Cousin Alison arrived in Franklin a day early, as did we for the opportunity to help with setting up the booth on Friday afternoon before the Saturday-Sunday event.  This was a first for us, and we found it quite exciting.  Woodie had designed and built a creative display stand with such precision that it folded and fit perfectly into his van with no more than an inch to spare.
     

Woodie, Alison and Ken setting up

On Friday evening after the artists had finished displaying their creations, a preview party offered the chance at a sneak peak of the art.  We didn't make the party, as we went to have dinner with sister Jeanne and her husband Don, who had just arrived in town. 
    
Even though we had a small hand, we have to say that the booth looked great.  Woodie is a terrific photographer, and at Artfusion, he featured his images of autumn leaves, as well as photos taken in and around the historic town of Franklin.
     
It was no surprise that both the leaves and Tennessee scenes were very well received by Artfusion visitors.  Due to the beautiful weather and plethora of outdoor activities at this time of year, the customer traffic at the show was disappointing to all the artists.  It was a great experience, however, and some of the locals who visited did go home carrying Woodie Knight photography they had purchased.
   

Jeanne and Woodie at the booth

Both Woodie's mother and his mother-in-law Marcia were on hand for the event as well, and we all had a fun time at the house Saturday evening.  After a big salad and some awesome pizza, which was custom made to accommodate everyone's dietary peculiarities (no wheat for Jeanne, no meat for me), we sat around the backyard pool and enjoyed each other's company, remembering experiences and sharing family lore.
   

Relaxing poolside:  Jeanne and Marcia, Ken and Don

Eventually, conversation turned to table walking and spirit knocking, topics which Jeanne and I had been recently introduced to by a reader of this blog.   In response to a post about our April visit to Point Lookout, MD, we had heard from an Indiana descendent of a Point Lookout veteran, who said that his ancestor had learned these abilities from a physician at the Maryland POW camp during the Civil War.  After reading that our great-great-grandfather was a surgeon at Point Lookout, he wondered if he might have been involved in these paranormal activities.  It was totally new to us, so we had apprised our Indiana friend that we had no knowledge of any such gifts in our family.
     
While we were still musing over these strange phenomena, Uncle Joe called daughter Alison and she told him the story.  Though he said he knew nothing about those matters, we were all astonished when he related an experience in which he and some Wood cousins had managed to make a friend levitate when they were teenagers.  After squeezing every detail of memory we could from him about how it was done, we decided to try it for ourselves.
     

"Light as a feather!  Light as a feather!  Light as a feather!"

Our first attempt was with a small plastic table.  After our results were less than successful, we thought perhaps it was because the table was plastic and we were all Woods (part Wood anyway).  Obviously we needed something made of wood.
     
Steven, Woodie's nine-year-old son, had been closely monitoring our efforts and offered to serve as the levitation object since he was part Wood himself.  If he was willing, we were also, and we set ourselves to the task in earnest.
     

No one wanted this to succeed more than Steven.

Well, earnest might be a bit of a stretch.  Actually, we were more giggly than serious, and that was probably our undoing.  After all our tittering chants and incantations, Steven remained firmly resting on the table, chortling a bit himself.  But it made for a good story for him to tell his kids some day.  In truth, we were probably all relieved that he remained in gravity's grasp.
     
Sunday brought more time at the art show, where we all enjoyed visiting with other artists and seeing their creations, while Woodie sold a few more pieces.  Part of Alison's family—Steve, Kendyll, and Anna—came to ooh and ahh over Woodie's art and to help when the show was over and it was time to break down the booth.
     
Though everyone agreed that more customers would have made the show better, we were very proud of Woodie and so glad we could be there for his special accomplishment.