I love taking pictures, and I love this self-indulgent exercise of sharing my best photos of 2018. Or maybe not the best, but the most representative–it kind of depends on the month, really.
JANUARY: A bonfire in our backyard–this one was for the burning of the Christmas tree, and the reason the fire has this cool shape is that our wreath is in there!
FEBRUARY: It was SO HARD to pick a picture for February, y'all. We went to San Francisco to visit Teddy and I took maybe a million beautiful pictures. I love this one because it was serendipitous–I had gone on a walk alone, knowing nothing of the celebration of the Chinese New Year, and encountered this parade by accident.
MARCH: Another hard choice. Jake and Jessica were married on March 24, and I was the photographer. I think this is my favorite.
APRIL: Emily had her five-year college reunion in Mobile, Alabama and we tagged along for the food. While she was busy I took the kids to an alligator preserve. That may not sound like your idea of fun but it was pure heaven for William, who NEVER smiles like this for the camera.
MAY: Here's one of Lorelei hiding in a specimen bush at the UT Arboretum, which was one of our first summer adventures.
JUNE: This is the view from the top of Grandfather Mountain. We spent almost a week staying with friends at their timeshare in Beech Mountain, North Carolina, and this was definitely a highlight of the vacation. I took this after walking across the "Mile High Swinging Bridge." I don't even like to stand on chairs so that was a pretty big deal.
JULY: Another summer adventure. We discovered this little park through an accidental short cut, and we came back the next week to go swimming.
AUGUST: From this point on, my camera roll is full of pictures of this guy, who we adopted in August. This picture is also important because it was taken at our new neighborhood park, which we just love.
SEPTEMBER: This picture has a lot of things I enjoy in it–a cat, my porch chairs, and wine! For some reason, once they started selling wine at the grocery store we started drinking it with dinner more often. 🙂 I love to take my dinner wine outside to the porch after the meal. I also enjoy reading–and napping–out there. It truly is my happy place.
OCTOBER: Another month with so many pictures it was almost impossible to choose. I really need to devote an entire post to our trip to New York City. The Statue of Liberty was my favorite, though. I was quite misty-eyed and I could happily have stayed there all day.
NOVEMBER: I love this picture of beautiful downtown Knoxville, my favorite place in the world.
DECEMBER: This picture was taken at my parish church on Gaudete Sunday. I thought the church was especially beautiful that day. We truly did have a joyful Advent so this seems like an appropriate choice.
This was a good year. It's nice to look back on the year and feel that way.
I am linking up with Revolution of Love. Click below to see pictures from other bloggers!
School started yesterday. Our summer is over even though there is a month and a half left in the season!
There wasn't a whole lot of time for fun in our last week. It was actually a pretty typical week from one of our other summers–I worked every day and the kids stared at screens. But that was the ONLY week that was true this summer so I'm calling it a win.
And although I bought supplies online, we still spent most of Saturday shopping because Lorelei needed new clothes.
I promised everyone a trip to the lake in the afternoon, though, and I delivered on that promise.
On Monday, we had our last big adventure. I have no pictures to commemorate it, but we wore ourselves out spending maybe three hours at an enormous antique mall. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it and each got to bring home a few items.
On Tuesday, we went for ice cream just once more as a last day of vacation treat.
And then on Wednesday school began. No way would William let me photograph him on such an occasion. You can see how thrilled Lorelei is to have to go back to regular school.
Thanks for following along on our summer adventures. Knowing I was going to be blogging about them helped motivate me to continue, and continuing gave me something regular to write about, so it was a great idea all around and I will plan to repeat it next year.
The Summer Fun Continues . . .
It was the second to last full week of summer break, and my pace was slowing, but we still had some fun times!
On Tuesday we had breakfast at Nick and J's, a former Waffle House now locally owned and serving breakfast and lunch, with the most enormous pancakes I have ever seen. William ate two entire orders of French Toast.
We followed up breakfast with our very first visit to Plumb Creek Park, which is a five minute walk from our house, that is if there were any safe way to walk there. Y'all, I've known they were building this park eventually since we moved in, which was seven years ago, so I was super excited to finally get to walk around there. The walking trails are not quite finished but I foresee this as a great exercise spot when it gets cooler.
On Thursday I kept a promise made two weeks ago when we stumbled across Bull Run Park, and took the kids swimming there. I highly recommend it. It's not crowded. it's shady, and the water temperature is comfortable. I found it soothing and peaceful. But we are buying water shoes before we return because Lorelei cut her foot on something. It's not a swimming pool, y'all.
