Poop

Probably the most related tale of our Smoky Mountain trip revolves around these 2 pictures:





The first is a tree limb that had fallen over the trail and looked suspiciously as if it had been scratched up by a bear. The trail was off a gravel, one-way, mountain road that only had one other car on it that we saw the entire 14 miles. R. was a little concerned by this, but it didn't bother me overmuch. We continued to walk along this trail a ways and then saw the second picture. Luckily, we had been at the visitor's center not too long before and had seen a replica of Bear scat. This had exactly the same look. R. was ready to throw in the towel, but I waved it off. It was just some poop after all.

We went another 1/4 of a mile or so and discovered another lump of scat--also right on the trail. This time I agreed with R.--time to head back. We didn't see any bears, but neither of us wanted to chance it. We'd rather see a bear from the confines of our own car.

And, that we did, the next day. Cade's Cove is a driving loop in the Smokies that is fairly popular. We were trying to get out, stuck in some nasty traffic, before we saw two park rangers by the road, directing traffic. We thought maybe some kind of fender bender, but as we passed we saw 3 black bears in the clearing right off the road. I tried to take a picture, but as the park rangers were waving us on (and we didn't think to stop for a second to disobey them) I never did get a shot of them.

Still, it was neat to see them (from afar)! I couldn't help but wonder if they felt a bit like a circus sideshow with all the people gawking from their cars.

Still Expecting Mountains

I really love the mountains. This is a problem being a lifelong midwesterner who will probably stay a lifelong midwesterner, but I love the midwest too, so I suppose it all works out. It's just, I keep thinking I'm going to look at the horizon and see mountains, but I just see flat-flat-flat.

We got back yesterday, tired and sore. We hiked only about 11 or 12 miles worth of trails, but were on our feet or in the car the whole time. The only time we were in our hotel was to shower and sleep. So, all in all, a successful trip.

We've decided that a return trip to Gatlinburg isn't very likely. We'd already done most of the museums (which, most, are very neat) on our first trip, so we were disappointed with the less than steller options on this trip. We love the Smokies, but Gatlinburg is too busy, cigarette smoky, and has a certain element of unpleasant people (which we found on this trip, not the one before). So hopefully we'll make it back to the park and bypass Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge altogether.

I'll have a more detailed post of our drive and hikes throughout the week. Right now I am stuffed full of BBQ and still a bit exhausted from the trip. But, I'll leave you with some pictures. =)

Impromptu Vacation

Well, kind of at the last minute, R. decided to take Thursday off and we are heading down to Gatlinburg, Tennessee tomorrow through Sunday. We have been there once before back in October of 2005. We're staying in the same place (a great little place outside of Gatlinburg in the midst of the mountains with rooms that are basically condos), but have different things on our itinerary from last visit.

We loved it there, because there's so much to do. Basically, our plan last time was to hike by day, walk around Gatlinburg by night. It worked out well, though by the end of each day my legs were killing me.

Our plan is virtually the same this time, but we are going to try for some lesser visited areas within the park. And, since we only have a few days, we'll be spending most of our time enjoying the Smokies rather than the museums and entertainment of Gatlinburg (though last time we were surprised at the entertainment value of some of those). I am determined to see sunset and sunrise in the park, so there are definitely some long days ahead of us.

I'm hoping my legs hold out this time.

Anywhoo, I'll be back Sunday/Monday with lots of pictures, hopefully, and lots of fun to relate.

Two Worlds

I have always been fascinated by sunsets--the blaze of color, cloud, sky. The intricate flames of day slowly fading into night.

One of my favorite parts of the sunset is towards the end, when half of the world is accepting night--dark, with stars and moon, and the other half still holds onto the day. The sun gone, but light still shining, the colors of the sunset beautifully pale and subtle--colors I would never be able to catch on film... just bare tints of orange and pink. I love that groves of trees look dark, but the sky behind them is glowing.

I feel magic as this dusk approaches--traveling through two worlds: night and day.

Sometimes it is the simplest pleasures that procure the deepest reaction.

Strawberries!

Thursday R. and I both had the day off and R. heard that a farm about 45 miles away was having a pick your own strawberry deal. The same farm had apples back in the fall that we went and picked a gajillion of, so we decided to head out to pick strawberries.



It was an absolutely beautiful and perfect day weather wise. Low 70's, blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. It could not have been more perfect. We ended up picking 12 pounds of strawberries!! I kept telling R. to stop, but he was obsessed. So we gave 1/2 to R.'s family and some to mine as well.





It was a fun outing and the strawberries are absolutely delicious. I've been eating strawberries as snacks, deserts, drizzled in melted chocolate. There's no white middle--it's all deliciously red. I learned that nothing tastes as good as a strawberry warmed by the sun. DELICIOUS.

