Fox and Cinnamon at the Voodoo Museum

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Magic moments in Asheville (December 12-17, 2022)

Mya made brownies decorated with crushed peppermint candy to take to her Spanish class on the last day of school before winter break. They were yummy!

Piper and Brandy modeling their matching ugly Christmas sweaters. Hey, they called them "ugly" before I did.

Family birthday party. The birthday girl is married to Brandy's cousin.

Jessica's birthday party at Cowboys Mexican Grill. The Spanish-speaking waitress graciously let Mya and me practice our Spanish with her when we ordered.

Ryder, Brandy, and me

Mya paints her drawing. Check it out on Instagram at myasageart.com.

Piper and Papa playing one last game of Battle before we leave for the airport.

Puzzles (Asheville December 12-17, 2022)

Teamwork! We finished the puzzle December 16, the day before Papa and I would head back to Austin. Team member Mya took the photo.

"The Mystic Maze" by the Magic Puzzle Company had1,000 pieces and two posters showing us how the finished puzzle would look.

All done except for the piece Willoughby ate and one more missing piece. Now to open the mystery envelope.

Weird! Instructions in the mystery envelope directed us to slide parts of the puzzle to this new configuration.

The expanded puzzle, after sliding parts around to create the opening for the new pieces. Weird!

The pieces in the mystery envelope made this shape.

We worked Piper's garage sale puzzle. It was hard!

Asheville from the Grove Park Inn (December 14, 2022)

Asheville skyline from the Grove Park Inn, on a foggy December night.

Mya and River in the mock sleigh.

Grove Park Inn gingerbread houses plus (Asheville, December 14, 2022)

With the fortune made from his tasteless tonic, Edwin Wiley Grove built the Grove Park Inn and more. Grove's Tasteless Chill Tonic, which was first sold in 1885, was a fever-remedy made from quinine suspended in a flavored syrup to eliminate the bitter taste. Cured your fever and made you fat. Today he'd have to claim it makes you skinny.

Papa and me behind a Dio de los Muertos gingerbread house. The shingles are made from cereal, I think.

Brandy and Ryder behind the Under the Sea gingerbread/other edible things (but not fish) creation.

Brandy, Piper, and Ryder at one of the Grove Park Inn trees.

One gingerbread creator put Tom on the Naughty list, all by himself. How did she know?

The creator of this gingerbread typewriter and put Piper at the top of the naughty list! Nobody else in the family except for Papa Tom appeared on any naughty lists. But no nice lists either.

Piper in front of the gingerbread typewriter.

Human-sized gingerbread coffee shop in the Grove Park Inn lobby. The 25-day, 500-hour build took, in part, 400 pounds of powdered sugar, 160 pounds of flour, 6 pounds of ginger, 94 pounds of eggs/egg whites, and 60 pounds of assorted candy.

Gingerbread houses at the Grove Park Inn, Asheville (December 14, 2022)

The Grove Park Inn Gingerbread House competition entry form and 10 pages of rules specify, in part: Everything above the base of your entry must be composed completely of edible materials. Competitors are permitted to use up to 40% mechanically produced components in their entry. Examples include: machine designed, 3D printed and laser cut components. 60% of each entry must be handcrafted. The main structure of your entry must be constructed of at least 75% gingerbread, some of which should be exposed. First place went to Santa with Peter Pan, Wendy, and the kids. Oh! And Captain Hook.

All edible except for the base. But too beautiful to eat!

How do these not fall over? How do you transport them? What happens to them after the 12-day show?

The crowd favorite was a gingerbread tank/Statue of Liberty/etc. that incorporated a gingerbread version of the Grove Park Inn on one side. Compare the gingerbread version to the photo I took. I think the stone wall was made with rock candy?

Willoughby! (Asheville, Dec. 12-17, 2022)

Willoughby only ate one puzzle piece, as far as we know. But two were missing at the end....

Willoughby found a comfy lap.

A boy and his dog. The hiking trail in the neighborhood is so peaceful!

Ryder, Willoughby, and Brandy. A lot of wooden bridges over creeks.

Papa Tom and Willoughby. Gotta check out the water!

It's such hard work being cute all the time. Gotta rest!

Winter Lights in Asheville (December 12, 2022)

River, Papa Tom, and Ryder

The debate rages on. Jellyfish or mushroom behind Piper?

No escaping the enemy squirrels! Christmas colors don't hide your true nature, Scruffy and Scratchy!

We miss our baby possums! We were possum nurturers with Austin Wildlife rescue around the turn of the century.

Ryder and Brandy

Piper

Mya and Mama

Asheville! (December 12, 2022)

We LOVE flying out of ABIA's South Terminal. Short lines, out on the tarmac to board the plane, only one baggage claim carousel. But ABIA is suing to break the lease so it an take over this quaint, throwback terminal and expand the main airport building. Blah!