Fresh Tomato Salad

This has been a frustrating summer for gardeners.
This is the very first tomato!!!
August 28, 2013

This is a Cherokee Purple.
It is quite juicy and acid, so it makes a great raw sauce.

The corn has ripened.  We've had several meals and there are 51 portions in the freezer.

The garlic is Spanish Roja, which we have decided we don't like very much.
It stays woody in vinegar.
I cooked some in tomato sauce, and it never softened.

Clouds in North Carolina

I was fascinated by the varieties of clouds in North Carolina.

There are lots of different layers and types.
 

 These were all taken during the various field trips near Asheville.

 

They sit above, behind, and in front of the mountains.
 

The ones that sit in front of parts of mountains are interesting.
 

Most of these were taken through the window of a moving vehicle.

North Carolina Arboretum

I thought this trellis made an attractive fence.

 This little shed has a carefully designed moss roof.

There are several different pitcher plants in the gardens.

And insects abound.

 In addition to the flowers, trees, and plants, there are many sculptures.

This gate has some of the plants included in the design.

 There are several gates in the grounds.

There is a large bonsai collection. 

The curator believes that they should be appreciated for their beauty.

None of the plants lists the age of the plant.

 And no visit would be complete without the Cherokee.

This property is called the North Carolina Arboretum.

It is more noted for its gardens.

The "North Carolina Botanical Garden" name was already taken.

Carl Sandburg's House and Goat Farm

We spent the morning at Connemara, Carl Sandburg's House and Goat Farm.

The drive in is lovely.

 The house could use some whitewash.  We asked our ranger if she was affected by the sequester.  She has lost her weekends and will have to take 20 unpaid days this year.  Perhaps the upkeep money is reduced, too.

Carl enjoyed sitting on the porch and playing his guitar.   This is the view.

The kitchen looks like anyone's from the 50s and 60s.

There is a mixmaster on the table near the Crisco.

The cone shape on the tray is the packaging for the goat milk.

The stove has the same deep well we had when I was a child.

This is Sandburg's office.

His filing system included cardboard boxes from the grocery store.

When Sandburg died, his wife, Lillian, arranged for the Park Service to buy the house for about half its value.

She packed up her clothes and a few bits of furnishings and left everything else.

There are even partially smoked cigars in the ashtrays.

The front parlor has magazines and there are books in all the rooms.

In this room there is a life mask of Sandburg and a mask of Lincoln.

This room still has the iron and ironing board set up and a vacuum cleaner on the floor.

One of the rooms has a bedspread I think matched the one on my brother's bed.

Lillian thought that goats could feed the world.  She bred for milk production, with one goat producing almost 5000 pounds of milk in 10 months. 

If I am calculating correctly, that's averaging around 2 gallons a day.  A lot for a goat, I would think.

This is Lillian's office.

After touring the house (on a tour conducted by a ranger), you can visit the goats.

Boat Ride on Lake Lure

Lake Lure is a man-made lake that can be seen from Chimney Rock Park.

From wikipedia:
In 1902, Dr. Lucius B. Morse and his brothers Hiram and Asahel purchased 64 acres around Chimney Rock (within present-day Chimney Rock State Park) for $5,000. They later acquired enough land in the area to bring the total to 8,000 acres  Lucius Morse's wife Elizabeth is credited with naming the lake (and the town).

I was told the name was to make the location alluring.

There have been movies filmed here, including the part of "Dirty Dancing"  where he holds her over the water.  I was also told that much of the filming could not be used because their lips were too blue and quivery from their swim in the chilly water!

This may be the Buffalo Rock - or maybe not. . . 

Chimney Rock Park

25 miles southeast of Asheville is Chimney Rock State Park

There is a dramatic rock that can be reached by elevator or stairs.  

I was looking forward to the view.  

Our 26-story elevator makes the climb to Chimney level a mere 30-second ride. From there, the North Carolina mountain views of Lake Lure and Hickory Nut Gorge spread out before you. Relax on our Sky Lounge patio and simply bask in nature’s glory.

Alas, the elevator was not working.  I could have taken the stairs - 408 steps - yeah, right.

This is the view of Chimney Rock from our boat ride on Lake Lure.

I am fascinated by the clouds in Asheville.

 This is the view from the parking lot at the base of the rock.

The  ribbon near the middle of the picture is Lake Lure,

a man-made lake and subject of another blog entry. 

 They get clouds in front of, above, and behind mountains.

The Basilica of St. Lawrence, Asheville, NC

The Basilica of St. Lawrence is a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church located in downtown Asheville, North Carolina.

