Rita

Welcome Spring! Those of you who read last month’s Musings know how strongly I feel about the Olympic games and after they were finished, I could hardly wait for the Para Olympics in the same beautiful location, the Italian Alps.
1976 was the first year to include disabled athletes with their own event after the regular games concluded. Only 2 skiing events took place at that time, Alpine and Cross Country.
Now, after 50 years, 79 medal events took place with over 600 athletes participating. Since the Para Olympics started, incredible advances in prostheti

The wintery weather continued well into February until the third week, when we suddenly had record warmth in the North Carolina Mountains! A visit to Biltmore Estates with a friend had all the signs of spring: newborn lambs, tiny daffodils, and even the forsythia bushes were trying to bloom. The Creamery was a great place to have ice cream for dinner! A couple of days later, winter came back with a vengeance—2” of snow, 18 degrees on the porch, and a cyclone of snow for my friends up north.

Mother Nature really had her way with us in January; I am between last weekend’s ice storm and this weekend’s snowstorm as I write this for the first of February.
Thank God for my gas fireplace; our power was out for just one day, mostly due to the extensive work done by Duke Power after Hurricane Helene. The roads were iced over for a couple of days but now we have two to three days before the next storm is coming in.
Staying warm by the fireplace was a perfect opportunity

Happy 2026! December went much too fast; I would have loved to add 2 more weeks of time with special people and activities! The entire month went in the blink of an eye. My tree was up and the entire house decorated by December 1st. and I was getting ready for our annual Christmas Sale at the Folk Art Center on December 6th. Snowflakes, Victorian glass ornaments and fingerless gloves were the best sellers as usual. But I also sold some of my scarves and larger pieces, as well as some baby items.

November truly was a month of giving thanks; several good things happened in the last couple of weeks, and I am truly grateful. Some needed home improvement projects were finally completed, a bit of necessary dental work proved to be less troublesome than anticipated, and a very dear friend earned her PhD—so there were many reasons to celebrate and give thanks!
The beautiful medallion and stars tablecloth to which I added three additional rows on each end of the existing length (featured in last month’s images) finally made it home in time for a large Thanksgiving reunion.

Happy Fall! The leaf lookers arrived in early October, and we had a wonderful time with happy visitors at the Folk Art Center as well as at our annual Fall Craft Show in downtown Asheville, which was cancelled last year due to Hurricane Helene.
I had a great demo session at the Folk Art Center in early October with a big number of visitors, since the Blue Ridge Parkway is now open from Cherokee to Mt. Mitchell. The galleries and exhibits were buzzing, and time flew by as I greeted visitors from overseas, Canada, and locals alike. I concentrated on demonstrating thread lace and