On a recent day off, Tom and I headed to downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. Although we have been to Knoxville many times, it was usually to one of the big box stores on the edges of Knoxville. Several of the rangers had suggested good things to see downtown, so Tom and I decided to make it …
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You Can’t Get There from Here
Last week Tom and I tried to get from our house to the grocery store. It turns out, you can’t get there from here. Or, at least, not on the day we were trying. Or the way we were trying. They shut down the road we live off of several weeks ago. We knew it …
Mom’s 90th Birthday Bash
My mom celebrated her 90th birthday on Monday, June 15. The day before that, June 14, the family got together to celebrate her 90th birthday with her. It was the first celebration without my dad and we missed him. But we also enjoyed celebrating all of Mom’s years with her. We started with meeting at …
Sames and Cook in Mt. Gilead
Tom and I resumed adventure days with Mom with lunch at Sames and Cook in Mt. Gilead. We picked up two friends of Mom’s, Bonnie and Beverly, and had a wonderful afternoon out exploring. Although we have looked at places to eat in Mt. Gilead several times, we had overlooked Sames and Cook. Bonnie, who …
Working the Survivors Checklist
When Dad died, I knew Mom and I needed to work the Survivors Checklist. This is the list of all the things you have to do when someone dies. Some of them are related to legal matters. Others are practical. But they all need to be done. Mom and Dad did everything they could before …
Loyal Customer Rewards
I have had a wireless phone for so long that I don’t even remember when I first got a wireless phone. Tom insisted on me getting a car phone back in the late 1980’s for safety. He wanted me to be able to call for help when I was out driving by myself. All I …
Crawl Space Encapsulation
When Tom and I bought our house in 2020, we didn’t think much about it having a crawl space. Our home in Mogadore had a partial basement with an attached crawl space. The house inspection didn’t show anything wrong with it. Tom and I noticed a slight musty odor when we first went into the …
Dance Recital Star Is Born!
On a beautiful, sunny day in May, Tom and I attended our first dance recital. No one in my family had ever taken dance lessons or been in a dance recital. But little Emma Winstead, Steve and Amy’s daughter, has been taking dance lessons this year. She is in the “Toddler Hip Hop” class at …
Delaware County Historical Markers
As I mentioned last week, Tom and I made a scavenger hunt of finding all the Delaware County historical markers. We found all but one of the 22 markers in five hours on a blustery Saturday. It took us five hours with driving and reading time. This doesn’t include the hour that we took in …
Advice From My Father
All of us get advice from our parents. Sometimes we pay attention, sometimes we don’t. Most of us go through phases. We start out thinking our parents are infallible. Then, as teenagers and young adults we think our parents don’t know anything. Eventually our parents become very wise with great advice. Funny how they evolve …