How to be welcome at any occasion

If you want to be welcome at any occasion, showing up in a cookie van might be a good idea. When I encountered this van, however, the proprietor was going for  a hike on Mt. Mitchell rather than selling cookies, so I can't report.

Mari and her Koto teacher busking

Via Whitney Brasington, this is footage of Mari and her koto teacher busking in downtown Asheville.  Hooray!

Memorials

The family (and friends) of Jenifer Morgan at her burial in the Celo Community Cemetery.

Jenifer's grave. We are going to miss her strong spirit, her ability to listen to everyone, and her dedication to making a better world--not to mention all those e-mails about local politics. There will be a memorial service on October 19.

People milling about at the wonderful gathering in honor of Tom Trout. It involved words, music, pétanque, pizza, photographs, lots of good memories--and Theo! Thanks to the Trout family and a whole bunch of Tom's friends for making this happen.

Mike says a few words. 

Remember that day?

Remember that day when we took everything out of the rummage room at the co-op and cleaned it up and built shelves and painted and then put some of the stuff back in? That was a good day.

Festival!

Thanks again to Jody and Jennifer for hosting another memorable Festatoa! Random pictures here. Not much from the play because I was on stage.

This is kind of a crazy picture, which is worth clicking on to see larger.

Stack your own.

Tree love!

As usual, Jeff was everywhere.

Tom

Tom playing bocce by the river in 2007

So many thoughts this week about Tom Trout: husband, father, mason, baker, traveler, teller of stories, thrower of balls, excellent friend. Tom was one of the first people I met when I moved to Celo--he helped me with a big, messy can of olives on the porch of the food co-op. Our kids grew up together, and our path crossed many ways. 

There was both grace and tenacity in the way he lived his cancer years. I so admire the way his family and closest friends circled around him during that time, and the way he was frank about his situation but refused to be defined by illness. And I will always admire his long and loving marriage with Brenda Phetteplace, and their great affection for Gus and Zoe.

Tom was a great guy, and we're going to miss him. The family put together this obituary.

Cutting soba noodles with a group studying Japanese metalsmithing techniques at Penland School, 2018.

Another thought. Tom was not a perfect person (who is?). There's stuff you could say about him. But he was one of the most deeply positive people I have ever known. When Tom was into something, he was really into it, and it was easy to go along with him for the ride. Even the scarring he got in the Vietnam war eventually turned into his enthusiastic participation in the activism and educational work of Veterans for Peace, return trips to Vietnam, friends in Vietnam, and a love of Vietnamese oolong.

Tom's Team Scores!

Click to see this bigger.