I was a runner before biking became by obsession. I've done a few triathlons and for some reason made a semi-goal to do a marathon. I had my training log and was dutifully doing my runs; mostly up at Flatwoods. I was road riding a lot more back then. I was trying to cross train, to give my body a break from the pounding that running does to you. I was swimming a lot back then, too. And going to the gym. (Gee...what happened....I discovered off road riding and now I spend all my time in the woods.)
I'd heard about this mysterious and elusive 'runner's high' and admit to wishful thinking about it. I'd never had one. I've run lots of miles, sweated a lot, been through a lot of shoes, but most of what I felt was more akin to misery than euphoria.
So when it finally happened to me, I was overjoyed. I don't know where I was, maybe 5 1/2 miles into a 7 mile run. I had my Ipod on, my tunes were helping me move. And all of a sudden, all thoughts left my head. I couldn't hold onto a thought. A thought would come in one side of my head and just dissipate. I was chugging along, trying to think of something and nothing worked. My mind is usually Grand Central Station. I've got a zillion different things going on at the same time, in all different directions, all working a whirlwind inside my brain. Typical woman, I guess. I tired to sing along to songs that I knew and the lyrics wouldn't come to me. It was just so cool that my mind was at peace. There was nothing clamoring inside my brain for attention. It was true serenity.
Alas, that happened only one time.
Contrast that with a bike ride. I don't get the runner's high I just described, but I get what I call the biker's mellow. After a ride, I get in my car and head home and I'm just a big bucket of contentment. Nothing bothers me. I don't speed (uh, my usual MO), I don't get upset if someone cuts me off or is otherwise an asshat in traffic. I feel great. I exude good vibrations. I'm happy. This happens after almost every single bike ride I go on; especially the off road rides. Is it any wonder I do it as often as I can?
So, I'm heading to the money pit for the next three weeks. I probably won't write anything, unless I get really inspired and take the laptop into town. I'll be back on July 10th.
Jen
Friday, June 18, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Baby day
I've been watching my husband's grandson (his daughter from first marriage's son. I'm far too young to call myself a grandmother, though chronologically, if I'd started really early, I could be up to a great by now, perhaps even a great great if me and my progeny tended towards early, unprotected sex) on Tuesdays while his mother works since November or so. The first few times were rough; basically, the baby cried all day. He's since gotten used to me and I to him and we generally have a good time together.
I will post another time about his peculiarities, but he's a great kid.
I've been looking for a baby jogger and/or bike trailer for a few months now. Zane likes being outside and I like riding my bike so I thought this would be a good solution. A buddy from SWAMP was selling one and by the time I got around to telling him I was on my way to look at it, someone had already bought it. My friend Bev found one in a thrift store, just two days before the half price sale. We decided to gamble and wait for the sale. She got there 10 minutes after the store opened on the half price day, and there was an old man in line with the baby trailer. Sigh.
Ever the optimist am I, so I've been trolling Craigslist and I'll be damned I found one this past weekend. A Trek brand that doubles as a jogger and a trailer, in good working condition, for $30. I just had to drive to Largo, almost all the way to the beach, to get it. It's got some mildew stains on it and some paint splatters, but it's mechanically sound, which is what's important.
I got up early today because I was too lazy to do anything to the trailer yesterday. Got it out of the car, figured out how it worked. Cleaned it up a bit. I couldn't get the hitch in at first, but a little WD40 did the trick. It took me half an hour of fooling around with it, but I finally figured out how it worked, how it hooked up, and how it folded. By this time I was dripping with sweat.
Chelsea (mom) and Zane (baby) arrived around 8:30. I hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so by the time I did that, got all my bike gear organized, got dressed in my bike clothes, changed his diaper and clothes, got sun screen on both of us, got drinks for both of us, loaded the car, got stuffed animals to prop him up with in the trailer, it was 9:30 before we left the house. Got to Flatwoods and had to do it in reverse. It was almost 10 o'clock before we headed out, and it was a scorcher of a day.
When I ride Flatwoods I generally have a plan in mind. The main loop is seven miles, and there's a jog over to another entrance at Bruce B. Downs that's another two miles each way. 2 loops over to Bruce B. Downs and back is 23 miles. If I do that and one more of the main loop I'm looking at about 31 miles. The minimum I do is 15 miles and that's if I'm not feeling well or if a thunderstorm is heading my way or if there's another good reason to have a short ride (like heat stroke.)
