Friday, 27 June 2008 - Great Smoky Mountains and Knoxville, TN

Friday, 27 June 2008.

We were picked up at home by Enterprise car rental (remember, "We'll pick you up"?), and headed south to Knoxville. Got there in about 3-1/2 hours (just about like Waterville to Boston, which we've done MANY times), would have been 3 but there was apparently a major accident ahead of us, just over the line in Tennessee. After check-in at the motel, we spent some time becoming familiar with Knoxville, the third largest city in Tennessee, and home of the University of Tennessee Volunteers, as well as the site of the 1982 World’s Fair. It’s not a difficult city to get around, but the ongoing Interstate-40 construction downtown could get confusing.

Tennessee has three regions, hence the three stars on the state flag -- East Tennessee (capital at Knoxville), Central Tennessee (capital at Nashville) and West Tennessee or "The (Jackson) Purchase" (capital at Memphis). The regions are still part of Tennessee law today, in that the state supreme court must meet in each of the three cities in rotation, and no state commission or group can have a majority of its members from any one of the regions!

Dinner was at Naples restaurant, a nice, somewhat upscale Italian restaurant, only about a mile from our motel. The food was very good, and the price was quite reasonable. We'd recommend it to anyone who likes good Italian in a comfortable atmosphere.

Saturday, 28 June 2008.

Got up, went to Krispy Kreme for breakfast. These doughnuts, which President Bill Clinton made famous, were actually invented in Kentucky, but the inventor began marketing them in North Carolina, and they spread all over the South after that. When the red light outside the building is on, it means the doughnuts are fresh and hot. At this one, the light was on 24/7 apparently. We don't know where in Kentucky we can get them hot and totally fresh.

Then we headed south to a lesser-used entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We went first to a former settlement in the park called Cades Cove. There used to be several hundred people in this valley area between the mountains, but after the park was organized, they either moved away or were bought out.

One of the oldest buildings left in the park was the log cabin built by John Oliver in the early 1800’s. It’s quite typical of the cabins people lived in until the end of the 19th Century, when frame buildings became more common. It looked as if the settlement was totally cut off from the rest of the world, but we understand that was NOT the case. It was a cash economy, and people came into the mountains and left, and traded back and forth much as was done in the rest of the South at the time. Check out http://www.lib.utk.edu/refs/smokies for more info here.

At least three churches (and three cemeteries) were in the valley, and we stopped and took pictures of some of the stones at the Methodist Church. Many of the burials have been made since the park was officially created in 1940, and some families still have regular reunions there.

After leaving Cades Cove, we drove to the north, and main entrance to the park, Sugarlands Visitor’s center, for a quick break, then headed south across the park toward North Carolina. We were going to drive up to Clingman’s Dome, one of the highest elevations in the eastern US, but gas was short, and we didn’t want to run out, so we passed on the Dome and headed straight for the south entrance at Cherokee, NC.

Cherokee was a bitter-sweet place. It does try to preserve the Cherokee language, which was invented by the great chief Sequoyah, and many signs are bi-lingual. The Cherokee were one of the first tribes to try to assimilate with the westward-moving Europeans, adopting European style clothing, housing, customs, and laws. But that wasn't enough. When gold was discovered in northern Georgia (only a few miles away as the crow flies), US President Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, ordered the removal of the Cherokee from the land. Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in a lawsuit brought by the Cherokee, that Jackson had no power to do that, to which Jackson replied, "Marshall has made his ruling; now let him enforce it." Thus the Cherokee and several other tribes were forcibly marched hundreds of miles to end up ultimately in Oklahoma. Many passed through Kentucky, and over in the western part of the state there is a memorial to the "Trail of Tears" which passed through this state.

However, a few Cherokee remained behind, sheltered by the Great Smoky Mountains, from the American government. This small core was the beginning of the "Eastern Cherokee" band.

In any event, Cherokee is a thriving tourist community today, where visitors can buy all sorts of "Indian" items like moccasins, jewelry, ice cream, and other truly native souvenirs. Unfortunately, most of the "stuff" says, "Made in China" on it. There's even one man at the entrance of the tourist shopping area who sits in a plywood tee-pee with a full headdress, with a sign outside saying, "Take a picture with me. Tips appreciated." Just what the ignorant tourist expects "Indians" to be like. Most people don't know that the Cherokee never lived in tee-pees, let alone plywood ones, and never wore full headdresses of feathers. Hollywood falsely has taught us that the Lakota Sioux apparently are typical of ALL Native Americans! How ignorant we are! I was able to control myself however, until we got gas ($4.04 a gallon for the first time) and headed back into the Park.

