Salute to Laurie Lu

In the mountains of western North Carolina, the Mast name carries a lot of weight.  Not only were they early settlers, they had the only store for miles.  The Mast General Store in Valle Crucis is probably the first store of its kind in the Watauga Valley.  The old gasoline pumps with the glass domes on them are still out front...and inside, barrel after barrel of "penny candy."  That's what we called it as a kid, but it is probably nickel candy now.
Back toward 105, the Mast Farm sits across the road from the Mast Bed and Breakfast.  The Farm grows vegetables in the garden that the B & B uses for its guests and a restaurant just down the way.  That old barn is majestic.  Under the overhang of the roof they display antique convertibles--Mercedes or Porsches, I don't really know--but there is a bunch of them.  And between the Posrches and the road to Mast General is a garden full of sunflowers...more colors than I have ever seen.  They fight their way through the green beans, tomatoes, and the squash and climb right up to the mountains.  They remind me of a painter-decorator-friend of mine named Laurie Samuels.  Laurie can paint sunflowers like nobody I know...and birds...and just about anything else!  But, I know when she sees this, she will plan a trip to the mountains this summer...paints...camera and Harry in tow.  She might even stop by the store for some penny candies...