Bye, Lise!

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The last few days of daughter Lise’s visit flew by, and my memories became jumbled. The photo file was my go-to memory bank. When son John $ spent a day with us, we went to the Haywood Smokehouse for barbecue. That’s a favorite place for all of us. Lise’s request was for BBQ as often as we could stand it. Despite two Thanksgiving dinners, we managed to have this Southern specialty four times.

112817 $ Lise JC Haywood Smokehouse.jpg

Lise had seen the closeup photos of elk at Cataloochee that we took a few weeks ago. She knew we weren’t likely to see that display again, but it was worth trying. We saw a buck lying down, breathing heavily. Further on was a peaceful scene of grazing elk – one buck and a group of females. As humans are wont to do, we made up a story to fit what we saw. We imagined the two males had faced off to duel with their antlers, and the winded stag was the loser.

112917 Elk at Cataloochee.jpg

Prettier than the elk was the stream running through the high valley. I’m a sucker for streams!

112917 Stream at Cataloochee.jpg

The road to Cataloochee was one of the original bladder-bustin’ drives our son took us on when we visited him before moving here. The narrow gravel road wound up and over a mountain, constantly twisting and turning. There was an observation area beside the road that we climbed up to see the mountain vista. On the way back, we spotted it high above us.

Inked112917 Favorite lookout on road above_LI.jpg

Close to home I took a picture as we were descending the mountain. A small ribbon below was I-40.

Inked112917 Looking down on I-40 from mountain_LI.jpg

Another day we picked up a package, making a day of it. Lise ordered an electronic gadget for a friend in Denmark, and the only one available was an hour and a half away in Knoxville. We drove over quickly on the interstate and came home on small roads, going through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. I asked Lise and John to pose for a photo in the restaurant at Carver’s Apple Orchard. As soon as we ordered, the waitress brought apple fritters, applesauce, and glasses of apple cider to the table. Yummy. The menu featured chicken – fried, dumplinged, and pot pied. We could have also had ham, cat fish, or a hamburger. This was good ole Southern cooking at its best.

113017 Lise John at Carver's Orchard TN.jpg
The apple orchard is outside the window

One shopping trip to Asheville was enough to complete Lise’s list of things to take back. We nearly split a rib in the dressing room. Lise asked me to sit there with her, turning this mom into a ladies’ maid. It was my job to hang up the garments after she tried them on. I was rehanging a blouse when I heard her make a funny noise. I looked up and saw the sleeves flapping about. The garment was one of those new-fashioned ones with breaks at the shoulder. Her arms had gone through at the shoulder, and she was shaking with laughter. I said I should take her photo, and she said, “Do it!”

113017 Lise's sleeves in dressing room.jpg

Before heading to the airport, Lise fed apples to the horses. I was writing this on the way home and couldn’t look at the photos. She had picked out several shots she liked, and I presume one of them will appear here.

120217 Lise feeds DW and Vixen.jpg

Those two weeks flew by in a flash. A year is a long time to wait for her to come again, but meanwhile we have lovely memories to savor.

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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25 thoughts on “Bye, Lise!”

  2. Dearest Anne … the photographs are fabulous, and I particularly love the one of your daughter feeding the horses. Such beautiul colours, glowing in the sunshine.
    But … there are so little photographs of you with your family! The one thing I regret more than anything else is not having more photographs of my mother. I have photo’s, but not enough. So … let someone else have control of the camera so that you can be included in that group photo, or a snap with your daughter or son. Something they can look back on and recall you sitting there with them. Something which shows how your smile was so happy that it actually reached your eyes.

    I beg you … please don’t let the opportunities for these special photo’s of mom included in the group photo pass. Ask a waitress to snap a quick picture (perhaps) so that you have that ‘whole lovely group’, all together. One beautiful family, having such fun together. Even if it’s only once a year.

    God Bless Anne. I love that you share your diary with us all.
    Sending squidges ~ Cobs. xxx

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      1. awwww, dearest Anne, I am in no position to advise anyone, for I’m guilty of doing the same as you – hiding behind the camera. I was merely trying to encourage you, for I guessed that you don’t like being photographed, as I recognise the ‘symptoms’. But I realised about a year ago that if (and when) something happened to me and I was no longer here, I wanted my daughters to have some visible record of me and particularly wanted my grandchildren to be able to put a face to the name. So I’m making an effort in that direction.

        I just wanted to encourage you, you fabulous gal of many talents – (photography being one of them) to record your own presence at these wonderful, heart lifting family get togethers. You don’t have to share them with the world (if you don’t want to) but at least you can print them out and put them in an album so that in years to come, you can sit down and remember the days together, and all the smiles you shared with each other. (And your children – and grandchildren – can remember how incredible you are and how beautiful your smile is).

        Sending Sunday Squidges ~ Cobs. xxx

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  4. Anne
    What lovely stories of Lise’s visit. I got caught up with some work and so did not comment on other posts though was reading them diligently. Lise is so beautiful and love her with the butterfly top. Is Asheville a good place to shop ?Maybe Lise likes Europe because of its slower pace.:}
    I am glad you saw the elk- wonder what they and the horses do during winter.
    Maybe John and you could go visiting Lise in the summer.
    Bye Lise and thanks to you and your mom for the lovely photos.
    Susie

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    1. Asheville has a variety of shops — expensive stores, medium priced department stores, Walmart and Kmart for low end, an outlet mall, and thrift shops (recycled clothing and housewares). Lise loves Europe because she can find people to party and travel with. She gets only four hours of sleep a night and is always looking for excitement. Elk and horses stay outside all the time. It’s never bitterly cold for long here. I hope to catch up with blog reading this week.

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  12. A year is a long time Anne! I am so glad you shared the fun you had with your daughter with the rest of us. Loved all the pictures. I seem to have a “thing” for streams also ….. and sky photos….and trees…
    So glad you had a great time.

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    1. I’m still learning names of trees and have identified all the birds that have landed on our deck. Sky photos are not my best, so I just watch the spectacular shows we have above the mountains. Did you see the super moon last night?

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