Working at Lillian Smith Center

Today is my first full day at the Center. I've gotten the floor loom set up and I've read through notes for the paper. I also walked down the road this morning with my camera to take a few photos.

So... please share my first day's experience through my eyes.

Peeler Cottage where I'm staying, around 7:45 this morning.

I walked down the gravel road toward the entrance. Since this is a dead-end no one should be driving down the road unless they have business at the Center. My cottage is near the end of the road so I won't hear much traffic at all.

Lillian E. Smith's memorial site includes a ruin of a chimney and also a stone marking her ashes.

The stone has a metal plaque... bronze, maybe?

I find the quotation on the plaque very meaningful. Memory is all we have of anything, isn't it?

The old chimney has vines growing in the fireplace creating a wonderful, graceful curve.

As I walked down the road the fog was lifting as the sun was rising higher causing beams of "heavenly light" (as my friend, Diane, calls these beams)...

I took several photos of this heavenly light... these two were the best.

On the walk I noticed many trees that had been "bound" by vines growing around them... these are just a few...

Here's the building in which the Common Room has internet connection...

...inside is lots of comfortable space to read, think and converse.

This afternoon I worked on the Penland class, the "...and other weft-faced adventures" part of the description. As I sat on the porch having an afternoon snack and caffeine I noticed the ridge line with the sun shining through the leaves. The tree trunks were dark against the light, the leaf litter in the foreground was rich and warm. I did a quick pencil and crayon sketch to indicate placement areas for color to be used in a pick and pick sample.

I was able to weave about 5 1/2" inches of this sampler--even with starting the weaving around 3:30 p.m. I'll finish it tomorrow afternoon and begin the next sampling for the class.

If I can be only a fraction as productive as this weaver while I'm here at the Lillian Smith Center retreat I'll be very happy! (Oh... maybe Daddy Long-Legs don't weave! The thought counts, maybe)