Hob Nob Farm, et al.

It’s Sunday, and other than a run/walk around campus this morning for the purpose of finding coffee (I had a nice run there, and I walked back), I have been in my little dorm room reading and writing and highlighting and studying all day. Barbara Bonham’s seminar starts tomorrow, and she gave us all the materials on Friday.  Yes, we have class on the 4^th of July!  The entire university is closed, but the Kellogg Institute will go on!  We have been invited to Hunter and Barbara’s for a cookout dinner and fireworks; rumor has it that we will be dismissed a little early tomorrow to get ready and to drive up the mountain for the festivities.

Yosef

I took some photos of Yosef, the Appalachian State Mountaineer Mascot Guy, as the sun was hitting him this morning.  As I have written previously, he has quite a presence around here, and many Kelloggers have admitted to becoming quite attached to him. 

It’s quiet here today, as everyone seems to be reading and catching up.  Yesterday, however, all kinds of activities were planned.  There was a trip to the Farmer’s Market, and there was a group who went downtown to go through the Shoppes at the Farmers’ Hardware and Supply Mart.  I walked downtown on my own, opting to do my laundry and organize by Kellogg Binder, and I met up with most of the group.  The Shoppes at the Mart is a four-story store downtown that that booths of shops (shoppes?) throughout.  There were crafts, handmade jewelry, more crafts, generic crap, more crafts, and some not-so-generic crap.  It was sociologically very interesting, but I didn’t buy anything. 

I walked back on my own, taking a longer way so that I could see more of Boone on a clear, sunny afternoon.  Though I cannot imagine this place in the winter with snow and ice – ulgh – it is beyond beautiful in the summer.  I have never been to a place that smells so good.  It’s so fresh and clean outside. 

I wish I could say the same for the dorm rooms; that’s another story.  I will say, the cool, dry nights have worked wonders on my moat.  It is almost dried – though its olfactory presence continues to linger.  I have tried Febreeze, Lysol, candles … and it still smells like a moat.  I didn’t think I’d spend much time here, but I have been working at my little student desk all day today.  The library, it turns out, is closed for the 4^th of July weekend. (But Kelloggers still have class all day on the 4^th!)  Many of us had planned to sequester there to put a dent in some of Dr. Bonham’s stuff, but we worked in our rooms, instead. 

A group made dinner in the common kitchen last night, but my suite mate, Nancy, had her heart set on going to the Hob Nob Farm Cafe.  (Where do they get the names of some of these places?)  She saw it on the map and found the site:  http://www.hobnobfarmcafe.com/ 

We walked to King Street and could only get an inside table at Hob Nob.  Places in Boone are generally not air conditioned, and Hob Nob was warm.  The discomfort in temperature was so worth everything else.  What an amazing little place!  Tables and chairs were a hodge podge of old creaky wooden leftovers, and the décor was beyond eclectic-shabby.  The food and the service, however, were amazing.  Nancy and I shared a bottle of organic Argentinean Malbec.  Our dinners were delightfully different and fresh and organic.  The web site has the menu.  Nancy paid the full tab last night with the caveat being that I pick up the next – at Hob Nob.  So, we are going, again, this Tuesday, and we already have a group planning to join us. 

There have been group excursions to a few area restaurants.  A big crowd went to the Daniel Boone Inn last week.  I looked at the menu -- everything is fried and has gravy and god knows what other iterations of lard and stuff -- and I decided to give that one a miss.  As it turned out, we have quite a few vegetarians in the group, and more than a few, like me, who opt not to eat meat most of the time but are not vegetarians.  (Whatever I am, I am not a fan of fried anything.)  The carnivores did enjoy Daniel Boone.

 

I don't know what dinner will be tonight; I don't even know what is open, if anything, on campus.  The weekend went by even more quickly than the week, and I look forward to week two of Kellogg.