Fall, Fiber, Friends, and Truffles

This weekend I went up to Asheville to go to SAFF, where I bought some nice alpaca yarn, which came from a gorgeous deep dark brown animal named Izzy, and a new peculiar hobby (more on that another time). After I emptied my bank account, I met Cousin Sarah and her baby downtown, and we shopped and bought truffles at Chocolate Fetish and ate at the Laughing Seed. Other friends in town joined us for supper–at our table were Courtney, Kate, Sarah, Sarah, and Tara. The food was, as always, incredible. Bonus, I got to hold Quiet Wyatt, my first cousin once removed, and I took him up and down the stairs, which fascinated him. I did not, despite strong inclinations, sneak off after dessert and bring him home.
After supper, and after a bit of excitement due to Cousin Sarah’s car trouble in the middle of an intersection, we drove up to Cousin Sarah’s mountain house in Hot Springs. So so so beautiful. Here’s the view from the deck.


Here’s just one of the walnut trees. There were apple trees too. I brought some home. Heaven.

Here’s the back of the old horse stable. I’m trying to convince her to use them to raise alpaca or chickens or both.

It was a gorgeous drive back too, the mountains every bright color against a blue sky. I don’t normally care much for fall, because it is the harbinger of darkening days and the shivering bleak cold of winter. But this weekend, fall felt like love.