Friday we left town for a long-planned trip to Nashville, which is about three hours west of us. The trip had a dual purpose. First, to visit my sister and her family, and for the kids to see her house; and second, to go the Nashville Zoo. Both parts of the trip were successful.
We visited on Friday and went to the zoo Saturday morning. Someday I will write a whole post about the zoo and share more pictures, but the short version is that we were there for about five hours, and it was delightful, with lots of shade, happy animals in lovely habitats, and more opportunities for interacting with the animals than is typical in our experience. William declared it one of his favorite zoos.
Summer break is almost over and I'm sad because we've had so much fun that I don't want it to end. If you want to read more of our adventures, click on any of the links below.
Last week I fell far short of my promised one-fun-thing-per-day promise. I had a good excuse, though–I went to Nashville from Wednesday until Saturday to visit my sister. Emily kindly provided some entertainment for her siblings in my stead, taking them blueberry picking. And John took them to a "magnificent" (according to William) Asian restaurant to dine while I was gone.
But we did have one big adventure on Tuesday, one that did not turn out at all as I had planned!
We lived in South Knoxville when the big kids were little, and every Wednesday morning for years I used to take them to breakfast at Shoney's. Shoney's was a big favorite for our family back then because we didn't have a lot of money, we had a lot of mouths to feed, and kids ate free at the buffet!
So just about every summer since then we make a point to head south to that same Shoney's to recreate some of that long ago summer fun. Usually there's a waitress or two there who still remembers us from back in the day (not this time, sadly).
That's what the plan was on Tuesday, to be followed by a quick trip to the Fort Dickerson Overlook, perhaps a short walk on a trail, and visits to Scottish Pike Park and the new Suttree Landing Park that William and Lorelei have never seen.
Most of that will have to wait until another day, as you will see!
After a big breakfast, we drove up to Fort Dickerson Park and went to admire the view from the overlook. I will never forget the first time I saw this view, about 25 years ago. I couldn't believe what I was seeing–it was like I was in some enchanted faraway land instead of about a mile from downtown Knoxville.
Now, I've been to Fort Dickerson many times, but this time I saw something new–a trail just to the left of the overlook.
And that's when I had a bright idea. Why don't we explore it, I said. Let's just see where it goes, I said. We can always turn around and come back.
So we braved the kudzu and started to walk.
And we walked. And we walked. And we sort of committed. Eventually it was clear that we were walking right around the lake. I figured we'd end up at the bottom (I've taken a trail that goes there from a different parking lot) and then surely there would be a way back on the other side.
Sure enough, after a fairly easy walk we ended up exactly where I thought, and we started hunting for that other trail. At first things seemed to go fairly well, and we made our way along the opposite side of the lake, heading in exactly the direction we were supposed to.
Until, that is, we ended up at a very dead end, standing right on the bank of the lake with a sheer cliff several hundred feet tall in front of us.
So we doubled back to where we had taken what was clearly the wrong fork and kept walking, only to eventually realize the trail we were on did nothing but circle us back–after a long time, I might add–to an area close to where it began.
By now we had come to realize that there WAS no trail on the other side. We had two choices for how to get back to the car–take the trail we'd come down to begin with, or leave the park and go by road.
Did I mention that it was about a million degrees by now? (Well, at least 90 anyway.) And we didn't bring water. We were tired, exhausted, and dehydrated as we made our way to the parking lot and thence to Chapman Highway, which if you are not local I need to explain is NOT the kind of road you really want to walk on.
Fortunately, there is a sidewalk–on the wrong side, naturally–and we were able to find a safe way to cross the highway. We trudged doggedly up the hill and then crossed back over to the park entrance and finally made it to the car. Y'all, we had walked FOUR MILES.
We drove straight to Weigel's and bought Icees and much water, which I actually poured right on my head. I apologized A LOT for my poor leadership skills. But it was an adventure!
Read more of our summer adventures below!
Y'all, it is HOT. And our access to a swimming pool is gone. It is hard to want to leave the air conditioning to have summer adventures, but we managed three days of fun this week.
I couldn't get it together till Wednesday, when we had to leave the house for an appointment anyway. Immediately thereafter, we drove downtown to visit Blount Mansion.
