Posts Tagged ‘Betsy’

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Sunday with Family

October 12, 2009
Wes, Darlene (John's sister), Betsy, Bonnie (cousin), John (Carol's husband) and Carol. Fall Creek Falls, October 10, 2009.

Wes, Darlene (John's sister), Betsy, Bonnie (cousin), John (Carol's husband) and Carol. Fall Creek Falls, October 10, 2009.

If you read Betsy’s blog you know that she has had a couple of her cousins visiting for the weekend.  Saturday was a ‘Girls Day Out’, which can read about HERE.

Yesterday they allowed the men to accompany them to Fall Creek Falls State Park for a lunch buffet.  I suspect we men were allowed to go along so someone would be there to pick up the tab.  But be that as it may, the dinner was absolutely delicious.  If you ever have a chance to eat a meal at Tennessee state park, I encourage you to do so.  (End of commercial!).

Since  Fall Creek Falls is a favorite of ours we had to take Bonnie (from Florida), Carol (from Michigan) and Carol’s husband John on a tour to show them five of our favorite waterfalls.  (Okay, one is technically a cascade, but it is still pretty).

After several rainy, cloudy days we actually had some sunshine and beautiful blue skies.  Even better, we saw significant autumn color for the first time this season.

All in all it was a gorgeous day and I think we may have some visitors returning to Tennessee fairly soon.

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Posted in Family | 15 Comments »

99 Months and Counting

September 24, 2009
The bride and groom, Knoxville, Tennessee. June 23, 2001.

The bride and groom, Knoxville, Tennessee. June 23, 2001.

I married the beautiful woman above 99 months ago.  We  had a whirl-wind romance — we met in January, had our first date in March and were married in June.  But it was obvious that God was at work in our lives.

We realized there were some disadvantages to getting married at our age — pushing 60.  One disadvantage was that we most likely wouldn’t have as many anniversaries to celebrate as we would have if we were younger.  So we decided we would celebrate monthiversaries as well.  Our monthly celebrations aren’t particularly fancy — last night we had dinner at Cracker Barrel — but it is a  a time when we can appreciate the blessings we have in one another.

We still make a bigger deal out of anniversaries, but our monthiversaries are special times for us.  Yesterday we celebrated 99 months.  We hope there are many, many more to come.

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Posted in American Life | 21 Comments »

Memories of Atlanta

September 21, 2009
Betsy at Stone Mountain, Georgia. June 2, 2009.

Betsy at Stone Mountain, Georgia. June 2, 2009.

One of the advantages of having so much rain over the last few days is that I’ve had the opportunity to work on some of my older pictures that had been copied to disk to be worked on ‘later’.  Well, ‘later’ came this past week, and I have enjoyed working with pictures that I had practically forgotten about.

One of the folders I found was of pictures taken in Atlanta, Georgia, in June, 2001, about three weeks before Betsy and I were married.  We had been invited to the wedding of the oldest son of one of Betsy’s childhood friends.  Since Betsy and Susan, the mother, were good friends, we were invited to come down early for the rehearsal dinner on Friday evening.  I got to meet another of Betsy’s childhood friends, Nita, and learn some things about my future bride that I didn’t know (all good, of course).

Saturday morning Betsy and I went to Stone Mountain Park outside of Atlanta to enjoy the day and see some of the scenic attractions of that beautiful area.  After an enjoyable few hours at the park we went back to the city for the wedding and reception.

If you would like to see more of our weekend in Atlanta click HERE.

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Posted in Travels | 14 Comments »

Autumn Colors From Long Ago

September 17, 2009
Barren River State Park, Kentucky. October 7, 2001.

Barren River State Park, Kentucky. October 7, 2001.

Actually it wasn’t all that long ago.

We had another  rainy day here on the Plateau, so I got to do more work on some of my older pictures.

Both Betsy and I moved to Tennessee in December, 2000.  Prior to that move I had lived in the Midwest and the Carolinas, while Betsy lived mostly in the South and Texas.  As a result, she didn’t get to enjoy the seasons nearly as much as I did.

