Niece Chrissie and husband Chris spent 1 ¾ days with us, and we enjoyed every moment. Daughter Lise hadn’t seen her cousins since they were together in Lisbon a few years ago. Here they are on a mountain overlook.
They brought a very special Christmas gift, Chris’ ornament for 2021, a hockey player. He designs and makes the ornaments based on some event from the current year. I forgot to ask if there was a story connected to this one.
There was one of his older ornaments hanging from our mantel. I enjoyed watching Chris give it a tune-up, gently bending the wires to restore it or give it a slightly different shape. It’s not often you see an artist revisit his work. John hadn’t started decorating for Christmas, so the rest of the ornaments were still packed away.
Chris also said the angel on the mantel is unique. After making ours, he changed the way he finished the wings. It’s exciting to know we have this one-of-a-kind piece. I found I had the angel backward when I took the photo. Chris’ blog is here if you’d like to see more, including the angel facing the correct way.
We ate barbecue at Butts on the Creek, a restaurant with a lovely view of the water. This is upstream from the point where John and I see it on our morning walk.
Going to Cataloochee Valley to see elk is a popular tourist activity. Sometimes the animals are not in sight at all, but we were treated to quite a show. We spotted the herd and stopped the car. Chrissie was probably taking the photo on the left from her side of the car, and I snapped one of a buck approaching on my side.
Chris caught the elk passing John’s window, followed by one of me as I focused on the animal.
On the way out of the valley, we stopped at an overlook where a stranger took our photo.
Chrissie’s post about their visit is here.
This was a whirlwind visit, but oh! so very special!
Mehrling Muse 