I'm Back, For Good

I didn't expect the last few weeks to be so crazy, but maybe I should have. With the end of school, my sister graduating college, visitors and project upon project, I've been running around like crazy trying to get everything accomplished and in order. Thus, no brain or time for posting.

Well, school is over until the fall (when I'll be student teaching). And I have a few weeks before my job goes to full time. So, I'm hoping I can get a lot accomplished and organized for the upcoming summer rather than wasting my time away... like I usually do with a break in schedule.

All of my grand plans for a more eco-friendly life have, admitedly, gone by the wayside in the time being. I've been thinking more about making enough money this summer to support myself while I student teach in the fall than about how I can stop using ziploc bags or eat organic and locally produced food. I want to get back into the mindset where I'm trying to be a more responsible consumer--both in the sense of buying and eating.

Luckily, some REAL farmer's markets should be opening up around the area soon. In fact, tomorrow R. and I are going to go to a pick your own farm and pick some strawberries. Some storms rolled in last night leaving the next few days in the low seventies--rather than the mid-high eighties we were having. So, it will hopefully be a lovely day.

My vegetables are doing fairly well. I'm at the point where I am getting impatient...which is why I'm not the best gardener in the world. I don't need results immediately, but waiting a handful of months drives me a little crazy. Especially since this is my first attempt, they are in containers, and they don't get quite as much sun as they probably should. I just want to know that some are going to produce.

So, anyway, enough of my ramblings. I should be back to posting fairly regularly and hopefully more interestingly!

Farmer's Market Travesty

So, I've mentioned a few times that there was a farmer's market getting ready to open fairly close to my apartment. I've been excited, eagerly looking for new signs as I drove by.

It opened May 1st, so R. and I headed over yesterday to see what they had. Obviously, it's still really early for most fresh produce, but I was still... optimistic.

We walk in and there's a stand of bags of chips. At first, I think they must be organic chips or something... but nope, regular old Tostidos and Lays. Huh. Then there's a display of soda. Okay.

I quickly move to the produce with a sinking feeling. There's displays of mangoes, plums, pears... all things that I know can't be Fresh or Local. I begin to read tags: Product of California, Georgia, MEXICO. The signs say "Fresh" and "Delisious" (spelled with an s, yes). But, THESE ARE NOT FRESH--THEY HAVE BEEN SHIPPED FROM MEXICO.

Needless to say I was angry. Angry because I got my hopes up, but also because the place claims to be a "FARMER'S market" and... I guess maybe the produce came from a farm SOMEWHERE, but I don't think the farmer is reaping the rewards of a sale. And the signs say FRESH--something from Mexico CAN'T BE FRESH.

But, the saddest part is, I don't think the owners are trying to trick people. They just don't think about it. Food is food is food. It's fresh if it looks ripe, but they're not really thinking about the trip it took that Mango to get here from Mexico. They're thinking, hey let's put a cute little market right here. Let's sell produce. Cool.

So, I'm disappointed and irritated that they're calling themselves a farmer's market. R. thinks it's a mob front, but being a police officer shifts his paranoia into overdrive =)

Looks like I'll be searching out somewhere else to get my local produce this summer. I just hope I can find somewhere not too far out of my way.

Cameras

It's been a busy few weeks since Easter, between work and school and other obligations, I haven't felt like I've had a whole lot of "sit" time. But, about a week after Easter I realized my camera was missing. I couldn't find it anywhere. We had gone to Iowa for Easter, so after a week+ of searching, I was convinced I'd somehow lost it in the travel there or back.

Monday, my mother returned to Iowa to put flowers on my Grandmother's grave for her birthday. She also helped my Grandpa by going through some of my Grandmother's things. Tuesday was my birthday, and my Mom brought me back a little something of my Grandma's: her Polaroid camera. She brought this for me not because I'd lost my camera, but because I'd loved that little (or rather, big!) Polaroid and that's about the only camera I can remember my Grandma using.

My Grandma bought my a Polaroid camera for Christmas one year, and though I used it as much as possible, it's long since been gone or shoved in a box somewhere after multiple moves and the advance of technology.

After lunch with R. and my parents and having Mom give me the camera, I had to go to class. As I was driving I was thinking about how this old, clunky Polaroid came into my life when my camera was missing--and wasn't that just a bit of a coincidence? Hadn't my Grandma always had a way with filling whatever particular void I was feeling. The thought made me happy.

I got to class a bit early, so sat in the hall and pulled out a book to read. I realized I couldn't find my cell phone, so I was pawing through my purse, when I felt something in the zippered pouch I so rarely use.

My camera.

The moment I felt okay about losing the camera, I found it. The moment I'd felt as if my Grandma's presense was a tangible thing, the camera reappeared. It was as good a birthday present as any.

