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Back from a week in the mountains of Pocahontas county, WV. Talk about restorative!

Scene from the back yard of the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace farm

I was at Alegheny Echoes for a weeklong creative writing camp. We took field trips, did writing exercises, talked, wrote some more, did some improv, and so much more in the class.

On the Scenic Highway that runs along an Allegheny ridge

Then there was the music--in addition to the writing class, Allegheny Echoes offers classes on banjo, dobro, mandolin, fiddle, guitar, dulcimer, bass, and more in both old-time and bluegrass styles. So there was music everywhere, all day every day and far into the night.

field trip to Beartown

We stayed at a friend's camp with 6-7 other people, a rustic old house that was once a section supervisor's house for the railroad. The tracks are long gone and the trackbed has become the Greenbrier River Trail. It's a beautiful spot, very restful and usually quiet.

at Beartown Rocks State Park

More Beartown

Staying with a group like this was such fun. We divvied up cooking and cleanup responsibilities so no one had to cook very often and there was a huge variety of food. Sometimes one of us would cook breakfast, sometimes not. Evenings on the deck watching the moon rise and mornings on the porch watching the fog lift were great times for conversation.

I came home with some solid pieces to develop, which was what I had hoped for.I also heard many amazing pieces by my classmates.

We got home in time to unload the van, clean up and head out to a friend's birthday party on a beautiful ridge in our county. It was lovely to be there, and took me back to my early days in this county and visits to a friend's cabin on that very ridge--in fact, it was the next farm up. I had all but forgotten about it until we drove up there and then the memories came back. How young I was then!

Today will be packing again, this time for the big annual flea market. I hope we have time to go into town for the showing of a film made by a friend about the last public hanging in West Virginia, which happened in our county seat. Sounds morbid but it's quite a story, and I am interested to see this film.

This evening I'll be back to work on stories for the annual Mountain State Arts and Crafts Fair. It runs concurrently with the flea market so I'll be doing a bit of running back and forth. The MSACF is always a highlight of the year as the very best artists and crafters in the state are there to sell their wares. There are workshops too, and music, storytelling, and food of all kinds.

So for now I'd better get to work! Lots to do, and the day is warming up fast.



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