Today was move day for Daddy, a long and tiring day to be sure. But he is now tucked into his cozy new home, surrounded by his books, music and art and the opportunity to paint and focus on the things he enjoys. Soon home and lawn maintenance with be a distant memory. Now just how much longer till I retire??

Beverly and Pete on the front porch of the family home, waiting for the moving truck.
Carol (broken arm) and Pete, watching the moving truck roll over the curb and into the yard. Why use the driveway when it is oh so far away from the front door!!

Clever, the truck ramp rolls right out to the porch. No up and down the steps for these movers. Note the oak tree trunk to the left. Daddy planted this tree in 1957, the first year we lived in the house.

Nice picture (by Carol) of the back of the house. My old bedroom was on the top floor, far left window.

Taking a Coke break. We couldn't have picked a hotter, more humid day for the move!

Our movers; brothers! These guys were amazing. Either could pick up a couch and sling it over their shoulder. We were in awe. They are almost done at this point, at least with the loading part. We still have to drive to the new location (about 1.0-mile away) unload and set up.

The new place and a very tired father. But no rest for the weary, we have a lot to do!

Following in the footsteps of our father, who took a inconvenient tumble off a step on May 31, my sister Carol stumbled down the steps in her garage last night. She spent several hours in the emergency room under the watchful eye of our sister Leslie, who called to report that the doc had pronounced her wrist broken. The family team reports three on the injured list (Mother, Daddy and Carol) and two on the uninjured list (Leslie and me-knock,knock on wood). Our family has had a thunderstorm overhead this summer. We are looking forward to the calming winds of fall.

This little cutie is a mid-summer bloom on a Blackberry Lily. Where else but from my garden!!

Finally, the mid-point of July has passed and I am in the final dash to month's end. July has been very busy! We are 14 days and counting from shuttering the family home. Waiting in the wings for the key is a nice, young and very excited couple.

The sisters have raided the gardens and divided the family treasures. Daddy and his stuff will move into a nearby retirement community on Friday. The rest of the household loot will be scattered between the sisters and Goodwill on the following Friday. How quickly 49 years have come and gone in our family home. We have lots of wonderful memories to reflect on....after the move is complete.

John and I have been busy with the garage project (almost done) and sifting through my household belongings trying to open up some nooks and crannies for my loot. Several tough choices on what to keep, toss or giveaway are yet to be made.

The reality of our trip to China is beginning to filter in through the family chaos! Yesterday I turned our multi-stop return flight into a non-stop from Hong Kong to Newark and this evening I picked up our visas from Fed X. John and I will not miss the 6 hour layover in Seoul, South Korea or the 6 hour layover at JKF. Hurrah for frequent flyer seats that become available at the last moment. Within the next few weeks, my focus will shift from family to trip preparation. Both of us are looking forward to loosing ourselves in a totally foreign culture though I am sure we will be ready to find ourselves for the trip home.

Yesterday John and I spent the morning at the Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum. In existence for only a few years, the gardens are the sight of the Howell Nursery that had been in operation since 1783. Some areas of the property are still being cleared of brush but most are walkable. Time and money will produce a real treasure for the city of Knoxville.

One of the most impressive aspects of the gardens is the massive stonework. Barbara, director of the gardens, told us that instead of laying off workers in the winter, the original Mr. Howell kept them busy building stonewalls from rock he procured mostly from TN and NC. Some photos of the stonework are included below but you really have to see it to fully appreciate it!


A round tower once used to store bulbs in the winter.

Stone and wood, the entrance to the greenhouses.

A mill stone used as a stepping stone in front of the heavy wooden doors above.

Lots of possibilities in this old greenhouse. Such an impressive stone wall!

Another interesting greenhouse.

Some of the towers were open for a quick exploration.

A possible gatehouse or welcome center for the original nursery. Fire has destroyed the roof.

Inside the welcome center, looking up through the charred rafters.

John standing in the center of one of the four winding paths that once served as roads into the arboretum

Most trees are planted in neat rows by species. Note the stone walls at the back of the photo

Honeysuckle

Impressive color and texture against the stone wall!

Oak Leaf Hydrangea blooms from my gardens.

I found these beautiful pictures lurking in the camera. John has been doing some impressive flower photography! He too, is testing out the macro and 10x lense on our Olympus C-750 Ultra Zoom digital camera. In John's words... "Not bad but we'll see how the prints turn out." Stay turned for a camera review :-)

Flower Power!

We had a fine time at the drive-in last night! On the big screen, Pixar Animation's new film "Cars."

The big screen perched high above a field of cars.

John, engrossed the the latest update on this year's Tour de France.
This is the best summer tailgate in town! Coolers filled with picnic goodies appear from the hatchs of mini vans and SUVs up and down the rows. Cards, football and conversation fill time until the film starts rolling.

For those who didn't bring a tailgate feast, snacks are available at the Snack Shack. The usual fare of popcorn, nachos, hot dogs, fries and soft drinks are offered. Long lines of hungry snackers appeared quickly after this photo. We were among them, anxious to dig our hands into a bucket of oily, unhealthy and oh-so-good "theater" popcorn.

Ah, sunset over the big screen, can the show be far behind?

