Saying goodbye...

While yesterday was filled with laughter and food, today was all about saying goodbye. Saying goodbye to someone you love is not an easy thing to do.

John and I arrived at the apartment around 9:30 AM. Itsa was feeling good and answered the door, giving hugs all around. We sat around the dining room table making idol chatter, mostly about Itsa's 82nd birthday celebration next weekend. Time slipped by too fast and in a flash, it was time for us to leave.

I think it was about that time that Itsa leaned over, touched my arm and looked into my eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked softly. Well no, now that you ask, I am not okay, none of this is okay and I don't know how to say goodbye. Needless to say, lots of crying and hugs followed.

It took us a while to say goodbye...to tell each other how much we mean to each other and to remember the fun we have have shared over the years. We got it all said, or as much as we could fit in through the tears.

The ride home was long but the trip is one I will always treasure. I am going to miss you my dear Aunt Itsa, you have made such a difference in my life...

A day to remember...

After a short morning run around our hotel, John and I headed to my aunt's apartment to visit. With the exception of the roundness in her belly (cancer tumor), she looked good and was still glowing from her family visit last night. My cousins (her daughters) Vicky and Lynn were there as well as her granddaughter Catherine, who was headed back to DC. Shortly after we arrived, her grandson Thomas arrived.

We ate lunch in the retirement center's dining hall and Aunt Itsa had a lot of hugs and tears from her friends. Her cancer diagnosis is recent and her time is short. Back in her apartment, we talked and talked. After a couple of hours, John and I left for her to nap and returned to find her still resting. We curled up in some comfortable chairs in her room and watched videos of several of her trips to Greece. We listened to her stories about surviving during the "occupation" and about how she got to the US.

By late afternoon, we figured we had outstayed her stamina but the family insisted we stay for dinner. Fresh Greek salad made by my cousin Lynn and Greek pizzas from a local Greek restaurant were on the menu. Delicious! At some point, Aunt Itsa stood up and began to stumble back to her room. This was our cue to leave so we headed back to the hotel to relax.

A few pictures from the day, the last one with the reading glasses is my favorite, my aunt is so cute!

The long ride...

Long but uneventful drive to the "far" west end of Richmond, VA, also known as Short Pump (named for a short handled pump located beneath the porch of a tavern located in the area). While the trip sounded like a good idea a week or so ago, 6.5 hours on the road seemed endless and we are glad a planned side trip to VA Beach did not work out! Our purpose and focus of this trip is to spend some time with my sweet Aunt Itsa, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

We pulled up to the Hampton Inn in Short Pump a little after 6:30 PM. Similar to Biltmore Park Town Square (Asheville, NC), Short Pump is a planned upscale community with office parks, condos, apartments, great shopping and restaurants. After a quick drive through the area, we were happy to discover a REI, Performance Bicycle Shop, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods stores, all within a block of our hotel.

Since my aunt has other guests visiting this evening, we took the opportunity to go out to a relaxing dinner and explore a few of the shops. It was our good fortune to stumble across Mama Cucina, a locally owned Italian restaurant. The smell of mouthwatering Italian food knocked us off our feet when we walked through the front door, as did the crowded interior. We had a bit of a wait before a table opened.

Homemade bread with small bowl of olive oil, vinegar and spices for dipping was served soon after we were seated. We struggled over the menu because everything looked so good. I finally settled on chicken breasts stuffed with feta, asparagus, prosciutto and covered in a pink vodka sauce and mozzarella cheese (freshly made in the kitchen as was the pasta). John had bow tie pasta with shrimp, peas and a light, tasty white sauce. Delicious! Were we just that hungry or is this the best Italian food we can remember eating?

After dinner we scurried through a few shops before they closed. Now it is back to the hotel for some sleep. The day ahead with my aunt is unknown.

Farmers Market opening...

Nice, 6 mile loop run downtown and back. The weather was quite pleasant and the Market Square Farmers Market was in full swing. My route took me along on Union Avenue and through the middle of the market. Lots of people and vendors out. After spotting some fine looking lettuce and other late spring vegetables, I decided to head back post run to do some shopping.

