THE ANTHOLOGY, ECHOES ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE FLEW OFF THE BOOK TABLE INTO HANDS OF READERS at the Indian Summer Festival in SUCHES, GEORGIA, According to a Report From NCWN West Georgia Representative Carole Richard Thompson.

Hello, Everyone:  Thanks to each of you for your great help this weekend at the Festival in Suches.  Norm and I could not have done it without you.  It may not be a record, but we did sell 9 Echoes on Saturday, which was like a sunny blizzard, if you can understand what that means, and on Sunday, which was a little warmer, but still windy, we actually sold 5 more, totalling 14, which adds up to $196 at our Festival Reduction Price of $14.  I just sent the money off to Newt Smith with a little note.  I told him if I won the Lotto, I'd buy a very sturdy tent for Netwest to use at Festivals, because just being there can be so much fun. 

     Despite the cold and wind, Norm and I got the biggest kick out of looking at people and their kids and dogs going by, tents turning over, especially when, on Sunday, the nice guy selling lemonade caught the brunt of a mini tornado and his umbrella, stuck in the ground to add ambiance, pulled out of the ground and flew over to my tent, the steel pole side-glancing my head.  This, after just hearing on TV that one should be very careful to protect one's head, as studies have now shown that it might be a factor in onset of Alzheimer's somewhere along the line.  He had just brought me over lemonade that morning to show his appreciation to me for bandaging up his finger, which was cut somehow Saturday when his tent blew over the first time.  I had, also, along with several other people, set about picking up several dozens of his scattered lemons. 

    One of our poets, Judy Burch, was there with her husband, serving up lots of delicious barbeque to the hungry crowd.  Judy said it was a bit colder and windier than usual, but, some years it was just perfect.  Judy's farm was just over the hill, so she should know.They do have perfect fried pies, hot off the fire, and undescribably delicious funnel cakes. (Well, Robert and Norm minded the store and let Maren and me walk around some.  Maren found a basket that we both wanted, but that will have to wait til another day and another Indian Summer Festival in Suches.

 Kudos to the fine folks who live there and work hard every year to raise money for their brave little Woody Gap School, which turns out some some fine High School graduates every year.  Union County is very proud of Woody Gap School, located in Suches, elv. about 3,400 ft in a beautiful "Valley Above the Clouds."  Suches is the only town in Union County, other than Blairsville.

    Thanks for hanging in there with this long email.  I just enjoyed the whole experience so much.  Love, Carole Thompson