Finally ....

We finally have the website up!

www.clayzaics.com

please leave (gentle) constructive comments!

would love to know what you think about it.

Many thanks!

Cheri

Just so you know ...

We have a house guest ... there is just no time to cleverly (or otherwise) blog right now.

We are way too busy having F.U.N.!!!

Hope you are too!

Grandparenting is the BEST!

Life is Good!

P&C

Pink House!

Happy Father's Day - must be a holiday -we're going on a hike!

So ... off to hike "The Hump" ... no small feat, but GREAT fun. Not much farther in than the length of a soccer field, Paul startled a turkey hen from her nap with her chicks. All a flutter she spread her wings out to be as big as she could be until she realized his size ... then he went into the woods and just patiently waited for us to pass. Smart girl!

We found LOTs of these little guys --- wild strawberries. Takes a whole bunch of these to make one of our domestic sized ones. But they taste sweet and juicy ... so Paul ate a bunch while we were hiking. It was hard to get a photo before he popped it in his mouth!

There were gorgeous wildflowers every where! The black eyed susans had already begun blooming up here ... and they were mixed in with daisies and all sorts of periwinkles and such. So delightful ... wild flowers!

AND gobs of butterflies to contrast the green. Gorgeous!

Oh yeah, the token bear track. You might have to enlarge this picture to see it, but it was surely there! Put me on alert ~Paul too, he actually heard my stomach growl once... and his hearing thing is important to the jest of the story ;-)

Really cool big ole' oak trees, elm trees and maple trees. They had the coolest shapes --- all twisted and bent from years of wind and rain.

Father of the Day - isn't he cute?

Look at this blue blue sky!!!! And the moon, of course. Today is the summer solstice. Good bye spring, hello summer. With the sun burn I managed to get on Saturday, I can testify to the fact that it is summer! Hallelujah!!!

On top of The hump --- so V.A.S.T. Over a mile high. You could see 360 degrees ... South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee. It was breath taking and awesome ... quite so - Mother Nature's amazing show. We actually walked a little bit of the A.T. while we were up there! So free and easy. What a lovely treat! And we picked such a gorgeous weather day! LUCKY!

The A.T. Blaze. I think at this point we were trying to name everything we recognized. I eventually just got dizzy and gave up ...

Paul is pointing things out ... but lots of times there was a definite question mark at the end of his statement. It was an Indiana Jones kind of afternoon. HaHa

Mountains for miles ... and clouds that look like angel wings ...

Another view - different state, probably ... so very beautiful. I am NOT a geography wizard ... so if you know this stuff, do tell!!!

The condo building on the far upper left is the worst thing that has happened up here EVER. Because of the uproar it caused when it was built, there is a ban on buildings like that up here. When you are here you look at the horizon and everything is so spectacular and then UGH! What is THAT? Obviously I am delighted they aren't allowing any more of that kind of building, but don't you know the views from the condos up there are incredible!?!?!?

This little lady started watching us from WAY back (far left)

She just kept walking toward us, ever so slowly, but she wasn't going to let us leave without figuring out what she was looking at!

She is one pregnant momma! Sweet as pie though. Just stood for her photo, and then we left so she could eat. It was definitely dinner time for the forest animals and I was still kind of thinking about that bear track ... and so off we headed back down toward the car. The camera was running out of battery power, starting to flash red so no use in worrying about any more pictures when ....

Paul says, "I see a cow" and I think "he's lost his mind". I thought I saw a horse in the shadow ... but Paul was quite right. He saw a cow ... and then some.

And lo and behold right in the forest were standing the biggest, scariest most intimidating Watusi Cows I've ever even imagined, much less seen. Holy Cow! (tee hee) Paul explained to these big boys that we needed to pass through while my knees just knocked together. I was frozen in place and shaking like jello! GOOD GOD they were huge! The pictures are such poor quality because the battery was dying and because there was no light in the forest at this point, but we managed to stand in amongst these beasts and photograph them, just like we did everything else. Amazing!

The baby on the left (black with white face) was eye to eye with me. Her head was level with mine (and yes, I was standing up). The gray one in the middle of this shot reminded me of a hippo. She TOWERED over me and was massively broad in the back and hind quarters. The horned ones were just WAY out of my league. It was such a gift to see these guys, in a forest of all places! It is also something words don't do justice to describing. It was a HUGE surprise.

We got back to the car all excited and absolutely glowing after our day of treasure after treasure!

We were driving down a cute little windy creek road and I said to my sweet honey "BIG cows". He looked out the window and all around and then just kind of nodded and sort of smiled, kinda. Turns out he thought I said "Pink house". This is the same man who heard my stomach growl as we were walking in forest!!

I should've just said "do the Watusi" ...

Hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day!

Paul & Cheri

Beauty and Grace

We were blessed with this gorgeous rainbow after a bout of storms this afternoon ... there was actually a double rainbow, but my photo was unworthy, unfortunately. Someday I really should take a photo course and figure this whole photography thing out!

This is such a wonderful sight with day lilies, pansies, hostas, strawberries and a tomato plant with this gorgeous mountain as a backdrop. So nice to see all the color!

Aren't they beautiful? And they are every where this year, thank you snow! Guess we'll be doing some splitting and replanting after the blooms are gone.

Upclose and beautiful!

And a growing hornet's nest ... which is growing at an alarming rate. This is under one of the benches on the front/side porch. Paul will be doing a hornet's nest removal soon. Yikes!

