...and I'm one of them. Alan is NOT. As soon as the temp gets above 75 he starts sweating and complaining of being hot. As soon as the temp drops below 75, I have to put on two shirts and long pants. Oh, the dilemmas of being married!
Today the weather is picture perfect and beautiful. Alan is off to ride bikes in the woods with friends in Greenwood. I'm at home, with all the doors open, enjoying the sunshine and cool breeze.
September is half over; I knew it would fly. Our plans for volunteering at NewSpring are coming together - the training, the schedule, etc. Work is better post-vacation. We really did need those days away.
I'm reading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods about his time on the AT. Plus last night I knocked out a cute children's chapter book - Kimchi and Calamari, about an 8th grade Korean boy adopted at birth by an Italian-American family, who has to write an essay about his heritage. I'm glad there is well-written and thought-provoking literature for children.
Yesterday Team J.A.B. worked together on some house projects. We scrubbed the kitchen floor in prep for the new bamboo rug I bought on sale at Pier One. Then we cleaned the bunny and his porch and also trimmed the bushes around the house. Good work!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Friday, September 07, 2007
Happy Anniversary to Us!
After the wild weekend related in the previous post, we escaped for a few days this week to the mountains of Western North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia to find some cooler weather and celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.
Wednesday afternoon we made last minute reservations at Augusta's Appalachian Inn in Damascus, Virginia, and hit the road for an easy 3 hour trip north, through Asheville, NC to Bristol, TN and over to Abingdon, VA. Damascus is a tiny town (950 residents) about 10 miles from Abingdon and it's twin claims to fame are it is on the Appalachian Trail, which comes down the main street, and it is the mid-point of the 35 mile long Virginia Creeper Trail, a multi-use rail-trail.
Damascus' newest inn was our base. Hosts Terry and Cissy Kammer made us feel at home in Grace's room and laid out sumptious breakfasts that we thoroughly enjoyed. Thursday morning we caught a shuttle to the trailhead and set out on the borrowed tandem for 16 downhill miles through some beautiful riverside and mountainous areas.
After a quick sandwich on the front porch to rest, we drove ourselves to another trailhead in the area to do a short, I think 8 mile, "moderate" singletrack. Three miles on pavement in the campground, about a mile straight up Lum Trail, 3 miles across the ridge on Iron Mountain trail, down Shaw's Gap to the car. WELL, let me just say that whoever decided THIS trail was moderate was smokin' crack. We fell over on the first big climb and I took a rock to the coccyx. The rest of the climbing I walked and Alan pushed a 45 lb tandem. On the ridge we saw a coyote on the trail, and some of that riding was ok, but the downhills were murderous. I could hardly hang on. "Mr. Toad's wild ride" probably saved me $4500; I think Alan now agrees with me that I have NO BUSINESS on the back of his mtn bike.
But I will say, it was an unforgettable way to spend our anniversary! I love you, honey.
Wednesday afternoon we made last minute reservations at Augusta's Appalachian Inn in Damascus, Virginia, and hit the road for an easy 3 hour trip north, through Asheville, NC to Bristol, TN and over to Abingdon, VA. Damascus is a tiny town (950 residents) about 10 miles from Abingdon and it's twin claims to fame are it is on the Appalachian Trail, which comes down the main street, and it is the mid-point of the 35 mile long Virginia Creeper Trail, a multi-use rail-trail.
Damascus' newest inn was our base. Hosts Terry and Cissy Kammer made us feel at home in Grace's room and laid out sumptious breakfasts that we thoroughly enjoyed. Thursday morning we caught a shuttle to the trailhead and set out on the borrowed tandem for 16 downhill miles through some beautiful riverside and mountainous areas.After a quick sandwich on the front porch to rest, we drove ourselves to another trailhead in the area to do a short, I think 8 mile, "moderate" singletrack. Three miles on pavement in the campground, about a mile straight up Lum Trail, 3 miles across the ridge on Iron Mountain trail, down Shaw's Gap to the car. WELL, let me just say that whoever decided THIS trail was moderate was smokin' crack. We fell over on the first big climb and I took a rock to the coccyx. The rest of the climbing I walked and Alan pushed a 45 lb tandem. On the ridge we saw a coyote on the trail, and some of that riding was ok, but the downhills were murderous. I could hardly hang on. "Mr. Toad's wild ride" probably saved me $4500; I think Alan now agrees with me that I have NO BUSINESS on the back of his mtn bike.
