In the middle of August 1999, we moved from Aberdeen, Maryland, to Asheville, North Carolina. This was the next step in a dream that started years ago when we visited Asheville one afternoon while vacationing at Ridgecrest. Asheville was chosen for its weather, airport, restaurants, size (just right!), lively downtown, baseball team, proximity to Alice's mother and George's siblings, a decent newspaper, a safe downtown, nearby colleges, and many other reasons.
Alice's mother, Isabel Rawlinson, passed away on 9 August 2001. Mom was able to meet George very shortly before her passing. [Movie takes a while to load!] We are happy that we were in Asheville for two years before her death, for we were able to visit her almost every week for that time.
Since our first visit to Asheville some years ago, we had been monitoring the progress of several condo-creation projects, which take old historic buildings and rebuild them with condos. A condo was chosen for its lack of grass, leaves, and snow to mow, rake, and shovel. All the condo projects were proceeding slowly, so we sold the house in Aberdeen, rented an apartment in Asheville, and moved.
For almost a year, we lived in a large apartment building in the 100-year-old Manor. It was designed as an inn; it was renovated into about 35 apartments in the early 90's.
On July 27, 2000, we were able to move into unit 604 in the Smith-Carrier Building (in the heart of downtown), the original home of J.C. Penney in Asheville (shown below). We are thoroughly enjoying living right downtown. The building is right in the center of the picture. It's a light-brown color. Look very carefully, and you can see three little balconies on each floor. In the picture, the "middle" one on the 6th floor is ours. Picture us there in the early morning and in the evening, reading, eating, drinking coffee, and enjoying the Asheville scene.
We are 0.3 miles from the center of town, and 0.5 miles from First Baptist Church, (shown above) which we joined on January 2, 2000.
We are also involved in local politics, and we are community activists. George is on the Asheville Civic Center Commission. Alice was on the Historic Resources Commission. She is now the Secretary of Asheville Sister Cities. In the summers of 2001 through 2009, George has taught introductory physics (three different courses!) at UNC-Asheville.
We miss being close to Karen and her family in Bel Air, MD, but there are visits back and forth. Next up is a visit by Keith, Karen, Kyle and Kevin in August 2009. We will get each of the boys, one at time, for a week.
David is back in the US, living in his condo in Falls Church, Virginia.
Stephen lived for more than nine years in Greece. His lovely wife was Elena. The picture at the right was taken on the last day of our Sept/Oct 1999 trip. We are enjoying one last meal together on the beach in Perea, just southeast of Thessaloniki. Stephen and Elena's first child, a boy, George was born on 15 November 2000. Katherine Alice came along in March of 2004. We have visited them several times since then, and they have visited us several times in Asheville as well -- most recently, in December of 2008. Their very good friends in Xanthi are Leo and Mina. Stephen died on 25 October 2003 from complications of meningitis.
Asheville is a beautiful place to visit any time of year. We look forward to seeing many of you as you come to the mountains. We have a second bed and bath!
