We stopped on the way up the mountain to revisit a favorite view. Can you see why it's called Blue Valley?
Phil and I drove up to celebrate Thanksgiving at a place for which we're most thankful--Two Holt. We were blessed with great weather and the company of beautiful family. We stopped on the way up the mountain to revisit a favorite view. Can you see why it's called Blue Valley? We took the artwork in the photo below to add a punch of color to the fireplace. We had bought this piece in 2004 while visiting Highlands. It's made by a local artisan who uses leaves from the area to create casts for her work. Our niece, Diane, was staying at Toe Holt, the old family cabin which now belongs to her. Diane joined us for Thanksgiving lunch at a local restaurant. The food was excellent... ...Diane's company was even better! Phil and I enjoyed an afternoon walk in our little Mirror Lake community and then did a little cooking for an evening meal...Carolina Caviar (smoked gouda pimento cheese), baked tomato soup, pretzel bread, and chocolate pecan pie. Diane joined us for dinner. She and I walked across the road to take a photograph of the bridge over Mirror Lake all lit up for the holidays. Diane is a ferocious reader and she brought a couple of books for Phil to read. One of the books, The Legend of Nance Dude, was a wonderful read that Phil just couldn't put down. It is the true 19th century story of a grandmother from western Carolina who, in the face of extreme poverty, did the unthinkable...she took her two-year-old granddaughter deep in the mountains to a cave and left her there to die. Phil enjoyed a good fire, good wine, and a good read! Our brother, Larry, visited us on Friday. He brought his friend, Susan, with him. Diane joined us for a short hike around Cliffside Lake. Phil reminisced about swimming to the little platform below in icy cold water 52 years ago... ...and then our little group set off to hike around the lake. The trail is an easy hike and the surrounding nature is beautiful. We stopped to look at the beavers' handiwork. The brothers walked... ...the brothers talked. On Saturday, Phil and I took another walk in our little community. We came back to Two Holt and enjoyed watching college football games. Diane and I decided to bundle up and go to the town's Christmas Tree Lighting. We sang Christmas hymns with the few hundred people there, listened to the Christmas story read from the Bible, and then counted down for the lighting of the town tree. Small town sweetness at its best--just like a Hallmark movie! Sunday morning Phil and I closed up Two Holt for the winter. Will we be able to stay away the next four months? Somehow I don't think so!
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Phil and I took advantage of a three-day weekend to take another trip to Two Holt. We enjoyed beautiful weather. We took a short walk and a long drive. Our drive took us to Middle Creek Barn--a little store near Sky Valley, Georgia filled with interesting items. We bought the column below for our front deck. I think we'll paint it a very soft yellow...not sure of the color yet. I can just visualize a beautiful pot of colorful flowers sitting on top of this column. It fits in well with the shabby chic design I love so well. I have to post one more picture of the outdoor dining area. I found a yellow tablecloth on clearance at K-mart and tried it out with an inexpensive lace cloth layered on top. The glass tabletop anchors everything nicely. I put a matching tablecloth on the little table in the corner. I plan to have a small glass top cut to fit this table and use it as a little outdoor buffet. We enjoyed lunch here on Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning we visited First Baptist Church of Highlands as we do every time we're in town. We have come to know several in the little congregation and we get lots of hugs and kisses whenever we are there. This past Sunday we joined the church as associate members which means we keep our membership in our home church in Alabama (Summerville Baptist) but we are also officially joined with our Highlands church family. We love, love, love this church family! Phil and I are seriously considering spending Thanksgiving together at Two Holt...we are certainly thankful for our little place!
Phil and I have enjoyed our time at Two Holt and we're seriously contemplating making it our retirement home in three to five years. We have decided to add a master bedroom and master bath the year before we move there. So I'm busy compiling ideas that we can take to an architect who, hopefully, will bring our ideas to life. Near the top of my wish list is to have a garage under the addition somewhat like the pictured one below. We're on a big slope so I'm interested in seeing how much it would cost to excavate for that garage space. I am adding a photo of Two Holt beside the garage picture to better help me envision the addition. I would love to have an excavated garage, but I'm not crazy about the house design over the garage in the above picture. I find that I'm often attracted to a double gable front...like the one below. Here's another gable look I love even more than the first one! The problem with those two gable designs is that there is no covered deck off the bedroom and we both really want that. The picture below shows a double gable with a full covered deck. So I suppose we could have both... I love the design below, but we would like to have at least a loft area above the bedroom addition so I would have to have this a bit taller... Nice columns in this picture below! We passed by the house in the photo below while driving around the Highlands area. I like the way the garage sits back a bit. Here's another double gable design below... The photo below is more in line with Phil's vision...I'm not sold on it. We'll keep looking for inspiration...after all we have a couple of years to decide. :)
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Phil & SharonMarried 40 years and hoping to enjoy many more! Archives
December 2019
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