Weekend in Gatlinburg

We decided to make an overnight trip . I said " There shouldn't be many people in Gatlinburg between now and Christmas , so we'll get a motel when we get there." I checked out several websites and we chose Midtown Lodge as our first choice. When we left Pigeon Forge we noticed a sigh on the side of the road that said PARADE TONIGHT ...Uh O....When we got to the city limits , we noticed lawn chairs lining the streets on both sides as far as we could see.

The clerk at Midtown Lodge said, "Sorry , we don't have a vacancy...you may find something up Airport Road."

We walked down the sidewalk and I said, " Well let's try Riverside Hotel ."

We stayed there years ago for a Square Dance Event. We walked into the lobby and saw a big sign ...THUNDERBOLT REUNION...World War II veterans were sitting around the big fireplace reminiscing.

The clerk said "I have one room left. It doesn't have a window or a balcony and it has one bed. I said "We'll take it", because it was a good location where we could walk outside and watch the parade. We moved in and then we walked up the street to our favorite Best Italian Restaurant..The salad and the vegetable lasagna and the garlic rolls are always good.

After we ate, we went to the Civic Center to the Glades Road Craft Show. All the shops were there with samples of their wares. One reason for our trip was to check out the Ogles broom shop to see if they would put a new bottom on my broom that I bought there years ago. They said to take the broom to the shop and they would do it for $10.00 . A new broom like mine would cost $87.00. That's our next trip.

We walked the streets and shopped . It was cold so we would stop by our lobby and sit by the fire and listen to war stories and then go again.

It was low 20's by 7:00 p.m. when the parade started, but we were wrapped up and we enjoyed the crowd and the parade.

We went back to the fire, and then to bed. Our room was quiet and warm..we got up at 8:00a.m. and went to Pancake Pantry for blueberry pancakes.

We shopped some more and then drove home in snow. It was falling and sticking to the trees and ground in the mountains, but no sign of it here.

We got a call from Todd and he said he was coming over to watch the football game with us. Gpa built a fire and I made boubblins...It was a nice evening.

It's December

We have a living Christmas tree this year..It's rosemary and it smells good.

It was just right...the first day of December was cold and it snowed off and on all day. We took fall decorations to the basement and brought up the Christmas lights. Our decorations are low key this year...lights and two ceramic Santa Clauses . We have a red wreath on the dining room table that Zachary made for us when he was about 6 years old.

Another beautiful fall day...

This is a picture of my new pot from Joppa Pottery in front of the Christmas Cactus...

We left the pool and decided to take a drive to look at the colors....We drove out Emory Road past House Mountain and turned onto 11W on the road to Rutledge. We turned left at Joppa School and followed a narrow mountain road up to Joppa Pottery. It's a little shack in the woods with beautiful pots on shelves and wooden tables out under the trees. The owner is a man named Macdonald Crosby. He has a long beard and a degree in art from UT. The pots start at $25.00 for a small one and most of them cost over $100. He sells all over the country. He took us inside and made a pot while we watched. He started with a wad of clay and it took him no time to shape the pot on his wheel. He fires them with a propane homemade kiln. He doesn't like the electric ones.
We drove thru Rutledge..(one red light). and stopped at Ritter Farm where we bought apples and cheese and fried apple pies and beautiful Grainger County tomatoes. Their restaurant was closed for the winter so we came back to Rutledge and ate at the Good Food Restaurant...We had delicious mashed potatoes and fried okra with steak and gravy.
The colors were beautiful on the mountains beside the highway with large farms along the highway. It was like Cades Cove with no traffic.

Cades Cove

Metcalf Bottoms....

We picnicked in the campground under this maple tree.

We drove the Cades Cove Loop... and acted like tourists...

We revisited this campsite which we discovered about 50 years ago when we stopped and had an impromptu wiener roast with toasted marshmallows over the fire. We had a very young David with us, and I thought we had found a most wonderful place, and that's when I fell in love with camping.

We renewed our vows today...

There was music and food...

Our Friends Were There

at Claudia's Wedding Chapel...

back yard

Birthday Party

Some more visitors arrived .

We took a walk before the football game.

There were a few buckeyes left..

We had Pappa Johns Pizza and blonde brownies .

visitor

We had a visitor this weekend. He arrived Friday night and ate bubblins with us. Saturday morning he replaced a light switch in the little bathroom.

Big Orange...

fall

fall decorations

The maple tree today...

Fall 2008

The maple tree is beginning to turn. It's been such a dry summer, we don't expect spectacular fall color this year. We've lived in the screen room all month because the weather has been so dry and warm and beautiful. Usually there is a rain around Halloween and then next day it's winter. That will be the time to build the fire and look out the window.

Buckeye Tree

The buckeye tree down the street is dropping lots of beautiful buckeyes this year. We walk down and collect them and put them in our new pottery bowls. Take one...they are good luck.

Visitors to the Fair

Fair 2008

We're at our Pottery and Ceramics booth at the Fair. We had lots more entries this year and we were able to fill up all the shelves. We took Gpa's painting of a pot of flowers and my posters of the Townsend pottery fair.

I think the entrants will all be pleased with their ribbons except one man. He entered a large sculpture that we placed in the clay category. Well, the judges said it was plaster of paris and said it was disqualified. The man came by later and insisted that it was made of white clay...the kind that air dries..you don't fire it. He said he carved the bust out of a large piece of white clay.

The Fair starts today so we will be sitting at our booth protecting the pots and watching the pots walking by..

What a Family!!

Gpa had a little surgery on Monday, and our family as usual came to our rescue. Rose stayed with us two days at the hospital and brought us home. Butch showed up on Friday morning. He was loaded with goodies from Joquita...homemade bread, frozen casseroles, and brownies. Butch helped us load up our stuff for the fair and took us over and helped us decorate our booths. He took us over to UT to visit with Sam in his new apartment . It was a fun adventure.

Then on Saturday, David, Melissa, Scott and Todd arrived. Rose and Paul dropped in with some delicious peaches .
Scott used his pharmacy skills to test Gpa's blood sugar. and didn't hurt him too much...

Todd had brought over Rose's power washer, so David and Scott and Todd worked on the front porch and steps. It looks great. They blew the leaves off the patio too.

Melissa took me grocery shopping and she fixed supper for everybody.

WHAT A WONDERFUL FAMILY....