Weekly Update: Oct 24, 2018

Posted on by Annie

Ah, back in the land of data. No, not that guy from Star Trek:TNG. Real data, the kind that means pictures upload in seconds instead of minutes, and pages load in the blink of an eye instead of while I’m doing the dishes waiting for Facebook or the New York Times to display on my tablet. The last week was lovely, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, but the data connectivity there was poor to none unless I drove to the overlook or into town (which is how I did yesterday’s post, btw). As Joni Mitchell once wrote…

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Tennessee Mountain Cemetery

Posted on by Annie

A dead-end road, a small sign, and a short walk uphill to a shady spot overlooking the river. That’s all it took to give a sense of place here in Carter County, Tennessee. Most of the gravestones are old, moss-covered, with the words engraved barely readable. There are a few newer ones, the granite sporting the shiny finish more common now that in the old days. That doesn’t matter, the families know who is buried where and they leave plastic flowers to remember those gone before. The graveyard is next to a tiny white clapboard church, one of the many…

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Weekly Update: Oct 17. 2018

Posted on by Annie

Eastern Tennessee just has to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve been in the last few years. Small towns, not a lot of cell signal on the back roads, but the people are friendly and the places are quiet and peaceful this time of year. Autumn is starting to show, temperatures dropping, leaves too. The colors haven’t shown up much yet, but I’m still hopeful they will. Last Friday, I did my first ever hike along the Appalachian Trail. I should have grabbed my hiking poles. Lots of ups and downs and rocks, and the trail was pretty…

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Sunday Serenity: Forest Bathing

Posted on by Annie

As the political scene heats up and the winter cold starts becoming a reality, let’s take a few minutes for virtual walk through the Cherokee Forest in Tennessee. Here’s the start of our trail, that red rectangle, or blaze, on the tree to the left. The Japanese call this Shinrin-yoku or forest bathing because it is truly a cleansing thing: to be surrounded by nature, from trees overhead to mushrooms and moss underfoot, with birds calling out as they fly across the sky. Look up and see the colors changing, nature on its steady cycle forward. See the harmony of…

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Weekly Update: Oct 10, 2018

Posted on by Annie

For the first time since I started vagabonding, it’s a lucky day: the weekly update is the same day as my birthday. Whee! So instead of a weekly report, I’m featuring some of my favorite moments from the last year. The Year of 62 started out quite beautifully on the shores of Lake Superior (cover photo above). From there, I made my way west across Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, and then New Mexico. I visited the Ghost Ranch near Santa Fe, a huge bucket list item for me since it’s where Georgia O’Keeffe lived for so many years. December and…

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