Quick impressions

Lake Kanuga and Pavilion

I'm back from the hills of North Carolina. Brief thoughts about the weekend -

• The smell. It's the smell of the place that first strikes me about Kanuga (near Flat Rock/Hendersonville, NC). Pine. Dried leaves. Old wood. Muddy loam. Spruce. Bark. Something else carried on the wind, that I just can't quite put my finger on. What?
• The sound. The cabin's screen door slamming - a gentle, comforting sound, rather than something startling. The sound of the mountain breeze in the trees - sort of a "shhhhhh-shhhhh" in different tones. Children's voices. Mamas' voices. Sudden shouts, laughter. With the "shhhhhh-shhhhh" weaving in and out.
• Comfort. Cool, clean air. Mealtime conversations. Reassuring a scared sick friend that he is not alone. Finding out that someone I've just met grew up in Chattanooga, too, which launches us into a "where did you . . .?", "did you know?" conversation.

I'm tired and tomorrow's gonna be a bear. So I'm off to bed. (The fresh-picked apples are sheer perfection, by the way!)