For the past several months we have taken to evening bicycling in our household. We have all loved our new hobby. We were driving around in Oak Ridge the other day and noticed a greenway there. I looked it up online and thought I would add a link here for anyone interested.
I only recall having two bicycles growing up. We did not have a good place to ride bikes around our house, so I mainly rode in the yard or the gravel driveway. My first bike was a small Strawberry Shortcake Bike. So far this is the only picture I can find of it. I have not seen one of my second bike. It actually had my name on the cover for the chain. Now I ride Joe's tie dye bike and I have "biking hair"!
The Tennessee Theater has been having some movie showings again. This weekend is Grease. Sunday is the last of the two showings. In August they will be showing It Happened One Night and Gone With The Wind. To learn more visit the events page at the Tennessee Theater website.
I received a comment on my Merry Christmas post, which I used a picture of the Knaffl Madonna in, that has asked about the people in the picture. I thought that I would post a bit of information about the picture. There is a book by Betsey Beeler Creekmore called Knox County Tennessee: A History In Pictures. It has information on the Knaffl Madonna.At the end of the nineteenth century, when "Art Photography" was all the rage, this tasteful composition by Knoxville's Joseph Knaffl received worldwide acclaim. A copy of the famous "Knaffl Madonna" is prominently displayed at Hopecote* because, before her marriage to Albert Hope, Miss Emma Fanz posed for the photograph holding baby Josephine Knaffl who, in later life, was Mrs. David Baker, Sr.*Hopecote was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hope. It is currently owned by the University of Tennessee and is used as a guesthouse.
Courtesy of Sam Knaffl, Jr.
Tonight we were blessed with a rare occurrence. We saw a barred owl sitting in a tree across the street. We have only seen an owl one other time. I got my camera out and tried to get a shot so we could get a better look at it. It never moved other than his head turning. He just watched us from time to time as he listened for his prey.
We all got up and looked and not only were there two flying around, but three! It was amazing to see three when in my life I had only rarely seen one at any time. It was too dark at that time to even attempt a picture. That would have been marvelous!
I was looking through trailers of current movies in theaters and I was astounded at the lack of interesting movies (well actually not really). I enjoy watching movies, but so many just do not seem to interest me. I have several movies that I love to watch over and over again. I thought I would list some of my favorites:
The Mummy Returns (2001)
When you are in the midst of hard times it is difficult to look at the hard decisions that are necessary and be excited. Looking back on many of the hard times we have had I remember that there were several times I made a decision that was the right choice, but still very difficult and painful to me. I was reminded of these recently when we had some people in our church family facing hard times themselves. A quote from Anne of Green Gables came to mind:"It's all very well to read about sorrows and imagine yourself living through them heroically, but it's not so nice when you really come to have them, is it?"Job also went through some of the worst imaginable hard times. He lost his family, his wealth, some of his health, and through all that he was faithful to the Lord. He was probably not all optimistic and happy through those hard times, but he trusted that the Lord was with him and that He loved him. Through all the changes happening around him, Job knew that God was there and that He never changes.
I was looking at a website with some information on cemetery surveying and transcribing. There were several funny ones that I just had to share! You can also go and check out the Transcribing Monumental Inscriptions site.
A bee pollinating our yellow squash
My watermelon plants
Green beans
As we turn into the Krispy Kreme Donuts the other evening:
Today we celebrated Otter's 1st birthday! It is so hard to believe that she is a year old already! She has grown into a beautiful little girl and so funny. She put her hands right in the icing on her cake and started eating (after Grandmomma put her hand to her mouth so she could taste it). It was also funny when I turned around and she had pushed it off her highchair, of course Icing side down. Oh well! She enjoyed it while she had it! We enjoyed spending time with family.
Butch showing her her toy
Eating her cake. Yummy, yummy!
Tomatoes! I was checking on our eight, yes, eight tomato plants yesterday and saw not just one tomato growing, but three! You see I had bought two different varieties of tomato plants a couple of months ago. We also purchased one of those upside down Tomato tree planters which holds three plants. The others I planted in pots on our back porch. We were going to see which grew better.
Our plants were blooming really well and I was hoping that they would actually have some fruit. When I was watering our Tomato Tree planter last Saturday I noticed the first actual tomato. I was so excited! Well, last night I was checking on the other plants in planters on the back porch. These are currently unstaked, but are growing well. That is when I saw them! There was not one, but two tomatoes growing on one of those plants. I had to show Joe this evening. He is looking forward to eating these yummy tomatoes!
