Mast Store Valle Crucis

By Ethel Foss  I hope you are having a great week. The past two weekends were beautiful - it is hard to beat sunshine and Carolina blue skies. The Valle Crucis Park was busy as folks were enjoying getting out of the house into the fresh air. I even saw several cyclists out so be careful on the road ways since we are not so used to seeing them this time of year.

By Ethel Foss I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and New Year! Thank you to sister Callie for taking care of the Valle Crucis News during December.

Callie and I are taking advantage of every minute of sunshine we can get!  We ate lunch in front of the windows to soak up a bit of vitamin D on Thursday. And now it looks like more snow for next week. Surely the ski areas are happy with the natural stuff falling from the sky but not so sure the parents and students are happy about all of the snow days and missed school!

By Callie Foss  We hope that everyone is safe and staying at home on these days of slick and icy conditions. As I am writing this column, we have talked with several folks that have had “an adventure” on their way to work, to town, and to see friends. It’s these days that we are so glad that we can just stay at home, but we are thankful to all those who work so hard to keep our roadways as safe as possible. Be sure to tell the nice folks at the Department of Transportation and the State Troopers, Sheriff’s Department, and Police Officers how much you appreciate them.

By Callie Foss  I hope that you all are safe and warm. Just as Ray and all of the other forecasters said, we’re having a “snow event” with lots of driving snow and high winds. If you have to be out, drive with extra caution…or better yet, just figure out a way to let it wait until a little later. Ethel and I are enjoying a warm fireside and are reading a couple of good books.

By Callie Foss  Well, didn’t we get a cool surprise this weekend. Or maybe I should call it a cold surprise! I think the cold front just got to us and stalled. We saw on Booneweather that Ray says folks can expect around 2-7 more inches depending upon where they live.

By Callie Foss  Ethel and I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We enjoyed spending a little quality time with LC and Weezy. Everyone ate way too much, but how could we resist? It was so good. But we worked it off in the afternoon with a mean game of Cranium. Have you ever played that? It combines several games into one – charades, Pictionary, Scrabble/Balderdash, and Trivial Pursuit. A good meal followed by a good laugh makes for a great gathering.

By Callie Foss It’s the countdown to the big day, Thanksgiving. This is our favorite holiday. We always gather with LC and Weezy and their family to celebrate. Everyone shares his or her best recipe and there’s lots of great conversation around the dinner table. Afterward, we might watch part of one of the football games and then play a board game. Ethel always likes to play Scrabble, and LC’s favorite is Pictionary. I enjoy Trivial Pursuit. All of these keep our minds nimble, and that’s a very good thing.

By Callie Foss Sorry I missed last week. I don’t know where time goes. What did you think of all the snow? I spoke with Tom at the Mast Store to verify that our flurry with accumulation did indeed reach the level that it would be counted as a snow and have one bean removed from the jar. It did, so we have 14 more snows left this winter. You know what it takes to reach the “snow” designation, don’t you? You have to be able to track a rabbit by its tracks in the snow.