Well it started out better when there were no sirens, bells, whistles, or other sounds of alarm during breakfast. Today we spent the morning at Flat Top Manor, the summer home of Moses and Bertha Cone. Moses made a fortune in denim in the early 1900's. He was a Baltimore Native (and his sisters collection of Matisse and Picasso paintings, which they bought when both were unknown, struggling artists, are in the Cone wing of the Baltimore Museum of Art), and to show off his wealth he bought a ton of land, built a couple of lakes and a big house on top of a hill near Chimney Rock.
The first dozen or so pix are from the bottom of the hill at Bass Lake looking up on the hill toward the Manor. We then went to the manor and inside, and even snapped a picture of a Picasso drawn of Moses' sisters.
Beautiful home and view... after walking in the Sun for hours we came back, ate a BIG lunch, and then sat in comfy, soft chairs in an air conditioned room while a speaker, whom I am sure would have been very interesting if I had been able to keep my eyes open long enough to listen to her, droned on about the makeup of the people of Appalachia.
This evening was much better...first a storyteller told some Jack Tales (He was OK but the guy at the Orchard yesterday was better), and 2 grad students who played Appalachia tunes (splitting banjos, guitars, and a fiddle between them). They explained the differences between old time and bluegrass music, how instruments, like the banjo are played differently in each, and how the instruments and their roles in the music differ in each. They were exceptional musicians, and the evening was terrific!
Tomorrow we are on the bus all day....3 stops on the Parkway....it will be a gas!
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