And this picture is from Paul's visit to Orlando. He and his daughter, Nina were able to fit in a canoe trip down the Wekiva River --- well, up the river actually. I miss scenes like this one ... but I wouldn't trade it for what I get to see here in the mountains. We are so lucky.
Here, where when I hear the goats bleating for too long I know to go outside (and drag Paul or call Mr. Boone) and get the little goats out of their trouble ... trouble like stuck in the fence for example.

Here, where I can drive to Tennessee and on to Beth's mountain, walk in her house to feed the cats, look out the back door and see a fawn or a doe standing there waiting for her corn. The gorgeous trust and beauty of a wild animal, such a sweet gift.

Here, where the thunder sounds like it's cracking the mountain rocks in half when it storms.

Here, where a mom can have a funeral service for her child and bury her right on her own mountain with a service filled with friends who give love, support, food and hugs freely and from the depths of their soul.

Here, where jobs are HARD to come by, faith is a given, and the things that REALLY matter (friendship, charity, love, etc.) are abundant and given freely.

Life is good. Summer is awesome.

In spite of the devastation and confusion in the world, it is so wonderful to have beauty and grace all around to be thankful for.

And, an update on Paul's dad ... he's doing quite well from what we gather. Sounds like he's healing by way of good nursing from Paul's mum ("B") and the perfect timing of the World Cup. Timing is everything, eh Mel? ;-)

And Rick seems to be coming along from his hip surgery too ... cheers for a speedy recovery, Rick!

Happy Trails to all!

Paul & Cheri

This Precious Life

During yesterday's Art Club meeting with Patti Conner Green (http://www.linvilleriverpottery.com) I was expressing how hard it is for me to take time out to do things that are life, that make life. I know my list of "to dos" by heart. It is long and specific. It is what seems to make me go. That is possibly designed by my nature being a Capricorn, or by my genetics of workaholic. Or perhaps I'm just results driven having always had a goal to work toward. Whatever it is, it is VERY near impossible for me to just sit down and spend the day reading a book, watching a movie or taking a day completely off. I can do it at the beach, because it is designated. So, to take yesterday and devote it to doing things that were more along the line of living life was a real reach for me.

As I've tried to explain, I'm gearing up for a new career and Patti is such an inspiration and so enthusiastic with ideas and suggestions, as she's "been there, done that". I am SO very grateful to have her in my life and so willing to share, and KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that ART CLUB is on my new to do list ~ the one where I live life.

Paul has been in Orlando with his dad who is recovering from back surgery. Glad to report Mel is doing very well and thank you to all who have asked and sent good wishes! His brother in law is also recovering from hip replacement surgery. Paul is having a rare opportunity to hang out with his family, canoe with his daughter, Nina, and live life.

There is a point to this blog, other than my rambling on about things. But the point is heart breaking and bit hard to approach. So please forgive my procrastination and now I'll get to it.

I received a phone call this morning from my "sister friend" Janine with some wretched news. Seems one of our sweet friends received the horrid news that her daughter was killed in a freak accident after slipping and hitting her head on a waterfall adventure. My heart is broken for the family. But from all I've heard about this young woman, the heavens certainly got a WONDERFUL angel. And just like that (snap fingers here), with one phone call, lives have been changed forever.

Don't ever forget how precious life is! How precious YOUR life is and the lives of your friends and family ... and the strangers you pass on the street and in your work life and in your world every day.

I think it's time to redo the to do list. I need to add the LIVE PRECIOUS LIFE item as number 1 thru 50.

Blessings to you and yours,
Cheri

Mountain Mid Week

Rise and Shine - beautiful High Country mountain morning! Besides, it's mowing day! My sweet neighbor, Bruce mows Monday and Friday --- rain or shine. I mow Wednesday if possible ... just so I'm not too embarrassed living next to his ALWAYS mowed lawn.

Remember the front yard project? Well Monday night Paul got in high gear and started placing the railroad ties so we could make the yard level. First we measured and plotted a bit. Then he just became a working machine and I tried to hand him what he needed and get out of the way as fast as I could!! We had placed the first row here ... and he was drilling the holes for the rebar to go into the ties so they won't moved when the dirt fills in (which I hope is going to be this evening!)

This is mighty Paul pounding the rebar into the ties and ground, etc. This is one STRONG man. I was very impressed and a little wary. Yikes!

This is the drilling part of the ground level row. He made a lot of smoke with all the creosote that is inside these babies. Yuk!

He had to cut a few to "brick" them ... they also smoked BIG TIME!

He had to just pick some up to place them on top of others. Gratefully, Charles dropped by on the last one because Sir Paul was getting mighty tired by that point. Did I mention he is strong? These things are over 200 pounds per piece.

After everything was in place, he had to metal detect. He found some Indian head pennies! one date is 1905 as near as we can make it out!!!! Right in our front yard!

Admiring his work! And figuring out how sore he was too ... he changed 18 wheeler tires all day yesterday. He's still sore.

Phase II now complete! YAY!

The other project this week was the plumbing --- here, out with the old stuff

in with the new .... the circle is now complete!

Getting ready to grout this thing ~ finally the weather is going to cooperate!

The sweetest things in life --- so simple. We LOVE nap time around here!

We are so lucky. We are so grateful.

Paul's dad has surgery this Friday. We are sending up lots and lots of good thoughts to you, Mel. Paul will be there Saturday evening. I will be there in spirit from the beginning! Do take good care.

Happy mid week to all.

Paul & Cheri