More on Asheville

Again, Asheville was fabulous.  And is a great place to sit outside at a cafe and people watch.  While hubby and I were enjoying dinner one night, we observed the following:  a police officer pulling up and parking, obviously looking for "trouble."  He found it as he spied a man drinking a beer on public property.  This poor gentleman was within 50 feet of the restaurant's outside dining area where it is perfectly legal to drink alcohol.  In addition to receiving a ticket (which seemed to take forever to be written up), the man had the privilege of having his duffel bag  searched.  (Can someone say "probable cause"?).  The police officer was later joined by another buddy, and they continued to scan the crowd, looking for more evil doers.  As that excitement was wrapping up, I saw a beautiful, black Smart car zip by - I love Smart cars and so rarely see them!  (Obviously, it doesn't take much to excite me.)  A few minutes later, a woman whom I dubbed "skater girl" strolled by.  She had her skateboard tucked under her arm and was wearing 1) a lacy black bra and 2) shredded, footless tights.  That's it.   The night before, there was a art gallery event, where all the galleries were open later than usual and serving refreshments.  In one of the galleries, an individual (couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman) strolled past us wearing what appeared to be a bird costume, complete with mask.  Another gallery was hosting a "fairy party" and many of the guests were dressed as, you guessed it, fairies.  Earlier in the day, I saw a man wearing a khaki skirt.  We saw so many interesting things and people and I really cannot do them justice; you just had to have been there.


One thing that amazed me about Asheville is that it's really a small city, about 80,000 residents, and yet it's such a progressive community, with all the green living and artistic expression.  By comparison, we live about an hour away from a similarly-sized city.  That city has one farmers' market and one small health food store.  And I'm sure it doesn't have the vibrant arts community that is found in Asheville.  

After we left Asheville, we took advantage of the natural beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and found a nice hiking trail to follow before we headed home.  I had done a bit of research but some locals told us about a less-touristy hike that has recently been opened to the public.  Catawba Falls was a fairly moderate three hour round trip hike.  As you can see from the photo, it was well worth it.  


Now I've got the bug - I can't wait to get back to Asheville.  I'm thinking another visit in the fall would be good....

Our Trip

This past weekend in Asheville was amazing.  It had been about 15 years since we had been and our children were very young so we didn't get the full experience.  We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel - very appropriate for this blogger! - which turned out to be next door to Thomas Wolfe's house and very convenient to the rest of the downtown area.  


One of the best things about Asheville is the abundance of great restaurants that serve vegetarian fare.  In fact, one restaurant made it a point to describe dishes as "non-veg."  It's nirvana to a vegetarian.  And there's such a variety, from casual to formal, from Southern-style to Indian.  Asheville is very conscious of organics and eating local as well.  Almost all the restaurants have signs indicating they purchase meat and produce from local farms.  In addition to the amazing restaurants, the downtown area has two food co-ops and the small health food chain Earth Fare is headquartered there.  We also visited the downtown farmers market where everything sold there was authentic - locally grown and produced.  Not a resaler in sight as we've seen at other farmers markets.


The people of Asheville are very committed to living lightly on the earth.  Everywhere we went, we saw signs touting green living and recycling.  I saw several women with compact reusable bags attached to their handbags.  One of the shops we visited sold reusable shopping bags made from recycled material that said, "Recycle or Die."


There's so much more to share so I'll have to do another post - and get a few photos up as well.

I ♥ Asheville

Just got back from a fabulous weekend in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina.  Today I'm busy doing catchup work at home - some things don't go away when you're away - but will be posting all about my visit later this week.


 

(Photo from www.exitrealtyofashevillenc.com)

Quote for the Day

Manifest plainness,

Embrace simplicity, 

Reduce selfishness,

Have few desires.

~Lao-tzu

(Photo taken off our back deck at sunset.)

Fun Blog

Last week I had the privilege of being featured in La Bella Figura's Chic Friends Spring Edition.  It was fun (and intimidating) to be allowed to participate.  Kristi has a great blog that emphasizes living well without living wastefully.  She embraces a rich but simple lifestyle of thrifting, making do, being selective, and enjoying the things we do have.  If you strive for this kind of life, I recommend you check out her blog and her new book, also titled "La Bella Figura." 

A New Recycling Resource

While I was reading a new blog I discovered, Greenhab, I learned about this program for recycling glue sticks and glue bottles:  http://www.elmersgluecrew.com/.  I'm always up for any new idea to keep items out of landfill.

What Is Sustainable?

Yesterday I continued my total house purge in the basement and this morning I spent a little time in the attic.  I'm neither a hoarder nor a shopper but I've managed to accumulate quite a bit of junk!  As I sort, organize, and discard, I'm making mental notes of things that need to be repaired or replaced.  The living room sofas and the furniture in our "bonus" room are in desperate need of reupholstering.  My son's computer desk and chair need to be discarded and replaced.  I don't have a suitable desk or office chair so I'll be needing those items.  


Going thought this top to bottom purge has got me thinking - are the changes/improvements to my home sustainable?  Granted, I plan to reupholster some furniture rather than buy new, but is doing that truly sustainable?  When I consider the millions of families in the United States who want to do the same thing and then think about available resources, it really gets me thinking:  what level of living the American dream is truly sustainable, i.e., could the rest of the world do the same thing given the limited resources on earth?  Something to think about...