Rein Goat

Holly and I spent the w-e in Asheville, and she got this picture of the Rein Goat who was at one of the holiday farmer's markets. Both Asheville and Hillsborough do a terrific job of showcasing local farmers as well as handmade goods and local shops, especially this time of year. We have felt more than a little worry for our local shop owners, hoping all the businesses that we enjoy weather the current economic downturn. There are lots of places we like but don't frequent much. Hope they hang on too, places like breakfast spots and tailgate markets. Holly bought delicious pumpkin ginger cupcakes just to support the folks at the tailgate market on Saturday (duty calls). We watched the fireworks from our deck later, though the picture doesn't quite capture it.

Over the w-e, I received a package from work with my paperwork to restart my job. That feels like a long time coming. I've been trying to do all of the last minute things I can before I am back to work and busy with a real schedule again. Today I've been cleaning up my desk, my files, and all of the bins and baskets I have everywhere to dump stuff like loose papers, cards I need to write, etc. I live in two places, really, with some stuff at the Asheville house and some stuff here in Hillsborough. I have a large boat and tote bag from LL Bean that I use to haul stuff back and forth, always dropping things in the bag during the week as I realize I'll need them at the other house. You have to stay organized to do this back and forth thing. When I notice the bins and shelves are overloaded with papers or books stuffed everywhere, I know it's time to clean up, reorganize and file things away. Today was that day.

I wish I had taken before and after pictures of the Asheville garden this w-e. We did so much getting it trimmed back and cleaned up. I'm happy that we got ALL of it done, even the gutters and grapevines. We worked hard. Our reward was pizza, beer and a Netflix movie. We're easy to please.