When Vanderbilt brought stone masons from Spain and Italy to build Biltmore, there were no churches in which the Catholic masons could worship.  Eventually churches were built.

The tile designer for Biltmore was Rafael Guastavino.

He was the designer of the Basilica of St. Lawrence, which was built in 1905.

Over the main entrance is a polychrome tile.

This style of tile is seen frequently in the basilica.

He designed the church that became the Basilica.

Much of the church, walls, ceilings, and floors, are covered by his tilework.

If some of his work seems familiar, he is also the designer of many NY subway stations and Grand Central Station. 

The basilica's dome has a span of 58 by 82 feet (18 by 25 m) and is reputed to be the largest freestanding elliptical dome in North America.^[2]

 I was particularly struck by the stained glass.

Much of it was made in Germany.

.

We were there on a bright day, and it was magnificent.

Guastavino died before the building was complete.

He is entombed here.

The altar has a fresco of the Last Supper.

If you google St. Lawrence Basilica, you can see more exterior and wide-angle photos.

The Basilica's website is here:  http://www.saintlawrencebasilica.org/basilica.html

Thomas Wolfe House, Asheville, North Carolina

My Old Kentucky Home
is the name given by the previous owner of the house in which Thomas Wolfe grew up.

It is a not particularly impressive house with lots and lots of bedrooms.

And two bathrooms.

   Thomas was not particularly happy here, but the house figures prominently in his books.

He used this ledge to slip out of the summer bedroom to peek into the window of the woman he was infatuated with as a teenager.

"FilmNation Entertainment has announced that they are currently developing a film titled Genius and have signed on Michael Fassbender and Colin Firth to play classic author Thomas Wolfe and his editor Max Perkins, respectively."  source

Based on A. Scott Berg's National Book Award winning biography Max Perkins: Editor of Genius,  the film will chart the real-life relationship between literary giant Thomas Wolfe (Fassbender) and renowned editor Max Perkins (Firth), who developed a tender, complex friendship that changed the lives of both men forever.  source2

Biltmore

In the morning, we had several hours of lecture about the things we would see and the history of the Vanderbilt's and Biltmore.  

In the afternoon, we toured the property.  Our bus was able to drop us off (the pic shows a Biltmore shuttle for folks who arrive by car to get from the parking lot) right in front.  

Photography is not allowed inside the house.

This detail shows the external staircase, copied from a European castle.  In that castle, it was built because they forgot to put in an inside staircase.  (I wonder if that's true.)  A docent said that the engineering purpose  for this staircase was to cantilever the weight of the inside staircase which is a wide stone staircase running along the internal wall.    The external staircase looks to be about 18 inches wide.

There are lots of fascinating gargoyles - some are downspouts - some are decorative.

 Outside the library is this wonderful terrace covered by wisteria.  This picture shows about a sixth of the terrace.  It is said that Olmstead spent weeks sitting in this area thinking about the design for the grounds.  The property was bought cheaply because it had been clear-cut.  It was rocky soil, full of tree stumps and was eroding badly.

After visiting Biltmore, we went to the Biltmore Winery.  About 10% of the grapes they use are grown here.  They do make a "champagne".  

Here are the old tilted racks to get the dead yeasts to sit in the neck so that the neck can be frozen and the sediment can be removed.  The tilting and turning is now done mechanically, and the racks are no longer used.  Notice the small white "box" near the gray door.  A champagne cork is about an inch and a half in diameter - to get it to fit into the neck, they need that high-tech equipment - a microwave!  30 seconds in the microwave, and the cork is softened enough to be able to be put in the bottle.  (The tour guide said that will also work to recork the unfinished wine that you are saving for another day. . . )

The gardens are wonderful.

Here a gardener is deadheading the waterlilies.

We returned to Montreat for dinner and an evening presentation of North Carolina ghost stories.

Long day, but lots of fun.

Road Scholar in Asheville, NC

We took two days to get to Asheville.  Arrived at 4:30.  The Assembly Inn at Montreat was built in the 1920s and restored several times after fires.

The building sits across from a small lake.

 This is the view from a porch.

This is the view from my window.

The Conference Center was developed as a Chautauqua type summer camp.  In order to fund it, Presbyterians were given the opportunity to donate in return for a small bit of land for their private use.  It was recently incorporated to be a small city rather than a private institution.  Lovely summer homes.

They are in the process of renovating the bedrooms.

So far, they are air conditioned, with Wi-Fi in all rooms.  They have lovely new windows.

For the first day, breakfast is at 7:30, 

followed by lectures on Biltmore and the Vanderbilts.

After lunch, we go to Biltmore.

After dinner, there is a storyteller.