Rainy weekend…

So gloomy today, fits my mood.  Don’t know if it is the endless weekends of rain or my impending birthday but more (and heavy) rain is predicted for the next 3-4 days and my birthday gets closer with each, so I need to shake it off!



This morning was the first in the past few weekends we have not been shaken awake by a 5:30 AM alarm. Such luxury to be able to sleep late yet we still woke a bit past 7:00 AM.  I guess the concept of sleeping late is relevant.  John was out the door early for a bike ride, with plans to make it home in time to go to the Market Square Farmer’s Market with Sonya and me.  He didn’t, the chance to get out for a longer ride was too tempting. 

I met Sonya just west of the World’s Fair Park for a brisk 7-8 block walk to Market Square. The Farmer’s Market opened for the season this week though vendor participation is low at this time.  It has been a cold spring and only lettuces, onions and some carrots are pick able. 

I grabbed a nice head of red leaf lettuce, a few spring onions, some baked goods and a small miniature rose named “Sweet Diana” after Princess Diana. The smell is sweet and citrusy, similar to the scent of the magnolia.  The flower is heavy on a petite plant so I am not sure how well it will hold up.  I am going to plant the rose in a pot, leave it in a sunny spot in the garden and hope for the best! 



After the market, we poked in and out of a few stores, lingering, because we could. We could have stopped for lunch but it was beginning to rain so we pulled up our hoods and made the wet trek back to our cars.  We talked a lot about our upcoming trip to Abingdon and plans to ride the VA Creeper Trail.  It will be a lot of fun for John and me to get out of our routine and spend some time with friends.

The afternoon has been spend running errands in the rain, things to return, other things to buy.  We are helping the economy with our recent spending.  Among our stops, Trader Joe’s for a bag of falafels and The Holy Lands Deli for an assortment of middle eastern salads, a container of kalamata olives and block of incredibly fresh feta cheese.  We have been grocery store purchasers of olives and feta, but are now ruined by the heady flavor of the dark olives we dug out of buckets in the deli and the fresh, crumbly feta still dripping with brine from the deli frig.  Dinner was delicious!

Easter, early April…

Easter flowers stayed nice all week. Nothing says spring like a grocery store bouquet of brightly colored mixed flowers and a bundle of tulips. The candleholders are a gift from my parents, purchased during their year in Denmark (1973). We had Daniel and Lee over for dinner.  They lingered, worked on Daniel’s bicycle and spent time with John, he was very happy. 

Earlier in the week, when shopping for Easter dinner,  we stumbled across Trader Joe’s spiral-cut ham. Wow, does Trader Joe’s sell anything that tastes bad (except their $1.99 milk and sushi)?  I don’t think so.  



After 4 weeks, our 2nd floor bathroom is almost done.  A few finished touches need to be completed including refinishing the tub (circa 1942), rehanging the blinds, some type of artwork on the walls and a new shower curtain. 

Hard to believe a 5’x8’ space could take so long. The bathroom was stripped down to the to studs, insulated, floors leveled and squeaks removed, new pipes and plumbing and a shower was added. The room went from spongy, blue linoleum to gray marble, plaster walls to subway tile and bead board.  We are pleased with the results.  It was a barely tolerable space before.
 


Yes, it is tiny.  Built in the days when a bathroom was a functional space, not a place to “get away from the kids” or have some “me” time. But it has everything one needs in a bathroom. 



Due to the pitch of the roof, we went with a European shower wand.  The shower would otherwise be too crowded.
 


I love the modern vanity lights.  We had a few discussions about them but in the end, the tall, cylinder shape worked best. ;-)

Work was hectic this past week, it always is at the first of the month.  By Friday we were really looking forward to a low key evening at Chuy’s with our friends, Sonya and Mac.  John was a good sport and left home early to secure our place in the usually 45+ minute line. Mac, Sonya and I arrived within minutes of each other and after a few minutes we were seated. 
 
Dinner was good as always, but being with some of our favorite friends was even better.  I have known Sonya for about 16 years, we have been couple friends for 13. We have a lot of dinners, hiking, backpacking, travel, cards, laughter and life between us.  No matter how much time goes between getting together, we always pick up like it was just last week. 

Saturday was a work morning for me, one of three this quarter.  After work I spent a couple of hours dealing with issues related to getting my sister, Carol’s, condo on the market.  I will be really happy when the condo is gone. Too much time and effort has passed between the decision for Carol to move into an apartment and getting the “For Sale” sign in the yard.  Enough said…

All the while, my throat is scratchy and I am exhausted. I am usually anxious to get out on a nice day but I gladly spent the afternoon sleeping and watching TV with John.  It was a perfect late Saturday afternoon. 