About halfway back to Sugarlands, we took a left, and drove seven miles across the crest of the Appalachian Mountains, along the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. On the way, we noticed the pink rhododendrons which are one of the showpieces of this park. They grow wild and natural, in both pink and white, the pink mostly at higher elevations, and blossoming later in the year than the white.

Once there, we walked another half mile, uphill, toward Clingman's Dome. The view on the walk up was awesome, and at the top, there's a curved ramp up to an observation platform where one used to be able to see 100 miles. Due to air pollution nowadays, much over 25 is quite good. By the way, they are called the "smoky" mountains because of the interaction between sunlight and decaying vegetation in the deep forest; the "smoke" rises up, but usually disappears by mid-day. Clingman's Dome, at 6653 feet high, is like Mt. Katahdin with the Empire State Building on top of Baxter Peak. We were actually 2000 feet HIGHER than the top of Sugarloaf USA, and 355 feet higher than Mt Washington, NH.

On the way back to Knoxville from Clingman's Dome, we stopped at Newfound Gap, where the TN/NC border and the Appalachian Trail all come together. Incidentally, this is the spot where President Franklin D Roosevelt dedicated the park in the fall of 1940. A monument stands on the site, just to the right of where the photo of Barry was taken. Newfound Gap is at an elevation of "only" 5,000 feet, so it really is a "gap" in the mountains, though not a very big one. It's STILL high!

I took the picture of "Katahdin Maine" just to impress us with how FAR we were from the rooftop of Maine! Loads of good photos can be had right here. For those of you who haven't been this far south, I'd say a nice drive through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, would be about as close as you could get to the Great Smokies. Interestingly enough though, there is no "tree line" here, as the temperatures in the winter are still warm enough to support plant growth, unlike the tops of many New England peaks.

We drove through the rest of the park, northbound, and exited about dusk. What a total turnabout! From a wild, isolated, natural park, to Gatlinburg. This place is like a hilly Old Orchard Beach on a Saturday summer night, only without the beach! It's said there are something like 13,000 hotel rooms in a town of 3,000! And walking along the main street was worse than walking down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan! If you want tourist heaven, head for downtown Gatlinburg.

In fact, our destination WAS downtown, the Hard Rock Cafe at Gatlinburg. Yup, we're HRC junkies, having visited now between us, Boston MA, Montreal QC, New York NY, Washington DC, Louisville KY, St Louis MO, Cancun MX and Cozumel MX. HRC Cozumel is the world's smallest, but I'll bet Gatlinburg is the smallest city that has its own HRC! The restaurant is actually located on AND over the Little Pigeon River, which a bit downstream hosts the city of Pigeon Forge, made famous by Dolly Parton. As usual, the atmosphere alternates between casual and relaxing, and frenetic, but always fun and enjoyable. And we picked up two new t-shirts to add to our collection.

After a long but great day, we headed north through Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, and back to Knoxville. Tomorrow's another day.

Sunday, 29 June 2008.

This day was Knoxville's turn to shine, even though the weather wasn't going to. We started out again at Krispy Kreme, and the rest of the day's highlights included the site of the 1982 World's Fair, the University of Tennessee Botanical Garden, and a great meal on an outdoor deck over the river.

The World's Fair has only left a few permanent reminders in Knoxville. One is the "Sunsphere," an 266 foot tall tower with an observation area about 200 feet up. From there one could see all the way to the Great Smokies, as well as all around Knoxville, the Tennessee River, and the University. The fair introduced the world to "Rubik's Cube" and the hotel at the site has the world's largest cube!

After the fair, we drove down to the riverfront, and walked along "Volunteer Landing", a riverfront park on the Tennessee River, obviously! It was great to get out and walk and sight see after yesterday's touring mostly by car. We were also killing time until the UT event, but it was nice and relaxing, as well as good exercise.

The UT Gardens were having a plant display, fair, sale, whatever you want to call it. Anyway, we browsed for several hours, looking at plants that would grow in Kentucky as well as in Tennessee, asking questions, taking pictures, and in general, enjoying the event. We did buy three antique Iris plants and a new variety of Rudbeckia (looks like black-eyed susans), so we'll have a permanent souvenir of our trip to Knoxville.

After that, we went back to the motel room to rest a bit and recharge before dinner, which was a healthy beef tenderloin salad with house cheddar dressing. It was a huge portion, and the beef was flavorful and (as we have come to expect here in the South, tender). Surprisingly, we were able to fit back into the car after dinner, which ended about 9:30 PM, just as it was getting dark.

