5 Weeks MIA

The Christmas presents are open, my tree has been recycled, the New Year celebration has come and gone and I just reached a PW (personal worst)...five weeks since my last post.

Christmas trees waiting to be recycled at the local nature center

I don't know if it was a result of the down turning economy or just the need to connect, but it seems like our friends were really reaching out to each other during the holidays. We attended more parties and casual get togethers than I remember in the past and the enjoyment of sharing food and laughter felt more satisfying than ever! We even caught up with some old friends that we haven't seen in a long while!

The actual mechanics of Christmas almost slipped by me. In mid-November, I went to work for Williams-Sonoma as part-time Christmas help but by early December, the part-time hours turned into nearly full-time. Aside from being very tired after each shift, I enjoyed the people, product and the daily contact "with the outside world".

My meager holiday preparation was pushed into the few hours I had available. I almost passed on putting up Christmas decorations but when I went to a local tree lot to purchase a wreath, the owner took pity on my poor unemployed self and gave me a real deal on a tree. Hey, it was a good deal and I looked pretty pitiful :-)

My mailbox decorated with some fake and mostly live treasures from the yard...white pine, nandina berries, laurel and holly

Not quite a Charlie Brown Christmas tree but certainly a little sparse near the top. Unfortunately, the decorations did not go beyond lights, I just never pulled the boxes and boxes of ornaments out of the attic

As we have with the past several Christmases, we spent Christmas morning with mother at Shannondale. It was just the girls, a "hen" party according to my dad. He had GI problems and wasn't feeling well. We really didn't want to share in his stomach issues so we were okay with him staying at home. I cooked breakfast and took it with me. Not sure what I did to the grits casserole, but what a disaster! John spent the morning cooking pancakes for his boys and opening presents at his house. We got together in the afternoon, watched football and vegged!

Me with my new shawl, a gift from Carol

Leslie and Mother

Carol opening a gift

Our final event for the holiday season was a New Year's Eve party, hosted by Will and Kim at Kim's home. Twenty some people attended and while we didn't stay till to see the clock strike 12 AM, we did watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV. Must be the first New Year we been awake for in 4-5 years. The pictures below were taken by friend Will Skelton and lifted right from his Picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/theskeltonview

Happy New Year!

Kim and Will

Look at the food spread

Christmas in Knoxville...

Last night we decided to get in the holiday spirit by participating in the lighting of the holiday trees in John's neighborhood. John lives in an old, historic neighborhood and most residents have a real community spirit. In past years, this has been a big social event with lots of caroling, hot chocolate, cookies and conversation. Over the past year or so, some of the newer residents (along with some older residents) have been trying to impose a historic overlay plan on the neighborhood that will restrict remodeling and landscaping. This has caused a rift that has apparently affected neighborhood events.

As we walked from John's house to the small children's tree, we were not surprised to find mostly young families rushing to the lighting. We were disappointed to find no singing, no organization and a very unceremonious plug of the tree lights into the power source. Immediately, the crowd (about 30 adults and children) departed the children's tree and hurried to the other end of the boulevard for the lighting of the big tree.

When we arrived at the second lighting, a few others showed up, I would say maybe 40-50 adults and kids total but it was not the gathering John had experienced in the "early" years. We realized that this was not going to be the festive occasion we had hoped for so we quietly slipped out of the group and walked home.

Our next stop, downtown. After dinner at Trio, we strolled through the city and enjoyed the festive decorations. Since John has been under the weather this week, we wrapped the evening up early. A few pics from our adventure are below, more can be found in our Picasa sight. Hopefully we will add more holiday pictures as the season progresses!

http://picasaweb.google.com/johnandbeverly74/ChristmasInTheCity122008#

Holiday lights at Trio

Mannequin forms dressed up in holiday finery at the "Reruns" shop
Looking in at the baked goodies in the window at Cafe4, Market Square's newest restaurant and bakery
John warming himself by the outdoor fire

Christmas tree on Market Square

Spinach and penne pasta...

