Road Trip: Smokey Mountain National Park

Yesterday dawned bright and sunny so we decided to spend the day in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

I had forgotten how beautiful it is here in the Smoky Mountains.

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds." – Edward Abbey

Swollen brooks run down through the woods to join the Little River as it runs through the valley.

And the sights and sounds of Spring are all around us.

We were looking forward to driving the eleven mile loop road through Cades Cove.  

From the Smoky Mountains web page:

"The first European settlers arrived in Cades Cove in the early 1820s. They quickly built log homes, barns, corn cribs, smokehouses and cleared land for farming. The land was rich and fertile and provided the settlers with abundant crops, such as corn."

"When the states of Tennessee and North Carolina begin to purchase land for the creation of the national park, the first large piece of land purchased in 1927 included most of the land in the mountains north of Cades Cove. A few families welcomed the state's effort to buy land for the park; they willingly sold their land and moved out of the Cove.  Some residents signed life-leases that allowed them to live on their land for the rest of their life. As residents left the cove and the community dispersed, there was no longer a need for facilities and services. The last school in Cades Cove closed in 1944 and the post office closed in 1947."

"Today, the National Park Service manages and maintains Cades Cove as it looked in the early days of the settlers. In 1945, the National Park Service designated Cades Cove as a "historical area" and restored several of the older log cabins and barns. "

After learning about Henry Lawson on Tuesday, we weren't totally surprised to learn that the Dan Lawson family once lived at Cades Cove. DH's grandparents were farmers in rural Amelia County Virginia. Now we're even more curious about possible ancestral connections to the many Lawson families who farmed here.

When you sit quietly and look out over these mountains, you realize how well the name "Smoky Mountains" fits them. They are every shade of blue and gray.

"The Smoky Mountains are a rare jewel…Why not have a place where you can still see the stars? There is value to keeping things primitive." – James Dawson

If you look carefully, you can see mountain roads on each side of the Little River down in the valley.

Later in the afternoon, we passed yet another "Lawson" home and business; this one belonged to Paul Lawson (DH's brother;s name).

Again, DH went to the door to introduce himself. But the house was closed up with shades drawn as if no one had lived there in awhile.

DH was disappointed to think that maybe Paul Lawson was deceased as well. We would have like to say "Hello" and ask about possible relatives in Virginia.

We're so thankful for this trip and the opportunity to watch Spring arrive as we travel through the South. What a beautiful part of the country!

"You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so…get on your way." 

– Dr. Seuss

Who knows what today will bring?

We're off on another Tennessee adventure!

This post is linked to:

Thursday Favorite Things at the Eclectic Red Barn
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Procrastination

Happy New Year from Maine! I haven't posted for almost two months and I apologize to my few, but loyal, blog friends. I love to write, take photos, decorate, or go on adventures and blog about them and I've missed doing it. I promise to do better in 2019!

Winter has arrived here in coastal Maine but it has been mild so far. This is our street; across from it is beautiful Casco Bay, which leads to the Atlantic Ocean near Portland (the "other" Portland!)

With my stair project done, you'd think I would have taken a break but . . . you'd be wrong. The stairs came out so good sans wall-to-wall carpet that I plowed right ahead and started on the second floor, which houses my craft room, our master suite, and a second-floor laundry.

Which required squeezing every bit of furniture, clothing, and decor into the laundry room and bathroom while we worked on the floors. What a mess!

Here is a "before"picture of our master before the icky old aqua carpet was removed. 

We replaced it with red oak flooring. It was quite a learning process for me as there are so many new flooring products on the market today. I had no idea about the virtues of vinyl planks vs. engineered hardwood vs. laminate and so on.  After lots of research and speaking with helpful professionals,  we chose red oak engineered hardwood to compliment the floors downstairs.

We did have the flooring professionally installed and it looks beautiful. What a change!

 Here it is in my craft room, one side . . . 

And the other.

When  the floors were done, I decided to add some curtains to the craft room. I love how "boho" and unexpected these are, with their mix of colors and textures.

And since I've been reading at my craft table (and I LOVE to read), I treated myself to my very own reading corner in the newly-floored craft room. I had the lamp, bought a little C-table at Home Goods for my books, and ordered the chaise from Wayfair.  FYI: This was my first purchase from Wayfair and I couldn't be more pleased; they sent free fabric samples when I was deciding on the fabric and shipping was free and fast. If you've never seen my craft room, here's a link to a post I did about it. I spend most of my time in this room!

By the time the second floor was back together, it was Thanksgiving. Literally. I love these little bottle-brush turkey place card holders I found at Home Goods. Only $1.99 each. I gave them to my sister as a hostess gift on Thanksgiving Day. Heck, she was doing the cooking this year!