I vividly remember my own first encounter with this bit of Tennessee history as part of a seventh grade field trip–I was unimpressed and thought it wasn't much of a mansion at all! This time I was absolutely enthralled with such details as panes of glass installed in 1792–the first glass windows in town–and still there to be looked through over 200 years later, and the desk on which the Tennessee Constitution was signed, and William Blount's very own fancy shoe buckles still in their original box.
Our guide did a great job of bringing history to life for us. We spent close to two hours in the museum, the house, and the gardens, and Lorelei was NOT bored which she had come expecting to be.
Thursday we went out for ice cream for the third time this summer. (Did I mention it was hot?) Lorelei and I enjoyed it but William did not like how fast the ice cream melted in the heat (we were very messy by the end!).
Friday was really exciting. Last week William had a follow-up appointment with his oral surgeon in Oak Ridge. There was a traffic jam along our usual route back over the Clinch River to Knoxville, and Siri routed us a way I had never seen before. Along this lovely country road we spied signs for an historic cabin and cemetery, and we passed right by a park. On Friday, I told the kids we were having an adventure and we drove back to explore these places.
We discovered that Bull Run Park has a swimming area and made plans to go back and enjoy it!
Next we headed to the David Hall Cabin, and were conducted on an informative tour of this two-hundred-year old cabin and a couple more by the one of the owners, whose wife's father was raised in it. The Baumgartners live behind the cabins on four of the original 50 acres. We thanked Mr. Baumgartner for all he and his family continue to do to preserve this history for us to enjoy and learn from!
After looking at the cabins, we went back into the woods and explored the Arnold-Hall Cemetery, where David Hall (a Revolutionary War veteran) is buried along with other members of the families. Y'all may know I love cemeteries, so that was a treat for me and the kids indulged me!
That's it for this week. I'll be honest–I can no longer promise to do something every single day. But I DO have some plans for next week!
I'll admit it–it is harder to have fun all the time than you might think. Honestly, I really, really like sitting at my desk having uninterrupted time to get work done. Leaving the house is stressful, and sandwiching fun in between not only work but also family business like medical appointments (two this week) is not easy.
So this week I outsourced some of the fun to John, and therefore this post will be short on pictures even though the week was not short on fun!
On Monday evening, John took the kids to see The Incredibles 2. John and the kids all love movies, me not so much, so that's been "his thing" since the big kids were little.
Tuesday I took the kids and Emily out to breakfast at Maple Street Biscuit Company, a newish place that I had been passing daily while picking up William at school and had been dying to try. If there's one where you are, you should go. Only William was not a fan, because the waffles had infinitesimally tiny bacon pieces in them which he admitted he could not taste but had to remove one by one anyway.
Wednesday was the Fourth of July (I'm sure that is not news to you). We had a cookout at our house with my family. We had planned to go downtown for the symphony and fireworks show afterwards but it was like a million degrees so instead we took William's suggestion (actually his demand) and watched Independence Day, which is definitely one of my top ten favorite movies of all time. Bonus: everyone in our neighborhood was shooting off fireworks like crazy and we could see them through our windows without leaving the television or the air conditioning.
Thursday was the big event of the week, planned for some time since I had bought a Groupon for it months ago–a visit to Rainforest Adventures, which is an hour's drive away in Sevierville.
Things I liked: it was mostly inside and air-conditioned, we could see the animals up close and they seemed very happy and well-cared for.
Thing I did NOT like: The overwhelming stench of animal urine that greeted us the moment we walked in the gift shop and literally made me feel ill throughout the two hours we were there.
Friday it was John's turn again. This time he took Lorelei and William to see Ant Man and the Wasp.
I take Saturdays off. So far they are all still sleeping which is fine with me.
See more summer fun posts below.
On Monday, we went to the Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum, which I have written about before. This place is one of Knoxville's best-kept secrets, a true treasure.
There are lots of new paths since I was last year and although the spring flowers are gone, there were wild flowers, trees (with identifying markers, too, so you can learn something while you walk), and, most exciting to me because I've never seen one, a small wheat field!
Tuesday I had to scrap my original plans because something came up, so I took the kids to Wild Love Bakehouse for a treat. I kid you not, this place in nationally renowned and if you come to Knoxville you will want to pay it a visit.