I don't usually have a refrigerator full of food but a trip to the grocery on Tuesday provided me with a number of choices. Tonight a bundle of spinach caught my attention and I decided to make one of my favorite meals, sauteed spinach and garlic on whole wheat pasta.

The is a quick meal, cook the pasta while sauteing spinach, big chunks of garlic and a little salt in hot olive oil. When done, drain the pasta, top with the spinach mixture and add whatever protein you want. I added chicken (grilled last night) a little pepper and a small amount of grated Romano cheese. Perfect comfort food on a dreary, rainy day.

Why is it that a big pan of spinach reduces down to a fist full of cooked spinach? Spinach in hot olive oil just beginning to cook. The chunks of garlic will be added in a few minutes, I don't like overcooked garlic.

The final product

Running has been good of late and I have been steady with my core exercises. Although the runs are short, only 3 miles, and on a treadmill, I am pushing myself to be faster. I have thrown out my 2008 mindset to hold back till the end of a run and started dialing up the pace with each mile. I love the feeling of freedom as my arms and legs move through the motions, running is exciting again. My goal is to see a significant improvement in my time for the New Year's Day 5k with an eye toward a faster time in the Straw Plains 10k.

3rd and 4th grade...

This morning I was up early to volunteer at my sister's school. I spent about an hour and a half with some well-behaved 3rd graders and another couple of hours in reading class with a group of 4th graders.

I learned a few things today.

1) I still remember the pledge of allegiance.
2) I do not want to sing The Star Spangle Banner with 20 angelic voices. I cannot carry a tune. Mouthing the words works perfectly fine.
3) 3rd graders enjoy the fact that they know more than you do. Who knew the island of Ireland looks like a peanut?
4) 3rd graders are very confident and want to share everything they know. Shades of self-consciousness begin to show up in 4th grade. What do you think happens over the summer?
5) Sitting in a classroom is less stressful than sitting at a desk crunching numbers and trying to explain to management, buyer, salesman, _____ (fill-in the blank) why sales are not exceeding overaggressive business plans.
6)I am not smarter than a 3rd or 4th grader.

Look what has been happening outside my window.

Big flakes but only a few are hanging around the fence line. Hopefully the early cold weather and snow are a sign of things to come this winter!

The last day of November...

Today has been a cold, rainy last day of November. So, we enjoyed this...

And did this...

As we flipped between channels to watch the Brothers Manning win their respective football games. Meanwhile, a thunderstorm hit. After several flashes of lightening, we looked out the window and discovered John's car covered in this...

But the snow stopped as quickly as it began and all traces have been washed away by more rain. Happy last day of November!

I missed all local Thanksgiving related races this weekend so before I settled into an afternoon of TV and sleeping, I went to the gym and ran a nice 5k on the treadmill. The run went better than other recent efforts, something that I attribute to working on replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. After the run, I completed a few sets on the jump rope then headed home for a round of pushup-situps. Not too bad for a dreary Sunday afternoon!

Thanksgiving 2008 and Alum Cave...

The last of the pots and pans are clean and the tablecloth is in the washing machine. Thanksgiving 2008 is officially over. Unfortunately for my waistline, the memories will linger on as leftovers. Does sausage stuffing count as a breakfast food?

We started our festivities at Shannondale with my mother. We briefly considered bringing in food but space is limited and it complicates things for the staff so we had our Thanksgiving lunch in the cafeteria. The traditional fare is not quite home cooked but time together is priceless!

Last night the family dined at my house on what else but turkey, stuffing, potatoes and green beans. For this second Thanksgiving go around, everything was home cooked. I anticipated serving dinner around 5:45 PM but the turkey took a little longer than expected; I had a lot of hungry people standing in the kitchen. Don't know if the slow cooking time was a result of sitting 18 hours in brine (the turkey, not me) but I will won't go back to basting. Brined turkey is excellent! We had a great Thanksgiving and hope everyone else did too!

