but/and overwhelmingly about sex for this single girl. I trust it goes further in its story arc; not sure how much more of it I will see anytime soon. After Fleabag, Laurie bundled off and I watched the first women’s semifinal of the Australian Open, where Sofia Kenan took out top-seed Ash Barty in straight sets, even through Barty had two set points in each of the sets. One never knows until you play the game.
Thursday, January 30
After waking up early and doing some writing, I went back to sleep at 7 and didn’t wake until 10:30, but no matter as Sue and Laurie are late risers as well. I had some yogurt that Laurie had prepared for me and the two of us headed out toward Black Mountain, leaving Sue at home.
Laurie and I drove to Black Mountain, wandering first through Montreat where we didn’t find anything worth stopping for. Back in Black Mountain we first stopped at the visitor center, then headed to lunch at Open Oven, a breakfast and brunch place operated by some of Susanna’s friends. I had an omelette and grits that were good but left me hungry.
Laurie and I had a good talk about history, nation states and the woes of the world that lasted until the place closed down at 2pm. We took a walk around town, shopped and window shopped some, found a bowl for Susanna and three bluegrass CDs for Laurie (Carolina Chocolate Drops, Steep Canyon Rangers and Music from Cold Mountain because another of Laurie’s friends knows Dirk Powell).
We drove around Black Mountain for a bit, Laurie semi-scouting residential areas, then we headed up to Eden Lake, the former site of Black Mountain College. The college building is still there but the roads all around the lake are marked private and we didn’t feel adventurous enough to trespass. We had a notion to take a longer walk in the woods somewhere, but it was chilly and we decided to head back to Asheville.
Laurie and I decided to see more music that evening at Isis. We discovered that there were two shows that evening. We elected to see a banjo player, Bennett Sullivan, for the early show at 7pm. It turns out there is a smaller performance space upstairs at Isis and we got two good seats at the bar. Bennett’s show was quite good. He only performed a few solo banjo pieces, thankfully, then brought out a collection of friends and bandmates to play an entertaining set of modern and traditional bluegrass songs.
We walked a few doors down for dinner afterward at Nine Mile, a Caribbean place that had good ratings. The food was good (I had shrimp and scallops with pasta in a curry sauce) and we had more good conversation. We went home to watch the first half (two hours) of PBS Frontline documentary on The Great Divide which I’d recommended to Laurie. It was depressing, again, but well done.
Friday, January 31
We dropped Laurie off at a Newcomer meeting for Asheville, then Sue and I went to the airport for my noon flight. Sue had to drive back to get in the wet, flaky snow to get Laurie but I guess she made it. My flights home were mostly non-eventful. It was very civilized to get into the Delta lounge in Atlanta and partake of their buffet for lunch. I’m happy for my lifetime membership, though I lost my little Delta Club card shortly after. I was able to get in without it, so I guess I don’t really need it anymore.
In all, this was a pleasant little jaunt to Asheville to reconnect with Sue and Laurie. It’s the first time we’ve all been together since Dad died, I think. I’m very glad that Laurie finds Asheville appealing; she’s way overdue to find a place that she likes and feels comfortable. She will be coming here to Maryland in a few more weeks so we’ll see what she thinks then.
I like the food and music scene in Asheville, for sure. I somewhat like the hilly geography — it’s nice to always see mountains around but a bit of a pain to always have to navigate around them. I’m not quite so sure I like the older, slower feel of most of Asheville. I came to notice that it’s an extraordinarily white community. I definitely didn’t like the preponderance of churches and religious retreats in the area. Nevertheless, I’d be delighted if Laurie makes it a base on this continent and I’d look forward to further exploring the region.
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