Pulling a trailer with 40-50 pounds behind me is a new experience. I started out briskly, watching my cadence and making sure I was spinning over 90 rpm. About a mile into the ride I realized I was having a hard time breathing. I had a bug last week and am not over it yet. I looked down and I was dripping sweat. The sun was no longer behind a cloud, it was pounding down on me and Zane, and I had a long way to go. I told him, after about 2 miles, that we'd be lucky to make one loop. And my prediction was right; I barely made it. If it'd just been me I would have gone to one of the pavilions and rested, but I thought it was best to get him back to the car and a/c as quickly as possible. We did stop at the third water stop for a bit 'cause Zane had been fussing. He calmed down and we set off again. He started fussing again. I made it back to the car as quickly as I dared. I was really scared of getting a heat stroke. It was a furnace outside. I almost passed out at Flatwoods three years ago from the heat; I didn't want a repeat performance, especially since I had the little guy to look after.
Back at the car I turned the a/c on full blast and got the little guy into his car seat. I put the bike and trailer in. It was really hard because it was so hot. I just wanted to find someplace cool and put my head between my legs.
OK, lesson learned. If I take Zane out with the bike trailer it must be early in the morning if it is summertime. If I get a late start again, I'm staying home.
On the other hand, I'm delighted with the trailer. While it's not easy to pull behind me, it adds another training dimension, right????? Next time, cooler weather, two loops (if baby cooperates.)
Jen
I will post another time about his peculiarities, but he's a great kid.
I've been looking for a baby jogger and/or bike trailer for a few months now. Zane likes being outside and I like riding my bike so I thought this would be a good solution. A buddy from SWAMP was selling one and by the time I got around to telling him I was on my way to look at it, someone had already bought it. My friend Bev found one in a thrift store, just two days before the half price sale. We decided to gamble and wait for the sale. She got there 10 minutes after the store opened on the half price day, and there was an old man in line with the baby trailer. Sigh.
Ever the optimist am I, so I've been trolling Craigslist and I'll be damned I found one this past weekend. A Trek brand that doubles as a jogger and a trailer, in good working condition, for $30. I just had to drive to Largo, almost all the way to the beach, to get it. It's got some mildew stains on it and some paint splatters, but it's mechanically sound, which is what's important.
I got up early today because I was too lazy to do anything to the trailer yesterday. Got it out of the car, figured out how it worked. Cleaned it up a bit. I couldn't get the hitch in at first, but a little WD40 did the trick. It took me half an hour of fooling around with it, but I finally figured out how it worked, how it hooked up, and how it folded. By this time I was dripping with sweat.
Chelsea (mom) and Zane (baby) arrived around 8:30. I hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so by the time I did that, got all my bike gear organized, got dressed in my bike clothes, changed his diaper and clothes, got sun screen on both of us, got drinks for both of us, loaded the car, got stuffed animals to prop him up with in the trailer, it was 9:30 before we left the house. Got to Flatwoods and had to do it in reverse. It was almost 10 o'clock before we headed out, and it was a scorcher of a day.
When I ride Flatwoods I generally have a plan in mind. The main loop is seven miles, and there's a jog over to another entrance at Bruce B. Downs that's another two miles each way. 2 loops over to Bruce B. Downs and back is 23 miles. If I do that and one more of the main loop I'm looking at about 31 miles. The minimum I do is 15 miles and that's if I'm not feeling well or if a thunderstorm is heading my way or if there's another good reason to have a short ride (like heat stroke.)
Pulling a trailer with 40-50 pounds behind me is a new experience. I started out briskly, watching my cadence and making sure I was spinning over 90 rpm. About a mile into the ride I realized I was having a hard time breathing. I had a bug last week and am not over it yet. I looked down and I was dripping sweat. The sun was no longer behind a cloud, it was pounding down on me and Zane, and I had a long way to go. I told him, after about 2 miles, that we'd be lucky to make one loop. And my prediction was right; I barely made it. If it'd just been me I would have gone to one of the pavilions and rested, but I thought it was best to get him back to the car and a/c as quickly as possible. We did stop at the third water stop for a bit 'cause Zane had been fussing. He calmed down and we set off again. He started fussing again. I made it back to the car as quickly as I dared. I was really scared of getting a heat stroke. It was a furnace outside. I almost passed out at Flatwoods three years ago from the heat; I didn't want a repeat performance, especially since I had the little guy to look after.