This morning was marathon morning in Knoxville.  Every year our neighborhood is one of several who pull out all stops to cheer on the runners. The race sponsors a “Best Neighborhood” contest as voted on by the runners and we usually win.  How can we not, we fall at mile marker 22  and the runners are really excited to see and hear our encouragement.  
 
We stood at the top of a little hill (killer at mile 21.5), listening to the band, the Natty Love Joys (locally famous), ringing some cowbell and clapping. We also had the chance to visit with a few neighbors, which was a plus. I must say, our neighborhood has some poorly behaved, no, poorly supervised children.  Allowing your child and their bicycle/scooter in the midst of a group of runners is REALLY NOT a good idea. 

We were done after a couple of hours of clapping.  I was a energized by the runners so late this afternoon (after I was sure all runners were through the route), I laced on my running shoes and head out for a few miles.  I have really struggled with running since my troubles a year ago with piriformis muscle pain.  Hopefully I can get some structure back to a running program.
 


Some of our neighbors hand out fruit and gel.  Water and Gatorade is available at the other end of the boulevard.



Loved this guy, he played his drum during the entire race (he was out for over 6 hours).  He had all kinds of says to the beat of the drum.  “You- can- do- it” was his favorite.

Happy 2012 and Happy Birthday Sonya

Last night we celebrated the New Year with our friends the Cissnas.  New Year's Eve is Sonya's birthday and over the years, we have had several occasions to ring in the New Year and sing Happy Birthday together (most memorable is a camping trip in Cades Cove - cold, bitter cold, freezing comes to mind).

The festivities were quiet and cozy, snacks, pizza and a competitive game of Hearts. Sonya and Mac are pretty serious about their Hearts, John and I are not.  Some day we will be able to give them a run for their money but last night was not the night.  We lost miserably, 529 to 423.  I attribute our poor performance to the new deck of cards, stiff and difficult to shuffle .... I'm just sayin'.

Sonya and me in her new kitchen.  Mac has been remodeling in between his other activities.  He does the most meticulous work!!

John petting Barkley the Cissna's Weimaraner rescue dog as Mac looks on

Seems like the Smith family is not the only one with a tradition of ice cream birthday cakes.  Mac picked this one up at Baskin Robbins, white cake with vanilla icing.  It was delicious! 

Okay, let the games begin...

John studying his options

Mac doing the same

Sonya trying to decide if she can go "low 50"

Me showing my hand...."see I told you I didn't have anything good"

Today we took it easy, a short walk in the morning and took in a movie midday.  Our pick was "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".  John had read the book, I have not.  We agreed that the movie was a 2 thumbs up , John was  surprised at the graphic depiction of the violent parts.

As our day winds down, we are looking forward to country ham, biscuits and black-eyed peas for dinner.  Southern food at it's best. 
  

Happy New Year from us!

Burgers, marshmellows and friends...

Nice evening last night with our friends Sonya and Mac Cissna and their son, Micah.  They invited us to grill out at their home on the Fort Loudon Lake.  The view from their outdoor table was beautiful and the weather, just about perfect.  On the menu, our favorite food groups...brats and burgers.  We ate one of each but paid a price for the spicy brats several hours later when we were both looking for the Tums bottle.

In front of the chairs by the fence is a fire pit, we got to experience that after dark

Across the river is Lakeshore Park

As the sun set, we were treated to beautiful colors over the water.

After dark, Mac fired up the pit and Sonya brought out the marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate.  I love s'mores but I can't seem to eat as many as I did as a Girl Scout.

    Beautiful!

We had such a great time sitting around the warm fire with good friends.  Thanks Sonya, Mac and Micah for another fun evening!

Fish tacos and friends...

Thursday night John and I met friends, Will Skelton and Kim Robinette at Soccer Taco on Market Square for dinner and lots of catch up conversation. Will and Kim have been doing such exciting things (together and/or independently) as skiing in Utah, paddling in the Everglades and exploring Jordan and Israel. Whew, those of us who work can only enjoy the stories and wonder what travel will unfold for those two in the coming months.

We had agreed to meet the Will and Kim at 6:30 PM and were running marginally late. As we hurried in the cold toward the south end of the Square, (Market Rectangle as noted by Norris Dyer in this week's Metro Pulse), we glanced through the windows of several popular restaurants.  Most had only a handful customers seated around a few tables.  It was after all, a winterish Thursday night and most folks were warm and cozy at home.  But as we opened the door to Soccer Taco (our first visit), we were greeted by a totally different atmosphere.  Every table was full.  Fresh faced, young professional chatted over drinks and dinner. The restaurant literally hummed with activity.  Hmmmm, this is fun.

Will and Kim arrived about the same time and we were ushered to a booth in the back.  Perfect!  For first 1/2 hour, John sipped on a Doseki while the rest of us drank water (tea), worked through a bucket of warm chips and spicy salsa and talked.  I am sure our waiter would have appreciated our order much earlier but we finally got around to the menu and our selections, fish tacos for me and shrimp quesadilla for John. 

