Look Who's Here!!!

Paul's mum and dad finally made it up to see us! We had a lovely visit and really enjoyed having them here. They stayed long enough to see Paul play 2 softball games (one he pitched!), visited our local antique shops, experienced Elizabethton, TN, and spent plenty of time just visiting! Dad and Paul got to play golf of Sunday afternoon, and it sounds like they had a wonderful time. They seemed to really enjoy sitting out on the front porch, as you see here!

It was also fun to have folks here to share our garden bounty with! Here you see our very first harvest, and now we've also begun picking beans and more squash. The corn is growing full speed ahead now, and hopefully in a week or 2 we will begin the "taste test" on all of that!!! It's been great fun ... both the company and the garden!

Also, for those of you who are wondering what the little white box is .... it is Paul's BEES!!!! He finally got his bee hive, so now he's become a great bee whisperer! Yep, almost certifiable at this point! He talks to them all everyday after work ... hmmmmmmm... bzzzzzzzzz, that is!

The weather is beginning to break from the heat, and the mornings and evenings have gone quite cool (60ish for the most part). So much for our 3 weeks of summer, it's gone now! We had a good bit of rain yesterday, thankfully ... we certainly need it! So, things have cooled off and we're headed into fall ... and it's showing in the trees and in the feel of the air! There are all kinds of fall festivals coming up and I'm trying like crazy to get the mosaics ready for the big wooly worm festival! Fun!

I'm working at Lowes part time, now transferred into the windows and walls area! Paul's still working with Garden Metalwork ... and the dance studio begins the fall season Monday. So ... hopefully we'll be busy enough to survive and not so busy that we don't have time to enjoy life! That is why we came here, after all!

Paul's been really busy with the softball league and he's absolutely enjoying himself! He grins from ear to ear while he's playing and we hear about the various play by plays for hours afterward! Soccer season begins in a week or 2, and he's planning on refereeing for the season, so he'll get his exercise and fun all at the same time!

Our internet service was out for a few days, and after having it restored (or whatever they did) this morning, there is a lot to catch up on. So, short but sweet, this is what's happening in Elk Park! Hope it finds you all well and happy. Paul & Cheri

Celebrating life!

AS I'm sure you can imagine, the pace picks up a bit around here when Christian comes to visit! These pictures pretty much tell the story of our past 24 hours. Charles came over yesterday evening and taught Christian how to drive the tractor ... after which Christian felt VERY important! He really did steer it and his eyes got very wide when the dirt was emptied out of the bucket. Thanks ever so much to Charles, who is a very good sport (and excellent with children! Must be why he was bus driver of the year!). After the hard work was finished, we celebrated the 4 year old status with ice cream and cake (of course!). Today we managed to find a local art show where there was an inflated jumping castle. Paul Paul and Christian struck out across the tundra in search of the fun ... I've never seen a little boy have so much fun (or become so sweaty!) in such a short amount of time. (this time the little boy is Christian - but you never know! ) But his steam began to run out, and all the other castle jumpers had to leave, so we hit the face painting booth. Now I have learned that even Spiderman needs a nap!! A man after my own heart! Christian has to go home tomorrow and we will be missing him GREATLY! But school has started for Christian, so he must go home. Another piece of evidence that time is flying by! Bye for now! Paul Paul & Nana!

The Garden Grows!

We're having a wonderful time watching our garden grow! Literally, Paul's first order of business every day when he gets home from work is to go out to the garden and take notice. He seems to be having a wonderful time with it all. The beans have countless blooms, the corn has started to tassel, the squash is flowering now and the lettuce, carrots and beets are getting bigger daily. We also have some tomatoes and are waiting to see if the pumpkins, bell peppers and cucumbers are going to yield anything. They are the slower of the crops ... but the plants look healthy and happy, so we're quite hopeful! As you can see, the now 4 year old Christian is also in on the gardening act. He and Paul weeded and de-rocked the middle row yesterday evening. Quite a duo, I must admit! The birds have planted some corn for us in our front flower bed as well ... always gifts to look forward to!