Filled my shopping bag with flowers for the table, daisies for the front garden, lots of fresh lettuce, radishes, chard, green onions, fresh baked bread and local artist note cards. So glad the Farmers Market is back for the summer!

An evening under the big tent...

I had a fine time at the the Knoxville Zoo this evening, celebrating the many Zoo volunteers who give so much of their time. While I am not a volunteer, giving time to the Zoo runs deep in my family. My father has been on the volunteer roster for about 3 decades, participating in everything from classroom education, to shoveling rhino poop. He has gotten so much from the experience. My sister Carol is the newest volunteer recruit, giving time as often as she can. I attended the event with my sister Carol and as a sub for my dad, who could not attend.

The dinner was a potluck affair held under a big tent on the zoo grounds. A nice cool breeze kept the bugs away (I should mention I got my first two mosquito bites this afternoon before the event), but the air was buzzing from the chatter of 160 attendees. Had my dad been there, he would have been called to the front, recognized for his efforts and awarded volunteer emeritus status. As it was, the pin was quietly given to Carol while we were in the buffet line and not mentioned during the award ceremony. We were a bit sad about that.

All in all, a great time was had by all!

Happy 86th b'day sweet mother...

Fine birthday celebration today for my Mother. We had all her favorite fixings (none of them healthy), hotdogs, chili, french fries and cupcakes. She was still feeling bad but soldiered through the event with a smile. A few photos from the festivies are below.

A special celebration coming up...

Tomorrow we have the honor of celebrating my Mother's 86th birthday. She hasn't been feeling particularly well this week but hopefully she will be feeling up to a small party. She has only two foods she asks for when we bring food in, Kentucky Fried Chicken and hot dogs. Mother's Day was KFC so tomorrow will be hot dogs, Hardees Hot Dogs with all the fixings. I am going to need to climb off the gravy wagon once this meal is over.

My gifts are small, a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates, my mother loves both. I was a little disappointed with the floral bouquet selections at the store. They appear to be Mom Day's leftovers but maybe they will stay nice and cheery for a few days.



Happy Birthday Mother!

And the ladies of the club...

Had the Ladies Club over last night for our final meeting of the 2009-2010 year. I joined UMW Circle 6 some 17 months ago and have received far more than I have given. Most of the women in the group are at least 10 years old than me, many are very well traveled, most are strong, independent and up on all things religious and political. All the ladies are have quite interesting stories to tell and I have the best time around them.

Last night was my first time hosting this group and I ran John ragged in the weeks leading up to the event. To say we did a little redecorating would be a bit of an understatement. His almost endless patience served us well! We are done with that for a while and ready to entertain our family and friends.

Tonight I have been cleaning up the last of the meeting chaos while John is cleaning up the last of the strawberries, pound cake and whipped cream. This is, unfortunately, not much of a reward for making himself scarce during the meeting but he loves dessert and seems pretty happy about the leftovers. He won't have to repeat this night until I host again next year.

Have a great summer Ladies of the Club, see you in the fall...

Rev3 Knoxville Triathlon...

This weekend we hosted bloggie friend, Wes (A Code Geek's Tail), for the Rev3 Knoxville Triathlon. Having Wes in the house gave us a front row seat to the activities and got us up early this morning to watch some of the festivities. We really enjoyed getting to know him and hope he will be back. Wes is a good writer and did a great write-up about the event on his blog, so I won't go into much detail. John and I did, however, take a few photos from the Gay and Henley Street bridges.

Rev3 flags lined both sides of the Henley Street Bridge.

A view of downtown Knoxville and the waterfront from the Gay Street Bridge. Pro athletes are on the dock and in the water warming up.

A fine group of spectators was on hand to cheer the athletes.

In the photo below, the pros are swimming. All you can really see is a wake in the river.

The little balls in the photo below are the heads of the elite athletes preparing for the swim.

Elite athletes waiting for the signal to go as the pros swim by. The swim will take the athletes under the Henley Street Bridge to the Lady Vols Boat House (across from Neyland Stadium).

Volunteers wait on the boathouse dock. Their job is to pull the athletes out of the water.

