Los Flemings

We made one last foray to the Nantahala River this past weekend before it was shut off for maintenance on the power plant until mid-December (and also to squeeze in one more trip before it got too chilly). Mame and I canoed together on Saturday and participated in the 1st Annual NOC Pumpkin Pursuit.

The pursuit consisted of chasing pumpkins and rubber ducks in the river above, through and below Nantahala Falls. Each pumpkin was numbered and corresponded to a prize given out later in the evening. Mame did a great job as our pumpkin scooper bringing in four of the squashes and one rubber ducky. She even collected one above the falls while her paddle went under the canoe. She managed to get the pumpkin and retrieve her paddle all in one smooth motion.


Sunday we were back out on the river for another beautiful fall afternoon. The excitement was that Mame paddled our open canoe solo while I tried out my new C-1 (like a kayak but you kneel instead of sit and use a single bladded paddle). It was her first time down the entire river solo and she did a great job.




Lodging for the weekend was in the Yurt village at Falling Waters Resort.




Meanwhile, Sam had a blast visiting with Dandy and Granddaddy Frank. Saturday's highlight was a trip to the Western Carolina football game (Sam's first). The plan was to stay for a half plus the half-time band show but Sam was so enthralled they stayed all the way through the game including overtime.

The class field trip to Young Chef's made the local news. Look close and you'll get a glimpse of me and Sam. The following link will take you to the WLOS website - be warned it takes a moment for the video to load - you don't need to give them your personal information. The video will appear in the space with the Never Stop Learning logo. So, if you're ready - click here.

Got our first taste of snow in the mountains this morning. We had some steady flurries through the morning but it wasn't cold enough to stick. Sam enjoyed the swirling flakes on the way to school.

Today's class field trip was to the Young Chef's Academy. The kids got to chop apples and mix up ingredients for an Apple Crunch dessert. Then they chopped veggies to make a Portrait Pizza.











That's Sam's teacher on the right lending a hand.












Under construction. Sam did a full-body portrait with carrot arms and legs, peas in a circle for the head and some parsley for hair. All standing on a plank of turkey.








The finished products (Sam's is on the left, Ben's is on the right).

Despite the forecast of wet weather we bravely ventured out on a sunny Saturday morning for a night of camping in the Mt. Pisgah Campground with Grandpa Bunk. The weather held off, mostly and we had a nice afternoon exploring the area and sitting by the campfire. We warmed up at dinner with Butternut squash risotto followed by warm apple crisp from the dutch oven. We got some rain in the night and woke up in thick fog. By mid-morning Sunday Sam's brown overalls were more grey and black than brown. Between the mud and grime from climbing trees he had quite the layer of gunk. I'll pass on sharing pictures of us standing around in the fog.