SOCIAL DIRECTOR GONE TO POT

Some people wonder how I could have moved from Charlotte ("big city life") to Tobaccoville - on a dairy farm, no less! What you may not know is that not only did I get a wonderful husband, I "got" his older sister Pat who also lives here on the farm. She has become my "social director," taking me to new restaurants, keeping me in touch with the arts, and including me when there are local cultural events taking place. One such recent event was The Mountain Foliage Festival in Independence, VA. We went on Saturday,October13, specifically to see the Grand Privy Races! Here is Pat, looking for all the world like this is going to be good, but that mischievous grin made me a little uneasy.

The streets were filled with all manner of people from all walks of life. We thought perhaps these two young ladies had been contestants in the Potty Princess Pageant the night before, but no ... just a couple of good-looking chicks talking with the menfolk! I was beginning to have serious doubts about the merits of this festival, but then I saw that channel WXII12 was there from Winston-Salem. Hey! They wouldn't be here filming and interviewing the crowd unless this were important, right??

We found a good place to stand so I could get plenty of photos. It was time for the races to begin and, yes, the town stopped traffic on the main north/south and east/west roads for this amazing race. I'd let the pictures speak for themselves, but they don't have much to say. First of all, I've been in quite a few outhouses in my lifetime, and these were definitely not outhouses. Maybe "privy" is a poor southern excuse for an outhouse. I was expecting to see big old outhouses barreling down the street, maybe pushing back the crowds with the smell. But instead, these races were very civilized. Two privys raced at a time, making two quick stops during which the team members had to rotate their positions. Then the winning teams raced against each other, resulting in one team winning the big bucks.
Perhaps Pat was feeling guilty about this less-than-stellar event, so we headed to the old courthouse and saw that there were many interesting historical articles and artifacts to study. We didn't have time to peruse them, though. There were local crafts for sale in some of the rooms and outside on the lawn, by golly! We looked everywhere for the Potty Princess, but it turns out he got too cold in his dress so he had changed into his regular street clothes. Someone pointed him out to us as he stood across the street.
There was time for one more event before we headed back to the farm: the Toilet Paper Tossing Contest! I got excited thinking about the wonderful photos I would take. I could just imagine the white streamers of toilet paper floating against the background of a Carolina blue sky. Wait! Forget the Carolina part! We were in Virginia. I took quite a few pictures and the sky truly was a beautiful blue, but the rolls of toilet paper were either fake or were somehow sealed ... no streaming paper - just a hokey contest. The back of this guy's tee shirt had contestants playing horseshoes with toilet seats. Sort of summed up the whole experience.
Pat, Pat, Pat - WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?????

September Blog!
You can see I haven't blogged in quite a while and you may be wondering why I haven't sent very many emails in the past month or so. There's a logical reason, of course: On August 14, Katie came home from Japan!! She has been staying with us since then (except for a week in Miami), until she decides where her next adventure will take her. Here you can see Katie, Anna, and me on the afternoon that I picked her up from the Charlotte airport.

And now I'll share with you the highlights of this past month.

September 2nd was a busy day for us. First, Weldon's granddaughter Ashley turned 7 years old!! Weldon's mom (Edith) and his sister Pat had a little birthday party for her at their house. After eating lots of good food and the cake made by Pat, Ashley had to get down to the barn to see the kittens and the new calves. This year's calves have generally been being born early and are smaller than usual. Maybe due to the hot weather?? Anyway, the little calf in the picture is named Goliath. He was born at least 5 weeks early and only weighed 33.5 pounds. (Calves usually weigh between 90 and 100 pounds at birth.)
We no sooner wrapped up the birthday party activities than it was time to go to Steve & Beth's place (Weldon's younger sister) for a party welcoming his nephew Wesley home from Iraq. Here he is with his fiancee Ashley. We arrived early so we would have a little time to visit with him before the other guests arrived. We couldn't stay for the barbecue and other goodies because we had to get home to milk the cows. Such is life on a dairy farm. Here's a link to a story in the Winston Salem Journal http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173352691667

After an incredibly dry spring and summer, thinking that he might not have enough corn in his own fields, Weldon bought some standing corn from a neighbor and chopped it for silage. Then, on September 3, (at least 2 weeks earlier than usual) he and 2 friends started chopping the corn here on the farm. Weldon and I normally eat a late breakfast after morning chores and an early supper before evening chores. When the corn is being chopped, however, the guys come in for noon lunch and Weldon's mom and I take turns preparing the meals. I didn't take any pictures of the wonderful food we prepared, so we'll go straight to a few pics of the men doing their thing. Weldon does the chopping
John Leap drove the wagons back and forth from the field
and Les Collins blew the silage into the silos. Okay, so he really ran the machine that did the blowing. Picky picky.... A good time was had by all. The last field of corn, which was planted later, will be ready to chop in about 10 days. I guess I'd better start thinking about menus again.