As I posted earlier, last Saturday John and I hiked to Alum Cave in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Alum Cave is located about halfway up Mt. LeConte, the highest point in the GSMNP. We left sunny, cold conditions in Knoxville for clouds and snow in the mountains. Br-r-r-r!
This is Highway 441 going over the mountain into Cherokee, NC; Alum Cave trail head is located about halfway up the mountain. While the road was clear at the base, the higher we climbed, the worse the conditions. By the time we completed our hike and drove down the mountain, the Park Service had closed the road.

As the elevation increased, the temperature outside the car continued to drop.

Us in the parking lot for the trail head! Where did summer go?

We had several creek crossing. Since this is a very popular trail, all crossings had nice bridges including this bridge right out of the parking lot.

Me on the trail. I look like I have on pantaloons but the gators kept my legs warm and dry. I am stuffed like a turkey with layer upon layer so I was comfortable hiking in a fleece vest.

John entering the overhang. We were concerned about ice on the rock steps but had no problem. The problem was on the other side of the overhang. The trail was totally iced over. No problems going up but I had to butt scoot down in the snow beside the trail. John, of course, had no problem.

John at Inspiration Point with a 360 view of the mountains and valley.

A view along the trail.

We were concerned that this section of trail would be too hazardous but as it turned out, much of the ice was slushy. Melt from the ice on the rocks was running under the ice on the trail, rendering the ice very thin.

We stopped just short of Alum Cave. These are the steps leading to the Cave and while we thought we could make it up, the going down would be difficult.

Another view of the mountains.

Classic shot of a tree against the cloudy sky.

After our hike, we went to Gatlinburg for an early dinner and to enjoy the holiday lights. We were so looking forward to hot vegetable soup and cornbread at The Brass Lantern but to our dismay, The Brass Lantern had been sold to the McCutcheon family, of McCutcheon Candy fame (an old Gatlinburg family). The vegetable soup had become beef vegetable soup and the skillet of cornbread was now a basket of corn sticks. The soup was served at a tepid temperature and just not as good. We will think twice before making this stop again.

Holiday lights on the Gatlinburg strip.

Almost Thanksgiving...

It's almost Thanksgiving, my 2nd favorite holiday of the year and the beginning of the "big build" to my favorite holiday, Christmas. While unemployment has rendered this year a bit challenging, I have a lot to be thankful for ... John, my parents, my sisters, good friends and great health.

Tomorrow we will share Thanksgiving lunch with my mother at Shannondale. In the evening, I will have the family over for the traditional turkey, potatoes, green beans (not the casserole kind), cranberry sauce and a salad. No Thanksgiving is complete without fall flowers. Below are my holiday creations.

This bouquet is for my mother. I bought the flowers from the floral department in our local Kroger and arranged them in a vase I have around the house. The crooked willow branches were purchased sometime this summer at the local farmer's market and stored in the garage for later use.
This is a mini version of my mother's bouquet. I will use it on the dining room table. Again I have used a vase I have around the house and the crooked willow branches.
A couple of flowers from the above bouquets were too short for the arrangements so I used them to create this very clean, simple arrangement. Nice for a low coffee table.
Finally, if you are wondering how to recycle flower pods from a crepe myrtle (I am sure this is keeping you up at night), cut a few stems and put them in a nice vase. The pods are dry, need no water and will keep indefinitely.

Happy Thanksgiving ya'll!

Winter hiking...

Yesterday we day hiked to Alum Cave in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was cold, snowy, icy, a little scary and a lot of fun. This is a teaser photo from the trail head parking lot. I will post more pics and a hike report a little later this week.

January in November...

What is up with the frozen leaves?


I forgot about my big leaf philodendron, outside in the summer sun. Meantime fall arrived, the leaves fell from the trees and January arrived. Yep, our nighttime temps have been in the teens. The philo does not usually make it back inside until almost December but this year the weather turned chilly a little early.

Hopefully I am not too late. This plant has a lot of miles and memories attached. Over a period of 30 years, it has moved with me from Knoxville to Cincinnati to St. Louis and back to Knoxville. After all that, I would hate to loose it now!

Spinning Again...

Two days into "normal" time and I feel like I should be putting on my jammies at 6:30PM. What's up with that?

