Waking Up to the New Year in Asheville

We got to travel through Asheville on our way home from Savannah and visit our dear friends Jude, Paul and their beautiful daughter Sylvia. We also saw our good friends Laura and Eduard, with whom we rung in the new year! It was a fun time. I snapped a few pictures in the morning on New Year's Day. What amazes me about Jude and Paul is how creative they both are. Every time we visit there is so much more to see around their incredible home. They are both wonderful artists and inspire us deeply. A nice way to start out the new year, indeed. For instance, here is a lovely pocket calendar Jude made. Inside each pocket is a handwritten note with an activity for their family to do to make each day special during the holiday season.

Lovely Sylvia, just turned two now.

Paul is a collector. I imagine him constantly tinkering outside 'working on his chores' but secretly he is doing a bit of this and a bit of that. He is constantly adding to his landscape and coming up with innovative uses for discarded materials. In their yard are many bicycle wheels, gardens planted in sinks, and the like. He also owns his own painting company and one thing he never throws away is paint lids. Here is a great example of his work, a grand arch of paint lids over a beautifully painted metal gate. Below are pavers in the new patio, all various manhole covers from the local scrapyard.

Looking for eggs in the new chicken coop, also adorned with colorful paint lids.

A view into and the coop - a very nice design.

Paul, Jude and Sylvie. We love them!!!