December 12th Christmas Celebration in MD

The weekend of December 12th I traveled to Elkton MD with the Red Bird Mission Craft program to a show at the UMC of Elkton. I spent Sat afternoon with the kids - Sarah, Eric, Doug, and Catherine. We had a good burger lunch, walked around Elkton, and then traveled to Chesapeake City MD where these pictures were taken.
We watched a beautiful sunset on the waters edge and then walked around town. The little village had lots of antique & unique shops - a Christmas celebration was going on while we strolled and shopped with carolers in Victorian period dress, horse drawn carriage rides, and every building was decorated for the holiday. It was so wonderful to spend part of a day with my family during the Christmas season!

Weekend in West Virginia

After the board meeting on Thursday, November 12th I traveled with Craig Dial, the director of Economic Development at RBM, heading towards Falling Water's WV. We spent the night in Bristol and then traveled north on 81 on Friday. We had an hour to spare - Craig stopped at a antique store and I found two plates in my china pattern & a green tablecloth for Thanksgiving. Craig called his wife Karen, who is the pastor at Beverly UMW, while I shopped. We arrived at Harmony UMC around 5pm; were greeted by a group that helped unload the van & trailer; set up for the craft show; and enjoyed a dinner of KFC. Our gracious hosts for the weekend were Sam & Pat - Sam is a diabetic new to insulin and shared a sugar free apple pie - Pat has lots of antique glass items so we enjoyed talking antiques. Sat am we all went to breakfast that some organization was putting on of biscuits, sausage, sausage gravy and pancakes. The craft show ran Sat from 9 to 2 and Sun after the early service until after the late service. I ran the cash register - thanks Tim for the training at Stoughton Farm - I used a scanner. The Church was also holding a pig roast lunch - I enjoyed a lunch good sandwich and visit with pastor Terri Cofiell. Sun the UMW and Youth group helped us pack up and we were on the road by 2pm - arrived safely home by 10:30. I really enjoyed my first craft show trip - meeting new people and sharing about Red Bird.

Sam, Craig, Linda, Pat, Terri

Appalachian crafts set up for sale

Flying to London for Lunch

On Saturday, November 7th my cousin Kathy and her husband Dave flew from Knoxville, TN to London, KY with Dave piloting this plane. The London-Corbin Airport has a nice little restaurant where we enjoyed a tasty and very leisurely lunch. Dave & Kathy really enjoy these little flights - this plane is one they rent. Kathy and I have really enjoyed getting reacquainted since I moved to KY. It is so nice to have relatives (and friends) so close by. Kathy and Dave arrived in London I took a few pictures of Dave moving towards takeoff.

It was hard to capture the moving target.

Perfect Autum Day

I have been working on the 2010 Mission budget for a while, learning lots with a few longer days. Friday was a rainy day but cleared and warmed in the evening - I treated myself to a nice dinner in Manchester of steak, tilapia, and shrimp at Starwood Mountain Dining Co - a nice little locally owned place I have been to before. Sat was cool and I worked. Today was beautiful and after Church at Beverly UMC I joined a group going to Pine Mountain State Park for lunch. The picture below is from the top of Red Bird Mountain where we pulled off and took pictures.

The lodge where we ate a buffet lunch was busy today so we were able to put our name on the list and walk around outside for a while. This state park has some trails that I would like to go back to sometime. This was our view from our dinner table from Pine Mountain - looking in the direction of Frakes. What a glorious day! A quick stop at the grocery in Pineville on the way back. Tonight I had dinner with Chris and Karen and friends of theirs from New York. A great day spent with friends and now watching the Yankees - hopefully winning this series tonight and on to the World Series. Go Yankees!

Corny Stuff

Last weekend I had a chance to attend the Berea Spoonbreat Festival. A Corn Hole Tournament was being held as part of the festival. I did not have any idea what a Corn Hole Tournament was. The corn part comes from the four pound, 6" X 6" bags of corn seeds (pretty much like a bean bag). The boards are 2' X 4' in size and have several 6" diameter holes in them. The boards (decorated by the teams in various themes) are placed 27 feet apart. There are many other rules as to scoring, fouls, and team elimination. I believe the man in the light blue T shirt below is a official/judge of the tournament. Maybe something new for the corn maze??

A couple of other corny items - I just couldn't resist buying the carmel corn in the shape of a corn cob. Very funny and did not taste to bad either - purchased at a gas station.

Rainy Saturday

Saturday it rained all day and into the night. On my trip to London to the grocery store on Route 66 I saw many waterfalls where their are usually none. The second picture is of the Red Bird creek near my mailbox in the afternoon - very muddy - I was suprised to see it quite clear Sunday morning. Today (9/28) was the first cooler day when I actually wore a sweater.

Movie Premier

Friday, September 25th at 6 pm Mission Appalachia - The Story of Red Bird Story had it's premier showing in Pineville Kentucky at the Bell Theater. Todd Scoggins the director of the documentary and his family were in attendance. Todd was given a dulcimer from the Mission in appreciation of all his effort in creating this film. The women that plays the guitar in the trailer was in attendance and really enjoyed watching herself on the film. The film was GREAT! This afternoon Todd said that the DVD of the movie will be available in about a month for sale on the Red Bird Mission web site from the Craft Store.