Monday, 30 June 2008.

Back to Danville. First to Krispy Kreme for a dozen to take home, than back up I-75, US-150 and KY-300 home! We had to get the rental car back by 12:00 noon, and we actually walked into the place at 11:58 (though I think we could have brought it back by 1PM since we didn't get picked up and on the road until 1PM on Friday.

It's taken me this long to get the photos off the cameras, put them together, and write my blog -- 'cause we headed for Paducah on Thursday, 3 July, and just got back this afternoon! The cat has practically forgotten who we are, but we'll get reacquainted quickly, I'm sure. Photos of Elizabeth Rose are yet to come, but will have to wait until the next blog, which will NOT take as long to get to as this has!

Wednesday, 18 June - Ugly and beautiful

Contrasts again. Ugly v. Beautiful.

First the ugly. For weeks now, Barry has had a feeling (his intuition is flawless) that something wasn't right with our septic system. Well, finally he called a guy up in Harrodsburg to come take a look and pump out the tank. Barry dug down to the cover, which we could quite easily locate because the former owner had put some cement tiles over it. Anyway, the septic guy came yesterday morning just after 8 AM. When he took the cover off, he discovered that we were getting ready for a major back-up in the system. Luckily, we caught it in time. So for $110, we're all set with septic stuff for another 3-5 years. Barry had planted nasturtiums (Maureen, inside joke here?) and we just planted a crimson day lily over the cover so we'll know where it is next time.

The septic guy suggested that we should (1) put no fat or grease down the system; and (2) put no toilet paper in the system. OK, the fat part I can see. But we did some research -- (ain't the Internet great?) It seems that there are absolute horror stories out there about "log-jammed toilet paper" coming out of the pipe from people who use non-septic-friendly paper. Seems that Scott Tissue 1000 is the best to use. Charmin or Cottonelle and other 2-ply brands don't break down in the system the way Scott does, and they can do great damage (and expensive repairs) in a very short time.

So the good news, we dodged a $5000+ repair bill by weeks or even days; and we're already using the "correct" TP.

Oh, and what did he suggest we DO with the TP if not flushing? Put it in a bag and burn it. Yeah, likely, huh? But then again, most people around here still have the 55-gallon oil drums in which they burn much of their trash, so I guess some people DO burn their TP. Can't see residents of those $350,000 McMansions doing that though!

The garden continues to grow. We've pulled the rest of the collard greens and most of the broccoli, and thinned the beets, ready for the final harvest of those red globes. We should be able to get in another crop of most things, since we have about four more months of growing season, and some crops can even be planted to harvest after first frost, like Brussels Sprouts and parsnips.

Now for the "Beautiful." When we moved here in February, we had absolutely no idea of what was growing in the flower beds. We've since identified some planted items, and some wild items, but there are still unidentified plants, probably wildflowers with which we are not familiar. Anyway, out by where the previous owner had put an oak half-barrel, there was a trumpet lily which has just come out. Neither of us have ever seen SO many buds on this beautiful lily, and in fact the only place I have seen it other than nurseries and Wal-Mart, is in church on Easter Sunday.

Enjoy!

Sunday, June 15 - Hot Brass and Hot Air

Day Two of the Great American Brass Band Festival was absolutely perfect. We went into Danville, to Centre College and the main stage, just in time to hear the Advocate Brass Band play. This is the band, started by a former editor of the local newspaper, the Advocate-Messenger, 21 years ago. Two years later, they organized the festival, which today draws between 30,000 and 40,000 people to Danville for three days. It must contribute millions to the local economy, what with people buying souvenirs, and shopping, eating, and staying locally, and buying gas to get home again.

We stayed, under nearly cloudless skies with temperatures in the upper 80s, to hear the Advocate Brass Band as well as the US Air Force Reserve Band, for two hours of great music. The entire audience got to its feet as the Advocate band played "Stars and Stripes Forever" -- a perennial favorite, and basic to the repertoire of any band which would even CALL itself a brass band.

When the Air Force band came on, they began with the National Anthem, which was done beautifully. They played some marches, overtures, show tunes, and ended with a medley of military service songs -- as each song was played, the colonel/director asked members of that service to stand and be recognized. They passed through the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines, and of course, the Air Force. I was surprised at how many women stood!

