Things are slowly improving. Old Fort is cleaning up and opening up. The amount of volunteering and connecting each other with resources has been amazing and continues. Still so much to be done. It feels good to focus on a smaller, local community.

My new studio is here but needs a lot of work.

Several shops that have carried my work have had to close, so I have inventory but not an easy way to sell yet. I have put some items on the SHOP page, please take a look. We still have a gofundme but has not been updated. The future is scary right now, but I am thankful I have a place to go to rebuild.

I will meet you by appointment. Call, text or email. I will have another load of work coming up from SC in the end of January with some really nice items

I have been hit with a double whammy laced with complications.

A few days before Hurricane Helene hit, my husband, two grown children, and I spent 4 hours at Memory Care in Asheville NC for testing. Freeman is 78. The Dr says Dementia, and while the cause is not known for sure until an MRI is done, all signs point to Alzheimer. We thought we were catching it early but he is further long than we suspected.

During the storm a large tree landed on the corner post of our studio. It cracked the concrete floor/foundation and the windows have shifted, showing gaps and broken frames. Over two weeks later, the tree was removed, but insurance has called the studio a loss. 10% of the maximum does not help repair or rebuild. I did not lose equipment or inventory but we had to move everything away from the damaged corner and it is a mess.

Hurricane Helene left our home without power or water and no form of communication. After eight weeks we still have no phone, cell or internet in this remote section of SE Buncombe County.

With Freeman's Dementia, he is unable to plan ahead or see the giant picture. I am having to make decisions without the husband I have known and relied on for almost 50 years. He gets blindsided by things that happen even after I have told him.

I need to move our home and studio to our showroom where we will have more reliable utilities and better access to assistance. We are lucky our children are close by and this move will make it easier for everyone. I am grateful that the showroom has power, water, and internet, but there are renovations needed to make it livable. It needs remodeling to be changed from a sales venue to Home. We now have heat. Windows are old, no storm windows, no kitchen cabinets etc. So many details.

We are still waiting on the building for a new studio and gallery to arrive and then it will need interior finishing. It will be March 2025 before I will be making new work...I wonder what will hatch out of this weird egg!

My blessings to all.

Sincerely, Maggie Jones