NOVEMBER 6, THURSDAY

WALK WITH MAGGIE

I am living at my son, Tom’s, house for two weeks. During the day Tom and his wife Kathy work and I have the house surrounded by trees on the edge of a golf course, to myself, with Maggie their dog as my company. Today I took Maggie on a long walk on paths around a gated community of large houses behind a row of low pines across Elk Mountain Scenic Highway where they live. Many of the houses seem huge, but I have that feeling that not many of then are occupied in the winter. I am guessing that the owners come to cool green Asheville in the summer when Florida is muggy and hot and then when frost comes to Asheville they return to their real homes in Florida in the sunshine with a boat docked outside. I could just be imagining that. But there was almost no signs of life anywhere in those elegant looking homes with sweeping views, no pets in the yard. I had the feeling that the manicured grounds, almost no grass, just well placee rocks and lots of mulch with ornamental shrubs and grasses, were tended by a someone who came around once a week to keep things in shape. Here are a few photographs of the houses and flaming fall trees.