Tipper,

Hey - thank you so much for your kind comment! I do love photography and plan to post a lot more of my stock photos. I glanced at your blog and plan to give it a longer look when I can. I too love our mountain culture - and one of the things is bluegrass music. I also write about the area - I'm primarily a writer, not a photog, with journalism degrees from a couple of colleges. If you get a chance, read "The First of December" in U Chicago's lit mag. It's a hitch-hiking story from the 60s, set in Pisgah and on I-40. Also, my novel, THE MONEY TREE, is a chase set on Green River. You can read the first four chapters for free from my Kindle page at Amazon. You don't need a Kindle e-reader - just download the app for your omputer right from the page. I'd love to hear what you think about it.

Thanks again,

Sam

Thank you, love the site. Wish there was more sites like this across the globe.

Tipper, the Historical societyis the next step for us. We're feeling our way cautiously, as we go forward. Thanks for your kind comments.

*** I'm pleased you liked the Nantahala: Land of the Noonday Sun video made in, I think, 1999 . . . Lance Holland and I didn't know what we were doing but we went at it like demented savages . . . fortunately our videographer, Ron Rhuel, now deceased, did know what he was doing . . . we're not ashamed of it

Thanks, Tipper. I enjoy your wisdom about the old ways, which I cherish,too.

Hi Tipper. I was just enjoying your page here and can't figure out the picture of slices of squash on the kitchen counter with a string going across them. What is that? Do you string them up to dry them or something?

Sounds good to me! I'm not too present on the social network sites at the moment cause I'm trying to finish a book. All best, Allan allanwolf@earthlink.net

Me too - I want to wear my flip flops and capri pants (won't catch me in shorts - ugh! laughing...) -and t-shirts...and I want to sit on the porch with my laptop and write --can't write in the cold ...brrrr

Tipper, I'm afraid I have trouble finding my way around The Read. I don't have the time to spend trying to learn all I should know to use it properly. One day I'll spend a few hours and see if I can figure it out.
Love all your posts. They are delightful.

Tipper, thank you so much--I shall look forward to your comments on the book. And how very interesting--all the language discussions!

Tipper, I am so glad to meet up with you. I have a feeling I am generations older than you, but I wonder if you remember some things and people that I will never forget. Did you know old Dr. Geisler, who doctored for the Tennessee Copper Co. -- and everybody else in Copper Hill and many miles around? He made house calls and charged about a dollar -- if at all. He is the model for all I wish modern medicine could be -- kind, wise and caring.
Anyway -- my daddy worked for the TVA on the Ocoee and Holston dams, and at Fontana. They moved him all over, and we lived in some peculiar places for sure -- but when we got to Hot House, that was heaven. It is home, in my best dreams, though we were there less than a year. I remember just about every minute of every day. It is where I learned who I was -- and am. We had moved and lived among all sorts of people. But I was like the ugly duckling -- and when I got to that place, I knew my people, and they were the best.

Hi Tipper,
Hope you really enjoy the book--with our thanks!
Have a happy holiday!
Nancy

Thanks Tipper. My father was an ol' farm boy all his life. He knew about growing things, hunting Indian spikes, and identifying every tree and leaf. Keep blogging.

Hi Tipper. The cover art for my novel has been posted on the distributor's catalog so I put it on my page.

Tipper, you're welcome--and thank you! Nancy

Thanks for adding me as a friend, Tipper. You have a VERY interesting site, here. I look forward to being in touch.

I haven't read water for Elephants, but I have read The Lovely Bones and another Sebold novel, The Almost Moon. I liked them both, but they are certainly different! Did you know that The Lovely Bones is supposed to be a film before long, but they are having trouble filming it. Yes, I have read Our Southern Highlanders and although there is much to like in Kephart's book, there is also much that I don't agree with. Take, for example, his attitude toward women. I also think that much of his "colorful descriptions of mountain people" contributed to the stereotypes of mountaineers, (moonshine, poke hats and shotguns). Incidentally, I have a play about Kephart called "Outlander."

Okay, please go and find the novel, Stoner In the meantime, what are you reading? Tell me a title and if i haven't read it, I'll go find it and read it. Okay?