Spring is REALLY here

Wow, real spring weather finally arrived and I'm practically giddy with it. It's not too hot like it was in March, but not too cold like the winter we had in April. It's sunny, sixties with a cool enough breeze to necessitate a jacket. My favorite kind of weather.

I've been getting my seedlings transplanted in pots, hoping the meager sun and meager space will do well enough for some of them to give something. I'm not looking for enough to live off of by any means, but a tomato or pepper or two would be nice. My strawberry seedlings never popped up, so that was a bit disappointing. I might see if I can find a strawberry plant somewhere instead of trying to grow them from seed.

I'm eagerly awaiting the opening of a farmer's market down the street. It's not quite close enough to walk to, but it is close enough that it makes sense to make regular trips for fruits and vegetables, instead of getting them from the grocery store. And, it's on the way to the grocery store, so it makes sense to stop by there first, then continue on to the store for other necessities. I am very excited about supporting some local farmers and getting some delicious, healthy food out of the deal!

I want to start making my own bread, though admitedly I am a bit intimidated by the whole process. It seems like bread takes a lot of patience, and I do not have a wealth of that! But, I think that will be my project for this weekend/week.

I've fallen off my projects lately. Funks and fogs are not really conduscive to making changes. So, I've been indulging in things like kiwis from Greece and fast food and sitting around, ignoring all the little things I should do. I'm trying to break out of that and get myself together. I need to get back on track with all aspects of my life, being more conscientious in my environmental decisions is just a small part of that.

Hopefully this weather will help get my butt in gear =)

My Soapbox on Violence

I have tried not to think much about the Virginia Tech tragedy. As someone who attends a University as a Masters student, someone who will be teaching in a high school come fall, someone with large amounts of friends and family doing both those things, it's hard to think about without becoming afraid as much as sad. So, it's easier to cope with the things I have to do by putting it away.

But, it's easier said than done, and what keeps coming back to my mind when I hear about this horrible tragedy, is an essay I often use for a lesson plan I teach for creative nonfiction. I use this essay because it addresses the Columbine High School shooting, it adresses violence--and all these things are pertinent not just to everyone--but especially to young people who should be able to go to school without fear, but many cannot.

The essay is from the book of essays Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver. It is called, "Life is Precious, Or Its Not." I don't know that I agree with everything Kingsolver discusses in her essay, it's still an issue I'm working out on where I stand--but regardless of that stand I think we all need to think about violence and how we approach it in our homes and as a society. And, I think this paragraph that ends her essay is something that should be taken into consideration.

"For all of us who are clamoring for meaning, aching for the loss of these precious young lives in Littleton to mean something, my strongest instinct is to use the event to nail a permanent benchmark into our hearts: Life is that precious, period. It is possible to establish zero tolerance for murder as a solution to anything. Those of us who agree to this contract can start by removing from our households and lives every television program, video game, film, book, toy and CD that presents the killing of humans (however symbolic) as an entertainment option, rather than the apalling loss it really is..... Sound extreme? Let's be honest. DEATH is extreme, and the children are paying attention."

Really, I could quote the whole essay, because it raises some tough, tough questions that I myself can't even answer. When I have children, I don't know that I'll have the mindset to rid every movie and video game and CD that depicts killing. But, I think in this Kingsolver makes an excellent point, so much out there depicts killing, murder, violence--think of how hard it would be to rid your lives of it.

We are bombarded with images--on TV, news, movies, papers, and so on and so on of death. It's not all used as "entertainment" per se. And it's not all "bad" in my mind, but when we see nothing but death, I can't help but feel we come desensitized to it.

For example, I was watching a show on the history channel about the JFK assasination and it showed a clip of the Oliver Stone film JFK, where the moment the bullet hits JFK's head is repeated over and over. My stomach turned, I looked away, but I also found myself looking back--a little squeamish, but overall intranced. Consequently, watching the Discovery Earth show, I can't bear to watch another animal kill another animal. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Again, I come to no real, concrete answers. Only the question that I think Kingsolver puts so eloquently in her essay: "Why would any student, however frustrated with mean-spirited tormentors, believe that bombs and guns were the answer?" Why does ANYONE feel that guns and bombs are the answer? What does death, violence, strife solve?

And I think, in the wake of continuing tragedy, not just here in the US, not just in our schools, but across the world, we need to start attempting to answer these questions--face these difficult questions with truth and fact and honesty, and then work toward answers.

I don't believe we can eradicate violence from this Earth. I don't think bad things will ever cease to happen, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. That doesn't mean we shouldn't attempt to change things--and I don't mean just attempting to make our schools safer--I mean trying to change this mindset that murder is an answer. We can install metal detectors, give kids ID badges, guard the school with police with guns--but I think if anything history proves it's that there's always a way to get around the precautions we throw up.

Change is not about fixing what we do--it's about fixing how we think.