We left as they finished, and because we had parked only two blocks away, were able to get out of town quickly. We stopped at Arby's, then a quick trip to Wal-Mart to buy a new memory chip for my camera, as I had nearly filled the chip I had brought.

Then we headed for the Great American Brass Band Balloon Race, down in Junction City (about 3 miles from here), at the county airport. Here it was really hot because of the openness of the airport. They don't plant trees along the runway for shade. Anyway, what a thrill to see 25 multicolored hot air balloons be assembled, fired up, and rising above the crowd. The race was a "hound and hare" race, where the lead balloon lifts off, and somewhat later, touches down, painting a large "X" wherever they land. The other balloons have to try to get as close to the "X" as they can, dropping a bag of (most appropriately) Kentucky Blue Grass seed. The record a couple of years ago, was 13 INCHES from the target.

Well, 'twas not to be this year. The lead balloon headed west toward Stanford, and as the other balloons inflated and launched -- ABSOLUTELY STUNNINGLY MAGNIFICENT SIGHT -- the wind shifted. We heard about half an hour later that no one even came close to finding the touch-down point! So the prize money was simply going to be divided among all the participants.

I can't tell you some of the words I was thinking to describe this scene, but it was one of the most thrilling and beautiful scenes I've ever witnessed! The weather was absolutely summer-perfect, and it was a fantastic time.



Oh, I forgot to mention -- the memory chip from Wal-Mart -- wrong size. So back to Wally World after the race to exchange. I fill up the chip quickly when I take video, so for our upcoming trip to Knoxville and the Great Smoky Mountains, I'm going to bring the actual, honest to goodness video camera!

Also need to mention that we picked up 2 gallons of milk for $5.00. There's no milk commission here to keep prices artificially high, and Kroger's was selling it at that price, so Wal-Mart matched it.

We're totally exhausted now after being on the go since Friday night. Tomorrow have to get back to W-M to pick up the lawn tractor so we can mow -- haven't done that for 2 weeks and it's beginning to get ragged. What a great Father's Day weekend -- with both of us either JUST getting or anticipating a new grandchild!

Saturday, 14 June, 2008 - Brass Bands and History

The Great American Brass Band Festival -- Danville's biggest event of the year -- should have begun for us last night with the Hot Air Balloon races. Unfortunately, we were under a severe thunderstorm warning, and smart people don't go up in hot air balloons during a thunderstorm. So it was postponed until Sunday night, same time, same place, at the Junction City "International" Airport.

Today was the day of the bands. There were easily over 20 different brass bands, brass quintets, bagpipe bands, and other combinations of brass instruments playing in 4 different venues, all within easy walking distance of the new downtown parking garage, where we smartly chose to park. The day really began with the parade, down Main Street to Centre College. The parade had the usual Shriner's mini-vehicles, firetrucks and the mayors of area cities and other political types. But many of the bands which were playing around town were also in it.


We watched the parade then wandered down to Centre College, only about 6 blocks away, where the main stage was set up, and where there were street vendors selling everything from blackened Louisiana catfish to funnel cakes, and everything in between. We got a pulled pork sandwich and a glass of "sweet tea." "Sweet tea" is common around here -- really nothing more than already-sweetened iced tea, but it saves the trouble of adding sugar. Even McDonald's advertises it here. We wandered around the campus for a bit, and got our first close-up look at "Old Centre," the original college building, built about 1820. Today it houses admissions and, I think, administrative offices. More on Centre later.

The band that was playing shortly after we got to the main stage was the Eastern Kentucky University brass quintet. They played some modern classical (if there is such a thing) music, and were very nice. Not what I was hoping to hear, but good nonetheless. Then along came the Excelsior Cornet Band. Hailing from Syracuse, NY, the Brass Band Festival is their only performance this year out of New York State. They play original arrangements of Civil War era music, on original instruments, some nearly 200 years old. THIS is what a brass band used to sound like in the 19th Century. Later I bought their CD, and we've already listened to it. It's great!

At 4 PM, in Weisiger Park in front of the Boyle County Courthouse, there was a four-person presentation dealing with Lincoln's connections with Danville, accompanied by a renewed Kentucky brass band, the Saxton Cornet Band, active from about 1840 to about 1900. After Lincoln moved to Illinois, he met John Todd Stuart, Centre graduate, 1826, who convinced him to go into the law and lent him a set of law books. The rest, as they say, is history. Stuart introduced Lincoln to his cousin, Mary Todd, whom Lincoln eventually married. After Lincoln's assassination, it was Stuart who spearheaded the group that erected the Lincoln monument in Springfield, IL.

Incidentally, Lincoln ran for president in 1860 against three others, one of whom was 1839 Centre graduate, John C Breckinridge, and of course opposed Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, also Kentucky-born. Much mention was made of Mr. Justice John Marshall Harlan, of the US Supreme Court, Centre, 1852, and native of Danville. In the great case of Plessy v Ferguson, Harlan, of a slave-owning family, dissented in an 8-1 decision upholding segregation as the law of the land. Harlan said in 1896 that the Constitution was "color-blind" and that segregation was inherently unequal. It took 60 years for the Supreme Court to realize that Harlan was right, in Brown v Board of Education in 1954, a case that was brought to the court by Mr. Chief Justice Frederick Vinson, Centre, 1912. Beginning after he died in 1953, Centre College's opening football game always reserves a seat for Vinson's portrait, known as "Dead Fred." So he's never missed an opening game since his death!

All in all, it was a great day, with lots of good music and good history, and you KNOW how I love music and history! Tomorrow, more bands and some balloons! The camera is charged and the memory stick is cleared for take-off!

Thursday, 12 June 2008 - Outdoor theater in the Bluegrass

Tuesday evening, the 10th, we went to the first outdoor theater in Kentucky, Pioneer Playhouse, to see "Leading Ladies." It's a Shakespearian-type farce about two actors who impersonate a rich woman's nieces in order to gain her inheritance. Funny, great audience participation, good acting. Pioneer Playhouse was founded 59 years ago as a small, local theater. Over the years, it has hosted such actors as John Travolta and Lee Majors (who got their starts here), and many others as well. It was host to Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Lee Marvin and Eva Marie Saint when the movie Raintree County was filmed in Danville. The current director, Robbie Henson, son of the founder, Eben Henson, auditions talent in New York in the winter and spring, and brings the ensemble cast to Danville for the summer. If you know of anyone who would be interested in spending a summer in Danville, honing the acting craft, tell him/her about this great opportunity. Not much money, but 10 weeks of acting experience in the Bluegrass.

One of the next plays there, "Death by Darkness," is a murder mystery about Charles Dickens's supposed visit to Mammoth Cave. It was based on a local legend, and written by a Danville native. Can't wait to see that one!

On the grounds of the theater, Eben Henson has recreated his version of a pioneer village. Frankly, it's interesting, but not too accurate, except for the log cabin on site. The cabin originally came from the Forkland community (only a few miles from here), and was used in the filming of Robby Henson's Pharoah's Army, in 1995, then it was dismantled and moved piece by piece to Pioneer Playhouse. Just because it is a real log cabin, it IS an accurate version of a typical Kentucky log cabin of period from 1774 through the mid 1800's, and later in some parts of the state. Many of these were simply added onto, or covered over, and actually serve as the physical basis for many present-day houses in Kentucky.

We were told a story when we were living in Butchertown, that Kris Kristofferson, one of the stars, was jogging down Butchertown Road when one of our neighbors offered him a ride.

Inside pictures show exactly how sparse living conditions were. These people didn't have much, yet they managed to survive and build communities, cities, and a state, out of what was then wilderness. One wonders how people today would fare under these circumstances.

The log cabin in which Lincoln was born would have looked very much like this one, unlike the "replica" that is located inside the "temple" at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace memorial. That building is made up of logs from dozens of Kentucky cabins, simply assembled to "look like" the Lincoln cabin. The one at Pioneer Playhouse could well have been the cabin in which Lincoln's step-grandmother lived.

Sunday, June 8 - Beef, Wine and Cicadas.

Yesterday we went up to Harrodsburg (the oldest city in Kentucky, 1774) for the Fort Harrod Beef Festival. This is the start of our summer event spree. It will continue tomorrow with a stern-wheeler ride on the Kentucky River, and will include at least 5 plays at Pioneer Playhouse and the West T Hill Theatre in Danville, the Great American Brass Band Festival along with the GABBF Hot Air Balloon Races, and will conclude with three productions in Bardstown at My Old Kentucky Home State Park, namely "Stephen Foster - The Musical," "Annie," and "The Civil War." That's just what we have scheduled as of now! Add to that a trip to Paducah for the 4th of July, a trip to Maine sometime later this summer, and a trip to Knoxville, TN and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and we won't have much free time left!

The Beef Festival had about 30 booths which competed with each other cooking beef brisket, hamburgers and steak. We could go from booth to booth sampling, and voting on our favorites. Needless to say, we didn't need dinner when we got home. We think the two best were Camo Cooking, and the booth with the yellow t-shirts (didn't get their name).

We also tried a Kentucky wine, "Vidal Blanc Kentucky Blue, 2006" by the largest winery in the Commonwealth, Elk Creek Vineyards. It tastes like a slightly sweet bubbly champagne -- was it GOOD!

We found out that before prohibition, Kentucky was the third largest wine producing state in the US, and I have to admit, there are wineries all over the place, including Old Crow (or, "Le Chateau du Vieux Corbeau" in French) winery and bed and breakfast, right here in Danville. With its tobacco, wine and whiskey, and horse racing, former Senator and US Vice President, Alben Barkley of Kentucky once said about tax revenues in the state, "If Kentucky ever gets an attack of morals, the state will go broke."


Friday night, I snapped this shot of one of our "sky-blue-pink" sunsets. The photo was taken at 9:26 p.m., and is actually darker than it really was out. We could still have read the newspaper easily at that time of night, and we still have another 2 weeks to go before the longest day of the year. That's what comes from living in the extreme western part of the Eastern Time Zone. One county west of here, this picture would have been taken at 8:26 p.m.

It's been in the 90s for three days now, and we've been using the A/C due to both the heat and the humidity. It's warmer than normal, and I expect that within a week or so, temps will normalize in the low to mid 80s. We're feeling the need for rain. The Salt River is so small now one can walk over it, and we need to get a bird bath to help out our feathered friends.

The cicadas are out everywhere. Their noise (which we tried to capture on video with only limited success) is deafening as the temperature gets up over 80. What a life. They're born, they burrow into the ground and stay there for 17 years, they crawl out when the ground temperature gets to 64 degrees, they break out of their shell, they fly around and "chirp", they mate, and they die. By the thousands they die. All over the porch, the driveway, the roof, the carport. While they're flying they're only thinking about sex, so they bump into things like houses, cars, telephone poles, and most annoyingly, people. The gal who was selling the wine at Harrodsburg was extolling the virtue of Kentucky wine in her glass and when she looked down into it, there was a cicada in her glass!

Time to post this, so I can get on to other, non-taxing efforts this hot, humid summer day.

Thursday, June 6 - Gardens and heat

Gardens and heat. That's the theme this week. As I write this, the temperature is 91, but inside it's a cool, comfortable 81. We keep the A/C turned up (as we kept the heat turned down last winter) trying to conserve electricity. We're frankly just as comfortable at 81 as we would be with the thermostat set any colder, so why waste energy? Out on the side porch, the one facing east, the temps get really hot when the sun is out. The photo of the thermometer was taken at about 10 AM, and as you can see, it reads 120 degrees. Yup, we could cook eggs on the siding if we could figure a way to keep them up there.

The heat is good for most of the garden, as long as it gets enough water. I've installed a 2-hose adapter, so we can run one hose out back to the back garden, and the other out front. We've also bought a "soaker hose" which lets small amounts of water drip through the porous material, slowly into the ground, thus doing several things -- doesn't get water on the leaves and thus burn them in the sun; waters deeply so the roots will go down deeper; saves water 'cause we're not watering everything and watching the nearly unceasing west wind carry the water off to the east. We'll see how it works. Right now, the swiss chard and the beet greens look mighty pitiful, but by morning with a cooler night (70-75 overnight), they should perk up.

I don't mean to say that things grow big down here, but have a look at what Barry harvested from five -- yes, 5 -- broccoli plants! About 6 lbs of fresh, home-grown, no-preservatives or-e-coli broccoli! Once these heads have been cut, the side-stems will develop, and we'll get another few pounds out of the plants. We understand (at least Wikipedia says...) that the leaves are edible. Not sure I want to try those just yet, but the floret heads are OH so good!


Didn't get a picture of the collard greens for this post, but we need to get those picked too. Anticipating that they would grow, Barry planted the greens about 6 inches apart. Right now the plants are about 18 inches across -- we will plant them a foot apart next year!

Back in Maine, our Swiss Chard would grow to maybe 6 inches in length. Here, this leaf is 10 inches and was still growing! I think that when Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, they may well have worn Kentucky chard leaves for clothing! Barry has now picked enough to go us at least into mid-winter, and there is still SO much more growing. In addition, after mid-August, we can plant another crop for harvesting before first frost (which should be about Oct 15-30), and we can probably plant more spinach too -- it grew well, but the hot weather got to it.



Just to get away from the greens for awhile, the pink and white stargazer lily is very fragrant, but unfortunately planted by the previous owner too far away from the house to smell. The daylilies are beginning to bloom, especially the Stella d'Oro variety (the name is Spanish for Star of Gold, I think).


I got this shot of a potato blossom (note the similarity to the tomato blossom -- same family biologically) and it's a real treat to the eye. These are growing in a large plant pot, having begun the growing life as a sprouted potato in the pantry. Barry put some dirt in the plant pot, then the potato, and as it grew up, he filled the pot with soil. When we harvest, all we have to do is tip it over, pull out the potatoes, and recycle the soil!

Oops, news is on, and I want to keep up with what's going on in politics. Catch y'all later.

Monday, 2 June - Catching up -- again.

Maureen got the ultrasound pics of "Tadpole", and I have emailed the more clear one to everyone in the Western Hemisphere. Thinking of having it printed out billboard size too!

We had to go up to Lexington today for an appointment, and stopped at a place called Regatta, which claims to have the best seafood in Kentucky. The clam chowdah was different but very good; the scallops were sort of orange, unlike the white Maine ones, but again, were very good. The price was reasonable as well.

We then stopped in at Lexington Green (one of the 500 shopping centers here) and went to Whole Foods. Barry had never been in a Whole Foods store, and I don't think I have either. Guess what? They had "Backyard Beauty" tomatoes. From Maine, already! So today with clam chowdah and Madison-grown tomatoes, we're a bit homesick.

Got home, let the cat out. He's been going out for about an hour every day for the past 4-5 or so, with us. Today, it was 85 in the shade, and the dumbie was in the sun. It only took about 3 minutes before he chose to come back in and plop himself in front of the A/C register under the fan!

Yesterday, we had a bit of a scare -- he found the catnip bed and began to roll in it and eat it! Can't let that happen quite yet -- the 7 or 8 plants aren't big enough for him to eat. The garden continues to grow -- we're nearly done picking strawberries for this season, but look at the beauties Barry grew!



For our friends in Maine who may not realize that we're as far west as we are south, the Central Time zone is only one county away. I shot this pic last night at 9:08 pm! And we still have 3 weeks to go before the longest day. On June 22, we'll be able to read the paper outside at 9:30 or later! We had a round of thunderstorms yesterday, and this photo was at the end. After it got dark, we were treated to an hour-long lightning show right over the knob in the picture.

Tomorrow we need to rent a trailer and get the lawn tractor in to Wal-Mart. I have to put a new hitch on my truck to tow the thing, and we will have to rent the trailer again when the tractor is back. It wasn't mowing evenly (scalping on the left side, high on the right), and it made a gawdawful noise when Barry accidentally mowed over a tree stump. So tomorrow, in 90 degree weather, we'll be running around town and moving lawn equipment. Thank goodness for A/C in the truck!

This coming weekend is the Casey County Fair, next weekend is the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, and the GABBF Hot Air Balloon race in Junction City, only about 3 miles away, the next weekend and week following is the Boyle County Fair (I think). Looks like we're going to be busy the next two weekends. THEN, we can plan a getaway to the Knoxville, TN, area, including Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge (think Dolly Parton) and the Great Smokies, plus a long-anticipated return trip to Maine. Details to come.

'Night, y'all.

Tuesday, May 27 - Catching Up

Let's start from the beginning here. First, Rick and Laura's baby, Elizabeth Rose, was born May 22, at 9:23 AM. She weighed 7 lbs even, and was 20 1/4 inches long. I'm not posting pictures yet because of privacy, but believe me, we've taken LOADS already. We arrived in Paducah on the 21st, and did a few things to help out -- things that Rick couldn't do that needed doing, mostly. We got the car seat installed, ran errands, just did what we could do.

Maureen is now 10 weeks along, and other than morning sickness and back pain, things seem to be progressing nicely. We haven't started buying any baby "stuff" yet but that too will change. More details as she progresses with my first grandchild (though living with the cat is sometimes like living with a 2-year-old)!

My best friend from junior high and high school, and his wife have moved to Nashville. Well, Kathy has anyway -- for work; Kenn will be staying in Massachusetts and commuting once a month to Tennessee. We hope to get to see them when things settle down. After all, Nashville's only about 3 hours away.

We're trying to plan a getaway to the Great Smokies, Knoxville, Gatlinburg area, but there's so much going on around here (county fairs start next week, and the Great American Brass Band festival begins June 16) it's getting difficult to fit in. We'll probably rent a car -- Enterprise has a weekend special -- and save the wear and tear on either of our vehicles that way.

