After our trip last year, we and our wallet needed a little bit of rest.  Chicken took a vacation with his woolly friends at Really Knit Stuff and I settled into a comfortable life knitting, crocheting,   spinning, weaving and teaching classes.  Bear started getting antsy though, and with the heat coming back to Florida, it was time to start traveling again.  We decided to make a very quiet leisurely trip up to Canada this year,   taking it easy, with many days of rest in between the “touring days”.  So far, it’s working pretty nicely.

Last year, I met Lisa while taking classes at Stitches South in Atlanta.  We kept in contact on Ravelry (for those who do not know, that’s an online community for fiber crazies like me), and we made sure to meet again at this year’s Stitches.  Lisa lives in Alabama and we decided to go visit her for our trip’s first stop.

We had a wonderful time, Lisa turned out to be a wonderful cook, she prepared some smoked pork with a home made BBQ sauce made with peach preserves. Yum!  This year, Lisa became the “grand-mother” of a brand new baby Pygora goat, her name is Shadow and she is the cutest thing I have ever seen.

Shadow

We had quite a time trying to catch her so we could pet her. Her mom and Dad were keeping a watchful eye on her, but we finally managed to do it and Chicken made a brand new friend.  🙂

Chicken, Shadow and Lisa

Two fiber addicts just had to go shopping, and Lisa is a very savvy shopper, she knows where to get stuff for the right price, she took me to a wonderful thread factory and I bought cones and cones of weaving yarn!  YUM!

The next day, we visited the Lyman Ward Military Academy, in Camp Hill, where Bear went to school in 1957.  It was quite a trip back in time for him.  The school was first known as the Southern Industrial Institute, and held its first class in 1898.  Bear’s uncle, John L. Sullivan Woodall attended the Institute, year unknown though.

Tallapoosa Hall erected in 1930

It was founded by Reverend Lyman Ward and his wife Mary.  The area, was still suffering from the aftermath of the civil war, and their dreams was to have a school for underprivileged children, regardless of colors where they could receive a pragmatic education.  The goal was to teach the children reading and mathematics and to prepare them to find work.  The children had to contribute labor.  It was a nondenominational school, which did cause problems with funding.  These same funding problems eventually would lead the school to change into a school for poor white children only (boys and girls), and then, around 1955, to become a military academy.  There were 54 students enrolled in 1957 when Bear went to school there, by January 1958, there were only 34 students.     The students no longer enrolled had been asked to leave, due to the school’s limited staff or the student’s serious misconduct.  Bear left on his own…

Inside Tallapoosa hall

Today although the school is still struggling with finance the students receive a lot of attention in small classes and the emphasis of the program is to build the childrens character. The enrollment for the coming fall of 2010 stands at approximately 100 students.

The rest of the time we spent relaxing in our campground,   on the shores of Lake Martin.

Lake Martin

I finished weaving my mom’s scarf.  It is made of a wonderful blend of 50% silk and 50% wool, hand dyed by Mountain Colors,   the structure is a waffle weave and it was woven on a simple rigid heddle loom.  I hope she likes it. We’ll know in September.

Mom's scarf