Natural Tunnel State Park

The natural tunnel sits at the bottom of the gorge. It provides a way through the mountain for the freight trains in the area.


This little engine sits just off the parking lot of the park. You can climb aboard.


More on the little engine.


Man-made tunnel known as "Little Tunnel" just opposite the natural tunnel.


We saw several trains the day we were there. Here's one coming through Little Tunnel.


View from one of the overlooks. The natural tunnel is in the mid-lower right of the pix. You can see another overlook on the other side of the gorge in the upper left corner of the pix.


We hiked across a bridge and into the woods to find this cabin.


One view from Lover's Leap. Notice the train in the lower right corner going through the gorge. Another overlook is above it.


Another view from Lover's Leap.

Still On The Planet; Among The Living

I didn't fall off the planet, and yes, I am still among the living. I have just been...busy...weary...uninspired...and scatterbrained...in no particular order. I had no idea I would ever be so disorganized. I thought that the older I got, the wiser I would get, and life would be so much easier, being that I was so smart and all. I wish. I have found out that the older you get, the more things you have to worry about. To make it worse, your brain doesn't work like it used to and sometimes...it quits on you all together. I have started misplacing things. Right now, I have a book missing, along with my one-fourth measuring cup. I have looked the house over and cannot find either one of them. I hadn't even read the book and I have no idea how long it's been missing. I am in the process of organizing and moving books and I realized it was gone. I've also started talking to myself. It seems to help.

I've decided to title my posts again. I grew tired of giving them all a name, but it is so much easier to locate a post if it has a title. Also, I am not finished with the Free Things in the Smokies posts. I stopped to look for a pix and never started back again. I will try to do that soon.

Dear husband pulled 18 frames of honey off our one little beehive. We bottled 18 quarts of honey this year. That is the most we have ever gotten. Most of the honeybees in this area have died. We have had this one little hive since 2001 and it is thriving.

The humming birds are all gone now. They left about a week ago. I miss them. Many of our other birds are gone, too. I love fall, but it always makes me a little sad. I know that winter is coming.

This is one of my favorite poems. I usually post it on the blog this time of year.



Something Told The Wild Geese

Something told the wild geese
It was time to go.

Though the fields lay golden
Something whispered,--"Snow."

Leaves were green and stirring,
Berries, luster-glossed,

But beneath warm feathers
Something cautioned,--"Frost."

All the sagging orchards
Steamed with amber spice,

But each wild breast stiffened
At remembered ice.

Something told the wild geese
It was time to fly,--

Summer sun was on their wings,
Winter in their cry.

by Rachel Field

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, September 22, 2008

We woke up this morning to another week and another season. My favorite season. Welcome, fall. I've missed you. We have been having cooler mornings and shorter evenings. Some of our leaves are already changing colors. Fall is a great time to find spider webs, especially in the morning dew. Here are some older pix of webs I have found:

A Variety of Webs

Webs on Laurel Lake

More Lake Webs

Have you ever learned about something and then wondered why you had never thought to wonder about it? I read in the newspaper on Sunday that cashews are never sold in the shell. I had never noticed this before, but it's true. What a strange little bit of trivia that had escaped my attention for 47 years. Cashews are in the same family as poison ivy! It takes quite a bit of work to get the cashew out of its shell. You can read a little about that HERE.

That's it for this post. Happy Fall or Autumn. Whichever you choose! I think autumn is a lovely word, but rarely used around here.

Fairlight's Free Things To Do In The Smokies #10

This is a terrible pix, but such a good photo op! Go on...stand beside that gorilla in front of Treasure Quest golf in Gatlinburg and get your pix taken! It's fun!

Fairlight's Free Things To Do In The Smokies #9

Visit one of the churches in Cades Cove. Go in and play the piano. Sit in a pew and pray. Stand behind the pulpit. Walk out into the cemetery.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Better late than never...
Back in May, I sent an email to Cornell University to ask if they knew why we didn't have any hummingbirds this spring. I received a response from them today! I had almost forgotten about it. I saw a new email in my inbox this morning and was trying to figure out who I knew named "Cornell". According to the email, Cornell has received many letters from people in the southeast concerned about the decline in hummers this year. They think the decline has been caused by the drought. They also are concerned about how Hurricane Ike will affect the hummer population next year.

We have a few hummers visiting the feeders now. Since the days are getting shorter, they will be migrating. Be sure to keep fresh sugar water for them in your feeders. You do not have to worry about causing them to linger and not migrate. They know when to go. They will not stay unless they get trapped in a garage or something like that. I leave my feeders up until they completely stop feeding. Sometimes, I forget to take them down.

Fairlight's Free Things To Do In The Smokies #8

Keep your eyes open for strange and wonderful things. We found this tree behind a cabin in Cades Cove. The bottom was just a hollow shell of what was once a large tree. Only the bark remained. From the shell grew two smaller "trees".

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Some mornings you just don't have anything to say. I guess this morning is one of them. I'll leave you with a poem...