The autumn of 2001 was the first chance Betsy had to enjoy autumn colors.  We heard about a nice hiking trail in Ashland, Tennessee, and went up there one Saturday to enjoy the colors.  Betsy had a thing about red leaves and she found several, which made the hike even more enjoyable.

One Sunday we took my parents up to Barren River State Park in Kentucky and also enjoyed the color up there.

The photos I found of these two expeditions aren’t great works of art, but I must admit that it was fun to go back and see what we looked like as newly weds.  If you would like to see more of our searches for autumn color click HERE.

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Posted in Autumn | 13 Comments »

Betsy Has a New Toy

August 11, 2009
Betsy using her new MacBook. August 9, 2009.

Betsy using her new MacBook. August 9, 2009.

Betsy has a new toy!  It is somewhat of a belated birthday present — we picked it up after we got back home.  That was a couple of days after her birthday, but I don’t think she minds too much.

Our computer room is in the front of our house, but most of Betsy’s bird feeders are on the deck in the back.  So Betsy was always jumping up from her computer to see her birds (or to make sure squirrels weren’t eating everything in the feeders) or else she was reluctantly leaving her ‘throne’ — her side of our reclining sofa — to come into the computer room.  I won’t say Betsy did this a lot, but there is a well-worn path between her iMac and her throne (I’m kidding!!).

This past weekend was a tax-free weekend in Tennessee, so we got Betsy a new MacBook.  We saved almost enough on the tax to pay for the wireless router.  Since our iMacs have wireless capability we got rid of our old router and discovered that the wireless connection is faster than the old wired connection.  And more importantly Betsy can sit on her throne and watch her birds (and the TV) and work on her new computer at the same time.  And she says she can’t multi-task!

Right now our iMacs are still wired to printers and external hard drives, but we’ll probably go wireless with them in the future.  It will be nice to get rid of some of the cables under our desks.

Come to think of it, Betsy got the new toy, but I’ve enjoyed the benefits of going wireless.  Now if I could only get Betsy to let me play with her new toy!

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Posted in Betsy | 20 Comments »

Scenic Sunday #56: Ormond Beach

August 9, 2009
Ormond Beach, Florida. August 5, 2009.

Ormond Beach, Florida. August 5, 2009.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

We were in Ormond Beach, Florida, this past Wednesday to celebrate Betsy’s birthday.  We had an ocean view room on the fifth floor of the hotel and had a wonderful view of the beach and the ocean, as you can see from the picture above.

We woke up in time to see the sunrise over the Atlantic.  It was almost as good as seeing the sunrise from a ship at sea.

Sunrise at Ormond Beach, Florida. August 5, 2009.

Sunrise at Ormond Beach, Florida. August 5, 2009.

We were treated to a beautiful start of the day.  Later in the day we spent some time on the beach and even got wet in the ocean.  We had dinner with Betsy’s cousin Bonnie, who shares a birthday with Betsy.  Bonnie and her husband, Dave, met us at a seafood restaurant where we were able to enjoy the fresh seafood.

Moonrise at Ormond Beach, Florida. August 5, 2009.

Moonrise at Ormond Beach, Florida. August 5, 2009.

The day ended as beautifully as it began with a beautiful moonrise opposite the balcony of our room.  All in all, I hope Betsy had a nice birthday.

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Posted in Betsy | 14 Comments »

On the Road Again

August 1, 2009
The Arkansas River in a sunrise from Mount Nebo. December 2, 2008.

The Arkansas River in a sunrise from Mount Nebo. December 2, 2008.

I managed to finish a third set of photos and get them published.  This third set is of a sunrise on Mount Nebo in Arkansas taken last December.  This picture shows the Arkansas River in the valley below in the light of early dawn.  You can see other pictures of that sunrise by clicking HERE.

Actually it’s appropriate for me to post a travel picture today because Betsy and I are about to hit the road again.  Betsy’s brother is in a nursing home in Jacksonville, Florida, and we want to go see him.  My beautiful bride likes the beach, so we’re going to spend a couple of days on the beach near Daytona.  We’ll be at the beach on Betsy’s birthday (I’ve been sworn to secrecy on the number), so we’ll have an appropriate celebration.

