Texas

No pictures today.

We had a nice, gentle ride from home to Karin's, spending one night on the road in Jackson, TN. The big storm, with hard rain and loud pyrotechnics, happily occurred during the night after we were tucked in, and it was over before we headed out the next morning.

We are thrilled to be here, and everyone is in good health and happy. We are so proud of our family ... here and in Japan too. The kids continue to rate all our possible grandparent-ly superlatives!!!

The lodge at Charit Creek

The end of the trail. The lodge at Charit Creek. In contrast to most of our hikes, this one has the destination in the valley instead of on the peak. Quite pleasant, and it offers overnight accomodations. Rustic, but charming. Hope to go again with the family, and next time we'll stay overnight.

Many, many steps

The trail to Charit Creek included at least three sets of steps like these. This is my friend Joan on her way down.

Arch

The natural arches ... there were two ... on the trail to Charit Creek were impressively huge.

The trail was only about a mile and a half, but it was certainly scenic.

Bee

This one is for Tracy ... see, I have a bee picture, too. :-) This one is a couple of years old. The photo, not the bee.

Tennessee Centipede

This is the East Tennessee version of a red centipede. I took this photo on Friday last week on a hike in the Cumberland Plateau. It was about three inches long.

Diversity of Life in America

I finally made it back to the Smokies to help out again in the ten-year DLIA project. This is the fifth year of the ambitious undertaking with the goal of identifying each and every living organism in the Smokies. So far they have found dozens and dozens of species brand new to science; also hundreds of species not previously known to have existed in the Park. This day we were gathering beetles which had hatched out of decaying wood. Each of these plastic tubs has been "seeded" with wood in various stages of decay. The beetles, etc., "self collect" as they emerge and drop into the jars suspended beneath each tub. We will do this every month for a couple of years. On this day there was a group of about ten high school students helping out. I hope to take Sheela with me when it's my turn again in July. BTW, scientists from all over the world are the ones setting up all the activities; we volunteers just do the grunt work.

It's "lo-tox", honest!

except to the beetles and other creepy crawlies that drop into it. The vivid color is enough to kill ya!

Beetle Gathering

Actually, getting my knees bent that much (and getting up again) was harder than handling dead things floating in bright green antifreeze.

Not Something You See Everyday ...

Now, doesn't this just seem so inviting?! I spotted (pun intended!) this comfy chair on the porch of the store where I saw the huge moss-covered moose last fall (photo in this blog ... October, I think.) East Tennessee is just full of surprises!

I'm still here

We've had out of town guests, which limits our face time with the PC ... but we're still here!

I've just finished putting together a cookbook of the recipes our tennis team prepared during our week long practice session in Hilton Head SC this year and last. I know it's ironic that I'm the one doing it, but my publisher skills are in demand even though my cooking skills aren't!

We found we enjoyed staying in the condo in the evenings and cooking rather than going out ... even though there was no shortage of wonderful restaurants in that tourist-y area. Each day (almost) someone different would volunteer to cook a favorite recipe for dinner that night . She always had lots of help shopping, cooking and cleaning up, which made it all more fun for everyone.

It will go to the printer tomorrow, after the team captain proofreads it and I correct whatever mistakes I'm sure I must have made. The name of the book(let) is: "It's Your Serve."

Deep Purple Iris

I almost would say that these are my favorites, but then I see the pink ones, the yellow ones, the ice blue ones ... you get the picture. But oh, my, they are really gorgeous!

One of the great things about living up high on a hillside is the feeling of being right in the middle of the weather as it happens. It's already raining to the northeast (left of photo) and the front has actually passed over our house. We are looking from the lower deck toward the east.

Yard Work

The finish landscaping is finally scheduled for the area between our house and the new construction next to us. The area has been a disaster area for months and months. I have been busy digging up the remaining irises and daylilies and moving them to a temporary home in our front garden, until things settle down. The irises completed their glorious bloom time before I had to dig 'em up. The daylilies are just starting to bud, so they may not bloom this year. I have definitely been exercising and sweating during this process ... those darned lily plants w/ huge root balls are very, very heavy!!!

Life as usual

We are planning to drive to Dallas to help Sunil celebrate his birthday, around the end of May, and that will be a special event. Hard to believe he will be five. Wow. Can hardly wait to see him (and Karin and Sheela and Sid) again. Our last phone conversation with him went rather like this: "Hi, Grammylyn. I love you. Bye." "Hi, GrampaJohn. I love you. Bye." We loved every word.