Where has the year gone by?

Yogi Berra, the famous NY Yankees catcher said, “It ain’t over until it’s over!” The COVID pandemic is not over, but we’re both lucky to be fully vaccinated (and “boostered”), and we’ve cautiously gone back out into the world. 

Family Picnic at the Beach

For our first airplane flight, we visited southern California to see Irene’s mom and aunties, son Travis and Abby, and son Jason and Maria and grandson Levi. Connecting with family is the best way to make up for a couple of years of isolation, and actually putting our feet into the Pacific Ocean’s surf was a wonderful celebration of hope for more freedom. 

Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is celebrated in the Mexican culture to remember and reconnect with family who have passed. Irene created ofrendas (offerings) with pictures and mementos significant to the lives of her dad and other of our family. It is believed that even the aroma of their familiar foods (Irene made chicken mole) will help their spirits find their way to connect with the living on this day. 

We’ve stayed safer by opting for outdoor adventures. The Noeton Area hiking trail along Cherokee Lake is only 10 minutes from our house. Irene designed and built a fire-pit in our backyard for quiet evenings and roasting marshmallows. 

To celebrate Irene’s birthday, we went to the Picasso exhibit in Nashville. We stayed in Germantown, went to the Grand Ole Opry, enjoyed many of the capitol sights, and of course, some great dining.

Breakfast at the Germantown Inn

Nashville - where the action is

After a year’s delay, Steve and his Community Host Group successfully brought a FREE Medical, Dental, and Vision weekend RAM (Remote Area Medical) clinic to serve the diverse needs of more than 250 people of Appalachia. 

There were many outdoor events during the year – the Iris festival in Greeneville, the Craft Beer festival (20+ craft beers and lots of food trucks), and Juneteenth at the new expansive Fulton-Hill Park which was once the site of a slave market, and then became one the first Black colleges (HBCUs) in the south. 

International Festival

Jerk Chicken from the Jamaica Food Truck

Micronesian Community at HOLA Lakeway

Juneteenth at Fulton-Hill Park

Beer Festival at the Farmers' Market

Of course we found both new and familiar restaurants as we continue to explore east Tennessee.

Red Meze Turkish Food in Johnson City

Homecooked Paella by Steve

Etch in Nashville

Off the Hook on cherokee Lake

Fin-Two in Knoxville

Fox and Parrot Pigeon Forge

Boyd's Jig and Reel Knoxville

Appalachian Sevierville

Irene’s business is 1-year old, and “booming”. She has a waiting list referred by her many happy clients and through the great social media & website she designed herself; and she topped her first year business plan projections with ease and confidence. 

Along with Steve’s college classes about American Government and Political Science, he was asked to teach an Education course – The College Experience, for newly entering college students. He also won a Faculty Fellowship (CE2 – Community Engagement for Civics Education) to teach free classes for citizens in the community about their government.

Steve's "Teaching Desk" for virtual classes from home

In January he was appointed as a County Election Commissioner by the Secretary of State of Tennessee. And, he’s continued with virtual English teaching for more than 12 students in Mexico, Brazil, Japan, India and international expats around the US.

Our Christmas Gnomes will be welcoming our neighbors and wishing all our friends around the world Happy Holidays. If your travels include Tennessee - come on down and visit you'all.

There's No Place Like "Gnome"

...at Jubilee Day in Morristown

Hannah says, "Come visit us in TN!"

Wow! …we made it through 2020

 

Happy Snow Day!

Irene and I are very lucky to have each other to lean on; yes, our lives have changed – we have survived and grown. We acknowledge the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the near chaos of the national elections, but in the next few paragraphs we choose to focus on many good experiences of the last half-year. We hope you may enjoy some of these short stories about adventures.

** CLICK on any picture to Enlarge **

Beautiful Formal Gardens

Masked Photographer

We found many places to safely explore where social distancing and masking were followed. The North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville spans 65 acres of cultivated gardens, and10 miles of hiking and biking trails. We celebrated our anniversary with a weekend getaway to Chattanooga. Stayed at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel (the old railroad station) and explored Rock City and the amazing Ruby Cave.

Rock City Overlook

Ruby Falls Caverns

Elrod Falls is only about a half-hour from our home. A short trail takes you right up to the pool at the base of the falls.

Apple season in the fall means a visit to the Apple Barn Winery in Sevierville and a chance to buy fresh fruit right from the orchard, and of course warm homemade apple pies.

Since March we’ve carefully avoided (and missed) many favorite restaurants. We’ve actually eaten “out” only 4 times – twice when outside patio dining was available and socially distanced, and 2 times when the place was “empty” and we knew and trusted the owners to maintain COVID protocols – crab legs at Tennessee Jacks and baklava at Red Meze were our rewards for masking up.

It snowed on Christmas Day – not enough to shovel the driveway, but Hannah and Serena had a blast running around the yard in the white stuff. Tennessee does get snow, but except in the mountains, its never more than a dusting.

Irene has been on a leave from Headstart because of the risks of COVID transmission in preschool. So – she started her own business. Her new company is registered as a Tennessee LLC and provides commercial and residential cleaning services. Even if she returns to teaching after COVID, www.AffordableCleaningTN.com  will continue. And, of course, she is still creating new art pieces – check out www.DiGrayLady.com. 

Steve has converted to 100% virtual teaching Political Science at Walters State. He’s got quite a sophisticated “teaching station” at home and has become a “ZOOM expert!” Of course, he’s still involved in many civic activities – including recently being appointed to the County Election Commission. He also finally got reconnected to his passion for theatre and joined the Board of Trustees of www.EncoreTheatricalCompany.com.

Social distancing actually created a whole new “business” opportunity for Steve. Over the last 3 years he’s tutored English language and American Integration for 18 international executives and engineers (from Mexico, India, and Venezuela) and their families who relocated from other countries to big multi-national manufacturers in Morristown. Since Zoom has replaced face-to-face for this work, he now has online students from Germany, Russia, India, and Brazil who have moved to far away US cities.

For Steve’s “milestone” birthday, Irene created this painting as a gift. The Japanese characters – Nan Ju Go – say “75” – and he actually now has this design tattooed on his arm.

 

Our new President has given us renewed hope. Our 245 year old experiment in democracy does survive. The founders of our country wanted us to feel strongly about politics so that we could work together and create great ideas that come out of respect and compromise.

From our Backyard to Yours - Love, Irene & Steve

We ask that all of our friends and acquaintances continue to wear a mask, keep socially distanced, and sanitize hands and surfaces often. We will get through this together. 

…So, what’s new?

Steve & Irene Hiking in TN

Here we are half-way through 2020 already – Irene and I have rigorously maintained COVID-19 quarantine, social distancing, and wearing masks, and we are healthy. We hope that you and those close to you have not been touched by the virus. Living in rural Tennessee has pluses and minuses – there is certainly more space between people, but there also is conservative backlash about the necessity for masks. Sadly, the numbers of infected cases and even deaths have begun to grow in our little county; I expect that mandatory protective rules will be enacted soon. 

** CLICK on any picture to Enlarge **

Smokies Stadium

 Tennessee really does have professional baseball – the Smokies (a farm team of the Chicago Cubs) plays a full season in a stadium near Sevierville. In May, 2019 we celebrated the end of the Walters State College semester with Steve’s RHiTA students (Recruiting Hispanics to Achieve) – we all congregated in a private box with snacks and drinks included. And…Irene even caught a high fly ball that made it up to our seats.

Mountain Makin’s is Morristown’s fall arts and food festival. There are many artists and craftspeople showing their works along with local music, dance groups, and lots of great food booths.

Our town hosted the first annual Craft Beer celebration in September. It was such a success that the vendors ran out of suds by 4pm and had to bring kegs in from Knoxville. We will have our first tap-room (and eventually brew pub) on Historic Main Street later this year. Speaking of beer, the Old Oak Taproom outside of Greeneville was another new find off the main roads.

Theatre Bristol
"Into the Woods"

We continue to explore the South. Bristol is a town on the Tennessee/Virginia border (Main Street is divided down the middle as the state line). We saw “Into the Woods” at Theatre Bristol and, of course found a couple of great meals too. There are so many places around our new home to explore. Since Main Street is in 2 states, there are different liquor laws and different sales taxes on opposite sides of the street too.

Jones-borough is the oldest town in TN. Irene had 5 art pieces accepted for their annual juried art show and she did win an award.  Jonesborough is also the home of the International Storytelling Center which cultivates the art of oral narration. And, we stumbled upon the Tennessee Distillery – opened a few years ago by a young mechanical engineer and his wife – our favorite is the Hellcat Gin.

"Papa te amo!" was awarded a Certificate of Merit

This Koi Fish is made from found "junk" - all the scales are beer bottle caps!

 The Morristown Parks Fall Festival invited teams to construct a set piece – Irene and her “Circle of Friends” won the first prize with their “Hocus Pocus” scene.

Panther Creek State Park

November brought son Travis and his wife Abby for a visit. We toured east TN, a bit of Kentucky, and even went to Dollywood. Irene and I keep sending them real estate information in hopes that maybe they’d think about moving out here.

The Cherokee Lake viewpoint at Panther Creek State Park - only 15 minutes from our house is a favorite overlook on the lake.

Cumberland Gap - Connecting Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia

Arial Cable Car to the Top of Ober Gatlinburg

The Martha Washington all decked out for the Holidays

We made a long-weekend Christmas trip to Abingdon, VA which is about 100 miles north of us. Had a great German-inspired dinner at the 249-year old Tavern, took in “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Ghost” at the famous Barter Theatre, and toured historic graveyards and the Old White’s Mill. Our treat was staying at the Martha Washington Hotel which was all decked out for the holidays.

"Our" room at the The Martha

The Tavern

Old White's Mill

Oysters and Martinis 

Bootlegger's Cabin

Vardy is the historic home of the Melungeons – a mixed race community whose history may go back to the 1500s. Proud of their unique ethnic mixture of African, Scotch/Irish, Native American, and maybe Portuguese, this was the site of the first racially integrated school long before national reforms. Our day trip this summer included a visit to Mahala Mullins’ cabin – she was a 19^th century bootlegger.

Hancock county Countryside

Irene’s Head Start classes and my Walters State College programs were modified with the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders in March, 2020. Irene started video recording and reading storybooks for students online. Even the local newspaper caught her many storytime for kids’ videos.

Social distancing has meant finding activities without crowds. Only 3 miles from our house, the Johnson Ridge Trail along the shores of Cherokee Lake is a calming and quiet hiking area which helps keep us “grounded” during these stressful times.

Johnson Ridge Loop Trail on Cherokee Lake

Happy Hikers

Serena and Hannah add love and humor to our lives. They even got their picture on our new bank cards – this saves pulling pictures out of our wallet to show them off.

We are well settled now in our home (it’s been 4 years since we returned from Peace Corps in Jamaica); we welcome your comments and visits too. Take care, be well, and wear your masks! Peace & Love from Irene and Steve.