Paul's been playing lots of softball lately. I think the season is about over now, but he's had a great time. They have to place a coach of first base to tell him when to run ... but other than that, he does seem to be a natural. He's been catching and pitch hitting. And the smile that it puts on his face is delightful to see!

Tonight we're going to have a get together in honor of Christian's 4th year of life! Although we just don't know many children here, we have some adults who are game. So ... Charles is going to bring his tractor for Christian to ride on, and we'll have a cookout and maybe an impromptu game or two. I love having the big yard, it certainly opens up the options for entertaining!

It's been quite warm here. I had to get some anti-freeze in the car finally. Just couldn't stand driving in this heat! It's been up in the upper 80's and lower 90's, although I hear that'll be passing this weekend. Atlanta has been over 100 degrees for 2 weeks straight, and I think my sister has melted in Tennessee. It was 103 in Chesnee, SC yesterday when I drove through to pick up Christian. I will not complain as I know in a couple of months I will be freezing again! Believe it or not, some of the higher elevation is having some changing leaves already. I definitely was in surprise mode when I drove through yesterday and saw some red leaves on the trees!

Now that I'm back to work so many hours, there is not a lot of project finishing going on. We knew it would slow down, but since there is still so much to complete, it s kind of frustrating! Oh well, we do have the rest of our lives to finish it. I guess we'll just worry about that tomorrow (Scarlet).

Paul & I did get to go to an auction last Saturday night. We picked up a formal living room chair for $2 and a spindled desk chair for $1, a guitar for $3 and a coffee table for $7 ... it was a fun night again, we've really enjoyed the ones we've attended so far. Each one is different and there are lots of people to watch! Great fun for treasure hunting!

There are bunches of birthdays and such coming up. Pennisu and Scott celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary with a ceremony blessed by the church on the 10th. Congrats you two! So lovely when a relationship is that special! I understand Sarah Evertsen is having a 13th birthday this weekend, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Sarah!!! I know all you guys in Orlando start school on Monday, and I think everyone here does too, so GOOD LUCK to everyone in your upcoming academic year!!! And Good luck to the Dancer's Pointe and The School of Performing Arts as the new season begins!! So You Think You Can Dance is such an inspiration to the dance world, I hope you ALL have been watching and are taking good notes!!!!!! I sure am! I am so tickled for Sabra to have won this year! Yeah, GIRLS!!!! But my daughter and I agree that Danny can do things human beings can't do! What remarkable dancers they are!

Well, I'm hearing "Nana" in the background every 2 or 3 seconds now, so I must go answer my call!!! Happy Friday to All!!! Paul & Cheri

Life comes at ya FAST!

I love Artemis! He just takes his lizard and goes to bed! And as his bed is constantly changing, we just never know where we're going to find him ... but he is always at peace when he's found a nap spot! He certainly reminds me to keep my perspective on life in general!

Paul & Charles made these driveway reflectors for us! I am so tickled to have them on display at our house! In particular, when you're approaching our house from the Tennessee side of life, it's very difficult to pick out our driveway in the dark ... these will certainly make "the runway" stand out! Thanks, guys!

The garden continues to grow (thank goodness!) as the weather has warmed up again and the sun has decided to come out! The growing garden is certainly a time table for how quickly the summer is flying by! I, for one, am so very grateful to be able to dry out a little bit! It was getting pretty soggy around here ... things are much better after a couple of days of dry weather and heat. So you can see the flowering beans ... and the squash is on the verge of flowers too so gardening is looking up! Paul is still very intrigued with the whole process. He's been out hoeing the rows and checking things on a daily basis. He mowed and gardened while I worked this past weekend. That outta keep him out of trouble! Who knew! It'll be great fun when it comes time to harvest ... I can't wait to get pictures of him picking beans ~ the neighborhood will be entertained, to be sure!

