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!

Weekend update…

Today is a cool, sunny day, just perfect for playing outside but I am indoors laying low, this flu-virus thing has me down! Even my running shoes have taken a week off.

Spring is quickly slipping away and we have fallen into a pattern of yard work and chilling at home, which begs the question “are we becoming old married folks?” Several weeks ago, our next door neighbor asked how long I planned to keep up the yard work. It seems that every time I get out to trim, cut or plant, his wife has him out doing the same. He wants to call a yard truce but I told him I was good until early July. I enjoy pushing his buttons just a bit and he needn’t worry about best yard status, the dandelions will completely cover our yard before either of us feel like getting out mowing it again.

What a week…

I have been feeling bad this week, really, really bad. Aside from sharing my germs at work on Monday and Tuesday, I have been horizontal in a more or less semi-conscious state. John, being the good person he is, took care of dinner every night, by either cooking or bringing home take out. We got by okay. Seasonal allergies he told me.

Today John is feeling bad, really, really bad! He has discovered that calling me via cell phone from the other room nets a drink or snack without having to get up. I am now in charge of carryout. Poor John. As he sinks into the flu, I am on the road to recovery. Don't worry I tell him, it's just seasonal allergies.

I looked out the window this afternoon and saw this…

He hung around for a few minutes then was gone as quickly as he arrived. This may explained what happened to these guys who showed up a few weeks before Easter…

These bunnies either escaped or were released in the neighborhood. They lived near our house for a week or so. I was so sad the day they disappeared. On the other hand I did not take them in. We also have a raccoon and skunk that live in the fringes of the yard. I am thinking about requesting wilderness status for our backyard.

Finally, we got out on the Cumberland Trail in late March, our first backpack in 6 months. The trail will eventually traverse the state of Tennessee in a somewhat north to south direction. We hiked from Cove Lake to La Follette. The section was challenging but quite interesting. The link to the Picasa photo album is : http://picasaweb.google.com/johnandbeverly74/CumberlandTrailNewRiverSegment320212010 . Our friend Will tells me I labeled the section incorrectly (New River) but I am lazy so it may or may not get change.

The Month of February...

The entire month of February has slipped by without a post so I am slightly back dating this one. Lots of busyness going on!

At the beginning of the month, I started a new job. The job will be part-time but the month long training period has been full-time and I must say, full-time is not nearly as much fun as not working! Every weeknight in February, I have come home exhausted. John and I fell into a comfortable nightly pattern, I watch while he cooks. He has a remarkable talent for making a meal from leftovers that I have written off. Later each evening, after a small measure of energy returns, I do kitchen cleanup. This pattern seems to suit us well and may spill into......next month, the rest of our lives??!

With the full-time hours, running has really taken a hit. Weekend 13 mile runs in early January have fizzled to 6-7 mile efforts. Weekday runs are almost non-existent. I plan to renew my efforts with the upcoming part-time schedule. That includes finding the discipline to get myself out of bed around 5:15 ish to run before work. You can see from the above paragraph what happens to my evenings.

Here are a bunch of pictures from the month:

Valentines Day was pretty special at our house. While many women profess happiness that their guy did not send flowers for the big day, I profess happiness that my guy did...12 long stem yellow and red roses (my favorite). Beautiful huh!

Valentine's Day also means dessert at our house. I brought home an ice cream cake from Marble Slab,

while John brought home an assortment of chocolate covered cherries and strawberries from South's Finest Chocolates. These are special occasion staples in our 10 year history. We brought home our first box shortly after our first date.

Sometime during the month I baked a bunch of pumpkin cranberry walnut bread. Fresh cranberries are hard to find around here this time of year so a few weeks ago, when I found them at our local Earth Fare, I grabbed a bag. The only problem was, I didn't know what to do with them. As I watched the berries start to go mushy, it occurred to me that I had a can of pumpkin in the cabinet. The result...pumpkin meets cranberries and walnuts.

We have several backpacks lined up this year and I confess to not hiking since September 2009. For the past two weekends I have jogged and walked the trails at Ijams Nature Center. The bank of Lenten Roses is in bloom and the winter quiet is nice. My mother has fond memories of birdwatching and volunteering at Ijams Nature Center. I took the photos for her.

