Los Flemings

We made it to Asheville! The truck dumped out our stuff on Tuesday and we've been unpacking, settling-in the past few days. Sam is off with Dandy and Granddaddy Frank having fun roaming the hills around Sylva. Hard to believe that after talking about it for nearly 15 years, we've finally gotten here. Now Mame has just 2 weeks of clinicals to go and then graduation on 8/16.

For some unknown reason, Sam was bitten by the cooking bug this week. As we've been busy packing for next week's move he has gotten inspired to be creative in the kitchen. First, it was a need to cook pancakes all on his own. Thanks to Dandy's gift of Uncle Tom's Pancake Mix this was easy. Then he was inspired to create something original and came up with a summer snack inspired by Saturday's trip to the Farmers Market. Here is his recipe for Sam's Summer Snack:
Blueberries
Banana - chopped
Plain Yogurt
Mint - minced
Mix it all together and enjoy.

(He was even went as far as to write it down on a recipe card)

Sam completed a week of soccer camp today offered through the town parks and rec. department. He had a great time, learned some new skills and really enjoyed the games/scrimages at the end of the week.

(for more on Fernando Torres click >>> here )

While we did indeed see two copperheads on our hike (see post below), when Sam saw the picture of the snake below he told me that it was of the stuffed snake on display in the nature center. Ooops.

Last week Sam attended half-day camp at the Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve. The theme was Animal Olympics. Each day they discussed the different ways animals move - walking, crawling, hopping, slithering, etc.

After some indoor activities the class would go for a nature walk with Ms. Jo, their superb teacher. One of regular resident on their walk was a pair of copperhead snakes that live in a drain pipe under the patio. They saw lots of other wildlife like frogs, toads, skinks, spiders and a deer.



This morning Sam led us (along with Ms. Lynn who is visiting from Atlanta) on a guided tour. He showed us the snakes, birds nest mushrooms and turkey tail mushrooms from his classes. He also took lots and lots of pictures, including the copperhead above, this parasol mushroom and the group shot below.

To top it all off we took Lynn for her annual visit to Goodberry's for an afternoon treat.

Back at the end of June we went house hunting in Asheville and settled on this house in the Hudson Street Cottages. It is a new home with several Earth-friendly features like a solar powered radiant heat system and bamboo flooring. The courtyard is surrounded by the other 6 buildings in the development and is home to a community garden. It is located in West Asheville in an older neighborhood and close to Sam's new school - Hall Fletcher Elementary.

Sam and I stayed in the mountains visiting Grandma Maxine and Grandpa Glenn for another two weeks and then Mame came and retrieved us after enjoying the Fourth at Slick Rock. Now we're gearing up for the move and Mame is in her final few weeks of clinical practice. More on our mountain adventures to come.