Post-Penland Blues, and Other Mysteries.

Here is Michelle C. Moode last week: tired and heart-broken, and unfortunately in Georgia.

Okay.

I am finally on my way home, and ready to conclude what has been an exhausting, wonderful summer. I start teaching again very soon, and I need to put aside my summer wonderment for a while.

Just to get you caught up: this summer I went from LA to Nashville to Murray, KY back to LA via Texas, (that was the “get-everything-I-own-in-one-state” phase.)

Then I was in LA for a while...then to Visalia and Bakersfield, CA.

Then to Seattle, with an unexpected detour to Las Vegas (THAT was an unfortunate day of air travel.)

Then to Asheville on a red-eye, via Atlanta, and then up a mountain to Penland for a very long three weeks.

After that the plan had been to be in Atlanta, Georgia to make books and have a show. That didn’t work out due to unfortunate miscommunications, so lets leave the topic like Maranda and I left Georgia: itchy, and in a hurry.

I spent a few days making books and laughing uncontrollably in Murray, Kentucky. I did not expect to be back so soon, but it all worked out for the best I s’pose.

Where am I now? Hell, I don’t know. Oh wait...I’m at my parents in Nacogdoches, Texas again. God, I am so ready to be at home. I hope I remember the way.

“Penland penland penland penland penland.” I could go on and on. I must get it out of my system.


Young’s Mountain Music, down the hill from the school. A few students played there one night, and it seemed about half of Penland was in attendance for the show.


This is Freya, whom I met in 2003 at Penland. I did not expect to see her again. She was my favorite friend to share secrets with in the past month, (besides Maranda; there was an almost seamless transition) and I miss her so much already.


This is Loring. Loring and I were studio mates in lower metals, and he taught me a game he called "I hit you with a brass rod." He also played "Its a hard knock life" (yep, from "ANNIE") in the dishwashing room one day. What few people know is that he also played it three times in the studio before that. I miss this guy a lot. Boy, did we laugh. I remember lying on my back in yoga, quietly laughing to myself at something he had said earlier that day, and also because I could hear him quietly snoring near me...


Part of my work/study job was to wipe up dear little crumbs like these in the Dining Hall, the Pines. I love them, and this picture.


So, my class was two and a half weeks long, and after that was Penland's Annual Benefit Auction. This was my EIGHTH (!?) year managing the Pines for this crazy-exhausting weekend. My crew, "Team Awesome," washed all this rental stuff...that's 400+ dinner plates, desert plates, water, wine, and highball glasses, silverware...and we washed it all twice. We also washed everything that the kitchen was getting dirty for the volunteer meals, and the caterer's serving pieces (out of the goodness of our hearts.) Of course, (as always!) I had good help...


My ol' travel pal Maranda (from Murray State) arrived just in time to help me out in a million ways...like helping 'clean' this bowl of chocolate.


My "god-parents," Megan and Jack. I think this was their third auction working on my team.


And the rest of "Team Awesome '09."


This is my good friend Kate Boyd, who actually organizes the Benefit Auction. I'm just "the help."


Lastly, here is my dear friend Wes Stitt, with his "Lady," the Pines Dining Hall. He manages the Pines, except for the few days when it gets all messed up by the Auction. (although all would be left in chaos without me around.) Of all the friends I've made in the past month, I spent the most time with Wes, and he is a kindred spirit.

I will continue posting pictures on my flickr site...but I am at my limit for this month I believe.

In another post, I shall share the Ballad of Maranda and Michelle, and what adventures we found after Penland.

Lastly, here's an early-auction-morning, before they turned the mountains on: