On the Road Again

The laundry basket is calling my name, but before I go throw some clothes in the washer I thought I'd let you know what we've been up to for the last week or so.

We first traveled to NC to spend a couple of nights with some dear friends. Among other things, we went bowling with them and their children - what a hoot that was!! For the first 7 frames of the game Melissa was only beating their 5 year old by 6 points. But then she came back with 2 strikes in a row. Sweet, huh?!

Next, we headed up to VA for a few days of meetings. We stayed really busy, but we got to spend time with some new friends who are traveling a lot like we are. There were lots of laughs and even a few tears as we had opportunities to share our stories with each other. It seems that the more people we meet and the more places we travel, the smaller the world gets. You never know who you're going to meet just around the bend!

After we returned to SC, we headed over to spend the night with Mark's sister and family. Mark stayed busy teaching our nephews the ins and outs of a few Playstation games. They love to watch him exercise his video game skills!

And today we attended Melissa's grandfather's wedding. It was beautiful! He's been blessed with a very special lady, and we wish them many years together.

It seems we may get to stay put for a couple of weeks. So that means the laundry and our ever-growing "to do" list will finally get the attention they need.

Until next time . . . travel safe and stay cool!

Pictures from Tennessee

Here are a few more pictures that I promised in the last post. Hope you enjoy them!

We went to a museum in Erwin one day and I saw this stained glass "picture" of the railroad, which used to be the livelihood of the town. This picture doesn't do it justice. It's beautiful!

Buffalo Valley Golf Course (Mark's thinking extra hard about his tee shot off this very steep hill.)










Rock Creek Falls (Our reward for the 1.5 mile hike that I thought would kill me!)

Titus trying to steal a full bottle of water off the shelf. (He was trying to be sneaky, but can a 75 pound dog ever really be sneaky?!)

A Mountaintop Experience

If you've never been to the mountains of TN, you're missing a beautiful opportunity! That's where we spent the past two weeks camping. No, not in tents! The temperature on our campsite was between 70 and 80 during the day (a few days were cooler than that) and at night it was in the 50's. We had just enough rain to make us appreciate the sunshine and enough sunshine that we really did enjoy the rain that came. Well, Titus didn't enjoy the rain too much beucase it was usually accompanied with thunder and lightning! But he did enjoy playing with all of the plastic bottles that inevitably accompany campers.

Our first few days were a bit bumpy trying to make a couple of purchases that would make our stay a little more enjoyable, but my dad's GPS unit led us in the wrong direction one day and we had to make a couple of returns because of "bad" merchandise. Once we got all of that settled we were finally able to relax. And relax we did!!!

We strolled through Historic Jonesborough, home of the International Storytelling Center and the oldest town in TN. (This is what you see in the picture at the beginning of this post.) We crusied the streets of Erwin to look at all the beautiful old homes decorated for the 4th of July. We hiked the trail connected to the campground to Rock Creek Falls (supposedly 1.5 miles but felt like 3!). We sat around the campfire at night, hoping the next morning we wouldn't wake up to too many bug bites itching. We stuffed ourselves twice at a restaurant that serves family style Amish-type meals. Oh yeah, I almost forgot that Mark golfed a few times. One day I rode along on the golf cart with him just to take pictures . . . of the course, not him! And, yes, I did use my brain a little. I finally purchased a book of Sudoku puzzles and learned how to solve them. I've only been thinking about it since we went to Paris a year ago!

Takin' a Break

Isn't this the picture of one very tired puppy dog?! This is about the way we all looked after we got settled in at my (Melissa's) mom and dad's house Sunday evening.

Our move up here was rather uneventful (that is, if you don't count the flat tire we had to change in the sweltering afternoon heat in the emergency lane of the interstate). There are always a few "kinks" in the system when trying to load the belongings of two adults and one dog into two cars, but we squeezed and pushed and stacked until we got it all to fit. Well, all except for what I forgot! About halfway into our trip, I realized I forgot to get a few things out of one of the kitchen cabinets. Oh, well! Nobody's perfect, right?

We've managed to actually get quite a bit accomplished since we got here. You know, the really important stuff . . . visiting the local Starbucks, going to a movie, staying up late AND sleeping in late, walking around the neighborhood, playing with Titus. OK - I think you get the picture! Believe me when I say I know this won't last forever, but it's been a long time coming!! I hope that you all get to take a little break from the hustle and bustle of life today, too!

By the way, for those of you who have never seen our dog, Titus, that's him in the picture at the beginning of this post. Isn't he handsome?!

Storing up Treasures . . .

If any of you have ever moved - whether across town, to another state, or even just across the street - you know the "joys" of plundering through those "treasures" you've stored up over the years and wondering how in the world one collects so much stuff in such a short (or long, as the case may be) time. That's precisely what we've been up to for the past month. The only catch to it is this - we can't continue storing it! Most of it has to go . . . where is the biggest question.

I have taken quite a few walks down memory lane, laughed some laughs, shed a few tears, and occasionally asked myself, "Whatever possessed me (us) to hang on to this?!" All in all the process of letting go has been relatively easy, but there are those items that seem to hang around in the "twilight zone" of packing if I can't decide to trash it, store it, pass it on, or take it along for the journey ahead. Thankfully, we've found great homes for a lot of our "treasures" and we've decided that some things aren't worth finding homes for anyway.

Well, to sum up this little ditty about the ups and downs of packing I'll encourage you to take out those photo ablums a little more often, reread those love notes from way back when, laugh (or cry) over those middle school photos with a friend (or better yet, with your children!), and please, whatever you do, don't save that wedding china and crystal for Christmas and anniversaries only - make the most of it as often as you can. Every day you have with family and friends is a day to celebrate, and the memories made while spending time together is a treasure beyond those "treasures" you've stored away.

Love to you all!
M&M

Getting Started

Hello, everyone! Just wanted to let you know where to find us on the web. We're just getting this going, so check back over the next few weeks to see what we're up to! See you then!!