Back at the car I turned the a/c on full blast and got the little guy into his car seat. I put the bike and trailer in. It was really hard because it was so hot. I just wanted to find someplace cool and put my head between my legs.
OK, lesson learned. If I take Zane out with the bike trailer it must be early in the morning if it is summertime. If I get a late start again, I'm staying home.
On the other hand, I'm delighted with the trailer. While it's not easy to pull behind me, it adds another training dimension, right????? Next time, cooler weather, two loops (if baby cooperates.)
Jen
Sunday, June 6, 2010
These Late Night Are Killing Me
OK, so I went out a few week ago to see The Hold Steady in Orlando. Did I mention that it takes me a full day to recover from a late night out? I'm sitting here, blearily, a little after 1 in the afternoon. I got home last night at 1:30??? 2 a.m.??? It doesn't matter how late it was. Let's face it, my body is used to being in bed by 10 pm. My body is in full rebellion mode. (You messed with me so this is what you get. I'm not hung over, I'm just tired.) I missed my bike ride this morning. Got up (didn't really sleep well either) had breakfast, went back to bed. I'm not yet recovered.
OK, so what was the cause of my misery today? It was the Reverend Horton Heat/Cracker show. The Legendary Shack Shakers played as well, but we managed to miss them. It was that, but it began with dinner.
My friends Nancy and Steve Bird asked me to join them at Beaune's, a Wine Bar/Restaurant in Ybor City. They had a gift card to use. I'm not one to turn down a free meal, and I don't get to go out much, so I was delighted to accept. They have a wine shop next to the wine bar, and you choose and bottle from the store and they open it for a $10 cork fee (much less than the usual restaurant mark up.) They have a limited menu, but everything looked great. We decided to share stuff, so we ordered 3 appetizers, a salad each, and an entree to split. The problem (if you could call this a problem) is that the appetizer portions were dinner sized. I don't know if it's because the waitress is good friends with Steve and Nancy or if that's how it always is. There was a huge piles of mussels in a light cream tarragon sauce. I ordered escargot, and instead of a snail per compartment they stuffed 2 or 3 in each dimple. With tons of butter and garlic and bread crumbs. And the cheese thingy that I couldn't pronounce that had whole garlic cloves baked into it. We ate and drank wine and laughed and talked. Then the salads came, with a delightfully light lemony dressing. It was different from what I've had before and it was such a surprise. We could have done without the entree, duck, but they brought it out and we ate every bit of that as well, along with the cassolet and haricot verts. The only thing left was a few bread rounds and one mussel that didn't open. It was a meal fit for a king.
We staggered to our cars and drove to the parking lot behind the Ritz. We got there right as the Shack Shakers played their last song. I'm sorry to have missed them 'cause I really like them and haven't seen them in a few years, but from the reports I got it was the same wild show. We found Matt and then sat around a but and talked with friends who were there. Nancy had gotten us upstairs where there are chairs so we headed up there. I went to get us a beer, and when the bartender said $26 for three beers, I just started laughing. True, they were big beers, but over $8 a beer? WTF? The upstairs bartender had a good sense of humor about it. Well, since we'd been through two bottles of wine over dinner, I didn't need to drink that much anyway.
We settled in and the show started just a few minutes later. It sounded good from where we were. Let's face it, Cracker's been around a long time, have a loyal following, and know how to please their audience. They started with some old favorites, did some new ones, some more faves. Gave the crowd what they wanted.
I'm used to being in the thick of the crowd, so when Nancy suggested going downstairs after twenty minutes or so, I said, "Sure!" It was less crowded on the far side of the room, so we headed over there. I kept drifting closer into the back of the crowd, then I spotted a friend on mine, Henry, at the other side of the stage. Henry and I used to have desks that faced each other back when they had their great experiment at USAA of combining Policy Service and Claims into one unit. We run into each other every so often at shows. So I plunged into the crowd and made my way over to his side. He gave me a big hug. I looked up, I was just 4 people back from the stage. Henry went to get a beer, and Nancy joined me just at Cracker launched into their signature song, 'Euro Trash Girl.' (I often wonder if they wished they'd written fewer verses; the album version clocks in at over 8 minutes.) A girl behind me tapped me on the shoulder and started a tirade, "You know, it's just rude that you people just come in and get right in front of someone. I've been sitting here since before the band started and you just waltz up and....." Actually, I totally agree with her; it was rude of me. I apologized and turned to go, but Henry grabbed me and pulled me in front of him, and his friend pushed me in front of him, and I was right at the front of the stage, right under David Lowrey, lead singer of Cracker. Aaaah, where I belong.