Another flower from my garden. Orange Vols is a spectacular daylily purchased from Oakes Daylilies in Corryton, TN. I used the macro feature on my camera and held it without the benefit of a tripod. I am surprised and pleased with how clear the picture turned out. :-) testing my camera features for our upcoming trip to China.

Ah, the joys of gardening!

Individual hosta flowers seem to flow into the next along long, graceful stalks.

Hostas, refreshingly cool on a hot summer afternoon.

John and I grabbed a quick dinner on "The Strip" this evening and headed to the UT Gardens on Neyland Drive to enjoy a sunset stroll. Far too much time has passed since our last visit and we were delighted to discover a variety of new plantings and structures. Meandering amongst the massive raised beds, we stopped often to enjoy the bursts of summer splendor and read the labels of the plants we did not recognize. Excited about the experience, we discussed the possibilities within our own gardens....now, if we just had a free month or two, our gardens would look spectacular too!!

Just back from a really great backpack in the Bald Mountains! The Bald Mountains can be seen in the eastern skyline off I-81 near Greeneville, TN. They are part of the Appalachian chain of mountains running from Alabama north to Newfoundland, Canada.

We started our hike at the Old Forge Campground somewhere off US 11E and gained almost 2,600' hiking along the Little Jennings Creek Trail and Round Knob ORV road on our way to Coldspring Mountain (4,600'), our destination for the night. The hike was just about 11-miles split between two days and aside from the steep ups and downs, a very pleasant experience :-)


Crossing number 1 occurred right out of the parking lot. What! No one is opting for the algae covered, wet stone steps? Bill (in front), Cheryl, Robin, Will (taking photo) and Kim.

H-m-m-m, the water is deep and fast. Did everyone bring water shoes?!!

"W-e-ll, I think this is the way to go!!" Actually, after the initial water crossing, Will reviewed the map and determined that we would have fewer raging river crossings if we took the trail to the right instead of the left as planned. No problem, both end at the same place in just about the same mileage. Bill decided to take the trail to the left 'cause he wanted some river action!

So off we go on trail option B, the dryer sider of the mountain. Creek crossing 2 is as fast and wild as crossing 1. Will, boots in hand, is in up to high-calf.

And yet one more crossing . The water churns around Cheryl's knees as Kim (pink shirt) prepares to cross.

And again for crossing #4. Gee, this one is only mid-calf. Robin is in front in blue, Cheryl, tan hat, is behind Robin as Will and Kim, in the back, take a slightly different path across the underwater rocks.

Fast forward to crossing #14 or 15. Even John's long legs are in almost knee high.

We crossed again just below this beautiful waterfall. I couldn't resist stopping for a photo. The rapids plummeting against my legs made for a shaky shot!

Somewhere along the hike, as the creek crossings became narrower and shallow, John decided that he should be able to make future crossings without getting his boots wet.

He wasn't wrong in the decision even though our trail turned into a branch of the creek and we hiked for a while in water. (Note: The inside of John's boots stayed perfectly dry-he was a happy guy!)

Finally we met up with Bill at another trail junction. What a treat, a real picnic table and new potty (Forest Service road nearby). Bill was pretty excited about his 7 water crossings until he heard our grumbling. He totally missed the jackpot! From left: Robin (blue), Bill, Cheryl, me (sunglasses), John, Kim and Will.

We hiked on to the AT and Jerry's cabin, nestled in the forest. Here we get water at the spring because our campsite has no water. Luckily our campsite is only a mile away so the burden of excess water is tolerable. In the above photo, John is getting ready to add iodine tablets to our water to ward off evil bacteria or germs.

Inside Jerry's cabin, Will settles on the sleeping platform and takes off his pack. I have stayed in only one shelter cause I don't find the concept of sleeping shoulder to shoulder on a wood slab with 8-10 people I don't know, too appealing. Thru hikers will tell you these shelters are a welcome sight in heavy down pours or other inclement weather! The mailbox contains the AT trail log with notes left by AT hikers.

On top of Coldspring Mountain, Bill and John hike along the AT looking for "the perfect" campsite.

Sweeping views from the Bald...really spectacular!

White trash! Actually this is John and my campsite. John's towel is drying in the breeze, we left the fly off the tent to keep the interior from heating up too much in the warm, afternoon sun and the rest of our gear is waiting to be put away, but we are taking a break! As you can see, the Bald has very tall grass. No lawn mowing required here, or at least only once every 10 years or so.

Yummy! Our dinner, baboli crust pizza with spinach, pesto, cheese, turkey pepperoni and greek olives!

We climbed out of the tent about 7:30 am for coffee and breakfast before breaking camp and heading home. The inside of the tent warmed up quicly and was a contrast to the cool morning. As a result, condensation formed on my camera lense and caused the blur around the edges of the photo above.

Yesterday uphill, today...down, down, down. Above, John hiking down the mountain.

Beautiful displays of Mountain Laurel (like this one) are a joy to come across and we saw several full bushes!

Our hike back to Old Forge Campground (and the cars) included Sarvis Cove, Poplar Cove and Jennings Creek Trails. Along the way, we had a short, but brutal climb out of one watershed into a neighboring one and 7 water crossings instead of the prior day's 15. All in all, a well planned and executed hike with some of our favorite people!