We  had barely finished all the Thanksgiving leftovers when the Christmas season got started. The first two weekends in December are "Christmas Prelude" in Kennebunkport , a great time for Christmas shopping, fireworks, and catching up with old friends.

Speaking of Kennebunkport, I have to acknowledge the passing of President Bush #41. He will be missed by all of us who he considered his neighbors. I am a liberal Democrat but knew him to be an exceptionally honest and caring man. He will be missed.

And then it was Christmas . . . .

I spent all my time making Christmas gifts and not enough of it working on my blog. 

I love this stamp. I had it made at Staples and use it to make my own gift tags, gift bags, gift wrap and Christmas cards on plain brown paper. Simple to wrap or embellish with plain old garden twine.

I found these vintage Bingo cards at an antique shop in North Carolina last March. 

With some cut and paste and a little ribbon, they made tree ornaments, a holiday banner for our fireplace, and Christmas cards for special friends.

I posted Tips for Stenciling Flour Sack Towels in August and, between then and December 25th, completed 46 (OMG!) of them to give as Christmas gifts. I found images I liked on the Internet and cut my own stencils on Mylar using an Exacto knife. 

                    The Kitchenaide mixer stencil took awhile to cut out but it's my favorite.

                                      Whew! No wonder I didn't have time left to blog!

             And then there were the driftwood Christmas trees to finish . . . 

Homemade Maine Christmas folk art with driftwood collected in Searsport, Maine.

But on Christmas morning, all of the preparation was worth it.

After Christmas Day, a walk on Wells Beach was exactly what was needed to center myself again.

For the New Year, I decided to go crazy and cut off all my hair. Really!

Here we are before; halfway before anyway . . . 

And after. 

Short, sassy, and oh so easy!

And, ever the optimist, I rejoined Weight Watchers AND Planet Fitness for 2019. 

Hope springs eternal!

Last weekend, we had a great day outdoors at the farm of our friends Survivor Bob and Peg Crowley in nearby Durham, Maine.  

The occasion was the Crowley's annual "Christmas Tree Burning Party".

So much fun and so nice to be outdoors on a mild winter's day .

Which brings me to today.

I think we're actually caught up.

I promise to be less of a blog-procrastinator in 2019.

Happy New Year!

Giving

It seems as if we've been "downsizing" forever!  But, the closer I get to the end, the harder the job has become. Because . . .

The "easy stuff" is gone.  Now I'm coming to the really hard stuff:  Family keepsakes, toys from when our kids were little, handmade items, items loaded with memories. What does one do with the dress your Mom wore on her honeymoon?  Grampa's violin case from his time in vaudeville?  Your sister's favorite dolls?

I've used about every method known to man woman to pare down from a 3500 square foot farmhouse to our little cape cod retirement home.  My copy of Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is dog-eared and my little Mini Cooper could find its way to Goodwill by itself.  But the things that are left seem too special for any of  my previous methods. 

So I've come up with an unexpected solution for the "hard things":
I'm giving them away.  

To people I don't know.  No strings attached.

Here's my first gift:  My late sister, Nancy's, Ronald McDonald doll from the 1970's. 

The long-time manager of our local McDonald's was thrilled to get it. He's so touched that he plans to display Nancy's doll in a shadow box inside the store for everyone to enjoy. Nancy would like that. Score!

Next:  The vintage child's John Deere tractor and cart from the 1960's that all of our grandchildren have played with. Now even the youngest one has outgrown it.

We considered selling it on Craigslist - until we went apple-picking last weekend and saw these! It turns out that the farm, which is located in the town I taught in for years, collects John Deere tractors and artifacts. They display them in this barn,  outside among the apple trees . . . 

And in a little farm museum they've created on the property.  This farm has been in the same family for four generations and I have happy memories of taking students there to pick apples over the years.

We knew immediately that this would be the new home of our little antique John Deere. 

DH got it down from the attic and we brought it back to the farm the very next day. 

The owner of the farm was a bit reserved when he first got out of his tractor to meet us.  I think he was probably a little suspicious:  Were we trying to sell him something? Ask for a donation? Get him to make an offer on the tractor?  "No", we said "We'd just like to give this to you."

Slowly, his face brightened and he shook our hands, thanking us repeatedly. He wanted to give us apples, cider, pumpkins, whatever we wanted, but, having picked two pecks of apples just the day before, we declined.

Because we got some things even better than apples or cider from our gift to the orchard.

We made a new friend, "paid it forward" in our community, had fun, and left with good karma and full hearts.

What could be better than that?

This post is linked to:

Amaze Me Monday #283 at Dwellings

Inspiration Monday at Refresh Restyle

Talk of the Town at Knick of Time