Bank filled with Lenten Roses. This can only mean that spring is around the corner!

Finally, about this time each year, we remember that the house lies in a migratory bird flight pattern. In particular, our oak tree at the bottom of the driveway and and two river birch trees on either side of our sidewalk. The other day, I walked outside to discover this:

Which resulted in a trip to the drive through car wash and this interesting piece of sudsy art:

Snow related topics...

Local NBC news channel (WBIR), you have just about lost me as a loyal viewer! I am weary of the "extended" news coverage about a storm that barely happened, tired of watching hapless newscasters dispatched to local neighborhoods to report on patches of ice and bored with looking at photos of people's backyards. You try too hard to be locally dominate and you have become quite dull. Add in your nightly habit of reading viewer email comments to fill 2 hours of airtime and you send me in search of real news. CBS is looking pretty good right now, just enough local coverage! And yes, the fact that I know this means I have watched too much snow coverage. End of rant, or not...

On Thursday, January 28, the Knoxville News Sentinel showed up at my dad's door to interview him and photograph his paintings. The interviewer asked such questions as "how many paintings have you done in your life," "how many are you working on right now," and others along this statistical line. Now, if you are an artist with your mind on creating, you do not keep a tic list counting past paintings, especially if you are 86 and have been painting for decades. Anyway, the article was scheduled to run Saturday morning if pictures from the snowstorm did not dominate and, well we know that 2 inches of snow is enough to usurp anything else the paper may have planned (sorta like WBIR). Below is a photo that was taken by a New Sentinel photographer and uploaded to the on-line Knox News.

Pete Smith in his studio (photo by Knoxville News Sentinel).

If you have made it this far, it's pretty clear that I am disappointed with the amount of snow we received. While much of the city shut down before the first flake fell, we had a lot of rain mixed in with our snow so the accumulations was no big deal. Unfortunately, there was no sledding for me. Now for some of my own documentation of the storm of the decade that almost happened.

The snow began around 3:00-3:30ish on Friday afternoon. By evening the ground was covered and the snow kept coming!

The snow was wet and heavy but in the morning light, we discovered the the streets were really just slush and traveling was no issue.

I took a ruler out to the front yard and measured only 2" of snow. By this time, a light rain and snow mix was coming down.

A morning trip to Market Square revealed a very deserted plaza. A few restaurants were open and several hearty souls were out to get their morning coffee.

Unpredictable storm on the loose…

I have been wearing a path between the TV and window today, listening to the latest weather updates and watching for the first flakes to appear. Todd, our local weather guy is predicting 4-8 inches and we have a couple of sleds in the basement just waiting for the storm of the decade.

After listening to hours of dire accumulation projections, I did the very thing I most hate to see people do in this situation, I panicked and went to the grocery store. I am not really sure what prompted the decision to go as I was just there yesterday. Somehow it seems that joining the frantic rush to grab loaves of bread and cartons of milk is part of the snow experience.

Our local Kroger was a zoo. From mega Mercedes to beater Chevy, every space in the parking lot was full. I circled around a few times and as the first snow flakes fell, I finally found an open spot. Surprisingly, carts were in abundance and the checkout lines were not too long but people looked rushed and shopped at a determined pace.

After a few near cart accidents, I got out with more groceries than we can quickly eat and have now settled in for a long evening’s wait. The ground is covered but the snow has tapered off. Our most recent precipitation has been in the form of rain and ice and Todd is beginning to waffle, maybe earlier snow predictions were a little high, maybe a few inches is all we will see. So my sled and I wait, and wait, and wait…

Back to the run…

Unlike most people who run to relieve stress, I found that running during the two weeks before my wedding just added stress, so I didn’t. I am a slow runner and the best I can figure is that as I ran, my mind went to the X task I could be completing in the time it tasks me to run X miles and it wouldn’t let go. I am sure there is a lesson about mental training and discipline in here somewhere.