The cicadas are out. Barry got a GREAT photo of both the nymph and the adult -- the nymph shell is on the left and the adult is on the right. They look really scary, but are totally harmless. All they do at this stage is call for mates and reproduce, lay eggs, and crawl back in the ground to emerge in the year 2025 again! They are everywhere, their shells are everywhere, and the holes from which they emerged are everywhere! Just amazing what nature does.



The garden is growing very well; we've had lettuce (romaine, butter crunch, black seeded simpson), radishes (not bitter or hot at all, and the size of golf balls), beet greens (with little and some not so little beets on the ends), swiss chard (one "small" picking pictured here - the tub is about 1ft high x 1.5 ft wide x 2 ft long),



and spinach so far. Other plants are blossoming or fruiting now.

The tulip tree (state tree of Kentucky) has a couple of blossoms on it. The blossoms aren't very obvious or showy, but they sure as heck look like tulips!








The peach tree has 5 peaches, the strawberries will be ready to begin picking in another couple of days, and the black walnuts (pictured at the right) have begun to fruit as well.







Barry also got this great photo of a honeybee on the holly right on the side porch. Maureen, he's getting to be quite the photographer with the new Canon camera -- maybe HE can give YOU some lessons one of these days...







And of course, we still have those beautiful sky-blue-pink sunsets.









The cat (here waiting for his dinner) has adapted well. We've let him out a couple of times, under strict supervision of course, and once he gets his feel for the neighborhood, he'll be ok. The other day, he strolled down by the Salt River, and saw the cows in the field across the stream. We've planted catnip for him, so once that is up higher, and he notices it, he shouldn't stray too far!




The front garden is just about done. We've planted corn (3-4 types, don't remember), beans, okra, tomatoes (3 types), bell peppers, canteloupe (2 types), watermelon (2 types), and maybe a few more things I can't quite remember. If it all grows, we'll need to buy another freezer and do loads of canning as well! We also planted 9 raspberry canes and 2 plum trees. Now to just watch and wait...(Barry and cat looking out over the back garden).

Sunday, 4 May - The Derby, happy and sad

Well, yesterday was the Kentucky Derby. One had the feeling that it was a holiday, like the 4th of July. The anticipation of the race, like the anticipation of fireworks on the Fourth, was around all day. After all, the Kentucky Derby is THE big event in this state, drawing 150,000 people to Churchill Downs. People all over the world have Derby parties -- we heard of one going on in the Netherlands, where people were watching Lexington TV online. Channel 18 carried the events in Louisville live all day, and it was really interesting to catch it all, right here in Kentucky. Just to think, the Derby was going to happen only 40 straight-line miles from here!

We didn't get up to Lexington to place any bets at Keeneland, where there was a huge Derby party going on. It's a good thing -- to spend that money for gas just to go up and place some bets at the drive-through window, then come home, would have been a waste of time and money. Now if we had been going there for the day, that would have been a different story. Weather wasn't the best, so maybe next year.

However, we did pick some fresh Kentucky-grown spearmint for our mint juleps. We made the spearmint syrup (enough to go for several drinks), and got out the pewter cups which we only use on Derby day. All was in readiness.

Anyway, we asked Barry's son to place some bets for us at his local racetrack, which he did. The good news -- I won some money on "Denis of Cork" -- I bet on him because of his first name... I also won the exacta (pick the 1st and 2nd horse), with "Big Brown" and "Eight Belles". Happy Day! Look for Denis of Cork in the Preakness and the Belmont coming up. He'll have MY bet, that's for sure. He was dead last, 20th, in the back stretch, yet he finished third! Big Brown finished first from the 20th starting position -- hasn't happened in the Derby since 1929! If he can win from that position as convincingly as he did, may he will be the next Triple Crown winner!

Then, right after she finished second, Eight Belles broke both of her front ankles, and had to be put down right there on the track! The joy of winning was gone...what a tragedy to see a beautiful animal like Eight Belles now gone. Many of the women at Churchill Downs, and all over the world probably, were betting on the one girl in a field of 20 horses. And by golly she beat 18 of the best colts in the race! It's so sad -- her trainer and her jockey had the winning horse in the Kentucky Oaks on Friday. Eight Belles was supposed to run in the Oaks, but her owner or trainer chose to put her up against the boys -- and she did SO well.

It's not the old ABC sports motto, "The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat," but the juxtaposed emotions are the same. This Derby will not be forgotten for a long while.