The weekend was nice; the nieces were priceless. Julie is my brother’s daughter, and Patty is a niece by choice. They worked together running a group home years ago.
Our one excursion was going to my favorite waterfall. I have any number of photos of the falls from my vantage point looking up the mountain. This time I took one from the other side of the highway where I’m looking down. The highway is a twisty one that winds around the mountain. The bridge is two lanes wide, with just enough room for one row of tourists to breathe while looking at the cascade. From looking at some brochures, I found the name to be Sunburst Falls. If you Google Sunburst Falls NC, you can see much more dramatic photos than I could give you. Julie and Patty made appropriate noises of approval before we piled in the car and continued onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. We discovered that the leaves were past peak up there.
Another day the weather did what the weathermen said it would do – rain, heavy at times, all day. We stayed inside and talked the livelong day. At one point we were laughing uncontrollably. I won’t share the story, because no one could tell it like Julie. The basics were certainly met. We had shelter, food, and hilarity.
Sunday was the celebration of Reformation Day. It was the 500th anniversary of Luther’s nailing the 95 theses on the door of the church in Germany. Our church went all out with special music. During the service they presented Bach’s Cantata BWV 80 based on the hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God. The director of music also arranged that hymn for the hand bell choir. I was very impressed with all of it. Only members of the orchestra were paid. Soloists were regular members of the choir. John sang bass in the choir, and he was listed as Cantor John Mehrling because he did the service chants. Before the service, I made Julie, Patty, and John pose before two of the three banners in the sanctuary.
We ate lunch not far from the church and dropped by the farmer’s market for Julie to scope out the place. She will be here with a group of her friends in a couple of weeks and was looking for things they might like to do. Julie and Patty headed East as John and I drove home in a snowstorm. I’ve seen snow falling on colored leaves only once or twice before in New York. It is an odd sight.
Mehrling Muse 
No snow yet!
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Someone will probably come and take away my college degree from a Lutheran university, but I’m going to admit that I didn’t know this was the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther and his 95 theses. I’m glad that you had such a lovely celebration with family and friends.
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John’s sister gave us warm sweatshirts with that information on them. I would have known about the 500th anniversary anyway. John (history major) led a Sunday School class on the Reformation several weeks ago and is currently working on the next class about what happened after 1517.
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Your nieces sound as much fun as mine are Anne but I bet yours don’t bully you like mine.Nieces and daughters eh. It sounds like you had a really nice time.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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You’re right, David. They don’t bully me yet, but the closest ones do tell me the truth unmercifully.
xxx Merciful Hugs xxx
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What a lovely visit you all had.
They are calling for snow here on Friday, but I’m hoping they’re wrong as that’s unheard of this early!
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Nice bonding with your nieces.
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Sounds like you had such a nice visit! I can’t wait for time with my sisters over the holidays. I love that last photo. There is a mysterious, stunning air to it. Happy Monday, Anne. ❤ Amy
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Sounds like an amazing day with those nieces Anne! Yes….hilarity…is a wonderful thing when getting together. Laughing till you can’t breathe is so good!
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Wow, that waterfall is beautiful. It reminds me of the rivers around here. I love what the Chicken Grandma said about hilarity and laughing until you can’t breathe. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Seems a bit early for snow, but I am guessing I am at a lower elevation. Hope you have a great day.
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The snow never considered sticking, but it was fun to watch.
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Anne
Great photos and descriptions of the visit. We see so much of NC through your eyes, courtesy these posts. You are having grand weather. Every day you live in the mountains, you see and appreciate the majesty of God.
Susie
PS : I googled Sunburst falls and saw amazing photographs of ? semi- manmade falls ? The water seems to be falling so orderly- in beautiful steps.
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The only thing man-made was the road. I’m thrilled to have found the place has a name. Glad you looked at the link. I never saw it from above before.
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Not the step like water fall- it must be a marvel of nature then.
Susie
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I love those falls. Our son was the one who showed it to us. He was here today, and I told him the falls had a name. He was surprised.
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Looks like you had some nice outings with your nieces!
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It was a low-key weekend, but most enjoyable.
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So, I just read this because it was just below your Nice Neice post and did not look at the date to see it was from 2017. You can imagine my confusion when I read that on Sunday your church celebrated Reformation Day and the 500th anniversary, and I thought, “Wait, what, wo, that is early, it is only October 10th. A day late and a dollar short. Wonderful pictures.
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You were time traveling!
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