So, last week was all about returning to a normal running schedule. Going from 0 to where I was 2 weeks ago was not quite as easy as I expected. Before the wedding I was doing some long runs with the Knoxville Marathon training group but decided to get out on my own for a week or two to build back my mileage (no, I do not currently plan to run the marathon). The Strawberry Plains 1/2 marathon is 3-4 weeks away and I am considering this race.

The weather last week was great and I ran my long run on Saturday, 10 miles. With the discovery of Cliff Shot Blocks, Lemon-Lime, my energy level stayed higher and I felt good for most of the run. But I am still struggling a bit with the mental piece, especially when a runner flies by me like I am standing still. This week’s weather has turned cold, rainy and snowy. I am hoping for an okay day on Saturday for a 12-miler.

Married!!...

On Saturday, a few weeks short of our 10th anniversary, we celebrated by tying the knot. Our wedding was an intimate occasion, held in the Chancel of our church and witnessed by our families. After the ceremony, the wedding party adjourned to The Maple Grove Inn for lunch and laughter. We had the best of times and look forward to our newest journey together!

Our day was recorded by local "photographer", Will Skelton, accompanied by his beautiful girlfriend. We selected him because we have seen his work on many occasions and were quite pleased with what we saw. ;-)

Will Skelton and Kim Robinette

Candles on the altar, the beautiful stained glass window above the woodwork is not visible

Practicing our vows

We didn't have a rehearsal so we practiced just prior to the actual ceremony. The above and next photo are of us in the Chapel, out of sight of our guests, doing a "talk through" . Our church believes the wedding ceremony is sacred and strictly prohibits photos during the service so this is a close as we get to photos of the service.

Married!

Our rings were hand crafted in Asheville, NC at Overstrom Studio

Our families, the wedding party!

I was pleased to have not stumbled in heels as I rarely wear them! New respect for those who do!

Surprise…

If you are reading this sometime around, say, 11:00 AM this morning, we are getting hitched, married, tying the knot! We have planned an intimate affair with our families as our witness!

We have been talking about getting married for months but didn’t set the date until Christmas. It has been a very busy couple of weeks for this bride and groom. Lots of fun has been had, pulling the details together and only one, relatively small, meltdown …“can we really pull this together so fast?!”

One of our many tasks included a trip the local courthouse on Tuesday for a marriage license.

Our local courthouse

John adding his signature to the application

Me doing the same

We are excited about our newest adventure together. This definitely our trip of a lifetime. Pics and details to come!

It's freezing outside...

We had a little bit of snow yesterday, not much but enough to frighten the masses and shut down the school system. Our temps have been below freezing for 9 days in a row, 12 consecutive days would break the city record. I am okay with missing this record!

I am taking a running hiatus this week. Got out Monday, no problem but didn't get very far on my Tuesday run. I thought running would help reduce some stress but ended up feeling burned out and more stressed. We have been rushing to take care of some things and my focus is off. I decided to rest my body, finish my stuff and hope it will help clear my head so I can get back to a long run next week. .

Snow flurries...

It flurried most of the day, sometimes light, sometimes heavy but the snow didn't stick. We are anticipating flurries for the next few days with possible accumulation on Thursday and Friday.

I got out early for a short 5k run. The temperature hovered around 19 F and the flurries looked like thousands of diamonds falling from the sky. It was great just being outside but my muscles are still a bit sore from Friday's long run.

Rocky Top remodel...

John painted the bathroom today while I was at work. We thought we were painting a nice pumpkin color but I swear it looks Go Vols orange. Ugh! Guess we could slap up an orange and white checkerboard and call it complete but we plan to sponge on a pearl glaze and possibly slight touches of metallic bronze to match the lighting. Originally we considered a nice, deep aqua. I think our first thought might have been our best!

Christmas decorations are disappearing into boxes and into the attic. The house is almost completely "de"-decorated now. I always feel at bit sad when the bows, lights and greenery come down; I miss the warm, cozy feel. Outside it is bitter cold ... winter 2010 is here.

New Year's Run and Christmas celebration marathon...

Ran my longest run ever today, 13-miles. Happy New Year to me! I did this without my young running partner Lindsey, who, during our 12-mile run last Sunday, expressed plans to celebrate the New Year "big" and didn't plan on getting up early enough to run. I missed her!