Best of All

He doeth well who doeth good
To those of his own brotherhood;

He doeth better who doth bless
The stranger in his wretchedness;

Yet best, oh! best of all doth he
Who helps a fallen enemy.

Anonymous

Fairlight's Free Things To Do In The Smokies #7

Play the giant stringless harp in front of the Guinness World Records Museum.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Well...gas prices here have jumped up to almost $4.50 a gallon and some gas stations ran out of gas yesterday or were rationing. I think it will get worse here before it gets better. We live in a mountainous county that is kind of isolated from the rest of the world. Lots of gouging goes on. If we are traveling, we always wait and buy gas in another county. I'm not sure if we will be able to do that now. I'm not sure we will be doing any kind of traveling now. Dear husband went yesterday and filled up his work truck. He has to work and he drives clean across the county to get to work. Oldest dear son filled up because he has to get back to school three states away. I didn't fill up. I rarely go anywhere during the week, except to trade. I know this is nothing compared to what the people in the path of the storm will go through. We will make it. We always do.

Is it normal for a cat to lie down to eat his supper? Sweet Potato did this for the first time yesterday. He seemed fine. He just plopped down beside his bowl and ate. Before, he would sit over the bowl and eat with his tail swishing. I have never been a cat person and I have no idea if this is normal. Now that I think about it...there is nothing normal about cats.

Fairlight's Free Things To Do In The Smokies #6

Enjoy the scenery! Enjoy the peace and quiet.

Friday, September 12, 2008

As you may know from reading my blog...hello...anybody out there...dear husband and I love many different music genres from blues to bluegrass. On one of our recent trips to Walmart I bought a Dean Martin CD and I love it. It is one of those little cheapo CDs in a paper sleeve. I even love the paper sleeve. It's much easier to get the CD out instead of trying to pry them off those little spindles. I am always afraid I am going to break the CD getting it out of some of the tighter cases. I played the CD in the car on the way home and couldn't help but notice that all four of us were singing "That's Amore", or as we had always called it, "The Big Pizza Pie" song. Who wouldn't love a song about love and pizza! It's a great album to play while cleaning house. I should do a top ten albums to listen to while cleaning house.

Today is Friday and that means oldest dear son will soon be making his way home for the weekend!! I love the weekends! He will have to work on school some this weekend. He has to write a review on a book about the history of the footnote. I had no idea the footnote had a history worthy of a book when in fact I googled it and found two books. Who knew?

Have a good weekend. Toodles!

Fairlight's Free Things To Do In The Smokies #5

Throughout Gatlinburg this year there are several groups of traveling musicians who wander in and out the town performing for free. You never know where they are going to turn up, so keep your eyes open and your ears pealed. We found them once performing on a roof top. They are very talented. The shows do not last very long, but we caught three in a short period of time while we were walking around.

Also in Pigeon Forge, look for the small white gazebo near the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. It is on the right side of the strip heading toward the park. A bluegrass band plays here at night. Many people bring their clogging shoes and dance in the parking lot. You can bring a lawn chair and sit and watch, or just stand as we do. They pass a bucket for tips, but the show is free.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

On Saturday, dear husband and I were driving home along a creek. We came around a curve and I looked over and saw a doe with a fawn. They were standing in the water just off the creek bank still under the trees. They both looked so small. We just barely caught of glimpse of them as we drove by.

I need a new pair of tennis shoes. Do you call them tennis shoes? Sneakers? My mom calls them gym shoes. After years of working as a nurse on concrete floors, my feet are very particular about the shoes I wear. For years, I wore a particular style of easy spirit that I could find at Belk. They discontinued this style and I had to find another one. I found a pair of K-SWISS I could wear and they...yep...discontinued them. I was desparate for a new pair of shoes. I ended up buying a pair of newbalance and I think I have worn them maybe five times. I hate them. They hurt my feet. I am going to give them away. I cannot go barefoot. The first thing I do every morning after I awake is put on my glasses and my shoes.

Sweet Potato's violent streak has ended. Earlier, I had written that he had killed two birds. I am happy to report that he hasn't killed anything since.

Today is September 11.

Fairlight's Free Things To Do In The Smokies #4

Don't miss the huge tree on the riverbank in front of the aquarium. For scale, there are two people standing on the rocks in the lower left corner of this pix. You may be able to see them better if you right click the pix and open it in a new tab or window. Walk across the bridge and look for the ducks in the water and on the bank.

While you are in this area, walk across the street to Mountain Mall and visit the teeny, tiny music shop called The Rhythm Section. It's on the ground floor. Notice the pond and fountain in the small lobby of the mall. Follow the fountain all the way to the top floor.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

I admit, I do not like to watch the news. I'm sure I am very behind in current world events, but I cannot believe that I hadn't heard of this! Dear husband listens to NPR almost every day and he had never heard of it, either. Switzerland Begins Big Bang Experiment I also heard this morning that there was an earthquake in Iran. I wonder if the atom smasher will be blamed for it?