As a matter of fact, it will be a double celebration.  Betsy shares a birthday with one of her cousins and we will be having dinner with Bonnie and her husband.  We’ll celebrate by getting some fresh seafood.

It should come as no surprise that we’ve planned the trip to include some waterfalls.  We’ll check out a couple of waterfalls in northern Georgia on the way to Florida.  We’ve learned that Florida has one natural waterfall, so we’ve arranged our trip home to include that waterfall.  If we see it Florida will be the first state in which we’ve visited all the waterfalls!!!

So we’re going to be away from home and away from the computers for several days.  We plan to get back home on Saturday, August 8, so hopefully I’ll have a post on Sunday, August 9.

In the meantime, I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

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Posted in Travels | 11 Comments »

Scenic Sunday # 54: Newfound Gap

July 26, 2009
Newfound Gap, Great Smoky Mountains. May 19, 2001.

Newfound Gap, Great Smoky Mountains. May 19, 2001.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

As I mentioned the other day, Betsy and I visited with friends at Cades Cove in the Smokies on Thursday.  That visit got me looking at other pictures we’ve taken in the park, and I decided to share these pictures with you.

The picture above was taken in 2001 at Newfound Gap.  As southerners know, a gap is a low point in a mountain ridge.  New Englanders call such places “notches” while westerners refer to them as mountain “passes.”  At an elevation of 5,046 feet Newfound Gap is the lowest drivable pass through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The old road over the Smoky Mountains crossed at Indian Gap, located about 1.5 miles west of the current site.  In 1872 a Swiss geographer, Arnold Henry Guyot, discovered Newfound Gap was lower than Indian Gap.  When the lower, easier crossing was discovered, it became known as the “newfound” gap.  A new road followed, and it became the forerunner of Newfound Gap Road, which can be seen in the distance in the picture above.

But as scenic as the picture above may be, the following picture is even more scenic.  That’s because it shows my beautiful bride at that same location on the same day.

Betsy at Newfound Gap, GSMNP. May 19, 2001.

Betsy at Newfound Gap, GSMNP. May 19, 2001.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 9 Comments »

An Anniversary Feast

June 25, 2009
Betsy at The Dillard House. June 23, 2009.

Betsy at The Dillard House. June 23, 2009.

Betsy and I got back home from northern Georgia late yesterday afternoon.  We had good but warm weather, did some hiking, and saw some neat waterfalls.  We also had a fabulous anniversary dinner on Tuesday evening.

I mentioned that we were going to have dinner at the Dillard House in Dillard, Georgia.  The Dillard House serves their meals family style — they bring the food to your table and you help yourself to what you would like.  Betsy and I were able to get a table for two by the window.  The table was very nice and we thought it was very roomy — until our server brought the food.  As you can see from the picture above, the table suddenly became quite crowded.  And dessert had yet to come!

Everything was very good and we enjoyed our meal a great deal.  It was made even better by the ‘doggie boxes’ that we were able to bring home.  The meal was also made memorable by the strawberry cobbler we had for dessert.

Menu09062301

I took this picture of the menu board as a reminder of all the dishes that we had as we celebrated our eighth anniversary.  If you are ever hungry in northeastern Georgia you might consider giving the Dillard House a try.  I don’t think you’ll leave hungry!

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Posted in Travels | 25 Comments »

An Anniversary Trip

June 22, 2009
Minihaha Falls, Rabun County, Georgia

Minihaha Falls, Rabun County, Georgia

Betsy and I  are going to be traveling again.  Our eighth wedding anniversary is Tuesday and we’re going to northern Georgia to search for waterfalls.  I don’t know if we’ll get back to Minihaha Falls (pictured above), but we will be in that general area.

It’s been so hot and miserable here over the past few days that we’ve planned a trip that won’t involve hiking long distances.  Most of the hikes we’ll be taking are only a mile or so.

We’ll be celebrating Tuesday evening by having dinner at the Dillard House.  We’ve eaten there a time or two and it really is an experience.  It’s a family-style restaurant  that specializes in Southern cooking with lots of food.  Needless to say, we’ll hike before eating not afterward.

We plan on being back home Wednesday evening.  Until then have a great week.

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Posted in Travels | 18 Comments »

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