Update: April 10, 2019

Posted on by Annie

I’m getting better at staying in one place for a while; this past week featured exactly one move. I spent a heavenly five nights at Watauga, one of my personal happy places on this earth, and it did not disappoint. The campground sits on the river between the Watauga Dam and the Wilbur Dam, so the water level depends on what the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) needs as far as power generation goes. This visit, they apparently needed a lot, and the signal that the water was going to be released from the upstream dam sounded almost every day. On…

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Gettysburg Redux

Posted on by Annie

My first time at Gettysburg was a quick day trip in 90 degrees of heat and humidity, left hand in a cast, on my way to somewhere else. I hadn’t really known what to expect of the place. I was pretty thin on the history of the Civil War and of this battle in particular. One of my nephews had been big on Civil War dioramas in his youth, and, honestly, that was my only reason for stopping by. I figured I’d snap a few pics to text to him, get a postcard or two. After two hours that day,…

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Sunday Serenity: Energy

Posted on by Annie

Energy is definitely one of those things that flows both ways with me. Last weekend, I was full of energy, sparked in large part by being at a retreat with generous and intelligent women writers. I left there Monday, my head full of ideas and my heart full of support and kindness.  This weekend, I’m mellowing out. I’m currently sitting outside under grey skies that threaten to spit a bit of rain on me, but I’m not moving till it happens. I can hear the birds better out here, from the raucous crows to the sweet trills of that unknown…

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Update: April 3, 2019

Posted on by Annie

I’ve been a driving fool the past week, making a 900-mile round trip just to attend a women writers’ retreat at the northwest end of Virginia. From Huntsville to Knoxville and the very nice TVA campground at Melton Hill Dam… …to a pull-through site at Hungry Mother State Park, where I had my visit last fall cut short by Hurricane Florence… …to a crazy busy privately-owned RV park that was hosting some kind of extended family gathering for the weekend. Let’s just say their gathering and our retreat were about 180 degrees of difference! I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend spent…

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Update: Mar 27, 2019

Posted on by Annie

After a pretty slow February and March as far as traveling around goes, I’ve now picked up the pace, heading to a weekend retreat up in northern Virginia. Friday, I said goodbye to Birmingham, home of good food, an old friend and a new one, and photographic opportunities, and headed up the road a few hours to Huntsville. My Alabama explorations are almost done now. Huntsville has been on my radar since I started vagabonding, mainly because an old running buddy and his wife live there. I missed them last fall when I changed plans so we met up this…

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