Tennessee Vacation Part I

Hubby and I took a min-vacation last week.  It was long overdue.  We hadn't spent any time alone together in quite a while.  It was a short 3 day/2 night trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  I hadn't been through that area in almost 40 years.  Needless to say, it has changed quite a bit.

I'm not really the tourist type.  I prefer my vacation be a chance to get away from it all.  I'm not really into attractions and shopping.  Turns out we spent our time in the wrong place.  We enjoyed the highway better than the destination.  There was a lot to see and do, but I don't like fighting traffic and I don't like over-commercialized areas.

It was really hard to enjoy the scenery of the blue mountains with all the hotel/motel rooftops, power lines, and neon signs.  I did manage to find a few spots with nice view.

As usual, I took tons of photos.  I'm not going to post them all.  However, I am going to post a bunch, so I will divide them up into at least 3 posts.

Today's pictures are from Pigeon Forge.  And, as always, click on any photo to enlarge...

Stay tuned...  Tomorrow I will post about the crafters' village in Gatlinburg.

I Found Love on the Internet

I have made many new friends here in Blogville.  There are a few that seem as though we've known each other for years!  Lille Diane is one of those friends.  I adore her.  During my summer-long illness, she was one of my main supporters.  Lille was always telling me to hang in there.  She offered prayers and well wishes on a regular basis.   And, thanks to her river dance period, my spirits were lifted more than once with her antics!  (Her followers will get it.)

I'm happy to announce the Lille Diane is exactly the same in person as she is in her blog.  I was delighted to get to spend time with her today!  She had gone to KY to visit family and promised to stop by the farm on her way home.  She flew in this afternoon clinging to Superman's cape.  (Opie Taylor did not drive her here.)

We laughed and hugged and laughed some more.

I'm sorry, but I don't have a picture of Superman to show you.   He was traveling under his alias, and I don't want to give away his secret identity.

We really tried to be serious, but it was just too hard!

We're already planning on getting together again.  After all...

...one can never have too much fun!

Accomplice to Murder!

It's true.  I might as well have committed the crime myself.  Guilt is heavy on my soul.

If you follow my farm blog, you know how concerned I am about the plight of the honey bees.  I appreciate their importance to our existence.  I am deeply saddened by how few honey bees have been spotted around the farm the last couple of years.  It is a cause near and dear to me.

Last week, Hubby and I took a mini-vacation to Pigeon Forge / Gatlinburg, TN.  We loved going to the crafters' village to see all the lovely, locally-made items.  We picked up a few for souvenirs.  One of the craft stores was a jewelry place.  They had leaves and fir twigs plated in copper, silver and gold.  I don't wear a lot of jewelry, but decided that those items were such a novelty and a true souvenir of the mountains that I decided to purchase something.

When I saw these earrings, I just had to have them!

Yes, those are real honey bees!  ...covered in gold!  As we were leaving for home the next day, the honey bees were heavy on my mind...  What was I thinking?  These were most likely not made from dead honey bees that had lived a full life and, feeling the end was near, sat themselves down at the door of the crafter's shop.  No.  More likely, they were flying around, happily doing what bees do so that the rest of us can eat wonderful fruits and vegetables, when some artist plucked them from their world and dipped them in molten metal.

I have a huge appreciation of artist, and the people involved in this particular shop are no exception.  They took bits of nature and preserved them in a delicate and stunning way.  The vast majority of the items were from vegetation and not animal life.  As a matter of fact, I don't recall but two items of the animal variety, and I purchased one of them!

What have I done?  I have given them a market for this endeavor.  Will God ever forgive me?  Will I forgive myself?

I rationalize it by the fact that the bee jewelry is the tiniest fraction of their creations, and they are but one artist in a community of artists.  I'm quite sure the bee population is not adversely affected by their activities.  Still, I believe it was murder...

