Now, that's the life for me!

Sid the Science Kid...have you heard of him? If you have a small child, you may have. If you love PBS (especially in the mornings), you probably have. Sid wants to know everything about everything and he LOVES science! His family and friends sing and dance all the time. And he has the coolest (Kindergarten?) teacher, Teacher Susie. She sings, dances and teaches very cool stuff. There are only four kids in his class and they have an awesome classroom and playground all to themselves. Ahhh...that would have rocked! Not that I didn't enjoy the school, friends and teachers I had during grade school. They were pretty cool, too. But I definitely don't remember all the singing and dancing. Very fun! Here's to finding the simple pleasures in life...don't forget to live, love, laugh...three of my favorite things.
Happy Monday!

Life is meant to be lived

Wow...what an absolutely gorgeous spring day! Ever since we moved to one of the most beautiful cities I've ever lived in (and I've lived in quite a few!), I have developed a new appreciation of nature and all the beauty she has to offer. Today was a perfect spring day...high of 71, low of 43. Not too hot to make you sweat, but not cool enough for a sweater. Lon and I had a yummy breakfast of homemade bran pancakes with fresh strawberries. We took a few hours (windows and doors open, of course) to hone some critical skills. He practiced (played) Texas Hold 'Em on the internet and I made a few pieces of hemp jewelry (which I promptly put on). Then it was time to head out and soak up this glorious Sunday. We headed close to downtown, parked, and walked about 2.5 miles into downtown via the Riverwalk (one of my favorite-ist parts of Chatt!). We passed a group of kids (age 6-17) playing amazing music (sounded very Irish when we passed by) under one of the TN Aquarium bridges. They were Bow-Dacious, a string band from IL...very talented kids! They had a good crowd gathered, complete with parents/kids dancing all over the place. Always seems to be something going on around town (which makes us wish even more that we lived in the heart of it). Then it was on to the 'Deal of the Day.' Almost every bar/restaurant in town seems to have some sort of deal on Bloody Marys and Mimosas on Sunday (Brunch rocks!) So we popped into Mellow Mushroom to have one of the best Bloodys in town. Nice and spicy...and apparently enhanced with a splash of Guinness. Yummy! There we split a small Kosmic Karma pizza for lunch. Delish...what's that? You don't know Mellow Mushroom? I truly feel bad for you...it is a very tasty, very laid back, very cool little pizza place with some of the best microbrews available. Besides, who could turn down pizza from a mushroom dude named Mel? What's Kosmic Karma, you ask? Only one of the most flavorful little pizzas you could put in your mouth, that's what! Picture it...freshly tossed spring water dough (nice and chewy), spinach, feta, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, mozzerella and pesto...all with a nice sprinkling of parmesean on top. Goes perfectly with a spicy Bloody (and water, too!). Afterwards we headed down to the river, took a new path, saw some beautiful forsythia, cherry trees and Bradford pears...everything is trying to bloom! Headed back to the Jeep for a nice round trip jaunt of a mere 5.8 miles. We earned our Bloody Marys today and we enjoyed every drop! :)
Now, I'm just working on some study questions on the respiratory and digestive systems and Lon went to a local R/C track to watch some races. It's going on 7 pm and the sun is still high in the sky...I LOVE SPRING!
Ahhhhh....been a while since I really posted....feels good. I hope the weather is gorgeous wherever you are. Get out and enjoy it!

(Side note...if you are being picky, that pic IS from downtown Chatt, but was taken last fall...we didn't take the camera walking with us today. However, it is very similar. There were no clouds today, the sky was bright blue and the trees are green. Just trying to keep it real!)

Great Chattanooga Locations

Last week Lon and I went for a little nature walk...UP A FRIGGIN' MOUNTAIN! We were trying to find new areas we had not yet visited and found one with a great name. Pot Point! What could that be??? Especially since it was down SUCK CREEK ROAD. I love the names of places in the South...you tend to wonder, 'So, what were

they thinking?' So we head out with backpack in tow (packed with apples, PB & Banana sandwiches, bottles of water and some gingersnaps.) Sounds like the perfect hiking picnic, right? We follow the directions and turn off a paved road onto a dirt road and take that for 4 miles (good thing we're in the Jeep). Now this isn't just any dirt road, we're are sandwiched between the TN River and Suck Creek Mountain. So we have cute river homes, mobile homes with mini car lots out front, RV's on empty plots with BBQ's and picnic tables, and miscellaneous rubble (i.e. previous houses). The road goes up, down, to the left and right, barely allows for two vehicles, is rough, a little scary, a little quaint. Finally we arrive at Pot Point House, a very cute two-story house available for rentals and weddings. We park across the street at the appointed 'parking lot' (gravel area), getting barked at by the multiple hound dogs living at the adjoining trailer (up on the hill). They are standing tall on the upside down boat 'parked' in the yard. Yes, we are in the high fashion district now! The nature trail/hike UP THE FRIGGIN' MOUNTAIN started off nice and easy, but got nasty and straight up real quick. The 3.5 mile hike turned into 3 hours of intense hiking up a 1,000 ft altitude mountain and back down along the river. It was more than we bargained for, but great exercise and a new adventure. The area along the river had apparently had recent rain and was VERY muddy and squishy in spots...my shoes/socks have the stains to prove it. Overall, it was a fun excursion and we had a great time. There is nothing quite like a PB&B sandwich on a hike...makes it that much better. The temp was in the mid-60's and it was sunny. Great day for a hike.

So Versatile...

Ode to Bamboo

Quoted from A Yankee on the Yangtze by William Edgar Geil, 1904.

A man can sit in a bamboo house under a bamboo roof, on a bamboo chair at a bamboo table, with a bamboo hat on his head and bamboo sandals on his feet. He can at the same time hold in one hand a bamboo bowl, in the other hand bamboo chopsticks and eat bamboo sprouts. When through with his meal, which has been cooked over a bamboo fire, the table may be washed with a bamboo cloth, and he can fan himself with a bamboo fan, take a siesta on a bamboo bed, lying on a bamboo mat with his head resting on a bamboo pillow. His child might be lying in a bamboo cradle, playing with a bamboo toy. On rising he would smoke a bamboo pipe and taking a bamboo pen, write on bamboo paper, or carry his articles in bamboo baskets suspended from a bamboo pole, with a bamboo umbrella over his head. He might then take a walk over a bamboo suspension bridge, drink water from a bamboo ladle, and scrape himself with a bamboo scraper (handkerchief).

We received a set of bamboo sheets for Christmas and I can't even begin to tell you how much they ROCK! All of that same stuff you can do with hemp...wow. Check out these very informative links on bamboo and hemp to see just how earth-friendly, sustainable, and versatile these overlooked plants really are.
Bamboo
Hemp