Wouldn’t you think you’d spend as much time saying hello as goodbye? If I were a disinterested observer, I’d time the process. Without evidence, I feel our leave takings are at least twice as long as our greetings. When people come to our home, we welcome our guests and jump right into visiting. We mustn’t waste a minute of mountain time. We took Karen and Al to the airport, which I realize adds hours to the goodbye. Even when folks leave from the driveway, it’s painful. We hang onto them until the last second.

We didn’t waste the day, though. We walked the main street of Waynesville. Karen’s verdict was that we live near a lovely town. We have art galleries, home decorating stores, a bakery, a dog bakery, furniture stores, the inevitable real estate places, a brewery, restaurants, office of local newspaper that publishes three times a week, and the court house. I think my favorite was the shop that had only pencil drawings in the window. The art on view was amazingly vibrant. [Lise LOOK –>] We have a chocolate shop!!! How did my chocolate antenna miss that as we whizzed through town during the last year?

I wanted them to see the stream near the rec center, since that was the real selling point of the town for me. I thought I’d drive there for my daily walk, which I never did. Walking from our front door was far too easy. Our friends appreciated different aspects of the stream. Karen liked the sight and sound, as I did. Al, though, is a fisherman. I didn’t ask, but I rather think he was studying the possibilities from an angler’s point of view.

The Greenville SC airport is amazing. It isn’t nearly as far away as Charlotte, and it is on a human scale. We even watched Karen and Al go through security! The last time they flew, food was confiscated. We wanted to make sure Karen’s coffee got through, which it did. Karen told us her knees always set off alarms. If there is no body scanner, she has to be patted down. Greenville has the scanner, and we watched her go through it. It took more time for Al, who had to remove his belt. I didn’t notice shoes. Do you no longer have to remove your shoes?

I had a lonely walk this morning. Karen was gone, and John had to turn back at the halfway point. The creek called out to me, though, with special effects. It used decoupage to decorate a small boulder with autumn leaves. Perhaps J Creek was saying “goodbye, nice meeting you” to Karen.