Month: August 2017

Monday, August 21, 2017

Wow! What a day! What a day to celebrate our 35 years together. We have been so blessed and thank God for each other.

Even though the forecast called for a beautiful day there was still some apprehension about the weather.

 

We started today with some stretching at the labyrinth with Hannah and then devotion in the chapel with Dawn. After breakfast Ken gave another great presentation on the eclipse which was, after all, what everyone was here to see. After that we had some free time to visit and walk around and decide where we wanted to set up for the eclipse. Then there was lunch and then time for the big, big event.

 

I’m sure those who only saw the partial eclipse may not understand this, but being under a total eclipse on a very clear gorgeous day was amazing. Much more exciting than we had anticipated. Without totality you miss seeing so much that goes on only under a total eclipse. We were able to experience the shadow coming over us. The weather changing with a drop in temperature and the cool wind picking up. As we approached totality there was almost a surreal look to everything. It seemed like you had your sunglasses on but you didn’t. Then right at totality you saw Bailey’s beads and the sudden burst of light with the diamond ring and then totality. The stars came out, you could easily see two planets, the Canadian geese loudly flew off, the crickets became quite loud, the people were very excited and then the look of an eyeball in the sky and it all happened so fast.

 

It was much better than we ever expected. An experience difficult to explain. So glad we were here and would definitely put forth the effort to do it again. Another unexpected joy of the last few days was the number of really wonderful people we met.  Maybe because of the shared interest in this somewhat unusual event that none of us had every experienced but there was an unexpected camaraderie that was a blessing.  What’s everyone doing in 2024?

PS. We ended this extraordinary day by getting rained on and helping wash dishes in the kitchen and it was all GOOD!

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Whatever needed to be done.  That’s what we did today. We could end it right there and just include some pics but guess we should elaborate a little.

First we got up early and met Els in the parking lot at 6:45 for the ride to the garden. It was just barely light when we started and a little foggy. We picked the corn in short order and were back at the campground by 7:25.

 

There were at least four varieties of morning glories in the garden.

After showers and breakfast it was time for worship led by Dawn who is responsible for the mission projects of Hinton. She is a deacon in the UMC and she is appointed to Hinton by the North Carolina Conference rather than a church. This was her first summer with all the youth mission teams and she loved it. We had a wonderful service in the chapel overlooking Lake Chatuge. What a wonderful worship setting. After worship we visited with some guests and spent some more time with Ken and Joyce. Then it was time for Anne to go to work. Joyce had kitchen duty at each meal today. Max and Ken also helped out washing dishes. Max and Ken also had parking lot duty. Parking lot duty has been more just walking around making sure everything looks OK. Guests have a parking permit in their cars and Max and Ken really just need to make sure we don’t have a lot of non-guest vehicles coming onto the property. The expected crowds have not appeared, at least not yet. Town is very quiet still. So the parking has not been a problem, yet. Again today Anne only stayed in the office about 20 minutes when she was asked to go to the welcome center and help out there. It was pretty busy there. More guests arrived throughout the day and with more people on campus there were more questions to answer, directions to give and do whatever needed to be done.

 

We were selling eclipse glasses and had an area set up so people could decorate their glasses and bling them out. When Phillip, the chef, came by to pick up his glasses, Jackie, the CEO, tried to get him to bling out his glasses. He said he was too busy but she could have at it and he tossed her his glasses. Jackie then took up that challenge and worked on blinging out the glasses. The ear pieces now say Chef Phillip and Bon Appetite with eyebrows of thyme and salt and pepper trim. We thought they turned out really well, but somehow he didn’t seem quite so impressed. Later this afternoon while Anne was still in guest services, Max was asked to accompany the disc golf tournament.

 

When that was over it was time for dinner, which was again very good. After dinner we had a question and answer session where Ken took questions from the guests concerning the eclipse. He did a great job! Made us NOMADS look pretty smart. Last event of the evening was the viewing of a documentary on the eclipse entitled “Totality: The American Eclipse”. It was very educational and at times very funny. We would recommend it if you have not seen it. So now it’s 10:00pm and we need to go to bed. Max has parking lot duty at 7:00 and Anne will be back in the office/guest services at 8:00. Tomorrow should be a very busy and exciting day. Totality!! So glad we are here.

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day with a light breeze and lower temperatures. One forecast says 58 for a low tonight, but national weather service has 62. Anyway, it may be open window time tonight.

First thing this morning, Max checked McCall house again and the HVAC people were still no shows so the ceiling couldn’t be completed today. Disappointing. We had a relaxing slow start to the day with breakfast at 9:00. Hinton is feeding us three meals a day. That was totally unexpected but a real treat because their executive chef, Phillip, is excellent and has become a good friend over the past 3 years.

After breakfast we check in to see if there was anything that needed to be done since we couldn’t complete McCall. Then Ken decided to set the solar telescope up in the main parking lot while there was a great view of the sun from there. Of course, that drew some attention and we ended up with several guests taking a look. It was nice to visit with the guests and listen to Ken sharing information with them. We got some neat photographs through the telescope as well.

Anne was scheduled to work in the office answering phones starting at 12:00 through 5:00. However, she got fired at 12:23 after taking only one call. She really didn’t get fired, but they decided they were just going to close the office, forward the calls to the welcome center/registration desk because there was just nothing going on. All the predicted craziness just has not started yet, at least not in this area. We haven’t been off campus today, but we are told that town is quiet and minimal traffic. The facilities here are filling up and by Monday we will have all the rooms full but they are coming in slowly.

So all four of us ate lunch together again and Els, who works on the hospitality side of things, joined us. Els does a little bit of everything at Hinton and today brought in some water melons she grew in the garden – two varieties we were unfamiliar with – black tail mountain and moon and stars. She likes to work with the all things heirloom and cut one of the black tail mountain watermelons for us after lunch. It was very good.

After lunch we relaxed, took a little nap and were then again out and about mingling with guests, answering a few questions and met up with Els again. (Sounds like a tough day?) Els wanted to show us the garden so Ken and Joyce, and one of Els’ friends went with us to the garden. There is still a lot of produce to be harvested. We picked a few things that were ready today, but we didn’t take any baskets so we are going back in the morning to harvest the corn that is ready. It was a fun outing and we have some really fresh veggies to use for next week.

By the time we returned from the garden it was almost time for dinner. We did a little work for dinner, taking up meal tickets, and helping wash dishes. We also enjoyed a wonderful dinner of grilled pork chops, potatoes, and a carrot dish that was so good we had to get the recipe. Oh my, it was a wonderful dinner. The pork chop was cooked perfectly and we will be trying the new recipe.

After dinner there was a concert on the back porch and lawn overlooking the lake. What a wonderful setting. We popped corn and provided drinks and water for the guests throughout the concert. Nice evening. Now we have to get to bed so we can go pick corn at 7:00 in the morning. Hope you are having a good weekend and don’t forget to pray for the church services tomorrow.