On the Same Page in West Jefferson, NC

 The past weekend found me is a corner of North Carolina I'd never visited -- West Jefferson. It's at a higher elevation than my neck of the woods and I took lots of pictures of views. The house where I stayed faces east and I felt right at home, watching the glorious sunrises. (The house is for sale, by the way, as the owner is down sizing. Should any of you be in the market for a little bit of heaven, email me and I'll put you in touch with the owner.)

I arrived Thursday night, in time for a fine supper with my hostess and one of her friends (delicious apple pie, Lynda!) and then we hustled off to hear Lee Smith speak. Lee is a long time favorite author for me and she's a delight to listen to. She's at work on a novel centering around F. Scott Fitzgerald's troubled wife Zelda and her stay at Asheville's Highlands Hospital -- a mental institution. I also purchased a copy of Lee's most recent publication -- MRS. DARCY AND THE BLUE-EYED STRANGER -- a  collection of wonderful short stories that has kept me up reading every night since.

On Friday at ten, it was my turn. I spoke to a very nice audience and following the festival's theme of 'Journeys,' I talked about my journey from Florida suburb to mountainside farm, my journey from occasional scribbler to published author, and the journeys my characters make within each book. All these journeys, as it turns out, have more to do with moving toward understanding than merely covering miles. 

 Later on, my hostess (actually, she was called my handler and was responsible for getting me where I needed to be and seeing that I didn't get into trouble,) her friend Sue, and I walked around the quilt fair. Alas, Vagabonde, I took no pictures. I was surprised to see that almost every quilt displayed was machine quilted -- a change from any quilt exhibit I've ever been to. Machine quilted or not, there were some real beauties there.

My next event was called Lunch With an Author --- at which I had been warned told there would be a surprise. I knew that an old friend from high school days would be there and I was expecting, perhaps, embarrassing pictures from the 1960 yearbook. So off my handler and I went to the boardroom of the library to chat with readers over lunch and see what this surprise was going to be.

I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, as well as about some of the other authors that I met and some of the events. This festival is quite amazing -- art shows, gallery crawl, quilt fair, farmers' market and who knows what all filling this beautiful little mountain town. . .