The photo below is some of the first pro athletes to cross the Henley Street Bridge. To the left of the pros, motorcycles. John and I got a real chuckle out of this. Apparently, each pro (at least many of the pros) has a team (motorcycle driver and photographer) following them on the course. In other words, each pro has his/her own paparazzi. How heady can that be!!??

We left long before the race was over, celebrated Mother's Day with my family and came back in time to say good-bye to Wes (he completed a half-ironman in a little over 6 hours). We had expected him to call for "pick-up" and were surprised to find him on the road bicycling to the house. Photo below: John in the front yard,waiting for Wes.

A tired Wes, relaxing for a moment in the grass. He still had a several hour drive to Woodstock, GA.

Great job on your accomplishment Wes! It was a pleasure getting to know you and having you in our home. Hope you will be back next year for a repeat performance...and maybe bring the Mrs with you!!

Too hot for May...

John called from work early this morning to tell me the day was heating up quickly, a not so subtle attempt to push me out the door. But as usual on my day off, I sat around drinking coffee and wasting time on the computer until the temp had risen to "a little uncomfortable".

I get frustrated at myself at times cause I struggle so with motivation. It doesn't matter how many solid weeks/months I have been running, I can fall off the wagon at a moments notice. But today was a good day and I got myself out. The heat and humidity were a real wake up to the upcoming summer season but I got through a nice 6 miler with only minor struggles. I like successful days!

28 hours in Abingdon…

We are home from a weekend escape in Abingdon, VA, a quick 28 hours away from regular life. We had tickets for the Saturday afternoon performance of "Always... Patsy Cline" at the Barter Theater, or is it Theatre (and just what is the difference). We had one little problem, I got my show times mixed up. This is unusual for a triple checker such as myself but as a result, we arrived 25 minutes late. Fortunately the play is more about the music and less about story line so we only missed a few songs.

After the play (which we highly recommend), we flirted with the idea of walking around town, but it the temp was at a record high, we have walked around Abingdon before and there really isn't much to see. So we jumped in the car, grabbed some cheese and crackers at the store and returned to our very cool hotel room to watch the Kentucky Derby.

After the Derby, dinner. On the advice of friends Will and Kim, we decided to have dinner at the Harvest Table Restaurant in Meadowview, VA. Meadowview is a sleepy little farming town about 10 minutes outside of Abingdon. Rail tracks run through the edge of town, just down from the restaurant. While the rail station has long since closed up, the tracks remain pretty busy. We arrived around 7:00 PM. We were surprised to find the restaurant was only partially filled, we had expected a long wait. This restaurant is well know for miles around.

Harvest Table specializes in locally grown and raised meats, vegetables, fruits, cheeses, wines and more with a menu that changes frequently based on availability. We ordered pecan crusted trout with kale coleslaw and an incredible side of gnocchi and cheese (think mac and cheese). Dinner rolls were freshly made and the butter churned earlier in the day. If that wasn't gluttony plus, we ordered dessert, hot fudge cake. This put our sugar levels over the top. Oh, we left around 8:30 PM, the restaurant had quite the wait, seems like others must have stayed at home to watch the Derby too.

The Harvest Table Restaurant and Meadowview Farmer's Guild in Meadowview, VA.

Sunday morning we had a bit of a food hangover but headed to the Virginia Creeper Trail anyway. After a few months of slow down, I have been stepping up my run again and wanted to complete five miles on the Creeper. Several runners and walkers were out, but the bicyclers hadn't had time to make their trek from White Top mountain so those of us on foot had the trail pretty much to ourselves. John, who doesn't run, had decided against bringing his bike and was regretting it as he started walking on the trail. I took off at a slow pace.

It was warm and humid as I got into heavy foliage. A lot of area has been built up around the Creeper since my last visit, some 10 years ago. The trail was smooth and ever so slightly downhill. The running was pleasant and time slipped away quickly. I turned around at the 2.5 mile point and ran back toward the trail head, ever so slightly up hill.

We returned back to the hotel, showered and checked out. Next up, brunch at the White Flour Cafe in Damascus. Another incredible meal! We split orders of Pecan Pancakes with hot syrup, Applewood Bacon, Omelet with feta cheese, spinach and dill, stone ground cheese grits AND fried banana bread. My run was now canceled out. We were stuffed and it was time to go home. Another great weekend!