But I will say, it was an unforgettable way to spend our anniversary! I love you, honey.Sunday, September 02, 2007
To Lock or Not To Lock
Families are different, and one fundamental difference between Alan's family and mine is the propensity to lock. Alan's folks are lock-ers and many times in our marriage we have argued about his locking me out of the house or the car. My family tends to leave things unlocked, leave keys in the car, be generally laissefaire about "security" issues. This difference was highlighted once again in a dramatic way Friday night/Saturday morning. Oh, my family is FULL of adventure. Here is my version of the story.
Alan and I both had a hard week. Friday night we took off to Ninety Six to board the bunny at the farm and to have dinner with John, Kathryn and Bob. Drove by the football game (Ninety Six beat Calhoun Falls handily) and generally enjoyed the evening. A good start to our nine day vacation.
Got to my mom's house to spend the night about midnight. Mama has been sick all week and we had planned a family meeting for Saturday. The agenda changed about 2:30 a.m. when the highway patrol called to ask me if I knew who might have wrecked my Daddy's truck on Richland Road in front of the Methodist church. After I checked to make sure Mama hadn't lost her mind and gone out in the truck, Alan and I went to meet the patrolman to reclaim the truck. Sometime after we arrived at midnight someone stole the truck from Mama's driveway and apparently took it for a joy ride, as nothing else was stolen from the house and the truck wasn't damaged, except for a flat tire and broken side mirror. The driver had crashed through a Bridge Closed sign. We found it EXTREMELY ironic that the truck was wrecked in Richland. We joked the truck could have driven itself there.
Once we finished with the officer, we pulled a nasty, but completely unintentional, trick on my brother by leaving the truck in his driveway without explanation. The next morning he too thought perhaps our mother had lost her mind. He said it NEVER occurred to him that the truck had been stolen and returned to his driveway. Well, of course not.
We also managed to lock ourselves out of Mama's house on Saturday, so locking became a continuing theme to the weekend. Mercifully, Mama seems to be on the road to recovery and no damage was done.
Alan and I both had a hard week. Friday night we took off to Ninety Six to board the bunny at the farm and to have dinner with John, Kathryn and Bob. Drove by the football game (Ninety Six beat Calhoun Falls handily) and generally enjoyed the evening. A good start to our nine day vacation.
Got to my mom's house to spend the night about midnight. Mama has been sick all week and we had planned a family meeting for Saturday. The agenda changed about 2:30 a.m. when the highway patrol called to ask me if I knew who might have wrecked my Daddy's truck on Richland Road in front of the Methodist church. After I checked to make sure Mama hadn't lost her mind and gone out in the truck, Alan and I went to meet the patrolman to reclaim the truck. Sometime after we arrived at midnight someone stole the truck from Mama's driveway and apparently took it for a joy ride, as nothing else was stolen from the house and the truck wasn't damaged, except for a flat tire and broken side mirror. The driver had crashed through a Bridge Closed sign. We found it EXTREMELY ironic that the truck was wrecked in Richland. We joked the truck could have driven itself there.
Once we finished with the officer, we pulled a nasty, but completely unintentional, trick on my brother by leaving the truck in his driveway without explanation. The next morning he too thought perhaps our mother had lost her mind. He said it NEVER occurred to him that the truck had been stolen and returned to his driveway. Well, of course not.
We also managed to lock ourselves out of Mama's house on Saturday, so locking became a continuing theme to the weekend. Mercifully, Mama seems to be on the road to recovery and no damage was done.
Survived August
Whew! I am SO thankful that August is behind us. It was a HARD and HOT month. Mercifully I am off the first nine days of September. The weather is already cooler, and football is ON! Everybody in America will be watching the Clemson Tigers play tomorrow night. Went by the field today and the stadium looks great! GO Tigers!!
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