Back to our SW trip

Meanwhile, back in New Mexico last month...

Cathy gets a big kick out of her flood irrigation system. She diverts water from the creek/canal and watches it flow down the engineered ditches to bring moisture to her garden. Yes, there is corn; no it doesn't show in the pictures.

Salamander

The Smokies are the "Salamander Capital of the World." We saw plenty of them on the Rainbow Falls hike. John took this photo.

Smaller wildlife

The tiny deer mouse loved Sheela's shoes. He moved very quickly but stayed within a few feet of us as he scrambled up and over big rocks and tree trunks. He entertained us for about five minutes!

More Smokies Hike

We made it to Rainbow Falls. (2.7 miles.)

You can just barely see the falls above John's head. They are impressively high. I am"closely controlling" the child; well, maybe not. She and I did scramble to the base of the falls.

An eventful hike in the Smokies with Sheela

Wow! We saw a black bear drinking from the creek beside our trail ... then he climbed a huge tree nearby. About 50 feet up, he went out onto a side limb, rolled around a bit chewing on persimmon leaves, then lay down and relaxed with all four paws dangling beneath him. Sheela was able to call her Mom on our cell phone to tell her all about it while we were still there watching him. AWESOME!!

Here is the newest Loudon County Habitat for Humanity house under construction. I helped cut and install the pink, fuzzy, itchy insulation. And, doesn't it look neatly installed?! This is one of my favorite activities.. The family that will be living in this home has to provide something like 500 hours of work themselves on their own house or those being built for others. That way they really appreciate the work that goes into the project. They aren't given the house, either. They have to pay a mortgage payment for the next 20 years or so just like everyone else, albeit at a reduced interest rate. The neighborhood where this house is is taking shape and it is a pleasure to see the families living there, with flowers and kids' bicycles and such in the tidy yards. Lots of pride of ownership apparent on every street.

More Sunil Pix

Grammylyn and Gramma Sharma in her wheelchair.

Photos by Sunil

While I was in TX, Sunil had loads of fun taking dozens of photos with my digital camera. It was fun to see his point of view : Karin and his own feet (in his new hiking boots).

Sunil time

This post is a couple of weeks behind time, but here it is anyway. When I was in TX last month I had a couple of really good quality-time one-on-one days with Sunil while Sheela was off at "Kids' Club" at the elementary school. He and I went ice-skating not once but twice the first day; then once again the next day. We also went shopping (the ice rink was in a shopping mall) and he loved his new shirt and pants. (He is not wearing the new duds in the photo, obviously).

Too Much Fun

We continue to have so much fun with Sheela that we can't take time to write in the blog. She is so easy and so fun. Thanks, Sharmas, for sharing her with us!!!!!! We have photos, will post soon.

Sheela

I've returned from TX with Sheela, and we are loving having her here. Too busy to take photos, even! I promise to have a few of her on this site soon, though. She says Hi to everyone.

Happy Fourth!

No photos at all to show for our very pleasant holiday(s). The highlight was a short drive to Lenoir City for a Tennessee barbecue dinner at a good old down home cookin' eatery with our new neighbors, then on to a wonderful fireworks display over the lake near the dams. The lake was chock-a-block with folks on their own boats, each with at least one anchor light, which made for a beautiful scene. Very calm, very warm, just a very light breeze. There were a couple of different musical groups blasting out entertainment and lots of families with children playing on the grass and the big sandy play area. We found the last available spot to park. We were on the grass with a comfortable spot in front of the van in the shade of a couple of big trees at the water's edge to set up our lawn chairs. We had no idea in which direction the display would take place, but our group was pretty laid back and relaxed and we figured we could surely see at least some of the fireworks without having to rearrange ourselves to0 awfully much. As it turned out, the display was directly in front of us. We felt like we had the very best seats in the house (so to speak). Our friends gave us all kinds of credit, even though it was only by dumb luck and fortuitous timing.

Our New Van

We took the trip in our old, wonderful Windstar van. It did yeoman's work for us, as it had for all of its 128,000 miles. However, upon our return we traded it in for a newer, but very similar model. This one is a Mercury Monterey.

The color is "champagne" and it is loaded with lots of bells and whistles. We chose it from the dealer's lot, so took whatever amenities it already had. (End-of-the-medel-year-closeout sale). We're pretty pleased with it!

Apache Trail

While we were staying in Phoenix, we took a scenic trail day trip. Notice the "no pavement for 22 miles" sign. Our Windstar Van (and John) performed admirabley on the loose gravel and steep terrain.

Pricky Pear Ice Cream

One of the great advantages of travel is the opportunity to try new foods. They don't have this flavor of ice cream in East Tennessee! It was sweet and gently flavorful, by the way.

Tall Cactus

Saguaro Cactus are found only in Southern Arizona and parts of Mexico. Although we had seen them before, we were impressed by their hieght when we saw them close up.