Christmas in Knoxville...

Last night we decided to get in the holiday spirit by participating in the lighting of the holiday trees in John's neighborhood. John lives in an old, historic neighborhood and most residents have a real community spirit. In past years, this has been a big social event with lots of caroling, hot chocolate, cookies and conversation. Over the past year or so, some of the newer residents (along with some older residents) have been trying to impose a historic overlay plan on the neighborhood that will restrict remodeling and landscaping. This has caused a rift that has apparently affected neighborhood events.

As we walked from John's house to the small children's tree, we were not surprised to find mostly young families rushing to the lighting. We were disappointed to find no singing, no organization and a very unceremonious plug of the tree lights into the power source. Immediately, the crowd (about 30 adults and children) departed the children's tree and hurried to the other end of the boulevard for the lighting of the big tree.

When we arrived at the second lighting, a few others showed up, I would say maybe 40-50 adults and kids total but it was not the gathering John had experienced in the "early" years. We realized that this was not going to be the festive occasion we had hoped for so we quietly slipped out of the group and walked home.

Our next stop, downtown. After dinner at Trio, we strolled through the city and enjoyed the festive decorations. Since John has been under the weather this week, we wrapped the evening up early. A few pics from our adventure are below, more can be found in our Picasa sight. Hopefully we will add more holiday pictures as the season progresses!

http://picasaweb.google.com/johnandbeverly74/ChristmasInTheCity122008#

Holiday lights at Trio

Mannequin forms dressed up in holiday finery at the "Reruns" shop
Looking in at the baked goodies in the window at Cafe4, Market Square's newest restaurant and bakery
John warming himself by the outdoor fire

Christmas tree on Market Square

Spinach and penne pasta...

I don't usually have a refrigerator full of food but a trip to the grocery on Tuesday provided me with a number of choices. Tonight a bundle of spinach caught my attention and I decided to make one of my favorite meals, sauteed spinach and garlic on whole wheat pasta.

The is a quick meal, cook the pasta while sauteing spinach, big chunks of garlic and a little salt in hot olive oil. When done, drain the pasta, top with the spinach mixture and add whatever protein you want. I added chicken (grilled last night) a little pepper and a small amount of grated Romano cheese. Perfect comfort food on a dreary, rainy day.

Why is it that a big pan of spinach reduces down to a fist full of cooked spinach? Spinach in hot olive oil just beginning to cook. The chunks of garlic will be added in a few minutes, I don't like overcooked garlic.

The final product

Running has been good of late and I have been steady with my core exercises. Although the runs are short, only 3 miles, and on a treadmill, I am pushing myself to be faster. I have thrown out my 2008 mindset to hold back till the end of a run and started dialing up the pace with each mile. I love the feeling of freedom as my arms and legs move through the motions, running is exciting again. My goal is to see a significant improvement in my time for the New Year's Day 5k with an eye toward a faster time in the Straw Plains 10k.

3rd and 4th grade...

This morning I was up early to volunteer at my sister's school. I spent about an hour and a half with some well-behaved 3rd graders and another couple of hours in reading class with a group of 4th graders.

I learned a few things today.

1) I still remember the pledge of allegiance.
2) I do not want to sing The Star Spangle Banner with 20 angelic voices. I cannot carry a tune. Mouthing the words works perfectly fine.
3) 3rd graders enjoy the fact that they know more than you do. Who knew the island of Ireland looks like a peanut?
4) 3rd graders are very confident and want to share everything they know. Shades of self-consciousness begin to show up in 4th grade. What do you think happens over the summer?
5) Sitting in a classroom is less stressful than sitting at a desk crunching numbers and trying to explain to management, buyer, salesman, _____ (fill-in the blank) why sales are not exceeding overaggressive business plans.
6)I am not smarter than a 3rd or 4th grader.

Look what has been happening outside my window.

Big flakes but only a few are hanging around the fence line. Hopefully the early cold weather and snow are a sign of things to come this winter!