saturday night we did something that is sooooo asheville. we went to bele chere, the 35 year old street festival which has grown to become the largest of its kind in the southeast USA. unfortunately, the city of asheville, who sponsors & pays for the free festival, has said that this year was the last. booooo…. the word is that it is simply too costly for the city to continue paying for the three-day music, crafts, food, & beer festival. the streets are closed off downtown for three days, and the local businesses suffer (?) (or so i read in an article) because the vendors set up their tents in front of the stores. i any case, this weekend was the last bell chere shin dig.
and we had a blast! we wren’t there for a super long time, but just enough time to soak up the atmosphere that i write about here on the blog all the time. yep. we were smack dab in the middle of the funky, eclectic, weird, friendly, artsy, country, urban mess of it all. the people, the music, the local beer, the street fair food. all of it was there, even the street preachers screaming that we were going to hell because we all were sinners, especially lina & me (same-sex marriage people!). and we loved every second of it.
speaking of same-sex partners, the sheer number of same-sex couples walking hand in hand down the streets is astonishing. and so refreshing. it’s just that asheville is full of ALL kinds of people, all intermingling with each other, sharing a common love for the city and all she has to offer.
have i said how much i love it here? how great it feels to be back? how right it is? well, i do. it does. and it is.
so happy you love it!!! Love reading about your adventures 🙂
so happy you’re loving it!!! And love reading about all your adventures 🙂
so glad you enjoy my posts!! thank you for commenting!
Beautiful beautiful beautiful! You take such good photos! That looked like such a blast, sad it’s the last year. But at least you got to experience it! 🙂
you are too sweet, heather! thank you for the compliment. it means a lot coming from you… a fantastic photographer!
Liz, Lina, how fabulous to know how much you are falling for your city all over again! It’s great reading, and I’m very intrigued about the city now!
ALso, random question, please feel free to bat it away, but I was thinking the other day, about the weird blog world we’re connected in etc, and how there is so much we know, but also so much we don’t… and it occured to me, do you and Lina want to have children one day?
the blog world is so weird & crazy. i feel as if i know people that i don’t actually know, and yet i do know. 😉 as for kids… we have wondered and don’t really know about the future. we looooove kids so much. but, the time is definitely not right now. when lina is done with school, we’ll see, but i’ll be in my early 40s. not old, but not young either. so, it’s kinda a year by year discussion we have. 🙂 what about you & your love?!
that makes complete sense. i just hadn’t ever heard (I mean read) it mentioned, and I just wondered. year by year discussions are the way to go, life doesn’t need to be too prescriptive does it! look at what can change in just 18 months?
As for me… I’m just not maternal. I think one day i will be, or I think I hope I am, but I’m just nowhere near that feeling yet. But I’m only 26, maybe that plays a part. My girl has no desire to carry a baby, however she is very I would or wouldn’t, whatever we decide in future… which I thought was weird she could be so blase about sucha topic – but I think in reality I am too! Meg is 34 (to turn 35 soon) so by the time we MAY want to have a baby I think it’s safe to say I’d be the best carrying option in this joint female relationship!
In my life right now, and in the next 5 years or so, I could not see a baby, but who knows, one day maybe, never I don’t know. I don’t have a specific want or not want if that makes sense…
So for now, we joke, we’ll just keep trying 😉 haha!!
Okay, this is a cool post. And while I see myself in Portland one day (also a city that embraces weird), it’s fun to hear and see about Asheville.
I’m thinking about getting a couple of tattoos and I really like your equality one. Hmmmmmmm.
why thanks, em! do it! get the tattoo. we can be tattoo buddies. 😉
I love the ‘Gaysian’ photo … she’s like, “yeah this is my Gaysian, problem with it?”
What camera do you use Liz? Do you use auto focus in your pictures or manual?
I loved that too!
I know what you mean about the hand holding. When I first moved to Sydney I lived near Kings Cross (quite notorious for sex drugs and, well, not rock and roll, more doof doof. There were so many gays holding hands everywhere, it was so refreshing. There was so much acceptance in the air.
It is an amazing feeling to be in a place where it is diverse, and better yet, differences are accepted and respected. King’s Cross sounds like just the place. I gotta visit Australia! xo
I was completely enthralled by them. Standing silently, yet strongly. xx
I use a Nikon D3200 with a Nikkor AF-S DX 50 1.8G. I really, really love the camera and lens!