Out and about in Appalachia.

Saturday we had a morning appointment to look at kitchen cabinets, but by 9 or so, we had a whole empty day ahead of us. After a quick check at the Ridge (which has come to a standstill with the rain), we decided to do a little exploring in the area. We first drove over to Lake Norris, to see if any of the marinas had restaurants. At one place, the guy in the little store recommended Jimmy's Place but could not remember where that was. We drove around the shoreline until we finally saw a sign, and found this little floating restaurant, where we sat outside in the shade and had a beer and some fried catfish.

After lunch we kept driving, all the way up to a little town called Sneedville, near the Kentucky border. It's such a contrast of stunning natural beauty and deep, deep poverty.

As we were winding our way toward home, we passed a small sign that said "Elrod Falls." This called for a U-turn. The signs lead us down a tiny backroad. When we got to the little park, there were a handful of people there by a creek. But no actual falls in sight. Then we saw some kids walking up a little path and decided to check that out. 

The falls were as pretty as anything in The Smokies, and there were less than a dozen people there, hanging out on the rocks and watching a kid swim in the pool at the base of the falls. And then a woman asked us if we'd been up to the falls above. What? So off we went.

It was steep and slippery on the climb up. But it was so beautiful and we were the only two there.

Well, the only two not counting this water snake, sunning himself on a rock and watching the waterfall.

The climb down was even more treacherous, and as you can see I did not have the appropriate shoes. We read later that there is a third waterfall higher up, and I'd like to go back to see that. In hiking boots this time. All in all, a pretty great day and the detours were well worth it.

Computer issues.

I'm having to take my over-heating computer into the Apple store, so I've been using it sparingly. Just a couple of quick things from recently.

One was a trip up to Louisville to visit my older son. He is extremely private so no photos. He is now with an optometry group and wanted to show us around the office. As we left, the office manager called to him, "Bye Doctor!" He seemed confidant in his new role. His girlfriend, also an optometrist, joined us for dinner and then we went to their apartment to meet their dog, a sweet furry Old English Sheepdog/Poodle mix. It's really nice having them just 250 miles away and I am already planning our next visit. While we were in town we also met up with my sister-in-law for lunch. She is a sweetheart who was a rock thorugh my cancer and I treasure that relationship.

The next morning on our way home we stopped in Lexington to visit my Dad's grave and do our traditional bourbon toast, pouring one on his grave. It's really a beautiful, peaceful cemetery.

The family has a long history in Lexington so there are relatives buried there from a couple hundred years ago, including government figures like former Vice President Breckinridge. And loads of family whose gravestones bear military insignia. I know my father would love being here.

This past weekend more of my in-laws (sister, brother, his wife and the kids) rented a cabin in the Smokies and we went down for the day.  It was nice hanging out on the deck and catching up in our first visit since the pandemic started. As we drove home that night, I texted my younger son to see how he was doing with the heatwave in Portland. When he moved to work with the tree service company his dream was to make it his career and become a climber. He started as ground crew but has advanced to climbing and told me in our last phone call that he loved it. He texted me back that evening to say he had foremanned his first job on Friday. I don't know what it was about that, but an unescapable truth just walloped me as we drove - my baby boys are well and truly men now. The fact that they have both landed in good spots in their lives brings me so much peace.

And just like that, we're off!

We broke ground on Friday, which was actually a surprise to us. We were scheduled to start on Monday. Even though I'm excited about the build, it still hurt to see the land cleared. I don't know what I thought would happen - maybe a house would be built and magically nestled into the forest with very little destruction. But even though it's small house, they have to clear off enough space to work. Which included the place I had earmarked fro a chicken coop. I am working on just shrugging and trusting that it will all work out.

In the meantime, we've been amassing things required for the build that we'd prefer to pick out ourselves - light fixtures, fans, sinks, and so on. We have things stored in the tiny house, in a storage unit and some in our rental house.

