Friday, March 28

Easter Blessings!


Easter came early this year, and it was welcome as ever. I had a wonderful extra-long weekend with Good Friday off from work and a 'personal day' on Monday. Thursday evening was beautiful and as I was driving home, the sun struck the meadows behind Mamaw's house in such a wonderful way that I found myself, parking, grabbing my camera as quick as I could and scooting out for some shots of the cattle, the barns, and all things scenic in between.

Galen came for a nice visit and we enjoyed the weekend together. We had a very special Easter Sunday service and I was glad to be a part of the church choir this year singing a solo in the cantata. Didn't make it to the sunrise service at Hangingdog, but was very blessed by the Sunday school message and our church service. Mama and Mamaw wore beautiful orchid corsages that matched their Easter dresses. Sunday dinner at Grandma Allen's was a filling and fun time to catch up with everybody. Delaney was extra exuberant for the special day and loved the egg hunt by the creekside. Next year she will have her very own hunting companion with baby Luke coming home stateside! We are all looking forward to that! By then too, baby Morgan will perhaps be toddling around and ready for some fun with her cousins.

Monday morning was snowy and snuggly...a great way to start the week. By noon the roads were passable and all thought that the snow had gone its way for the season. So we headed toward Davis Creek and on to Tellico. Some trails were closed (needfully) but the main road is still passable. It was a great day to take a lazy drive with basically no fellow travelers on the mountain trails and the surprise return of snow as we made our return home. The pictures we took beautifully capture the remaining chill of winter and the promise of spring.

Friday, January 25

Weekend in the Smokies!


Last weekend (1.18-1.21), Galen and I took a great trip to visit the Wear's Valley/Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg areas of TN. We had such a great time! We rented a very nice cabin @ The Preserve in Wear's Valley; somewhat of a distance from the hub-bub of the city and all...Wear's Valley is considered to be somewhat like Townsend, TN, "the quiet side of the Smokies." It was MLK Jr. weekend and lots of people had taken advantage of a 3-day weekend. Despite threat of 4" of snow and wintery mix, we ventured on over the mountains Friday after work. Disappointingly, we ended up with no snow but we did get to enjoy the bite of wintery temperatures, so at least it "felt" seasonal. While we were there we explored downtown Sevierville, took in a movie there on Friday night; on Saturday we busted Gatlinburg wide open, visiting the Ripley's aquarium, the Pigeon Forge "mall", had a great dinner at a cozy (American) Italian restaurant on the parkway, toured the Ripley's Museum, a few typical novelty stores, and finished the night off like the 2 young kids that we are...at the ARCADE! Haha! It was so fun to come out on the street and see no traffic filling the road as is most often the case...a vacant road is rare indeed in Gatlinburg...but we shut it down! They leave the Christmas lights up through the end of February, so I got some really great pics of the street lights...especially from the bridge. Sunday we awoke to a power outage...so what were we to do...but head for Bob Evans for a warm breakfast and hope for the best. From there we shopped around the Christmas shoppe next door and then toured the Floyd Garrett Classic Car Museum in Sevierville! We had such a great time and took some really fun (and beautiful) photos. Hope you enjoy them!

Until next time...

Monday, January 14

First Blog Day!


Hello everyone! Here we are in the middle of January 2008, and I thought it would be a nice time to start a 'blog' of my own. A little place on the web where, you, my friends and family, can stop by and see what I may have been up to lately or perhaps what is on my mind. Photos will also be a staple of the site and hopefully even some video quite soon!

Tomorrow I will have been with the NC Cooperative Extension in Cherokee County, NC for 3 months. It has been an exciting and interesting window on the post-graduate "world of work." Each day brings new and diverse opportunities for me to be a part of Extension's mission, which is to provide the resources and research-based information to the general population of North Carolinians through non-formal educational opportunities.

One of my greatest phobias about work prior to beginning with Extension was the fear of being stuck in an office and having a monotonous schedule. There are days of desk work with Extension, but so far I have found that I will get to enjoy the spice of variety in my time here. One day I'm helping with nutrition and fitness programs at the Senior Center and the next I'm in the great outdoors getting to learn about measuring the "fall" of a stream to determine its fitness for a hydro-electric power system in rural Graham county, or even doing a Gingerbread workshop with youth in the Texana community!

I'm really enjoying the marketing component of my job, too. I work on updating our website, crafting informational publications, display boards, and in the near future, there is talk of perhaps some radio psa's. God has blessed me in so many ways, many of which I probably haven't taken notice of just yet. I am thankful for the opportunity to return to the place and people that raised me, taught me, inspired me, and loved me all along the way...and getting to make a difference in their lives and in our community is a reward in itself.
 
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