One Full Day

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I told people we had one day to visit with our friends Karen and Al. They traveled with John on his ferrying missions between visits of grandsons Nathaniel and David. They arrived in the wee hours, relaxed the next day, and headed back to New York mid-afternoon of the third day. What a whirlwind! Our one full day began at the breakfast table.

02218 Karen Al JC breakfast.JPG
Red slices on the plates are blood oranges.

They had angel biscuits the last time they visited, but this time the bread was made with White Lily flour. I doubt I’ve ever made lighter or fluffier biscuits. Perhaps the real test would have been comparing regular biscuits the day before with the yeast biscuits this day.

022818 Angel biscuits.JPG

Knowing Karen knits all the time, I pushed a trip to the nearest yarn shop. When other alternatives were presented, her eyes lit up at the mention of a thrift shop. I was eager to share the one Nathaniel and I went to. We left John at his computer and Al smoking a cigar on the porch. On the way to town, Karen mentioned that she would look for a sewing machine. It sounded impossible, but that was one thing she would like to have for repairing things at home. We poked through all the displays of dishes, glasses, candle holders, small appliances, plumbing supplies, cookbooks, speakers, bake ware, and jewelry. I learned my lesson the last time, to not argue with myself about buying something that caught my eye. I loved two cordial glasses with angels on them and didn’t buy them. The next day Nathaniel went back with me to get them – a steal at $1 apiece! This time I picked up a cut glass cruet, a small mug with red hearts on it, and a 100-piece jigsaw for Logan.

Karen asked the wonderful volunteer behind the counter if they might possibly have a sewing machine.

“Oh, yes!” she said. “One came in yesterday, and its a really good one. Come with me.”

The woman picked up something I thought looked like a toaster. She put the tiny Elna sewing machine on the counter with a flourish, saying she knew it ran. Karen’s mind worked like lightning. It cost less than anything brand new she had seen on sale, and she would not drive down from New York if she didn’t buy it and changed her mind. The volunteer was shocked to be asked to pose with Karen in the shop. She said, “That’s a first!”

022818 Karen at thrift shop with volunteer.JPG

We came back home crowing about our finds. The machine worked, and Karen easily found the instruction manual on line.

Has anyone else had trouble finding good decaf coffee? Ingles discontinued Karen’s and my favorite chocolate-raspberry flavor. The fellows went with us to Smoky Mountain Coffee Roasters. I knew neighbor Connie bought decaf there, so we went with high hopes of finding something for them to take home. There were only two choices, and Karen took the Organic Peruvian Blend. My fingers are crossed that she will enjoy it.

Karen loves barbecue as much as I do, and the men were amenable to lunch at Haywood Smoke House. The restaurant has a rustic décor, although décor is too fancy a word to use in this context. When Al’s wine came in a jelly jar, I asked the men to pose while making a toast. A jelly jar, of all things!!! The food was solidly good, as always.

022818 Al John toast.JPG

John asked if we wanted to go anywhere else, and Karen seconded my suggestion that we go up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The rain clouds were low, but you never know if something beautiful will present itself. I hadn’t been up there since the beginning of December. We jumped out and took a photo of a distant waterfall. We could even hear its roar! Unfortunately, that was the ONLY view we had. The rest of that section was fog-bound. Every time something was not to our liking, we kept telling them they had to come back.

022818 Stream from Blue Ridge Parkway.JPG

The last half day of their visit was low-key. Rain kept us from walking, so we talked instead. We ate chocolate chip-pecan coffeecake made with Angel biscuit dough for breakfast. Karen asked about the air fryer on the counter. When I found out she and Al would eat okra, I threw some frozen breaded okra in it to go with our left-overs for lunch. It was overcooked, but we ate it all, anyway. The acorn squash filled with apple was our vegetable/fruit/dessert. They needed to eat lightly, since they were soon going to have BBQ at the Due South restaurant in Christiansburg, VA.

Pushing back his chair, John said, “We’d better get going.”

“I don’t like those words,” I said.

Al suggested, “Come with us on that long ride.” He bounced up and down in his chair as if riding on a bus.