Why God Made Poison Ivy

Our woodland is not particularly colorful in the fall... at least in the view from the house.   The maples and other colorful trees are deeper in the woods.  The border is filled mostly with those varieties that turn pale yellow, then brown.  But thankfully there are bits here and there of deep crimson.  Together with the bright yellowish-green hedge apples, it is a beautifully colorful scene.

My Kitchen's Chicken Wall

When I was younger, I mainly decorated my home with themes.  Whatever I collected would be displayed and the accompanying decor would tie it all together.  I stifled my eclectic persona.  My rooms were beautiful, but lacked the personal touch I so love.  Family photos were restricted to the lovely antique frames on the side tables.

Whenever I was at a home decorated with kids school pictures, I thought it lacked aesthetic appeal.  I love looking at my friends and family's photos, but I never would have given them the "looks like a room from a magazine" award.

Now I surround myself with family heirlooms.  Most of the things in my decor have memories or loved ones linking them to me.  The paintings I bought at the starving artists sales now hang in my mother's apartment.  My awesome Rembrandt print has been passed to my daughter.  The pictures that decorate my walls come straight from the old family albums.  The nicknacks have been taken from drawers and basement shelves.

So have I given up on the 'magazine' decor?  Nope.  I still love the decorator look.  I've just discovered ways to merge the two.

When I designed this house, I had in mind to give it a farmhouse decor.  Since Hubby was planning on having his own chickens someday, I went looking through the family albums to see what might relate.

We don't know who this kid is.  Neither my FIL or MIL recognize him.  If you do, please let me know.  He is someone in the family or at least someone close enough to the family to have his photograph placed in the pages of the old family album. 

This next one is a picture of Hubby's grandparents.  My FIL's folks raised chickens.  I love this one because she looks like she's just posing.   Hubby and my FIL really look at lot like Grampa.

I knew the perfect spot for these pictures!  Actually, it was the perfect spot for three pictures...  I decided to reserve a spot for the future flock.

Here's how the spot looks today...  (enlarge this one to see the various items)

There are stories galore on that wall!  I added a new item last week.  See the wooden-handled whisk between the picture frames?  That came with a piece of pottery we bought on our trip last week to Gatlinburg.  You'll read more about that later on my Essays blog.  (Took Hubby forever to find it when he went to use his new pancake bowl!)

The potato masher gets the most use...  It was a wedding present to my in-laws over 60 years ago!   The spoon rest was always sitting on their stove in their old house.  It just was part of who they were when I met them.

I've always loved the print of the over-sized tea cups.  It's been in three different homes.  I made the matching frame.  Take a close look at it.  I'm quite proud of that one.  It's a perfect match for the wood in the picture.

Well, back to the chicken pics...  The picture on the right is just one I 'antiqued' to make it fit in.  It was merely a placeholder for Hubby's.  He finally put on his flannel shirt and bibs for me today.  It just didn't seem right to have a picture of him in an old concert T.  So now I finally have the third picture for the wall...

This is my beloved feeding his flock.   Worthy of the wall, don't you think?

Moonlight Ride

I told you about riding Nekoda and Buddy yesterday, but I didn't mention Maggie.  Do you think I could let the day end without taking her for a ride?  I'm sorry I have no pictures to show you.  Believe me... it's etched in my mind.

It was getting late when I finally brought the mares up from the front pasture.  I brought Maggie up last.  The sun had set, but there was still a bit of light coming from the western horizon.  I thought it was getting too dark, but decided to saddle her up anyway.  It was perfect!

Hubby had gone next door to sit around the fire with the neighbor guy.  I thought I'd ride Maggie over to visit, too.  Of course, Sadie had to tag along.

We rode in the long shadows down the lane.  After crossing the creek and turning toward the field between our houses, I looked up to behold the most magnificent October sky!  The background was deep slate gray, with a touch of gold trimming the black clouds.  The moon peeked out between the clouds in stripes.  It looked like a backdrop for an animated Halloween movie.

If only I had a helmet-cam...