Katie hadn't seen her one-and-only nephew since her return from Japan, so she and I decided to meet Anna and Marshall at the Dan Nicholas Park in Salisbury on Sunday, the 16th. Weldon and I had been there once while we were dating, but I guess I was more interested in Weldon than the park at that time. This is really a great place to spend a day and, after a week of rather cool weather, the day was absolutely perfect for some outdoor fun. Our first stop had to be the paddle boats, of course! Katie and Marshall kept bashing into us, but we didn't mind at all. We visited the wildlife center or whatever it was called. We road the train and were silly. Marshall dragged Katie to the playground a few times, but he couldn't convince any of us to play miniature golf. We had a wonderful picnic together, most of the "wonderful" stuff being supplied by Anna and Marshall :-)
Read all about the park: http://www.dannicholas.net/

This past Sunday, the 23rd, we drove about an hour north and west of here to Stone Mountain State Park, located on more than 13,500 acres near the Blue Ridge Parkway. The mountain itself is a 600-foot granite dome, and the park includes waterfalls, hiking trails, and a historic mountain homestead. The Loop Trail is a "strenuous" loop that climbs .75 miles to the summit of the mountain, then continues 1.25 miles to the top of Stone Mountain Falls. From the falls, the trail leads 2 miles to the meadow at the base of Stone Mountain and back to the trailhead. That sounded like too much work for a Sunday afternoon, so our goal was to make it to the top of Stone Mountain and come on back down. We hadn't been on the trail too long before Katie and I lost Weldon. He had gone ahead and we took a "wrong" turn. No problem! After a little backtracking, we got back to the main trail and continued the ascent with Weldon. Katie took the lead as I huffed and puffed bringing up the rear. Or maybe I just like taking pictures of people's butts!! Can you see the little dot that is Katie in this picture? And here is one of the fabulous views from the summit:
Don't ask me how, but as we debated how to descend the mountain, Weldon went ahead while Katie and I looked at the map for a minute. We then started down the mountain, following the way that Weldon went. The only problem: we never saw him ahead of us! But once we had started, all we could do was continue and hope that he would be waiting for us somewhere along the path. When we reached Stone Mountain Falls, we knew for sure that we were on the Mountain Loop Trail. The pictures aren't great, but they prove we walked all the way around! We knew, in spite of our tired feet and thirsty throats (Weldon had the water bottle), that we would have to continue until we got back to the base of the mountain. This sign became my favorite part of the path. It meant that we were nearing "civilization." But, when we got to the parking lot, would Weldon be there? Would the car be there? Would he have started back up the mountain or called out the National Guard?? Well, there he was, sitting on a bench next to the car. Ahh, the happy reunion and the joy of sitting on a bench and sharing a little snack and drinking some cold water. Once we were all safely together again, I was glad Katie and I had walked the loop :-) Here's their website: http://www.ils.unc.edu/parkproject/visit/stmo/home.html

And now it's today, September 25, 2007 - Weldon's and my third anniversary!

We are blessed!!

***OSAKA***

Our second day exploring Japan (March 23) was spent in Osaka. We took the train from Nisshin to Nagoya to Osaka. We wandered the streets, including the famous Dotonbori shopping district, for what seemed to be hours, snapping pictures and acting like tourists. People and bicycles everywhere! Restaurants with huge signs and neon lights enticing you in. (Remember, you can click on a photo to see it bigger, but you won't see any additional info.) Everyone was taking pictures of this sign: I thought surely he must be a famous Japanese Olympian or something. Turns out Glico is a Japanese food company and we still don't know who the guy is. And what famous artist or actress could this be? It's Katie! YEAH!!! And then ... a Ferris Wheel!! Can we ride? Can we?? We can! :-) The Dotonbori River from street level and from the top of the ferris wheel. And here's Osaka from way up high.
Now it was time to head to the day's main event - the Grand Sumo Tournament! There are six Grand Tournaments a year (each lasting for 15 days), one of them being in Osaka while we were there!!! We walked to the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium where crowds were waiting to catch a glimpse of their favorite wrestler. Katie had got tickets for us so we went right in to enjoy the festivities.

Sumo is an ancient sport dating back some 1500 years and, according to Japanese legend, the very origin of the Japanese race depended on the outcome of a sumo match. The first sumo matches were a form of ritual dedicated to the gods with prayers for a bountiful harvest and were performed together with sacred dancing and dramas within the precincts of the shrines.
There are no weight limits in sumo, so a wrestler may find himself pitted against an opponent twice his own weight. A bout is won by forcing the opponent out of the inner circle or throwing him down in the ring. A wrestler who touches the ground with any part of his body (his knee, or even the tip of his finger or his top-knot) loses the match. Hitting with the fist, hair pulling, eye gouging, choking, and kicking in the stomach or chest are prohibited. (Is kicking in the shins or head okay?) It is also against the rules to seize the part of the band covering the vital organs.
The correct name for the sumo diaper :-) is mawashi. Made of heavy silk approximately 10 yards long by 2 feet wide, it is folded in six and then wrapped around the waist from 4 to 7 times, depending on the girth of the wrestler. There are 70 winning tricks, most of which are achieved by maneuvering the opponent with a grip on the mawashi.
There is much ritual and traditional etiquette that accompanies the sumo ceremony. The wrestlers clap their hands, slap their thighs, raise their legs in the air, and stomp their feet; they throw salt onto the ring to purify it; they rinse their mouths with water and wipe their bodies with towels. Then they squat and face each other in the center of the ring, glaring fiercely at each other. They don't begin the match at once. They go back to their corners to throw more salt, wipe down their bodies, and return to glare. They can do this again and again, for the full four minutes allowed by the rules. Theoretically, they are waiting for the psychological moment when they both feel ready. The referee is attired in kimono patterned after the style worn by the samurai. Sitting around the four sides of the "dohyo" are five judges in black formal kimono.
This picture shows the "entering the ring" ceremony with the wrestlers wearing their ceremonial aprons made of silk, richly embroidered and hemmed with gold fringe.
The bout is usually over in less time than it takes to go through the "warm-up" rituals.

We laughed and clapped and cheered for nearly 3 hours and took hundreds of pictures, so let me know if you want to see more :-) Note: Anything written above that sounds like I know anything at all about Sumo Wrestling was taken from the brochure we were given upon entering the gymnasium. See the official website: http://www.sumo.or.jp/eng/index.html