I don't know if it was the company, the conversation or the lively atmosphere, but the food was delicious.  John spent a lot of time transferring fish taco tangy cheese sauce from my plate to his quesadilla but I pretended not to notice. Will and Kim seemed pretty happy with their fish tacos and vegetarian buritos too.  We sat and ate, talked and talked...a waiter's worst kind of table. 

Finally around 8:40, some 2 hours after we walked in, I started to get sleepy.  We broke up the conversation, paid our check and the four of us walked back to the State Street garage.  John and I headed home to get ready for work, while Will and Kim headed toward Gay Street and the Rivera Theater to catch a 9:00 PM film.  Another great night in the books with a couple of our favorite people.  

Meat and two, Thursday night out...

This week is restaurant week in Knoxville.  Participating restaurants are offering special 3 course meals for $25-35/per person and donating $5/per meal to Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee.  Restaurant Week has been planned for a long time, but unplanned was Monday's monsoon that flooded the Second Harvest building.  The Food Bank lost just about everything and money is in short supply.  

Instead of spending $50-70 for a fancy dinner with $10 going to Second Harvest, we mailed a check for the entire cost of a 3 course meal for two and  joined friends Sonya and Mac Cissna at Sweet P's  for BBQ meat (loaf) and two. Sweet P's is an interesting BBQ joint/weekend music venue on Old Maryville Pike within spitting distance of  the Tennessee River.  The atmosphere is funky (campy some might say) posters, neon beer signs,  indoor/outdoor carpet, rickety chairs, sports on TV and the best barbeque (and sauce) in town.  In another word, heaven...

We slipped in the front door just behind a rowdy birthday party of 30 or so.  The line moved quickly as the proprietor dished up plates of  food from a buffet set-up behind the counter.  The menu is limited to a choice of 5-6 different meats and 5-6 sides, with a nightly special. BBQ meatloaf is only served on Thursday night and we considered nothing else!  

We were not disappointed.  Our two sides,  mac and cheese and cold slaw were excellent.  But the meatloaf was perfection, smoked on the grill and smothered with a tangy BBQ sauce.  We added a squirt of hot sauce and savored every bite.  Mac and Sonya ordered the same and also raved about the meatloaf (and mac and cheese).  We agreed another Thursday at Sweet P's is in order! 

Yum-yum!

500th Post and Other Things...

On August 19, 2004, a little blog named Smithposts... was born. Today, some 6 1/2 years later, I am typing the 500th post.  My enthusiasm has ebbed and flowed over the years as evident by the fluctuating  number of monthly updates but this recording of snapshots of my life marches on.  

Busy weekend as we continue to get back into hiking. Saturday morning John and I left the house around 8:30 AM and pointed the car toward the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We drove the back roads, the bicycle roads, so John could get a glimpse of other riders and day dream about being in his bicycle shoes instead of his boots.  As we drove along Old Walland Road, we caught this glimpse of low lying clouds trapped between the foothills.  Really incredible as we drove into the clouds and out on the other side.  

We parked just outside the Cades Cove Loop Road gate and paused to gaze at the serene beauty of  winter.  No matter how often or why we go into Cades Cove, it never fails to amaze. We talked about the times we have hiked, run and bicycled around The Cove and made a commitment to come back at least one more time this year.

Rich Mountain Loop Trail was the first leg of our hike.  The trail head is located just inside the gate to the Cades Cove Loop Road and begins as a deceptively flat section of trail.

Us within the first mile of the hike

We spotted a couple of deer in the forest near the trail head. Aside from birds and squirrels, this was the extent of our wildlife experience on this trip.  Deer in Cades Cove are surprisingly unafraid of people and while I couldn't get the deer to pose for a photo, we were able to get pretty close.  

About a mile into the hike, we reached the backside of John Oliver's cabin.  The cabin was built in the 1820's by the first resident of the Cove.  The cabin is a small structure with a covered front and back porch.

John Oliver's Cabin

View from one of the cabin's porches, really beautiful

Woodland plate for some small animal, probably a squirrel

Shortly past the cabin, the trail begins a steep climb.  I say the uphill is steeper but shorter if hiking counter clockwise, John says it doesn't matter, the length of the climb and the elevation are the same.  We happened to be hiking clockwise and the hike was quite steep.  I may or may not have been overheard to whine  (about 3/4's of the way to the highest point), something along the lines of "if we were hiking in the other direction"  and "we would already be done with this climb" but I'm not sure about that.  I was definitely aware that I need more trail time before our big summer adventure!!

John stopped to look at the view and compare it to the  map.  We decided we were looking toward Russell and Spence Field. Above his head is the ridgeline we would hike along....once we reached the ridge.

