lake lure, nc.

For the first annual Ficker family reunion, the Adams and Evans joined mom, dad and Kyle in the western North Carolina vista Lake Lure. Getting off the highway on Route 64, I was surprised to find that the scenery reminded me of the north, the lakes of Canada even, and the lake, when we hit it thirty minutes later, was breathtaking.

Last week dad designated Hannah to purchase the adult beverages and me to grab stuff for breakfast, namely coffee.  We spent the weekend playing golf, riding horses in rivers, jetting around the lake on a pontoon boat, swimming and playing games for hours in the middle of the lake, watching baby Jonathan run a plastic car into walls, preventing him from falling down the wooden steps, drinking wine, playing the family favorite card game “May I” (everyone’s favorite game, except mine, however), drinking coffee, reading, sharing a great deal of conversation and family lore, taking walks, scaling mountains, and sitting out on the porch to enjoy our treehouse view.

A few highlights:

Saturday morning I took a walk up the mountain while the adults (Mom, Dad and Hannah) went looking at houses and lots.  This walk turned into the Great Heavenward Hike and I thought my heart would very well cease to beat.  I lived, fortunately.  As I came around the corner on this “walk” I saw something in the middle of the road like a boulder.  Coming closer there could be no mistaking this object—a turtle.  Surely a car coming around the curve would hit the little guy and I knew he needed a rescue.  However, there is a story that goes like this:

My mom tried to save a turtle once, similarly crossing a little road, and it JUMPED up in the air.  The turtle which had leapt as high as her hip, gave her such a fright that she jumped back and left the thing alone. He obviously didn’t want help. 

Unfortunately for Claire, her middle daughter is the only person on this great green earth that believes the story. My dad thinks she’s nuts, Kyle agrees. But mama and I  know that the turtle leapt that day.

Approaching this turtle on the side of this very high and lovely mountain where there nary another soul could be found and my voice echoed cripsly in the valley beneath, what do you imagine was in my mind? This damn turtle is going to attack me.  However something must have come over me, the non animal lover, and I couldn’t bring myself to leave the turtle. I approached, coaxing it aloud that it should not jump, bite, spin around and claw, or act in any other demonic way as I was simply trying to save it from destruction.  It took me about three minutes to gather the courage to pick up the little shelled being and about ten seconds to walk it to the other side to which it was heading.  On my way back down the mountain, the turtle was gone, probably running far away into the woods from my crazy self.

On Sunday I mentioned we spent several hours out on the lake. Dad had arranged a boat rental and we left the dock around three, just as the hazy rain lifted off of the mountain and the sun began to shine. There are tremendous houses on the lakeside, and there are simple houses that have withstood the increasing property value, the harsh mountains storms and the renovations of time. They are all quite beautiful for no other reason but that they are reflected on this crystal clear lake. We bobbed and sped around for a while until the boys had the itch to jump in. Anchored in the center of the lake, they all debated about the best way to jump in. I stood up on the edge of the boat and dove… they all followed. And, for an hour and a half, we played games in the very middle of the lake. Dad stood up on the boat, throwing the football to Kyle, Josh and Mark for points—this went through several championships (from States to Universe) and Hannah and I swam around, just enjoying the sunshine and fetching rogue footballs. Mom and Jonathan watched from the boat, laughing as Jonathan pointed to us in the water bewildered.

We also thought it'd be a good idea to get an old family picture...on the front of the pontoon boat. Note: they are tippable. Note: we tipped it, almost sunk the thing, and spent the rest of the afternoon with a water-logged floor. The picture below was taken when mom was trying to capture a nice, charming sibling picture. Josh shouted, "We're sinking!" and the rest is history...

(I can't explain the reason for the underlining-finicky computers...)

After playing hard during the day, we went to dinner at Larkin’s Restaurant and ate like queens and kings, listening to stories of dad in college, the year he drove to Mardi Gras and mom abroad, the time she was offered to join the harem of the richest man in Egypt and the time she lived with an assassin.  Doesn’t quite seem real…

The stories, or the weekend. Too charming to be real.