Christian turned 4 years old yesterday! I can't wait to get some pictures of the breakdancing birthday party he and his little friends had last Saturday! I'll be sharing as soon as I get them! He is supposed to be visiting us next weekend, so I'm looking forward to us having our very own birthday bash with him, albeit breakdancing free I'm thinking! Maybe we can just hokey pokey or something! :-)
Well, it's costume time for me, have 4 more of those tops to make for the cloggers, so must go get started. So much to do, and only an allotted amount of time to do it in! Do hope all is well with everyone and that those of you preparing to go back to school are doing so with ease and no stress! Happy trails to all! Paul & Cheri

Gardener Paul & the general update!

Here is a proud man in his garden! (isn't he cute?) ;-) He has faithfully checked, babied and worried over this little square of dirt and seeds, just like a Gardener should! The sproutlings have grown into plants and are looking pretty darn good for the most part! The snap peas aren't really wanting to hurry ... nor are the beets or carrots, but they're up and fighting for a chance! The weather has been so very wet ... it would be nice to have a couple days of sunshine to bring out the procrastinator plants! They must be like me, freezing most of the time! HAHA! I came back from Utah's 95 to 100 degree heat to a day that didn't even go above 60 and rained like crazy! What a contrast the two mountain ranges are!

Anyway, see the tomato????? If you double click on the picture, you should see a little tomato about the size of a large marble! Things are really happening here! We're hoping for food eventually .. we will, of course, keep you posted!

I missed announcing my brother-in-law's birthday ... sorry, Paul, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! (This is my sister's husband). Also, my friend Donna, who I was in Utah with, has a birthday on August 5th and I don't want to forget it so ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY DONNA!!!!!!!! Also, a very special 4 year old will have a birthday on August 6th, CHRISTIAN! You'll be hearing more about that though, so I won't go into detail too much tonight ... he is having a break dancing birthday bash though! Hope we can rise to the occasion! My son, Jon and Melissa are leaving for a cruise to Mexico Wed., y'all have BIG FUN and enjoy your vacation (FINALLY).

I began my training at Lowes on Tuesday. I have been sitting in front of a computer terminal for 5-6 straight hours every day training for the position. There is more to learn than I could have imagined, and I get pretty saturated by the end of my shift! Because I'm going right into sales, I have double training ... the sales standards and employee policies for Lowes; and the Lowe's process to design and order cabinets. Then there is the part where I have to learn how to drive fork lifts and things (oh Lord! They know NOT what they are asking!!!!!) I'm going into a dept. with a high powered sales gal who is from Germany (Sabina) and the manager is a laid back southern guy (who Paul actually worked with at Dirk's when Paul first arrived in NC) who's name is Mark. So, it ought to be interesting, as everything is in this life!

We're hoping to have a movie day tomorrow if all works out. I actually have tomorrow off and so does Paul! We've been trying to find a break in the weather to mow the yard and hoe the garden, but we decided our back up plan will be a movie!! I could use a mental break!

Paul's little car is having a clutch problem, so that's yet another project! As with all things related to his car, we'll have to order that from some obscure place (usually on e-bay or some such place), and meanwhile Charles has been kind enough to lend him a car! We are truly blessed with the friends we've made around here. They are all generous and kind, even to us "foreigners". Charles took Paul to Jonesborough, TN today. It's about an hour west from our house ... close to where we have to go for Barnes & Noble and etc. Paul said it was a typical little (circa 1910) town with all brick (mostly red and brown) and great old architecture with narrow streets and hills all around. Somehow he found an "English shoppe" and although they didn't seem to carry much food, he managed to find some English chocolate Flakes and McVities biscuits! Nice little treat!

We are hoping everyone is healthy, loved, joyous, wealthy and wise this summer season! And I personally am hoping everyone is warmer than I am! HAHA! Cheers to all! Paul & Cheri

MOOSE!!!! Oh My Gosh!!!

We went hiking across a path between Deer Park and Brighton yesterday for our final day of adventure. We were blessed with a moose sighting!!!! There were 4 BIG moose out in an aspen grove just grazing away. They gave us quite a show, rolling around in the grass; the younger ones played and romped as the older ones ate and ate! SO MUCH FUN!

The upper pics are what it would be like to drive the tractor that is cutting a new ski run! OH MY GOSH ... he kept sliding back down - very interesting to watch!

