Hanging Out With Friends

I have had a few interesting days lately. It started with a storytelling evening in New Martinsville, WV at the elementary school. Appalachian stories and songs for a family audience--talk about fun! It was good to get my storytelling self on again after a long break, and to re-visit some of my favorite tales and tunes.

The next morning I was up early to get packed and ready for a weekend of writing in the mountains with three other poets. Each of us was to provide one meal; my meal was Friday evening so I prepared a meatloaf with venison and some beef raised by a neighbor, parsley potatoes and a tossed salad with our lettuce, and a loaf of my honey oatmeal bread. What fun to cook, eat, talk and write with good friends. It was a productive weekend and I came home with several starts on new poems and some excellent revisions on some drafts.

Spending time in the mountains is always good for the soul, isn't it? While I live in the hills and in a very private place, it is still good to be somewhere different and seeing different things. I stopped at one of my favorite little spots along the way to see what might be in bloom. The thing about nature: it is constantly changing and offering something new to surprise us. I have stopped in this same place numerous times and am always finding something new to see there.

Monday found me on the road again, this time with my husband, heading to the VA hospital in Huntington for an appointment for him. Routine stuff, but an opportunity to travel along the Ohio River and see what's been happening on the far western side of our state. So in the space of 24 hours, I was basically from one side of West Virginia to the other!

Yesterday was another fun day with friends. Two of my Facebook friends who did not know each other discovered that they lived only a few miles apart, so we planned a get-together. I drove about 2 hours to meet up with them and enjoyed a long lunch at the Olde Dutch Restaurant in Logan, Ohio.--a place I'd highly recommend. My of my, the pies! My diet was seriously damaged,  I'm afraid.

Vicky is an antiques and vintage seller, and my other friend Adele is a storyteller so they represented my two favorite activities. Vicky sells at the Logan Antique Mall so we had a blast touring the entire mall and shopping. Before we left, Adele had signed up for a booth too. I bought several things, but they're still in the van so no pics yet.

It's been really nice to be out with friends I see so seldom. As I get older I realize how important these connections are, and that I need to make more of an effort to see people. I learned years ago that I am a work-focused person, and can easily forget to make room for just being with friends. Something I need to change.

I am a little tired from all the travel, but every bit of it was 100% worth it. I am writing in my bathrobe, taking a slow start to the day and enjoying looking back and remembering the faces, laughter and joy of the last few days.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.