The Holler 2025_Mar_25
The Holler
An irregular hello from your Grassy Creek family A sorta quarterly newsletter to let everyone know what's going on around the creek. Please feel free to contribute photos, stories, etc.
Speaking of the calendar...
After a year of trying out a new system we've decided to go back to the old google calendar system. Most everyone should already have access to the calendar, but if not, send an email to grassycreekcabinnc@gmail.com and we will add you to it.
(Confusingly, the email associated with the calendar is grassycreekcabin@gmail.com (no extra nc). Just breathe and go with it.)
If you need a refresher on google calendars here is a nifty video showing you how to do it.
In a nutshell
Winter is a quiet season, but it's quickly turning to spring. And with spring comes hope.
I try to stay away from politics in these newsletters for obvious reasons. The point is to bring us together, not entrench us in our camps. But in this moment it feels like lying to ignore the elephant in the room. And besides, Grassy Creek has never been a place divorced from politics.
I'm not going to get into my personal beliefs here, but I've been thinking a lot about our family and the way our beliefs shape us, bring us together and pull us apart. And the conclusion I've come to is that no matter where you fall on the left to right spectrum, there's no getting around that we're tied together by this place. And no matter who you are, this place is for you. You can come to Grassy Creek and find solace, relief, joy -- whatever you might need.
So if you're feeling lost in a big world, know you belong here, and that you can always come and sit on the front porch and let the trees and the wind and the creek fill your soul.
Just make sure you put your date on the calendar. :)
And to keep things lively, we're having a family party!
Mark August 9 on your calendar! Bring your people and your potato salad. It's not a meeting, it's not a reunion, it's not a political sparring match. It's just a party.
Meet a cousin
5 questions for Betsy Phillips
1. Where are you on the family tree? I am Ninnie and Pop’s granddaughter, daughter of Big Orville and Nancy Potts Coward. Orville Jr. is my only sibling. I have been married to Herb since 1979, and my children are Bert (and his lovely wife Kelly) and Elizabeth.
2. Do you have a favorite spot at GC? Oooh, tough one. I’d have to say the sliding falls, where I pulverized my heel in 1976 and we memorably rang in the year 2000! But I love the screened porch – it’s sometimes the “Happy Place” I go to in my mind when I’m having a bad day.
3. It's dinner time. Plate on your knees on the front steps or elbow to elbow at the dining room table? Neither of the above. My favorite places to eat at Grassy Creek are the picnic tables in the back near the big stone grill and the aforementioned screened porch. Especially with the new table.
4. What's your vision of GC in the future? I would like to see Grassy Creek as a place where the younger (current and future) generations of Coward descendants can return to connect with and learn about the wonderful Appalachian heritage that is their inheritance.
5. If you could be any piece of GC furniture living or gone to the big burn pile in the sky, what would you be? I cannot say that I would actually like to BE a piece of furniture, but the item that is dearest to me is Ninnie’s china cabinet in the dining room. Its story: The china cabinet sat in Ninnie’s dining room in her house on Savannah Drive throughout my childhood. The piece of glass in its front door had a bad crack running diagonally its entire length, held together with Scotch tape. (I don’t think you can imagine how droopy and well-used Ninnie’s furniture was.) After Ninnie died in 1973, I think the china cabinet went to Betty’s attic. In 1979, when Herb and I married and were setting up housekeeping in the little house on Purefoy Road in Chapel Hill, we claimed it. We took it to a repair place and had the broken pane replaced, and suddenly it was presentable. Nice, even! I had it in my several houses until , I imagine, our 1992 move to Asheville. Then Ninnie’s china cabinet took its rightful place of honor at Grassy Creek, the place of her birth.
On the horizon
I'll say it again: mark AUGUST 9 on your calendar! We're havin' a party! It's not a reunion, it's not a meeting, it really is just a party. Come, bring a dish and your crew and don't forget your cutoff jean shorts for sliding down the falls! More to come soon.
Still feeling lost? Join the board! If you're interested in getting more involved in the nuts and bolts behind Grassy Creek, please join us for our monthly board meetings, every 2nd Tuesday at 8:00AM. We help steer the budget, make sure the roof doesn't leak (too bad) and plan for Grassy Creek's future. Write to grassycreekcabinnc@gmail.com (which is really just Natalie A) to be added.
State of the coffers
Below you'll find: · a recap of 2024 · the budget for 2025
Thank you to those of you who have already given for 2025. You are rock stars!
To those of you ready to make a pledge - email grassycreekcabinnc@gmail.com and let us know the amount. You don't have to give right now, but letting us know what you'll give this year helps us plan. Every little bit helps!
If you're ready to give, please write a check to:
"Old Coffee Rock LLC" Mail to: Beth Rand 122 White Ash Drive East Asheville, NC 28803
We working on getting an electronic payment method set up the paypal account has been closed for the time being while we shift to a new method. Stay tuned and in the meantime, make a pledge.
THANK YOU!
It should be noted that several people have put in blood sweat and cash beyond this 2024 budget. Bill and Kim have paid more than $20,000 out of pocket on the groundskeeping. Jay has been working on the high cabin on his own dime. Others have bought a dryer here, a sofa there, and a lot of this doesn't always show up on the official budget, which is money paid out of the Grassy Creek bank account, carefully nickled and dimed by the board. To those unsung heroes who have just gone ahead and made the things happen that you wanted to make happen to make Grassy Creek beautiful, thank you.
In 2025 we're looking forward to fewer big renovations, but there's always stuff to do, which is why the repairs/reno amount is being kept high. We'll be replacing the rotten deck on the saloon cabin, for one thing. We'll also be scraping the road -- long overdue -- and dealing with other things as they come up. We will most likely up the landscaping amount as well. We have an ongoing to-do list that all are welcome to pitch in on. Bill is up at the Creek most Thursdays. Jay is up most weekends. Give them a shout. You don't need to be handy to help.
Thanks, as always, for reading to the end.
Love to all and see you at the creek, Nat and The Board
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