Can I be honest with you?

Can I be honest with you? Oh, those are the dreaded words! Recently, one night as Roland and I laid in bed waiting for sleep to overtake us, in the still of the night he said, "Can I be honest with you?" My resting heart rate was no longer resting, and my mind began racing. What could it be that he needed to be honest about?! With some hesitation, I responded, "Of course. What is it?" He began, "You remember those deviled eggs you made? Next time you make them, I think you should use garlic powder and not substitute with garlic salt. That salt changed the texture." I burst out laughing and replied, Now you've done it! I'll never make deviled eggs again!" But I thought, "What a relief!"

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!