Visitin' Emily

We had a great time over the weekend at Emily's. It was Dad's first time, so he was very excited and fell in love with the area. He especially enjoyed the agriculture of the area. We went up to the Stone Door hike that Emily and I did last spring. On the way up, Emily spied the sign above. I must confess that it seemed like we might have driven onto the set of Green Acres. How many places do you know of where they sell produce, prom dresses and land? We had to stop and check it out. It turned out to be a second hand store. The prom dresses were quite nice and inexpensive--like $10!




But the real treat of the store was meeting their cat. Truly, it must have been a descendant of Scout's. She looked a great deal like him--only smaller. She was so very friendly. When you pet her, she sometimes would stand on her hind legs, wrap her front ones around your arm, "play bite" on it--just as Scout would! She was amazing : ) It was good to pet her and took me back a few years! We asked about other cats around that might be like her, and the lady who owned the place asked for our number. Emily obliged. We'll see if any kittens appear! The picture isn't the best, but it was the best I could do with my cell phone--and I forgot my camera at home on the dining room table.
The hike we took was short, and mild. We had to get back to get ready to go to the benefit for the House of Hope, an organization that serves the community as a safe house and helps those who are victims of domestic violence. But there were beautiful views all around and when Dad went out on a ledge, my cell phone proved useful once more. Most places that we visit have railings, so to see this natural view without one is quite dramatic. We thank Emily for a splendid visit!

Paw Paw Trees in the Springtime

See the lovely blossoms on our paw paw trees!?

Here you can see Dad caring for the paw paw trees. He's using a fine paint brush to assist the two trees in polinating.

The first tree has are 27 blossoms. On the second tree there are 147 blossoms! (Dad counted them . . . he says he may have double counted a few of them, but the number is pretty close.)

Bird, Butterfly, Eel

My grand daughter, Naomi, is a nature lover. When I found the book, Bird, Butterfly, and Eel, written and illustrated by James Prosek, I had to share it with her. The pictures are beautiful and the story is true! Migration is a very curious thing, especially migration of eels! I sent Naomi the book, but since she lives far away, I can't read it to her in person. So, below is a video with Nana reading it to her. What a great book!

The Obed Hike

Roland and I enjoyed our first springtime hike this week! I appreciate the Knoxville News Sentinel reporting on hikes in the area, and that's where we learned about this hike. The Obed Wild and Scenic River is usually thought of as a place to go canoeing or rock climbing, but it also has some interesting hiking trails. We took a couple. The first was called the Point Trail. It's destination is a point in which we were able to view the meeting of Obed River and Clear Creek down below as we enjoyed our snack sitting on a rock. If that were to be the highlight of the hike, however, we might have been disappointed. It was cool, with the buzzards circling overhead! But we really enjoyed taking off downhill going to see the Obed River up close. We met some rock climbers who were visiting from Canada. And after exploring the river, scampering back up the hill was quite a work out since it was so vertical that I used my hands as much as my feet! We also took a short hike to Boulder Meadow, which was fun to explore. I hope Roland and I can share this place with you some day!

Naomi's New Baby Owl

One day after Christmas, Naomi and I went to Goodwill to find a walrus. We found three little walruses to add to her stuffed animal collection (now there are four!), but the most special surprise was finding Starfoot Owl!! We named him Fluffball and you can surely see why! Isn't he fluffy and "like a ball"? And you can see Naomi is very happy to have Fluffball as her pet. You never know what treasure you might find at Goodwill!

Tappin' to the Music

We just completed a 3-day gig tapping for the Lion's Club Fundraiser. It was just like being in Lawrence Welk with singing and dancing. My mom and dad would have been in heaven watching it--oh, I guess they are! Anyway, tapping can be a lot of fun. How do you like our new blue costumes? Can you find me? The Tellico Tappers also have a website and I guess you could call me the Tellico Tappers Webmaster. If you like, you can visit it at: tellicotappers.com. I'm pretty proud of being able to put this little website together! The part that was most magical to me was getting search engines to pick our site up. But it happened!

Sewing Time

I lost a button on a pair of pants several months ago and about a week ago Roland asked me to sew a button back on his shirt. Last night I finally sat down to do it.

I don't sew much. In fact, for a while I didn't have any needles. I thought about buying some, but when I looked at the packages they had so many needles in them! I figure I'm 53 and will maybe need five more needles to last me the rest of life (if I live to be 80 or so)! But when my mother died in May and I was going through her things, I took a small tin and filled it with a few of her sewing items--a few needles, a pin cushion, a seam ripper, thread (I wish I would have seen a small pair of sewing scissors)--and brought it home with me. I used that small sewing kit for the first time last night to sew those two buttons on. It was nice to hold the needle and thread my mother used to complete this small task. As I worked, my mind wandered back to sewing memories with my mom.

One time she visited, my teenage son, David, had lost a button on the cuff of his Sunday shirt, and had sat down in my mother's presence to sew it on. He got the needle threaded and without taking off his shirt, began sewing it onto the cuff. My mom sat and watched in quiet amusement at the awkwardness of this sewing. And after he had almost completed the job, my mom asked, "Wouldn't it be easier if you took your shirt off? Now, I wonder why he hadn't? Was it a modesty issue? Or had it he felt it just wasn't worth the effort?

When my mother came to visit, we always went out shopping. She didn't get out much on her own to shop and there's no better companion than your mom (or daughter) for shopping. We're both bargain shoppers, I remember so many times when we would purchase new slacks for her and they would need hemmed. She no longer enjoyed sewing, so I would do it for her. It was always a restful activity to sit down together while I hemmed her slacks. I think I could even call it a loving service. We both enjoyed that time together, and while it was no professional job, it was a good job--and my mom was very appreciative and always complimented me on my fine, small stitches. I remember one time in particular when I labored so long to get the needle threaded and just couldn't line the thread up with the hole in the needle. My eyes aren't the best. My mom said, "Let me try." I handed it to her, and first try she had the needle threaded. At 70-something her eyes worked better than mine. (She always could see every little spot and if she couldn't get to it to see what it was, she'd ask what it was!)

I now have two small sewing kits--a tin from my mom and a basket I bought in Indonesia. I guess I could keep one upstairs and one downstairs. But I don't want to combine them into one. They're both special. And that's kind of odd for someone who doesn't like to sew.