The view

We stopped at the trail junction of Rich Mountain Loop Trail and Indian Grave Gap Trail for lunch.  The photos above and below are our lunch views. 

We finally reached the ridgetop and views opened on each side.  The photo below is looking back toward the foothills and Townsend, TN.  Note the curled leaves of the rhododendren.  Winter is here and the plant is self protecting from the cold and wind.

The photo below, taken on the opposite side of the ridge was our view of Cades Cove.  The Loop Road follows roughly on the outer edge of the brown area.

At the Crooked Arm Ridge Trail junction, we headed right to complete our loop.  The hike was 8.20 miles, a moderate hike by any account but we were tired and ready to go home.  I have a lot of work to do before our summer adventure but we have more hikes and backpacks planned over the next months.  

About 7:00 PM, after a nap and shower, we headed downtown to join friends Sonya, Mac and Micah Cissna for dinner.  We had reservations at Sangria's, which is fast becoming one of our favorite restaurants  http://www.sangriasmarketsquare.com/ .  We ordered an assortment of tapas.  John and I split Ai-oli potatoes,  chef's choice croquets, fried artichoke hearts and Sangria's salad.   Oh so gooooood!

Dark photo of the restaurant front on Market Square Mall

We had so much fun with our friends!  Our tiredness from a day of hiking disappeared over dinner.  We talked and ate and laughed then walked downtown for a while.  While the day had been warm, the evening was cool so we didn't linger long.  We did have time to formulate a car camping (versus backpacking) plan for late spring.  We haven't been car camping since the last time we went with Sonya and Mac to bring in the New Year (and Sonya's birthday) around 2002-2003.  We are looking forward to this adventure!!  

Sonya and me with roses received at dinner

Rose close-up

House Mountain and Dinner at Latitude 35, Take 2...

This past Saturday morning was a casualty of poor planning.  We had had several conversations about hiking but nothing nailed down so we got distracted and ran errands.  In an effort to salvage the afternoon and arrive on time for dinner with friends, we headed back to House Mountain to hike the east side.

The weather was a little colder than perfect but it was the wind that gave us pause!  While lacing our boots up in the parking lot, we stopped to watch a stand of spindly hardwoods sway in the stiff  breeze.  About that time we heard a loud crash as a limb from one of the trees broke and fell to the ground. Not a good sign for hiking in the woods!

We hiked a short distance on the main trail before turning right on the Mountain Trail.  Shortly after turning off, we fell into the shadow of the mountain where we were protected from the wind.  Without the wind, we warmed quickly as we climbed 1600'.      

 

Another right at the end of the Mountain Trail and we were on the Mountain Crest Trail headed toward the East Overlook.  No question the east side of the mountain is the prettiest side.  Much of this side is private but the owners allow hikers to use the trails.  

We stopped at this north facing overlook and stepped into the wind.  We assume the flag is compliments of the property owners but we don't remember it being here last time we hiked this trail.

In the above photo, John is videoing the flag.  He is attempting to steady himself with his foot stance but truth be told, the wind was rolling up the mountain and over the rocks in strongs gusts. One of those gusts slammed into him and knocked him back toward the trail.

We made it to the East Overlook and took advantage of the photo op (above photo and below 2 photos).

On the way out, we stopped at the northern overlook again for a "together" photo.  We took about 5 photos and this is the best of the group.  The wind grabbed my hair and sent it flying like an airplane. 

Mountain Crest Trail

Whoops, someone pocket dialed their mother! :-)  Reception is good on the mountain

This is the video John took of the flag.  Turn up the sound  for the full effect of the wind at the north overlook.

Our evening plans included a double date with friends Sonya and Mac Cissna.  I guess we would actually call it a triple date because their son, Micah came along too. Earlier in the week we had decided to meet at Latitude 35 on Market Square Mall for dinner.  If you remember from my post several days ago, our first impression of the restaurant was good service, atmosphere and food (although we thought our meals had been sitting for a while). 

This time we were seated in the backroom in a booth overlooking the kitchen and 7 TVs, all showing the UT-Alabama basketball game.  We ordered an assortment of salads, sandwiches and a tray of salsa and chips.  The appetizer came quickly and we snacked (great spicy salsa) and watched the game.  Everyone was glued to the TVs, including the wait staff, no one could peel their eyes away. At some point Sonya leaned over the table and asked if I thought our food was sitting under the heat lamp waiting.  Indeed it was and we watch the food sit, and sit, and sit.  Finally our waiter grabbed the plates and brought them to the table. 

To sum up the evening, the food was a bit tepid. We wished it had been hot and fresh tasting but our experience was otherwise good and we enjoy the vibe of Latitude 35. The best part of the evening, our dinner companions..another great time Sonya, Mac and Micah!!  You are the best.