I applied the same response, “I don’t like those words.”

I hated to see them go, but we had a joyful visit, creating lots of lovely memories.

Published by Anne Mehrling

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

Published

32 thoughts on “One Full Day”

  1. It looks like a great time was had by all and the eatin’ was good, both at your house and where you and your friends went to eat. In fact it always seems to be the case whenever I am reading your posts. What are the chances that someone could look for a sewing machine and one just happened to arrive there at the store the day before. Providence! I drink decaf coffee, but since it is just me drinking it, I use Nescafe Classico Decaf. It is full bodied and to me tastes as good as freshly brewed coffee, which I haven’t had in years … probably since I worked on site or went out with my mom to eat. My mom was a tea drinker in later years, so we had tea for my mom and instant coffee for me. That chocolate-raspberry coffee sounds good. I usually buy a “treat coffee” for Christmastime. Last Christmas I tried the Hills Brothers Salted Caramel – yummy!

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      1. That sounds good – I like the full-bodied Nescafe Classico better, but switched to decaf a few years ago and Nescafe’s decaf is better than some others … it has more punch to it. I used to like the International creamers or those nice creamers they have on the market, but I find they cool your coffee off too quickly, so I just use regular powdered creamer in mine.

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          1. I had a microwave but it was in the basement because I have very little counter room and my mom used to use the toaster oven all the time and it took up counter space, so I left it in the basement on a mini-freezer that no longer worked and we used it for storing things.. We used the microwave for heating up and cooking canned soup in a microwave dish – less mess to clean up on weekends when we just had soup/sandwich often. But after my mom passed away, I used to make up dinners on the weekend to have handy for during the week and just run down and microwave them. The basement is finished and nice down there, but still have spiders and centipedes. I went down one day and the hugest black spider was sitting on the top of the microwave. I never used it again … I pictured spiders coming up from behind the microwave … like you, I hate spiders … it sat downstairs and Marge’s microwave broke and she was going to buy a new one and I gave her mine. I should get a small one for upstairs and move the toaster oven … then could have hot coffee and nice creamer again.

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  2. Anne
    Enjoyed reading your post. Loved it in fact. I am a sewing person myself and loved that Karen got her machine as she wished and that it is small and handy. Mine is a little bigger. My mom has a hand sewing machine( Singer) and back home I have a Singer foot sewing machine, both very heavy.
    The biscuits look so good- almost like our buns. And the distant waterfalls – seems like a faraway dream.
    The shock on the volunteer’s face was a treat. Logan will enjoy his 100 piece puzzle. Are thrift shops, second hand shops ?
    I have had decaf coffee and enjoy the smell of all coffee. It is that coffee and me don’t agree gastronomically.
    Please post such long posts all the time. They are great.
    Susie

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    1. We have two kinds of shops — thrift stores and consignment stores. Usually people donate items to thrift shops, and they are sold to support some cause. People put things in a consignment store, and when they are sold, the store takes a cut and sends the agreed price to the original owner.

      I’m glad you liked this post. I write about what happens here, and sometimes there isn’t much. We crammed a lot into a few days.

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  4. What a day u had……only the read of it cheer me up and those scones on the table😋.lovely post and lovely pictures.
    P.s
    I have a similar small sewing machine but must confess I m a disaster with it😬

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  5. We often drink our wine out of of jelly jars at home, too. Especially in August and September where there is more of a chance of fruit flies (canning season). We put lids on the jars between sips then 🙂

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  6. Great post, Anne! I felt like I was there – and wish I had been! My fave things would’ve been those biscuits (OMG they look heavenly) and the thrift shop – I LOVE those kinds of stores, flea markets, garage sales, all of those treasure troves!! In fact this gives me an idea for a blog post myself. 😉 Thanks! Bye for now!!

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  8. Maybe one of my favorites yet-You told the story so poetically and quite naturally. I reallylike your style, anyway. Loved the pictures too. Oh to have barbecue with you AND visit a thrift store, before we gazeat a waterfall. What a lovely day. P.S. we drink all of our beverages out of mason jars . . .in beautiful pastel colors.

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