Weekend in Hayesville

 We worked hard on our weekend board retreat for the Southern Order of Storytellers, but we also had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from the trip...

Our home for the weekend was Cill Dara... 

...the beautiful home of Anne Wheeler and Dick Berliner... 

...high on a ridge above the Hiwassee River.

Dick & Anne's ten-year-old golden doodle Bridget...

...was a very amiable companion...

 

I am thankful that my favorite traveling companion was willing to join
with the SOS board for the weekend.

Dick and Bridget walked down the ridge... 

...to the river with me.

Saturday was a very long day of planning work by these
six  members (and  advisor) of the SOS board of directors.

Late Saturday afternoon we celebrated our work with a meal
together at the Crown Retaurant in Brasstown, NC. (This picture  of Kanute and Kathy at the Crown is taken from the restuarant's website.)

After supper Kanute gave us a tour of the John C. Campbell Folk School where he serves on the board.

Gwen and I took the opportunity to "perform" on the stage there.

Then we drove by a new curiosity nearby -- a Bitcoin "Mine". It was a huge outdoor remotely operated computer facility with very noisy and controversial cooling fans.

This was the Sunday morning view out our bedroom window.

Dick And Anne had eggs and bacon and toast ready for us by the time we got upstairs a little before 8.

Soon we were on our way back across the state line to a marina on Lake Chatuge where Cap'n Kanute was ready with a pontoon boat for a tour of the lake -- back across the state line right up the the cove where Kanute and Kathy live.

We could not have ordered more beautiful June weather for our weekend.

Storytelling in Hayesville.

Sheila and I are in Hayesville, North Carolina to participate in a planning retreat for the Board of Directors for the Southern Order of Storytellers (SOS). Hosting the board this weekend are two Hayesville couples:  Kanute and Kathy Rarey and Anne Wheeler and Dick Berliner. AND we were thrilled to be asked to participate in the monthly Hayesville open mike storytelling event this evening. 

A special treat for me and Sheila was that our friend Mimi Shepherd showed up. Mimi is not blood kin rather a sort of "adopted cousin" who usually attends our Matthews family reunions. She has retired from her veterinary practice and moved to --- Hayesville!

Sheila with Mimi

SOS folks who told stories were board member Kanute (the emcee and first teller), our vice president Gwenolyn Napier, our legal advisor Anne, and me.

I had planned to tell a favorite ghost story, but...

Kanute opened the program with a wonderful reminiscence of his grandfather, in honor of Father's Day. 

Kanute addresses the enthusiastic crowd of story listeners at a coffee shop in Hayesville, NC.

Kanute's story included many details that reminded me of my own grandfather and father.  So I changed my mind.  I decided on the spot to talk about my father and his father, and Daddy's own story that I call "Skinny-dipping" or "Baptism by Fire & Water". I enjoyed it and I think my audience did.

I've shared a stage with Gwen several times now so I knew to expect an energetic and engaging story and she did not disappoint with her tale about Brer Rabbit's latest outwitting of Brer Bear. 

Brer Rabbit enlisted the help of Frog to defeat Brer Bear in a fishing contest.

This was my first time to hear Anne tell a story. She fascinated us with a her adventures in beekeeping.

Anne's beekeeping got off to a rough start when her son's dog got involved.

After the show Gwen and Kanute posed with me.