And the pic of the lake is where we ended up during our hike. I'm sure this lake has a proper name, but we just named is Moose Lake! It was beautiful and looked very similar to Alaska, if you take out the aspens!

On our way home today .... will touch base when I get an update on Paul's life!

Greetings from Utah (Park City and beyond)

Sure is pretty out here! Just wanted to share the VAST beauty this place has with all y'all! The condo is about 5,000 ft above sea level ... the lake here (Mirror Lake) is around 9,500 ... the mountain on the top photo is over 12,750 and simply GORGEOUS (and still snow topped!). These mountains are just a tad bigger than the ones we live in!

Olympic Park, Park City, Utah

Olympic Park out here is GREAT FUN!! The skiers run down these slopes and off the ramps and land in a swimming pool!!!!! These guys are simply amazing and it's so relaxing sitting out under the HUGE sky and watching them do the aerial work ... and then, of course, there is the bob sledding!!
(that's Donna and I trying our hand at getting in the thing!) It's beautiful out here, however it's HOT -- that's the desert for you! Temps are 90 and up ... not what I'm used to these days! But gobs of beautiful views and we're hiking today! YEHAW!!!

Paul is at home ... Monday night he played softball --- 4 at bats and 3 runs ... I'm sure as many slide in to bases at bats! He had a great time ... Tuesday he went roller coaster riding with the boys from work (another great day!) He sounds like he's eating and having his usual amount of life fun, so all's well at home! Thank goodness!

Congratulations to Rick and Chris and sure hope you're enjoying your new home!

Hope everyone is well and happy ... Until next time ... Paul & Cheri

Our Sproutlings and other dirt! ...

Here are the sproutlings ... we're so proud! We have bush beans, and half runners (beans), 60 day corn, sugar snaps, beets, carrots, lettuce, zucchini & crookneck squash, cucumbers, sunflowers and pumpkins! The tomato plants are in the bath tub ... which Charles' Nana gave to Paul last week (the tomato plants, not the bath tub)! We're looking forward to fresh food in our future! Yeah!

The upper picture is where Paul is creating a walkway from our basement door, as well as making a place for his bees. He will be getting a swarm of bees soon so we can raise our very own honey! Let me just make this clear right here and now, they are PAUL'S bees ... his idea, his project, his bees! I love honey ... so I'm sure I'll enjoy the benefit of the bees. But they make me a little anxious so I may never go in the backyard again after they arrive .... we'll see!!!!! :-0 But isn't he doing a GREAT job of digging it all out (by hand with a shovel!!!!) and making it just right!?! I know his back is sore ... while he did that today, I mowed this entire ground! Believe me when I tell you that an acre is a lot of mowing, especially with a hand mower! But I sure did get some good exercise out of the deal! And the yard looks nice and tidy so we're happy ... and so are the neighbors (Bruce mows twice a week whether it needs it or not!).

Didn't want to leave town without sharing our sproutling photos!!!!!

Cheers to all, Paul & Cheri

Well, as you can see, the bathtub is no longer in residence on the front porch! After GOBS of huffing and puffing, we managed to get that old cast iron tub pryed loose from the wall and out of the bathroom. With the help of our good friend, Ron O'Dell, who made us a wonderful furniture dolly originally designed to move our piano, we have now moved two exceptionally heavy cast iron bath tubs! Thanks Ron! Anyway ... the old tub is outside waiting for the tomato and herb garden to be planted in it ... which should take place tomorrow. The new tub is temporarily placed in the bathroom. We won't permanently fix everything until the linoleum gets switched out for new ... and the tub faucets come in from the mail order. But hey ... we're in a lot better shape than we were! Thank goodness! It's beginning to come together as far as the bathroom is concerned ... our new and improved project!