Oldest dear son is on week three of living away from home in his little apartment. The drain pipes under his kitchen sink were leaking. Two men came to fix them. Dear son had to leave to go to school. Before he left, he explained that both sides of the sink were leaking and even pointed with his finger to the exact place they were leaking. The men said they would fix them and lock up when they left. He came home from class and found his front door unlocked and one side of the sink fixed.

He is working as a teaching assistant in an American History class. Friday, he graded quizzes. Two hundred and twenty quizzes to be exact. It took him 6 hours. This was just for one class.

It is still hard to get through the day without missing him. Youngest dear son and I are kind of lost until dear husband gets home from work. Oldest son calls often and emails, but it just is not the same. He calls every night before we go to bed and we put him on speaker phone. We all talk and laugh and I know he is in safely for the night.

I still have an empty, unsettled feeling most of the time. Like something is just not quite right. For 23 years, there were three of us. For fourteen of those years, there were four of us. Now we are back down to three. Four was better.

Fairlight's Free Things To Do In The Smokies #3

Look at all the huge tubes of candy in the lobby of the Candy Factory AND watch people on the monitors trying to find their way through the Mirror Maze.

Ripley's Marvelous Mirror Maze and Candy Factory

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Do you watch House? I had watched it once and really didn't care for it. For some reason this weekend, I decided to watch it again and now I am hooked. I did not want to like this show. House is hateful. The medical cases on the show are absurd. There is just something about it that I like.

Youngest dear son made his first bad test grade yesterday in English. I don't know what happened. He made a 66 which is a D on our grading scale. The test was over material that I know he knew. His blood sugars were good yesterday and the day before. I know he had studied. As a mommy, it was hard to record that grade. He also had a math test and made a 97 on it, so I don't think he was just having a bad day. After I graded his test he said he was going to have to take English more seriously.

I don't think I will ever be able to complain about childbirth again after watching a TV show about a woman giving birth in 2000 IN A TREE. When I read the description of the show, I could not for the life of me figure out why a woman would give birth in a tree. Was she in a tree house? Was she trying to set some sort of record for births in strange places. No. She was in a terrible flood in Mozambique. If I remember correctly, her mother-in-law was in a nearby tree and realized what was happening. She swam over and helped her deliver the baby right before they were rescued by helicopter. I found an article about it HERE.

Friday, August 22, 2008

The time I have been dreading is almost here. Sunday, we will load up the truck and move oldest dear son to his new apartment two and a half hours away and over two mountains. He will be attending graduate school two states away from home. I seem to be finding many different ways to measure the distance. I have measured it by time, mountains, and states. I have measured it in miles. What I can't measure is the ache in my heart. It is too large to measure.

July 16, 2008

On the first day of our vacation, dear husband and I decided to drive off without the boys to scout out a lake. It was going to be a long trip and the boys wanted to stay home. It was a good decision. We were going to visit Dale Hollow Lake which is on the KY-TN border and a long way from home. We decided to take a longer route to avoid a few narrow, curvy roads. I still ended up getting carsick twice. It was beautiful country, but boy were we back in the sticks. I thought we lived in the country. The little town we were in did not have cell phone towers. It did not have cable television. It did not have any place to eat! We finally asked around and found a little restaurant and had a so-so cheeseburger. We visited a couple of marinas which I have to say were nice and then we started back home. This is where it gets good.

Many years ago after watching Sergeant York, we looked up Pall Mall on the road atlas. I had mentioned this to dear husband before we left as we were going to be near there. We hit the backroads and our first stop was the cemetery where Alvin C. York is buried. It is across the street from the church he attended. Then we drove to the post office/general store that was owned and operated by York and his sons. The clerk there told us that they had a self-guided tour that began with a movie and asked if we would like to watch it. We watched it in a little section of the general store that resembled a small chapel. We sat in pews and watched the movie.

After browsing in the general store, we left and walked over to the York home. The home is fully furnished and open free of charge to the public. York's son, Andy, is a park ranger and was there the day we visited. The home is beautiful. The dining room was decorated for Christmas. I wondered if they left everything the way it was after York's wife, Gracie, died. We walked through the home looking at all the rooms. There was a very old sun bonnet that belonged to York's mother. After we came back downstairs we talked a long while with York's son. There was a piano in the parlor, but it had a sign that read Do Not Touch. He asked if either of us played the piano, and I told him I did, but that I was rusty. He told me to sit down and play. There I was, sitting in Alvin and Gracie York's parlor, playing You've Got to Walk That Lonesome Valley! If I had thought, I would have played Give Me That Old Time Religion. That is the song that is featured throughout Sergeant York. We didn't visit the grist mill. We are saving that for when we visit again with the boys in the fall. Here are some pix from our trip.



Alvin and Gracie York Gravesite



Gracie York Memorial



Alvin York Memorial



A small flag left by someone



Post Office and General Store



Typewriter and Memorabilia



York Family Dining Room



Tank

You can read about the Sergeant York Foundation HERE.
Alvin York Teacher's Guide and 5th Grade Lesson Plans can be found HERE.
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sergeant York And His People, by Sam Cowan