DirecTV Rocks!

Okay, I'm sorry.... this is probably the closest I'll come to an advertisement. But tonight I'm watching Simply Red on DirecTV free channel. I love Simply Red and haven't listened to them in awhile. This hour-long conference is great. What a voice he (Mick Hucknall) has. If you've never checked him out, you should. It's hard to describe, but it has a definite jazz influence and his voice lends to that sound. I'm wondering if he had a new album, okay, CD out. He did a Bob Dylan tune, "Positively 4th Street," that he said is on his new release. Great cover! His own songs are wonderful too. This concert just really serves to remind me that somehow I've let music slip from my life, and I need to add it back.

"My guys"

Here are "my guys," the World War II veterans I met and escorted on the Washington DC trip. I'll share their stories in subsequent posts, but I just wanted to introduce you to them first. Clayton I knew before the trip but the others I had the good fortunate to meet as a result of my trip. These are all top of the line guys and have my upmost respect. They served their country and served it well.

In the top photo are (left to right) Clayton Narveson, US Marines, John Steiner, US Navy, and Clarence Lawson, US Navy and below is Clem Willocks, US Army Air Corps. As the week progesses, I will share their stories with you. But after meeting these guys, I can tell you that they served their country with dedication, loyalty and selflessly, and I am honored to call them friends.

"Squished"

Here is the car I told you about in my early posts. As of today, they have finally cleaned up the area, and except for hay, you'd never know anything had happened.

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day to you and yours. Let's not forget the men and women who died to keep our freedoms safe, nor let us forget those who are still serving around the world. Regardless of what your politics are, we need to think about the people who put themselves in harms way, heeding their country's call.

In some perverse way, I almost hate having "extra" days off. Only because I get lazy and don't do the things I plan to do. Take this blog for instance. I had planned to update it because I have a lot of things to write about, but it's 7:23 p.m. Eastern time, and I haven't done a thing. I want to write more about my Tremont experience, but I have something more pressing to share.

Last Wednesday, I flew to Washington D.C. with 110 World War II veterans and a very lovely lady, who was a performer in the USO. We toured several military memorials, kept a busy schedule throughout the day and then flew back to East Tennessee greeted by family members of the veterans. I have many pictures and stories to tell and will be posting them as I can this week. (I also have to update my Tremont trip; it was fabulous too!)

When I returned, I wrote a story for The Daily Times about the experience. I used to be a reporter for them but now I work for an Education Initiative. Anyway, I still do a little freelance for the DT from time to time. You can check out my story there, if you want.

It's getting dark, and I think another storm is coming. Since I'm out on my back porch, I think I'd better close and go inside. Oh, and I have pictures of the squished car as promised.

I am now at Tremont (Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont), spending the weekend in a naturalist program. This is one course of several for naturalist certification. I started back in February, which I will talk about in a subsequent post. Today we hiked along the Ace Gap Trail, named so because loggers used to play cards here rather than in their logging camps, on Rich Mountain. We could hear the birds all around, but we didn't have an opportunity to see many today. Amber, the education director at Tremont, led our group, explaining the different types of songs the birds do and pointing out when we heard them. Unfortunately, we didn't see many birds. However, the trail offered many other delights along the way. The 17-year cicadas were out in force and as their bodies warmed up during the day, their constant hum grew louder. They've just recently come out of the ground and were easy to inspect due to being sluggish from the cold. Unfortunately, this is the clearest photo I have of this little critter. I have a crappy camera. I am tired now, but I plan to post more about our adventures with additional photos. Tomorrow we head to Cades Cove where we should see many birds. We did see a turkey vulture that circled a couple of times when we were eating lunch on Lumber Ridge Trail that runs behind our dorm. All day long we heard red-eyed vireos, whose song is short staccato bursts. Finally, we were finished for the day, three of us saw one in a tree not far from where we stood talking!

Stately trees disappearing

Shortly after I wrote that last post, I was sitting in my office at home, and I heard a crunchy sound outside. I went out into the front yard and saw a large limb from my neighbor's tree had blown down, taking several wires with it. Fortunately, my house is on a different power grid. I decided that it was best to quit writing about falling trees until after the winds were gone. Tonight as I walked Nikki on my usual route -- the first time since the storms -- I saw a tree had been ripped up by its roots a couple of streets over. I was saddened to see it because I love trees, and this was a large one. I had to go closer to inspect it and noticed lines, cable or something, still down. I thought to myself that's where they normally park their cars and thankfully, they must not have been there. But....as I got closer and moved on the other side of a large bush....I saw it, a car flatten like a pancake. I'm serious. I've never seen a car more squished by a tree before. If I can get a photo of it, I'll add it to my blog. As I came down the street further, the previously mentioned large branch turned out to be a huge tree. The home owner was outside, and I talked to her for a few minutes. She said the tree split in two: one side landing in the street and the other side almost on her roof. She'd had to have the rest cut down and was sick about it. The tree was probably about four foot in diameter. I hate we're losing our stately old trees. They won't be replaced in my lifetime. As I said earlier, you never know what life brings, and I guess that's a good thing.

A limb is down

As if my thoughts foreshadowed events to come, a large tree limb was blown down on my street. After making my debut post this afternoon, I left to run an errand and discovered that a large branch was blocking the road way. The city had a crew out, cutting the limb to clear the street. Kind of strange.

Strong winds offer insight

This morning, I took the opportunity to sit out on my patio and enjoy my coffee. Strong winds rustled through the leaves, creating a sea of green. The winds and subsequent rains are left over from last night's thunder storms that passed through. The leaves swayed in the wind like a dancer building to a crescendo. My bambo wind chimes, normally silent, clacked together while a cardinal chirped his daily ritual despite sitting on a branch that moved to the time. Drops of water hit the paper I was writing on, making me wonder whether it was raining or the wind was knocking raindrops off of the leaves above me. Velvet, my chow, didn't seem to notice the approaching storm, but my husky-mix, Nikki, paced back and forth wondering when we were going to go inside. The area I live in is known for trees being blown over quickly, regardless of the strength of the wind. As I listened to the leaves and watched the trees dance, it occurred to me that this is much like life: I enjoyed the excitement of the show knowing that the danger or pitfalls lie ahead. You have to take the good with the bad.