Also, the garden has been planted and when Paul came home this evening, he discovered several of the rows had "sproutlings" (his very own word) coming up! So we're looking at sprouted beans and lettuce and beets and sunflowers, so far! It is very exciting, and Paul looks like a little boy at Christmas the way his eyes are twinkling at "his" garden!! We had dinner with some friends tonight to celebrate Paul's company's television premier. (oh my gosh, what a breathtaking estate these folks have at 5200 ft on a mountain top right down the road from the studio!) and Charles the tractor man was there. Paul was so excited to tell him the garden had begun to sprout! Everyone was duly impressed! The Company that Paul works for now (Garden Metal Work) was on HGTV tonight with a job they had done on one of the "improved houses" ... so we had a "get together" with champagne and everything! Very fun ... nice to celebrate, that's for sure! The couple who hosted the evening (Delmos and Anne) live on an old family homestead site, but have built their own home in the midst of 122 acres. It was as close to being in paradise as I think I've ever been!!! Delmos took us out in the "gator" to tour the land ... it was spectacular! Gives us something to aim our BIG dreams toward! It felt like you could almost reach up and touch the stars when they starting popping out! What a HUGE blessing to just be there! Some things are just not able to be put into words!

Changing subjects ... Lowes Building Supply has hired me to be in the cabinet department beginning in a week. So, I will have 3 jobs soon ... (but they probably only total one full time job when it all adds up) like I've said before ... sabbatical is over! However, before the time off comes to a screeching halt, I will be spending a week in Utah beginning Tuesday morning. I'll leave Elk Park on Monday about noon, drive to Charlotte and stay with my friend Norma for an evening of catch up after 3 years or so. Then I'll fly out Tuesday morning to Salt Lake City, returning on the following Monday to Charlotte around 11pm. I have to report to Lowes at 2pm on Tuesday ... so I'll have to sleep fast!! But I'm excited and looking forward to something different in my life. It'll be great to have that "BIG" discount for the house improvement things ... and perhaps full time will come soon and we can have some benefits and retirement enhancements! Wouldn't that be lovely! I'm truly looking forward to the trip to Utah to be with two very good women friends, Dana and Donna. It'll be lovely to have a week of R&R ... and girls "time out". Who knows what all we might get in to! Hiking is lovely out there!

While I'm in Utah Paul is planning on going to Carowinds Amusement Park with his work buddies to ride the roller coasters for an entire day! He deserves to have some fun ... hope it's good for him! I'd rather be in Utah! :-)

Nina, Paul's daughter, turns 21 years old on Monday! Happy Birthday, Nina!!!!! I hope all of your birthday wishes come true and you have a year of all good things!

My good friend and mosaic mentor, Chrissie Grace is in Atlanta at the Atlanta Merchandise Mart this weekend promoting her new endeavor with her art design company. Good luck, Chrissie. I'm sending you lots of good thoughts!

Chris and Rick (Paul's brother) have begun moving into their new home ... good luck you guys! We hope it is an easy and painless move! We know you'll love your new home and we're hoping you'll have a zillion years of happiness there.

Not that I have ever wanted to become a weather reporter ... but ... it has barely gotten over 60 degrees today. This weekend is the Highland Games, in which all the clans come from every where in their kilts to join in the "games" at Grandfather Mountain". I guess they toss telephone poles and etc. All I have to say is, they better put their long johns on under those kilts because they might freeze something vital! It's only about 54 degrees right now! I'm thinking about putting the electric blanket back on the bed tonight! Paul is making fun of me ... a lot!

We're tired from all the excitement around here! Hope y'all are having a wonderful beginning to your weekends! We'll post pics of the sproutlings when I get them taken!

Be well and be happy! Paul & Cheri

Life In the Mountains

Well, we have some great pictures of our planted garden! And some really great pictures of our claw foot bathtub which is now OFF OF THE FRONT PORCH and in the bathroom!!!!!
But currently we have no internet service or cable at the house ... so ... I'll post as soon as I can get back on line from our computer! We're otherwise doing our normal thing, work, sleep, read, eat, and work. Oh, I said that already, sorry!
Do hope all of you are well out there! Happy Birthday to Mandy Taylor, who's birthday is this Saturday, I think!?!?! Hope it's a GREAT birthday, Mandy and a wonderful year to come!
Happy Trails to all, Paul and Cheri