Happy Father's Day Daddy...

You are absolutely the best!

We had a nice family gathering for Father's Day. Maybe not the place we would have chosen to celebrate a few years ago but lunch at the nursing home was not too bad and Mother enjoyed having us around!

Leslie and Daddy updating programs on their iPhones

Daddy reading a newspaper article on the iPhone while Carol looks on

On the menu, salad, baked "fried" chicken, corn souffle and blackberry cobbler

Flashing light and a loud thunder woke me around 5:30 this morning. I briefly considered crawling out of bed to take some photos but I was simply too tired so I lay in bed waiting for the storm to pass. The light show continued for an alarming period of time and I finally buried my head under the covers and fell back to sleep.

What's with the weather these days? Depending on your leanings, it could be global warming, divine punishment or some 100 year pattern but here in the south we are sweltering under high temps, miserable humidity and unrelenting thunder storms. As I drove out of the neighborhood this morning, I noticed the scene below, a causality of that 5:30 AM storm.

Rain gauge in our front yard (rain level from this morning)

No, not the foot...

Today is a vacation day for John. He is off to Huntsville for his annual family reunion while I remain in town to celebrate Father's Day with the world's greatest dad!! Before he left, we went downtown for an early morning breakfast at Market Square Kitchen. The cafe, located on Market Square Mall, is open for breakfast and lunch and has a simple, mostly southern menu. We split a bacon, cheese and onion omelet, English muffins and an order of greasy hash browns. The coffee was a little strong, the food nothing special but the downtown atmosphere was nice and a reminder of why we chose to live near town instead of in the burbs.

Yesterday I did something really stupid while running, I got distracted and took my eyes off the road. You see, one of the neighbors has placed a couple of political signs in his yard and the signs are the size of a large child. As I cruised by, I turned my head to read the info (just the effect the neighbor was looking for I am sure) and a large rock jumped under my right shoe. My foot rolled, the pain was immediate and my running come to a quick halt. I decided to walk out the pain and was mostly successful but determined that a run home would be unwise. So I walked home quickly, showered and headed west to have lunch with my dad, visit my mother and run a laundry list of errands. Got through lunch and visiting my mother but my foot was seriously throbbing and the pressure from walking was almost unbearable. Looks like a a quick trip to the doc was in order.

After a couple of x-rays and some poking on the bones, it was determined that nothing is chipped or broken, just soft tissue damage. Then I was sent home with the comment that I have no sign of arthritis in my feet, something that is unusual for "someone of your age" and a prescription of RICE and Advil. Oh, and some stern advice to stay off the foot for a couple of days to let the swelling recede.

So here I am laying down, foot proped up, computer on my stomach and bored to death. I know, the sooner the foot gets better the sooner I can go out and play. It's going to be a long few days!

Ugly huh!

A pic of my run on Wednesday. It is the beginnings of a hill workout (our house is on top of the 952' peak.

Another weekend of renovation...

Our weekend flew by in a blur. Not much of interest to report really, we are still totally consumed with painting, scraping and cleaning. The house is coming together nicely although the counter top and the sink will not go in until next week. We are very tired of eating out and John's sister is arriving in two weeks for a visit. Unfortunately we are a week or so away from unpacking and sorting through my stuff. Many decisions yet to be made on what to keep, sell or give away.

Went for a 40 minute run this morning, around the neighborhood and along the river. Feel like I am gaining strength again thou a bit slow. Up and down the stairs at the house must be helping (went from a single story to a 3 level with some 30 steps between the levels).

Because I am so endlessly fascinated with the visuals from my Forerunner 305, below is a picture of my run today. I woke up early (sometime before 7:00 AM), laced up my shoes and headed out to a cool, but humid morning. Lots of debris on the road from yesterday's severe thunderstorms, a few branches down and one tree. We are expecting similar weather this afternoon.

This route follows the Tennesee River. I was early enough to catch the morning river sounds...fisherman, Canadian Geese and other waterfowl. Nice morning!

I am back home looking for a corner to escape. Five men wielding power tools and paint brushes occupy much of the space, a radio is blasting funk music (thanks Daniel and Lee), cell phones ring constantly and chatter about the pitfalls of women is endless (who says men don't gossip). The kitchen is coming along well but not yet ready for the "Big Reveal". The frig and stove were delivered and installed during the past 2 days. Below is a preview!

Refrig still ensconced in plastice to protect the finish till the kitchen is complete

A very fine dual fuel stove!

An afternoon thunderstorm...

Thunder started rumbling an hour or so ago, a sure signal that the predicted storm was rolling in. I wandered out to the veranda with a book but ending up spending more time watching and listening than reading.

As I watched, the sky grew dark, lightening flashed and thunder boomed. A moderate wind arrived from southwest and trees began to bend and sway. Suddenly heavy showers arrived dumping water furiously. Then, as quickly as it had arrived, the rain moved out and everything was quite again.

The veranda just before the thunderstorm

Safely under cover while reading a little and enjoying the storm

Slow runner crossing...

This was me running today...slow, very slow.

Summer has arrived in East Tennessee and the humidity is up! A cocktail of warm temps and humid air always pose an interesting challenge to me but it was nice to be up and out. As always, I felt great after the effort.

Oh, and the box turtle...I found her walking in the middle of the street in front of the house. She wasn't in a hurry and I worried about cars, so I moved her to the backyard where she ambled toward the back alley and the cover of a wooded area.

Welcome to the Griswolds...

For my birthday last month, I got a Forerunner 305. Thanks Daddy!! Unfortunately with packing, moving and contractors in the house 11/5, I haven't had much quality time to explore the features and software. Until today that is, when I got out for a little run to test things out. Below is an aerial of the run. How cool is that!!?

Since I am a charts and graphs girl, playing with the software post run will keep me motivated for a while. For the next few days, I have an added incentive. I am running the Knoxville Track Club Fast 40 Dash on Thursday evening, June 11th.

Meanwhile, back at the Griswolds, we are still unsettled. I have been here one week and things look just about the same way they did last Friday when 2 Men and a Truck completed the move. We are still in construction mode, boxes are everywhere and we can't do much settling in until the kitchen is further along and the house painted. Most rooms have undergone extensive plaster work as a result of rewiring and foundation work.

On the positive side, the refrigerator and stove will be delivered on Wednesday and counter top space has been measured. We started painting the rest of the house today and it turns out I am pretty good at taping, even if I am quickly bored by the task.

John painting the entry ceiling

Daniel and Lee painting the veranda

Lunch on the veranda

We have cabinets...

We just don't have counter tops, stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave, cabinet hardware, sink or water for that matter! (Sigh), a few more weeks and it will all be worthwhile!

Thanks for the memories...

Hickory Oak Lane is now in my history book! The paperwork is signed, keys handed to the new owners and I am on to a new adventure. Here are a few photos from the move:

Loading the truck was a long process. It would have gone much quicker if the box count was smaller. As I have said over and over already...too much stuff. Hope to do some culling when I unpack but I have a bad habit of attaching sentiment to things and sentiment can get in the way of throwing them away.

A very empty house. If you look through the kitchen door, into the living room, you can see John wielding a vaccum cleaner. He is such a good boyfriend. This view is from the den looking into the kitchen and living room. My desk sat under the window where I spent many happy hours watching the wildlife at the bird feeder and on the butterfly bush.

This view is from the kitchen into the den. Oops, I forgot the clean the ashes out of the fireplace. Someone else's clean up now :-)

Final pic of the front of the house. I left some pretty long grass to be mowed too!

One final picture for the memory book!

Good bye 1300 Hickory Oak Lane!!