We met with the builder and signed a contract a few days after we closed on our house. He gave us a long itemized list of estimates and we are trying to decide exactly what we want and also where we can economize. I'm making room layouts on graph paper spending ridiculous amounts of time online researching various aspects. Like flooring - wood or bamboo?  What bathtub options are available but still reasonable? And so on ad naseum.

Our builder sent us on missions to particular supply stores he likes to work with to pick out tile and what not. And then we comparison shopped until we were glassy-eyed. You know, there really are too many choices out there. And you can only look at so many samples of anything before it starts blurring together. 

We went back up to the property today to stash a few things in the tiny house and saw this truck, wrecked on our property. My husband called the Sheriff's office and the dispatcher assured him it wasn't wrecked, the truck had just broken down and the owner would be back to get it Monday. Uh huh. Because when my vehicle breaks down, I leave skid marks on the pavement and crumble off the edge of the road and then smash into the bank and crush one corner of my car. And leave it "parked" in the drainage ditch. Nope. This had drunk driver written all over it. We took pictures and called back with more details and the dispatcher allowed as how that was different than the story they'd been given and they'd send an officer out. When we went back to check, they were towing it away.  

I suspect we're in for many more interesting sights in our new hometown.

I know, it's been a minute.

 

But y'all. I have been completely pre-occupied with a somewhat sudden decision to sell our house. The more time I spent at the Ridge, the more I wanted to be there full time. And it's a seller's market right now that can't possibly last. So we called a realtor friend, signed a lease on a rental house, moved, and listed ours a little over a month ago. And on that weekend, 6 offers came in. One early offer well below our listed price, which we turned down instantly. They re-thought and re-offered. Their new offer and all remaining offers were above our asking price. Interestingly, I was drawn toward one particular offer, but our realtor suggested accepting another due to their loan requiring a lower appraisal cut-off. Those folks backed out, though, and the offer I had wanted to go with in the first place was back in play. I can't even explain it, but I felt strongly that that person was the right one for our house. So - inspection, appraisal, underwriting... and today we met at closing. Before I went to the closing, I swung by the house one last time to leave her a note with information about the house and neighborhood, a vase of flowers, a chocolate bar, and a bottle of champagne. The seller was a young woman buying her first home who had fallen in love with the house the same way I did. She said that when she walked in, she instantly felt like it was a happy place. She said she'd been looking at houses and expected it to be a long, difficult search, but somehow everything had just aligned for her. And that she has continued to look at new listings and each time she thinks, "My new house is better than that one." Tonight, she is having some friends over to see it and celebrate with her and I could not be happier for her. Seriously, could it have gone any better than that?

So, that nail-biter is over and we talk with our builder tonight about getting started on construction. I plan to get back to blogging and will make the rounds. I missed you guys, but just couldn't bring myself to do anything until we got finished and I could see the money wired to my account. I've got a lot of catching up to do!

Proud mama.

On Monday morning, my husband and I picked up a rental car and made the long trek to Memphis. We've done a fair amount of traveling globally, but have seen very little of the U.S. together, so when we get a chance to detour into other states, we do. First up was crossing the Mississippi River to Arkansas. There wasn't much to see, other than this greyhound racing facility. No dogs in sight, however.

On our way to our hotel, we stopped by IKEA, because I had never been in one. What an odd place. They have all these strange vignettes set up to show their items being lived with. Somehow it all just made me twitchy. That night we met up with my older son and his girlfriend, and all 7 parents (4 parents, 3 stepparents). This is the first time I've eaten inside a restaurant since the pandemic began. The wouldn't let us push our tables together, so we got two close to each other and my son and his girlfriend kept switching back and forth. I really enjoyed getting to know her parents, who are all very friendly and funny. 

The next morning we drove down to Olive Branch, Mississippi to add another state. This one had a lovely park, so it was more worth the trip.

We walked on the trail for a little while before heading back to town.

Mask up y'all! Memphis is doing a MUCH better job of insisting everyone continue to mask than our hometown is.

We walked around Beale Street for a little while, although it was too early for music. 