Running has been a drag recently. My mileage has dropped significantly and getting in even a few miles has become a mental battle. While my last year solution would have been to stop exercising, I know the consequences of such action so instead I headed back to the gym to take up spin, again. Spinning has been a nice challenge and the time away seems to be having the desired effect. Today, after a stuffy, demanding 45 minute class, I climbed on the treadmill for a sweaty 1.5 mile run. Not much to brag about but I enjoyed it and intend to do it again tomorrow.

The end of 2008 is only weeks away, 8 to be exact. This year I have made some nice gains in fitness but my biggest goals remain just out of reach. Due to the upcoming start of a seasonal job with weekend hours, I have written off the November 15 Rutledge 1/2 Marathon, something that I attribute to my diminished motivation to run. With this in mind, I am starting to refocus on my goals and determine what 2009 races and events will get me there.

Backpack #67-GSMNP Campsite 2...

With a seasonal job coming up, John and I decided that this was the weekend to get in a final backpack before the holiday season. The weather looked good and friends, Will Skelton and Kim Robinette decided to go along too.

We left Knoxville on Saturday at 3:40 PM. This is a little late for a backpack but Will had meeting for most of the day, our hike was short and we didn't return to Eastern Standard Time until 2:00 AM. Daylight Savings Time meant the sun would not drop below the tress until until after 6:00 PM so, if we hiked fast, we could cover the 4 mile hike in daylight.

During our drive to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Will mentioned something about a trail short cut via the Goldmine Trail. The shortcut would slice some 2 miles off our hike and allow us time to set up camp and find firewood in the light. His map indicated the trail head was located somewhere in the Top of the World Community, a perimeter development near the Park boundary. We thought the shortcut was a great idea.

It took us a while and a couple of exploratory" walks to find the trail head. Once on the trail, we covered the .8-mile Goldmine Trail and a 1-mile section of the Cooper Road and Cane Creek trails in under an hour. We arrived at Campsite #2 with plenty of time to scavenge some downed wood for a fire, set up our tents, get water and settle in for a evening of just above freezing temperatures.

Somewhere in the Top of the World community looking for the Goldmine trail head. Fall colors are looking good!

John by campfire

Beverly by campfire

John fixed taco soup for our dinner. Yum-yum!

Sunday morning was a bit chilly but spectacular. We had a chance to look around, enjoy the clear blue sky and the last of the fall colors.

John and I had grits, bacon and coffee for breakfast. Will and Kim (above) had sweet potato pancakes and hash browns. Kim and I are spoiled campers because Will and John do all the cooking. Aside from Will's occasional liberal abuse of banana rum in his camp cooking.... pancakes, desserts, sauces and anything else he can find, he and John do a great job with KP.

A view of Cane Creek Trail.

The morning sun and shadows from the trunks of the trees made for interesting patterns with smoke from our morning campfire.

More pictures are in our Picasa gallery: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnandbeverly74/GSMNPCampsite2#

Happy Birthday to my Dad...

Today we celebrated another year in the life of a remarkable man, my dad. If you are counting, he is 85 and still going strong. My sister hosted a luncheon for family and a few friends. We spent the afternoon talking, eating and laughing.

A most delicious cake baked by a friend of my sister Carol. The cake was my dad's favorite, chocolate on chocolate.

Leslie set a beautiful table. The fall mums in the center of the table are in a vase filled with fresh cranberries. Nice look!

Long time friend of my dad, Gid Fryer, looking at some note cards.

My dad greeting Fran Scheidt who adds fun and excitement to any room she enters.

Daddy getting ready to cut the cake. On his right is Virginia Douglas, on his left is Fran. Virginia, Fran and everyone else at the table was giving him instructions on how to cut the cake, although none of us wanted to do it ourselves. Carol is standing behind Daddy making a face as he begins to make the first cut.

From left is Nancy, Gid's daughter,in town from Pagosa, CO, then Gid and at the head of the table is Mike, Leslie's husband.

Birthday boy wielding the knife.

Father and daughters