Countryside

Today's bike ride took us out to farms near Easton. The roads were peaceful with small hills. We were most challenged by head winds. Our tour leaders fed us a delicious lunch under the trees of a family dairy farm and creamery. After lunch one of the owners gave us a history as well as explanation of the workings of the farm and the process of making artisan cheeses. It was quite fascinating to learn about the needs and care of the cows to create their natural products. Tonight a member of Easton's Historical Society gave us a tour of the original areas of the town. Their most famous resident was Frederick Douglas.

Oxford

Bicycled 18 of the 30 miles on today's tour. My right leg a problem all summer was acting up and I decided not to push it. Nevertheless it was a delightful day sunny and cool. Visited the town of Oxford over 300 years old was where we caught a ferry to continue riding to St. Michaels for lunch (rock fish) and docent led tour of Maritime Museum. Oxford known for it's fences with a small hole at the top of each picket, is having a fund raiser with artists doing a painting on 4 pickets as shown in the photo. We walked the small town checking them out before boarding the ferry. So much history in this area.

Bike ride

Today begins the bicycle phase of my fall adventure riding a rails to trails in Easton Maryland. It's a large transition from the week at John Campbell which ended with our ensemble performance of Danny Boy and an outstanding performance by our instructor. Tearful farewells and I headed for Raleigh NC stopping at Barbers Apple Orchard near Waynesviile suggested by roommate Claire. I bought honey crisp apples, apple butter, and an apple turnover which ended up being lunch. The drive to Raleigh was pleasant with signs of color change. I walked around town of Black Mountain which has 2 stores selling mountain dulcimers but couldn't find the stand I wanted. I arrived about 4:30 at my cousins house in Chapel Hill. It had been several years since we'd been together so we had lots of catching up. This morning after touring their spectacular garden I was on the road again. Sunday a. M. Is a good time to travel with light traffic. Still it was over 6 hours with only one stop. We are staying at the historic Tidewater Inn, a lovely hotel with a great crabcake. Tomorrow could be 30 miles. Hope I'm up for it.

Beautiful Day

It's been a beautiful day here in the mountains being with 7:45a m Morning Song today with David Brose a folklorist who led us in a "hootenanny with songs we all remembered & great imitation of Bob Dylan. Lots of laughter started our day. Worked on Modes on dulcimer class made simpler by our great teacher but still a bit complicated for my brain. Afternoon played songs & laughed a lot. Tonight will be attending gourmet dinner prepared by cooking class of which roommate Pam is a member. Photo is view of blacksmith shop which we can see from our room.

Practice practice

In addition to dulcimer class we have done walking tour of campus, visited local water color artist studio, school workshop for bead making, and shoe making and participated in weekly hoedown with contra,square & circle dancing.
In dulcimer we worked on adapting our choice of music to the dulcimer as well as practicing for Friday presentation. Whew!

John Campbell School

Today was the first day of class--7 hours of dulcimer! Learning lots, having fun meeting great people in beautiful mountain setting.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

A trip planned a year ago before scheduling my recent move will take me to the East Coast. This time my destination is the extreme southwest corner of North Carolina where I will attend a mountain dulcimer workshop at the John Campbell School of Folk Music. My instructor will be Janita Hall of Blue Lion instruments, from whom I took classes in 2011 at Western Carolina University. My Florida neighbor, a summer NC resident and part of my Florida dulcimer group will be coming and sharing a room. I look forward to the challenges of the class though wish I had more time to practice. The mountain setting should be delightful. Unfortunately when I took my VW, Ruby, for pre-trip servicing, a serious problem of corrosion was effecting the coolant and oil which had become mixed. Belts also needed replacement. At least hopefully Ruby will be up for the trip. From NC I will go on to the Eastern Shore of Maryland for Judy and my annual VBT bicycle adventure. In addition to riding, we are scheduled for a sail on a working skipjack. I’ve sailed the area on our PARTNERSHIP and also visited by car. Seeing an area by bicycle is always a new perspective. I’m also hoping to catch a sail on ADRIATICA with friends Elizabeth and Don as well as visiting other friends and family in the DC area. So hopefully in the coming week there will be more to write about than grandchildren and moving tales!! Below are a photo of my new home The Admiral at the Lake taken from the lakefront bike path and a view of the bike path near Oak Street Beach. On weekends the path and the beach are wall to wall people. It was delightfully empty on a Monday. I look forward to more rides.