Pumpkin People and Mountain Moonshine Update

They usually appear much sooner.  Last year they were vandalized.  So I feared the Pumpkin People would not make their presence known this year.  Fortunately I was wrong.  They are back, still waving at folks passing by on US 276.

 A never-ending smile must be difficult to maintain.

 Not to mention a hand held in a perpetual wave.

Brevard is the county seat of Transylvania County.  Last week's District Court session included an appearance by "Uncle Buck," charged with selling non-tax-paid alcohol (called moonshine, or 'shine around these parts).  Some of the charges against Uncle Buck were dismissed.  He pleaded guilty to three counts of posessing and selling non-tax-paid alcohol, possession of drug paraphernalia and simple possession of marijuana.

The judge ordered a suspended sentence of thirty days and Uncle Buck was ordered to serve unsupervised probation for a year.  Most of the citizens of our county breathed a sigh of relief.  Hardly anyone wanted the judge to be harsh with Uncle Buck.  We are happy to see him carving his bears with a chain saw and chatting with people who drop by his place.

One of Uncle Buck's bears provides a welcome sign to visitors.

The Pumpkins Are Back

My husband came in to make the announcement.  "The pumpkin people are back."  I had lamented the fact that the place where the pumpkins stood every year had been purchased and was an unsightly detail shop.  The people who had previously owned the space have opened up a little coffee shop near us.  And they continued the annual practice of having the pumpkin people wave as people traveled US 276 through the mountains.

They are a bit different this year.  Always a male and female before, it seems to be two guys this year.  Well, either that or she has quite a growth of "lip hair."  Before I could get a picture, we had heavy wind and a few of the pumkins shifted on their legs.  But no matter, I am happy to see them once again smiling and waving.

Hello everyone!

They don't seem to mind at all that they have lost the gorgeous mountain view.  Perhaps that's because it was behind them and they never got to see it anyway.

It's mid-week again so quickly.  Sometimes we feel as if we are simply passing time, or watching time pass us.  This sign expresses it well.

As Lewis Carroll said, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."

For many years I hated that phrase because it was invariably used in those annual Strategic Planning sessions I had to endure.  It seems one cannot go through that tedious process without hearing it at least once, and usually more often than once.  Since retirement, I've come to like the phrase once again.  So often we get in the car without a particular destination.  Simply driving through the beautiful countryside is destination enough.  When we do that, almost any road will take us there.

To wax philosophical, life is not about getting there.  Life is about enjoying where you are.  As some wise person observed (this is from one of my favorite tee shirts), THE JOURNEY IS THE DESTINATION.

BTW:  Whoever said the Pine Siskins would not be irruptive in our area got it all wrong.  They came in such huge numbers and were throwing birdseed all over the place and totally disrupting our other birds.  So we brought in all the feeders except for the suet.  Too bad for the cardinals and the finches, but we still have our chickadees, nuthatches, wrens, titmice and woodpeckers.  We'll put the feeders back out this weekend.  One or two Pine Siskins are cute.  Dozens of them are not.

Won't Be Autumn Without the Pumpkin Pair

September 22 marks the Autumnal Equinox, the official first day of fall.  Here in the mountains we look forward to fall with mixed feelings.  The mountains that bring us the unbelievable fall beauty also bring us tons of tourists.  Our businesses rely on the tourism so we take that as part of season.  We are extremely fortunate to have so many backroads to travel...roads that tourists don't often undertake.

One road we must travel in order to get home from downtown is US 276, a very heavily traveled route that is well known for its potters and mountain views.  Every year a local shop puts together a pumpkin display next to the shop.  The tradition was kept even when the shop changed hands a couple of years ago.  I just loved rounding the curve and seeing the pumpkin people so friendly and hospitable.

Alas, the shop has been sold and the new owners have a car detail place.  The beautiful knoll on which the pumpkin people stood has a rental shed in front of it.  The place is an eyesore and I  hate it everytime I drive past.  The shop has one of the best views in the area and not only are there no pumpkin people, there is an ugly shed there.

So here are Mr. and Mrs. Pumpkin from a previous year.  Notice the gorgeous view behind them.

They waved to everyone passing by.  You would not believe how many people waved back.

I will miss the pumpkin people.  I miss the shop since I frequently popped in to buy something or another.  I'm sure that regular tourists will miss the pumpkin people as well.  Many of them marked their mountain trips with annual family photographs with the pumpkins.  I imagine they will be driving up the road and wonder, "Wasn't this where the pumpkin people were?  Did we miss them?"  Yes, and we miss them too.

I'm Voting for the Pumpkin

I must admit it feels very strange. Today is Election Day and I'm not going to the polls. We have early voting in NC, and I voted last week. I didn't think it would be the same, but it really was, complete with long lines. But I still feel as if something is missing today.

So, I'm going to vote again...for the Pumpkins. For many years, a local real estate agent has erected a pumpkin man and woman on her property. The property was sold last summer. As fall began to arrive, everyone wondered if we would see the pumpkins again.

Well, the new owners outdid themselves. Once again, Mr. and Mrs. Pumkin are waving at the traffic.

I love the use of various pumpkins and squashes. Note Mr. Pumpkin's neat mustache.

The poor Pumpkins. They are looking and waving at cars on the highway. Meanwhile, this view is just behind them.

If you are not in a "early vote" state, get down to the polls and VOTE. Take your iPod, book, newspaper or anything you need to pass the time in line. This may be the most important election of your life. Be a part of it!!!