Show & Tell Friday: Fall Festivities & Quotes to Ponder On

I still look like I did last week. But I’m powering through.

Some good stuff to share on this cold October weekend:

1.) Halloweenfest & Osktoberfest in Transylvania County

I live in Transylvania County, North Carolina, and if you haven’t guessed from the name, we are serious about Halloween. This Saturday (Oct. 26th) is the annual Halloween festival. Downtown will be blocked off for food and craft vendors, stages filled with live, local music; there’ll be the annual Pumpkin Roll down the hill from the Courthouse, a hay ride, costume parade and more. After hours Oskar Blues Brewery will kick off Osktoberfest with food, music, and good beer. There truly is something for the whole family here!

The festival will also feature Mountain Mash, an old-time bluegrass competition, to be held at various times during the day.

For more info about Osktoberfest, and all the beers and bands, click here.

2.) Stingy Jack’s Pumpkin Patch

My family and I have been trying to get out to this quirky little blast of a Halloween event for

a couple of years now.  We plan to make it happen before Halloween! Located on a farm in Pisgah Forest, NC, Stingy Jack’s only opens on the weekends and in the evenings, and has a pumpkin carving contest, a spooky trail, enchanted hayride, and something called Stingy’s Ultimate Pumpkin Chunker, which is sure to appeal to the kids and the dads in the crowd, especially.
 

3.) Quotes on my bulletin board

Yes, this is random, and has nothing to do with Fall festivities. Humor me.

This is my bulletin board. It hangs on the wall to the left of my neat-as-a-pin writing desk. Why are you laughing? It’s not my story board–that’s different, and contains all kinds of notes on scrap paper, photographs, and anything inspiring me or having to do with my work-in-progress. The bulletin board holds my calendar, photos, the little reminder cards from the doctor’s office, etc. It also has stuck to it whatever quotes are speaking to me, my life, and my current (often crazy) state of mind.


Here are a few that I’ve lately found to be relevant. Basically, they shout to me from the bulletin board.

“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose, and then give your whole heart and soul to it.”
~ attributed to the Buddha

“Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”
~ Confucius

“A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world.”
~ John Le Carre

Books, Music & More: Show & Tell Friday

Last week, I inaugurated “Show & Tell Friday” here at The Writing Scott and over at my author website.

I dug it. I’m doing it again.

First up, my dear writer-friend Christine Byl’s debut book of nonfiction: Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods. I was lucky enough to get to know Christine back in 2008, when we spent a month as writing fellows at the Vermont Studio Center. We talked the wonders of Alaska, and she lent me her cross country skis. She is good people.

I know from personal experience reading her work that she’s an incredible talent. This is a book worth buying! It releases April 16, 2013 from Beacon Press, but you can reserve your copy now at Amazon and other stores, including your local independent bookstore.

By the way, that’s her in the wheelbarrow on the cover!

Next, a poem to share: “Waking,” by Stephen Dobyns. This was Monday’s featured poem on my daily dose of The Writer’s Almanac (which can show up in your Inbox, too, dear reader, if you only sign up). I am an awful poet, yet I adore poetry. And this poem just touched me with its gorgeous familiarity. It’s about marriage, and family, and it says so many of the things I’d like to say if I could.

Bradley Carter

Then, for you Western North Carolina, Upstate South Carolina, Eastern Tennessee readers–heck, anyone in the near-enough area–there’s some great music being created in my neck of the woods. This time, by two of my favorite people: Bradley Carter and H.R. Gertner, guys I worked with in my college days at an outdoor adventure camp in the mountains. Back then, I got to listen to these two pick, play, and sing on Sunday nights around a roaring campfire. (They’re also mad climbers and paddlers.) Check them out on Facebook!

Now they’re sharing their talents with the world. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for dates when they’re playing near you. Bradley will be coming home to Brevard, N.C. on April 16, 2013, to play at 185 King Street!

Finally, I’ll be signing copies of Keowee Valley and chatting with readers this Saturday, March 9 at the Oconee Heritage Center in Walhalla, S.C., from 2 – 3 p.m. My visit coincides with Old Time Music Day, so there should be a lot of great sounds coming from this fabulous little museum. (There’re also two incredible 18th century, preserved Cherokee canoes–pulled from nearby rivers–to check out at the OHC, along with all kinds of other cool stuff.)

18th c. Cherokee canoes - Oconee Heritage Center

Happy Friday, everyone–hope it’s a great weekend for us all!