This and that...and the other thing

I'll cover a few different issues in this entry. Might be all over but please
bear with my "stream of conscientiousness"

Technology
Shortly after my arrival in Asheville, my new Canon Powershot camera went belly up on me. It's just a cheap, digital camera but it did an adequate job and we were depending on it for website pictures. New batteries, mess with the contacts, connect the USB (that part actually worked)..it wouldn't take pictures reliably. So off to Best Buy, I go.

Came back with a cute, little portable Panasonic and I'm loving it so far. The camera takes 8 Meg pictures and it's easy and fast. It uses somewhat expensive rechargables, but I'm hopeful that the battery will last a while. I'll add some of its' results to this blog posting. As a matter of fact..here's a picture that I took at one of interviews. We were interviewing Lori Theriault, a local potter. Lori has a beautiful studio over in West Asheville (somewhat of a hipster section of Asheville) and this is her favorite pottery wheel. As you might see on the final video, I was able to take a turn throwing a pot on that wheel. Definitely good energy.

Our first interview was with Lori Theriault, a delightful ceramics creator based in West Asheville. She came to this city by way of Chicago, Washington DC and Atlanta and has really settled into the area and the artist's community.

Lori creates a multitude of ceramic items and teaches pottery students the way of the potters wheel. She's designed a small studio in a sort of artists enclave where artisans of different materials practice their craft. She's connected to a local artists guild and hopes to have a weekly art tailgate where all of the vendors can display and sell their creations.

Black Mountain

Fifteen minutes away is a small village called Black Mountain. I had previously contacted Tori de Lisa, another potter originally from Miami. She's married to Gregory Dunn aka Greg Flies with Eagles. He springs from Cherokee roots and is creating authentic tribal headdresses as well as Native American masks. He uses all authentic materials and relies on some of his mountain friends to supply him with feathers and other materials.

Our first attempt to meet Toni and Greg met with some slight disappointment on our part. They live near the top of one of Black Mountain's local mountain tops and when we drove up in our Rav4 we didn't think we could make it. The snow starting to fall helped us chicken out as well. After trying to raise Toni on our cell phones and discovering no service, we headed back down the mountain where we were able to call her and explain the situation. We were a bit freaked out by the experience but when Toni invited us to lunch on a future date, our excitement overruled our fear of falling and we promised to come back.

Today we met with Bob White, an organic food grower and socially conscience activist. Bob's past includes stints as a carpenter, a painter, a framer, a book store owner and a Black Panther.

My next entry will detail our second trip up the mountain to meet Toni and Greg as well as our wonderful meeting with Bob and his wife Lucia.

Discovering Asheville has been a real joy. We find the people wonderful and friendly, the restaurants eclectic and interesting and the surrounding landscapes absolutely breathtaking. The mountains tower in the distance from every vantage point of Asheville and day trips into the mountains are literally 15 minutes away.