However, you could buy pretty much anything with a music theme. If, say, for some insane reason you felt like you needed a guitar toilet seat they had you covered. Still, none of all that was why we were there.

We were there for this - the graduation ceremony for the 2021 class of new optometrists.

The graduates were in chairs at a distance and all wore matching masks, and families were spread out through the big arena. But that did not stop me from crying. Several times.

I fully admit, it was a thrill to hear my son announced as a doctor.

And I cried again when his girlfriend was. 

Afterwards, there was the usual round of picture taking, including this one with my son and his best buddies. I know they will miss each other.

I was able to grab my son for a quick photo before he went off for a celebratory drink with his friends.

My husband and I walked back down Beale Street to a bar behind a preserved facade from an old railway station.

This place is famous for its goats. Apparently people used to feed them beer until PETA stepped in and made sure they were being treated better. Now they live in a little fenced in area, protected from drunken idiots.

We sat in the outdoor area and had a pint while we waited for that evening's party. 

On the way back to the car, I ran across the street while my law-abiding husband waited for the light to change. We headed over to a house rented by the parents of one of my son's girlfriend's roommates. Between parents, a couple of siblings, and the four graduates there were 20 people in attendance. All, thankfully, fully vaccinated. It was a little surreal to be socializing inside and without masks.

I'm grateful the vaccines were available in time for this to happen. Finally, hugs all around and we headed home. I'm so proud of my son and his girlfriend - it's been a long four years and a lot of hard work. But they did it, and now they can turn their attention to the next phase of their lives. 

And meanwhile at home.

I haven't posted much about our current home lately, but its awash in spring color right now. I have some weeding and pruning to do here but can't work up much enthusiasm for it. I have a lot to do here in general if we hope to sell this house in a year.

Like clean the fence. It is so humid here that the white painted fence quickly becomes green. We also have a roof leak we need repaired and loads of painting to do, among other tasks. It's hard for me to want to carve out time to work here.

A tree from our neighbor's yard snapped and fell over the fence into our yard. Scared me when it crashed down outside my bedroom window!  Technically it's the neighbor's responsibility, but it's not worth straining that relationship. So now we own a chainsaw. I sent a photo of the chainsaw (a Husqvarna) and my tree service son approved of our choice. And then told us to get safety gear beyond the boots and protective eyewear my husband had on.

I always hate losing a tree, but as long as this gorgeous old oak next to us keeps standing, I'm good. And in spite of all the work, I'm thoroughly enjoying the warmed up weather.

Meanwhile, up at the Ridge...

Working hard at the new property has been helpful as a distraction for me. One of our projects has been fencing in the little orchard. We decided to stain the board along the top to make it less noticeable. I'm planting various vining things on it to provide both food and privacy (mostly grapes and maypops).

My husband built three gates - one to the hiking path, one to the back of the cement pad behind the shed, and one in front. 

We finally got all three sides fenced in so I will be able to work in the orchard without worrying about roaming dogs. Eventually, I will also be able to let the chickens free-range a bit there. I've planted some evergreens on the outside of the fence for screening when they get bigger.

Speaking of chickens, the area we cleared for the chickens has basically become a poison ivy field. We're still waiting on plans from our builder so we are holding off on any construction of the coop but I can't just leave the poison ivy to take over. So this weekeend I covered up and started pulling out the vines.

Three big garbage bags full so far. I want to get it out while it's still relatively young and the other weeds aren't covering it up. 

Fortunately, there are plants I like a whole lot more making an appearance. Like this rue anemone, which is just everywhere.

I also keep stumbling on little patches of heuchera (aka coral bells). They will flower later in the season, but the variegated leaves stay year-round.

While I was transplanting some coneflowers along the road, I found this patch of tiny blue flag irises at the base of a tree.

And possibly may favorite, trillium. I remember being thrilled to see them when we first found the property, a year ago last week. We've now seen it through a whole year, which is hard to believe. I'm really eager to get to be there full-time.