Neighborhood fall colors run...

It's 7:30 PM on Halloween night and I am still holding out hope for a treat or treater, just one. We live on top of a REALLY big hill, add a UT football game and rainy, misty evening to the mix and we have NO trick or treaters. Boo! John is going to be stuck with a jumbo bag of Reeses' Peanut Butter cups. He is so unhappy, peanut butter cups are his fav and he is worried about wearing them around his waist!

Yesterday I went on my first annual Neighborhood Colors Run. After a solid week of longish runs, this one was short, only 3.5-miles, and I stopped some 20 times in the first 1.5-miles for photos. Even blanketed in thick, gray fog, the peak colors were quite nice. Since I was running at harder than usual effort, the photo breaks were welcome. Here are a few pics, the rest will be put in a Picasa album shortly...

This tall, stately tree is one of my favorites although most of its leaves are on the street

Red, red Dogwood

Some type of Japanese Maple

Nice!

Another Dogwood

Along the boulevard

After circling the neighborhood a few times, I headed out along the waterfront where the fog was really thick. The distant shore line and its reflection on the river is barely visible. The dot in the middle of the photo is a red shipping buoy. All was quiet on the waterfront.

South Knoxville Bridge and reflection in the river

In the evening, John and I went on a date. We are not big steak eaters but both had a craving so we headed south to Ye Old Steakhouse, the oldest and best in Knoxville. We hadn't really thought through our choice and found the restaurant overrun with UT biggie bigs, assorted press and media folks, and big parties of UT AND South Carolina fans. We were early enough to be quickly seated at an okay table but for the cost of dinner, we would have preferred a different one. Oh well, the steaks are the same no matter where you sit and they are delicious!

After dinner we were off to Market Square for the Roane State Community College performance of Dracula.

Us on Market Square waiting for the show. John has googley eyes in this photo :-)

Before the show, we were treated to an impromptu performance of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" by a Halloween costumed group on the mall. It was a lot of fun to watch.

This is the cast of Dracula watching the dancers


The actors handed out bags filled with a small amount of Halloween candy as patrons entered the theater area
Lots of people on Market Square Mall were dressed in costume, including the guy on the left of the photo who sat in front of us. This was our first year celebrating Halloween on the Square, the play was great and we really had a lot of fun!

Update from the homefront, I stopped to watch some UT-USC football on TV, it's now 9:29 PM and still no treat or treaters. Oh well, Happy Halloween ya'll!

A fine birthday celebration...

Today has been cool and dreary, the type of weather I would expect in the Northwest. Even through the raindrops, brightly colored sugar maples and dogwoods look stunning! Stepped out on the porch early to take a run but the rain was pouring down. I can run in the ran if it starts when I am out but I couldn't seem to get off the top step this morning, rain and 57 degrees sent me back inside.

Last night we had a fine celebration for my dad's 86th birthday. John, Mike, Leslie, Carol, Daddy, Mother and I got together at Shannondale Healthcare Center to eat carryout Red Lobster and stuff ourselves with moist, delicious cupcakes from The Cupcakery. We had great conversation and some good laughs. Unfortunately my mother has become so deaf she misses everything that is not spoken directly into her personal amplifier.

This celebration was on top of a ton of birthday cards and notes that have been dropped at my dad's door and in his mailbox by his retirement community. He had a grand birthday! No pictures, I did not have my camera to capture the event. Seems I have left my camera home a lot recently but I may try to capture the "essence" of the birthday later this week with my dad in his birthday "ears."

Another month gone by...

Fall arrived a couple of days ago, I think it will depart as fast. Bright reds and yellows dress the neighborhood trees, at least those that did not drop their leaves early. Those that did left a leafy mess over much of our front yard, a visible reminder that I need to get out with a rake. Crisp air has transformed my morning runs. My pace is a little faster, breathing less labored and 5-6 miles no longer feels like an effort. In what has been a very complicated year, the simple things in life are good right now.

In the garden, fall is also visible. Butterfly Weed pods have opened and the seeds are waiting to be carried off by the wind.

We have planted intensely colored pansies in the front porch pots and each day we discover more and more blooms.

Thursday night John, Lee and I went to see the sold out showing of Race Across the Sky, a documentary of sorts about the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. The theater was filled with bicycle jockeys of all ages and the pre-show atmosphere seemed to snap with testosterone as discussions about local races and results ensued. The flick served up a crowd pleasing dose of average guys "digging deep against adversity" stories but the star was the ultimate bike jockey, Lance Armstrong, without who the story of this 15 year old race may never have been told.

The story line pitted Dave, a mountain biker and 6 time winner of the Leadville 100, against Lance, the world's greatest bicycle road racer. Only three weeks off the 2009 Tour de France, audience idol Lance Armstrong was racing in the Leadville 100 for the 2nd time in his impressive bicycling career. His first effort in 2008 resulted in a 2nd place finish and he was out for blood (well, at least for 1st). Riding on a flat rear tire for the last 7 miles of this 100 mile race, Lance finished 1st in an all time course record of 6 hrs, 28 mins, finishing some 28 minutes in front of Dave Wiens, the past 6 time winner of the Leadville 100. The crowd loved it...'nuff said!

Finally, I am turning off the comment feature of this blog. Though I mostly received no comments, it seemed to hamper my desire to write and I have recently missed capturing some of the simple day to day moments. Smithposts started out as a journal of things I see and do. I really don't want to miss documenting those memories!