Mark and I had planned to go to Asheville, NC on September 26th or 27th, so that I could go to the local, highly-recommended quilt show.

Cheri generally scouts “experiences” for us.

So the first thing you have to know is that my mother usually served dinner around 9:00 p.m.

I drove a little ways on Friday, to Kernersville, N.C.

Happy New Year to everyone!  We decided to get in one last road trip of 2023, a short drive to Salisbury, NC.

Mark and I both wanted to use this picture:

We started our Bay Area vacation yesterday at Eats on Clement Street.

Mark and his dad took off on their own today, so I wandered towards downtown.

The 32,000 quilters who had attended the American Quilter's Society show in Paducah, along with the hundreds of vendors who sought our money, had mostly left town after the show closed late Saturday.  I had seen an antique shop that I wanted to visit Sunday, before leaving town on Monday.

Last fall, Mark and I traveled to a local farm and bought a bushel of sweet potatoes.

Photo Credit:  Shutterstock

We had a great time, and Mark talked up the farmer for a long time while I froze, but we unfortunately forgot to take any pictures.

I was going to use this lovely picture of a sweet potato farmer and his crop, but the artist didn't respond when I reached out to him.  You can find a treasure trove of his pictures and others of historical Texas at Traces of Texas on Facebook.

Sweet potatoes are the Official North Carolina Vegetable, and 40-60% of the country's supply comes from here, depending upon whose data you rely upon.

It turns out, a bushel could feed two people for a very long time.  I probably won't buy this way again, as the sweet potatoes might have been seconds and we had to discard at least a third soon thereafter.  Nevertheless, for laughs, here is what we made with our haul:

About a mile from the town of Windsor is the Cashie Treehouses and Campground.  Wonderful quiet place to park the trailer for a couple of days and explore.  Cheri had to do some actual work this morning, TAXES [insert frowning face] and other minutiae.  I drove into town to get a feel of the place.  At the end of town I saw this:

I believe this is excellent advice!  More about the bookstore later in this post.

Yesterday Mark and I were traveling just north of Selma, North Carolina.  As we moved into the left-hand turn lane to switch to another highway, we saw this sign on the right-hand side of the road.  We made the turn, but Mark got out and got a picture for me.