As it turns out, I celebrated New Year's Eve pretty big for me. John and I stayed up well past midnight, watching the Times Square ball drop with friends at Will and Kim's NYE party. For someone who usually goes to bed around 10:30 PM, I felt like the ball had dropped on me when I woke this morning.

After last weekend's hilly double plus loop around Cherokee Blvd, I had a general, flatter route in mind. I was out on the road by 11:00 AM. I ran through my neighborhood, across Gay Street bridge and down to the waterfront just as members of the Knoxville Track Club were tearing down the New Year's Day 5k venue. Running felt great and I tried to stay in the current mile and not look forward. I ran through parts of the UT campus, across the Alcoa Street bridge and on the UT Agriculture Farm (nice gravel-dirt roads there). It's amazing how some places I thought were miles away are really not!

Finally I had logged enough miles to turn around and head for home (my favorite part of any run). I did not feel great on the way back, probably lack of nutrition. I had several meltdowns (see blue lines on map below) including a call to John, declaring I did not think I could make it home. He offered to come pick me up which jarred me into the realization that I was headed for failure if I didn't suck it up and run home.

I did...suck it up and run home. The run wasn't pretty and I learned a valuable lesson about nutrition. Looking back, my satisfaction does not come from completing the run but the fact that I didn't quit on myself.

It is time to wrap up Christmas 2009. We had a great Christmas, probably the best I can remember in a while. Lots of time spent with family, and food, food, food! We started celebrating on Christmas Eve Day with Lee's 20th birthday and kept going until Christmas Day evening. John, Daniel and Lee left for Huntsville on the 26th to spend a few days with his family, while I stayed here and worked. Below are some pics from our Christmas...

John with Lee's birthday cake

John made Lee's birthday cake from a recipe in this month's Southern Living. The devil's food cake had a 7 minute white frosting with chocolate ganache filling. Some days I think I am dating Martha Stewart's long lost son.

One candle for each of Lee's 5 years

Daniel (left) and Lee

Christmas Day with the Smith's at Shannondale Healthcare Center

Leslie and Carol and lots of presents

Daddy

Christmas with the Dunlaps

Daniel

Daniel and Lee opening a coffee siphon from John

Making coffee with the coffee siphon

Standing rib roast for Christmas Day with the Dunlaps (another John creation)

The "fourth" meal, Christmas dinner with the Smith's

Crab dinner at Leslie and Mike's house

Running in the rain...

I have been pretty busy since Thanksgiving Day Autumnfest 8k, several lunches and parties. Or maybe I have just been lazy but I haven't gone out for a run. Last night I determined that today was no excuses day, I had to get out. Unfortunately, Todd, our local weather guy predicted a 100% chance of rain. When I woke up, it was indeed raining, 100%.

I tried to wait out the rain but by 8:30 AM, it was still hanging around so I started with the "what to wear" routine. The temperature was listed as 48 with a "feels like" 43. I know the rule of 20-degrees but I tend to forget about it when I am cold. Lightweight tights, lightweight fleece vest and glove liners were among the items that made the apparel cut. But the choices were not good, tights without the vest or the vest without the tights would have been a better. Nevertheless, I headed out with all my gear, secure in the fact that even if I got really wet (and I did), I would not be cold.

The run was slow, my legs heavy (weighed down with clothes, turkey and oyster stew) but I was so glad to be out. The streets were mostly empty, no people and few cars so I didn't get splashed too much. I stayed on the neighborhood streets, dodging puddles and piles of downed leaves. Moderate rain came in waves with a light, steady drizzle ever present. After 3-miles, I packed it in. Tomorrow should be clear so I am looking forward to something a little longer. Also considering a go at the Jingle Bell 5k Run on the 12th...just a little added motivation.

It's officially Christmas...

The holidays have officially arrived in our household, we received our first Christmas card today. The big yellow forward sticker, haphazardly slapped across the bottom of the envelope, reminded me that I did not send out change of address notifications last May. Whoops! Sorry about that Mr Postman, please don't raise my rates...

My first holiday card is always from Jerry and Gerry in St. Louis