After our treat, which we shared with friendly sparrows on the porch, we walked down the steps to investigate one of my favorite places–Mid Mod Collective. I cannot afford one stick of the restored vintage furniture they sell here but boy do I wish I could. They also have retro knickknacks and even vintage clothing. Mostly it's just fun to browse and feel like you've gone back in time.
Mid Mod Collective shares space with The Book Eddy, a vintage book store that's occupied various spaces in Knoxville over the past 20 years or so. We had a great time browsing there. My big finds were a board game from my high school years and a 1945 edition of Emily Post's Etiquette.
These places are all located in the Old North Knoxville historical district so our last activity was to spend a little time driving around the nearby neighborhoods and talking architecture (Victorian and Craftsman, for the most part). Lorelei is obsessed with House Hunters recently and had asked me about Mid-century Modern, which gave me the idea for these activities in the first place. Who says television can't be educational?
We visited the Knoxville Museum of Art on Wednesday. The museum is free, there is abundant free parking, and besides their permanent collection and the local artists they showcase there is always a new exhibit to see.
Take special note of that last picture. The Thorne Miniatures are absolutely amazing and the KMA is fortunate to have nine of them. They were housed in the Dulin Gallery, predecessor to the KMA, when I was a child, and I am not the only one to have fond memories of them judging by the reaction when I shared pictures of them on Facebook.
I don't have any pictures of our Thursday jaunt, which had to be a short one due to a dentist appointment. I took the kids to Starbucks for Frappucinos, using up some gift cards I'd been carrying around! They had never set foot in one before, so this was actually more exciting than I thought it would be. Then we went to the Dollar Tree, which is always a hit.
Friday's fun consisted of our drive to Beech Mountain, North Carolina, where we are vacationing with friends. I couldn't take any pictures since I was driving but WOW was it a beautiful trip. I'm sure I'll have lots to share when I write this up next week.
Catch up on our other summer adventures here, here, and here!
Well, this has been a busy week!
John and I got back from Georgetown Sunday evening, and I was right back into summer adventures with the kids the following day, when we visited McClung Museum. This is a mostly unsung treasure on the University of Tennessee campus. The kids have been there many times but it had been a few years. Notable to me is that they now take time to read the descriptions on the displays. We spent two solid hours here. I loved the temporary exhibit, "Pick Your Poison," an historical treatment of recreational drug and alcohol use, but as always it was the Egypt exhibit that enthralled Lorelei and William.
Tuesday was hiking day, and because we got a late start we kept it very local, heading to Melton Hill Park about ten minutes away. William thought it was beautiful although he decried the level of garbage we encountered along the woodland trails, this being the type of park where teenagers (and others) congregate to do sketchy things. It was also super hot that day and I really thought I might collapse but I soldiered on.
Wednesday, as I mentioned before, we have a standing appointment in the morning. Plus William had yet another dentist appointment that afternoon. So we again kept it close to where we were already going to be and visited the KARM thrift store in Bearden. I don't know if it's weird but my kids love thrift stores. On Wednesday I got to have a little summer fun of my own when my cousin quite unexpectedly invited me to go to a Journey/Def Leppard concert! She was nuts about Journey when we were teenagers and I thought she might have a heart attack!
Thursday was animal day this week (Lorelei and William think every day should b e animal day). We went to the zoo. William and I had an appointment at 9:00 a.m. to talk to the volunteer coordinator about his plans to volunteer there next year. This forced us to get there really early and we discovered this is a delightful time to visit the zoo while escaping the afternoon heat. We also experimented with letting William wander around by himself some in preparation for dropping off at the zoo to spend the day there alone sometime soon.
Today, Friday, I begged off because I was lunching with a friend and attending funeral services later, and also needed time to get work done. And tomorrow we are hitting the Farmer's Market again, this time with Emily along. I think William would enjoy it but I'm not sure whether we will be able to talk him into it. I'm guessing not.
Tune in next week–I've got at least one really exciting thing planned!
As someone who is very proud of her Irish heritage, I was excited to attend the first annual St. Patrick's Parade in downtown Knoxville last year. Because my sister and her husband had a float in the parade, our whole family got front row VIP seats for the event, and I was able to snap lots of great pictures.
One of the parade's organizers, Christy Connor Watkins, is a friend–and she liked these pictures when they appeared on Facebook. As a result, I've got my own VIP pass for tomorrow's event–which this year includes even more festivities following the parade–so I can take pictures again!
For more information on the parade and the "Cel-O'bragh-tion" to follow, visit the KSPP website.