The Tea Party...

A sweet friend of mine [Nick Friedman] is the owner/potter of this gorgeous little pottery shop that sits right on the bank of the French Broad River in Brevard, NC.  Charmingly named "Duckpond Pottery".  Just about all of the clay he uses is local to Transylvania County, which makes is super awesome!

Lately, he's been busy making these gorgeous little tea cups and will soon be serving tea on the deck of the pottery shop.  I went down yesterday, not only to pick up a cup I just had to have, but to visit and catch up.  Nick showed me some adorable low tables he made [I don't know why I didn't get pictures of those, but I will go back and grab a few and update this post with them here].  Seating cushions will soon be available to sit on, have hot teas, listen to music [or not], and enjoy the beautiful sounds of the water gently flowing down the river

Nick invited me to have a seat on the "invisible" cushion and he served us "pretend" tea from a beautiful handmade teapot and cups.  I have to say, it was a most pleasant afternoon:

[the view from my "cushion"]

And I came home with a smile on my face, warmth in my heart and the most beautiful little tea cup I have ever seen!  It fits my hand like a glove and is the perfect size for my afternoon Kombucha!  Thank you Nick!  You made my day!

love and peace always ~ Kathy

"Love what you do and do what you love.  Passion is the key that opens the door to Joy and Abundance" ~ David Cuschieri

Happy November!

I can't believe it's already November 1st! ~ I've been living in North Carolina for over a year now! Amazing how fast time flies. One of the things I don't get by living in the woods are Trick-or-Treaters. Sometimes I really looked forward to seeing all the little ones dressed up in halloween costumes *sigh* ~ so, I just had to get my "little Jack" fix yesterday and went to see him @ his Dad's shop ~ he was helping Nick fix up the place, but they both took a short break and joined us 1/2 way on our afternoon hike......which was awesome! The gravel road winds along past this beautiful meadow that a gorgeous creek runs through the whole way.......and then there's a trail up through the woods to this awesome waterfall.We actually climbed up to the very top and sat behind the waterfall & had some wine. It was awesome:We even tried out the "10 second lapse" on my little camera so we could get a group picture:So for those who have never seen me in any pictures ~ there I am! The one on the far right with the "Jay Leno" gray streak in my hair and wearing my "Season's Don't Fear The Reaper Earrings" and my little "Shrunken Ex-Boyfriend Bracelet"! What the heck, it was halloween :) And check out my little skull & crossbones leggings ~ they rock! Anyway, we are really "squished" up because we all had to share the same rock. We stopped back by the "Duck Pond Pottery Shop" (which is actually where we had parked) on the way home, had some coffee and enjoyed the rest of the afteroon out on the deck:All in all, a wonderful end to October & Happy beginning to November ~

Before I go, in case you're not on my mailing list, I've started a bi-monthly Newsletter. The newsletter will always include some type of discount/coupon/freebie, ect., so it's certainly worth receiving. If you didn't receive it this past Monday, you can click here and subscribe. I'll be sending out another one during the 2nd week of November for Christmas shopping, so don't miss out.

I hope you had a "Happy Halloween"!!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Live In The Light" ~ Unknown

Tranquility....

Yesterday was the "Maiden Voyage" with our canoe. We took a 7 hour trip down the "French Broad River" with our friends Jerry & Suzanne. It was Jerry's birthday and it was a perfect day! We started off the trip around noon, then stopped after about 2 hours and had a picnic on the rocks. Then we headed off again and floated until we reached the "Duck Pond" pottery studio and there we shared a watermelon with Nick....Jerry enjoyed a smoke from his pipe:and then Nick jumped in his Kayak and joined us for the rest of the trip:It was just sooooo awesome ~ on the last part of the trip there were 3 Egrets that were "leading the way". They would fly just ahead of us and wait for us to almost catch up and then fly a little ahead of us again. They were just beautiful to watch, and so graceful in flight:

We saw lots of other animals, too. Like this cute little turtle that seemed to be waving to us as we floated by:we saw several Otter, that avoided my camera @ all costs! Then we saw these somewhat ugly & frightening Turkey Vultures, that we were almost certain would poop on us if we floated under them to closely:and then when we rounded the curve, there were these cows standing right in the middle of the river! We we a little skeptical to go by them, but they just "moozied" on out of the way {thank goodness} ~ all I could think was "oh gosh, they are going to tump us over and then we will be swimming in cow poop":But the trip was just amazing and so tranquil! I feel much better now and my creative juices are flowing in abundance *yay* ~ so I'm off to package up a few things and then make some new things for the shop {keep your eyes out}. But before I go, I just have to share this awesome picture of Jack @ Jerry's birthday party last night. He is just a little ham!I hope you are having a wonderful day!! Happy Thursday!!!

xxoo & peace always ~ Kathy

"I am sure there is Magic in everything" ~ Frances Hodgson Burnett

Special People…

Gosh, it's amazing to me that only after living here for 6 months that we can *literally* fill up our house with friends on a Monday night! Yes, Monday! So we hosted Music Monday again and had a wonderful turn out – about 30 people! And one of the best parts about it is that ALL of the food was eaten! *Yay* ~ it only took about 15 minutes to throw the dishes in the dishwasher. I think it took Wayne longer to carry out all of the beer & wine bottles to the recycle bin this morning. And to top everything off, Rainbow & Jeff {who is an amazing drummer/musician} brought this wonderful homemade apple pie:

It just don't get anymore *American* than that, complete with a heart in the center! Unless, of course you include this awesome homemade humus from Jerry & Suzanne {Moon Shine Babies}:

Yummy ~ I could have just eaten it with a spoon. And my little turtle from Nick {The Duckpond Pottery} was chock full of flowers & herbs from the garden:

But the cutest thing of all were these precious diaper covers that little Jack {The Duckpond Potter's little baby} was wearing:

Nick & Jen always have little Jack dressed soooo cute. He's always sporting the latest fashions in handmade, mostly organic, clothes, shoes & diapers. They wouldn't hear of putting Pampers on his little butt. After all, remember the saying "Give A Hoot, Don't Pollute" {hee hee}.

Now Nick & Jen's pottery shop is right on the banks of the "French Broad River" and all summer long they host a slew of musicians who happen to be coming through this way, in what's been named "Duck Pond @ Dusk"
The events start up again this Thursday evening with "R.I.S.E. (Rising Appalachia)" – a group of 2 sisters {Chloe & Leah} that are pretty popular and very entertaining. I'll blog more on them after the show.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far. Before I go, I just have to share this awesome little yard art/bubble wand mermaid that my sweetest little friend in the whole world, Paula {Purple Bus Studios} made. I think it's just the most clever thing ever. And the world could use more bubbles, after all:

Off to make something new & enjoy the rest of the day ~ Hope you are all having a wonderful Tuesday!!!

Xxoo & peace always ~ Kathy

A "blue" daisy that I found yesterday when we took Ozzy & Lita to "Fawn Lake"

"In this world, artists are joyous. Unpredictability is the life of their paintings, their music, their novels, their creations. They delight in events not forecasted, happenings without explanation, retrospective." – Alan Lightman