The first thing I noticed is that Lowrey's looking his age. Whew! He's been at it, first with Camper Van Beethoven, now Cracker, since the early 80's. Rock-n-roll is not an easy lifestyle. The second thing is that the man I had displaced (or rather, had been displaced by Henry's friend) looked a bit uncomfortable. I decided to bow out of my stage position and find my friends.
The rest of the night goes onto blur fast forward. Cracker ended, Heat started, mosh pit ensues. Nancy and Steve disappear, Matt and I hang out, I dance and sway to my favorite songs and avoid the sweaty young men who are circling the pit. It was my first time seeing the Reverend Horton Heat, and the show was as expected. Obnoxious fans, but we were able to avoid them so it was all good.
OK, I've not been writing this all day. Went to the store and have done a few other things, but it's almost 3:30 and I'm closer to feeling like myself again. But I've got to limit these late nights.
I just looked at Creative Loafing's concert listing for upcoming shows. I don't see anything that tempts me. For now.
Jen
OK, so what was the cause of my misery today? It was the Reverend Horton Heat/Cracker show. The Legendary Shack Shakers played as well, but we managed to miss them. It was that, but it began with dinner.
My friends Nancy and Steve Bird asked me to join them at Beaune's, a Wine Bar/Restaurant in Ybor City. They had a gift card to use. I'm not one to turn down a free meal, and I don't get to go out much, so I was delighted to accept. They have a wine shop next to the wine bar, and you choose and bottle from the store and they open it for a $10 cork fee (much less than the usual restaurant mark up.) They have a limited menu, but everything looked great. We decided to share stuff, so we ordered 3 appetizers, a salad each, and an entree to split. The problem (if you could call this a problem) is that the appetizer portions were dinner sized. I don't know if it's because the waitress is good friends with Steve and Nancy or if that's how it always is. There was a huge piles of mussels in a light cream tarragon sauce. I ordered escargot, and instead of a snail per compartment they stuffed 2 or 3 in each dimple. With tons of butter and garlic and bread crumbs. And the cheese thingy that I couldn't pronounce that had whole garlic cloves baked into it. We ate and drank wine and laughed and talked. Then the salads came, with a delightfully light lemony dressing. It was different from what I've had before and it was such a surprise. We could have done without the entree, duck, but they brought it out and we ate every bit of that as well, along with the cassolet and haricot verts. The only thing left was a few bread rounds and one mussel that didn't open. It was a meal fit for a king.
We staggered to our cars and drove to the parking lot behind the Ritz. We got there right as the Shack Shakers played their last song. I'm sorry to have missed them 'cause I really like them and haven't seen them in a few years, but from the reports I got it was the same wild show. We found Matt and then sat around a but and talked with friends who were there. Nancy had gotten us upstairs where there are chairs so we headed up there. I went to get us a beer, and when the bartender said $26 for three beers, I just started laughing. True, they were big beers, but over $8 a beer? WTF? The upstairs bartender had a good sense of humor about it. Well, since we'd been through two bottles of wine over dinner, I didn't need to drink that much anyway.
We settled in and the show started just a few minutes later. It sounded good from where we were. Let's face it, Cracker's been around a long time, have a loyal following, and know how to please their audience. They started with some old favorites, did some new ones, some more faves. Gave the crowd what they wanted.
I'm used to being in the thick of the crowd, so when Nancy suggested going downstairs after twenty minutes or so, I said, "Sure!" It was less crowded on the far side of the room, so we headed over there. I kept drifting closer into the back of the crowd, then I spotted a friend on mine, Henry, at the other side of the stage. Henry and I used to have desks that faced each other back when they had their great experiment at USAA of combining Policy Service and Claims into one unit. We run into each other every so often at shows. So I plunged into the crowd and made my way over to his side. He gave me a big hug. I looked up, I was just 4 people back from the stage. Henry went to get a beer, and Nancy joined me just at Cracker launched into their signature song, 'Euro Trash Girl.' (I often wonder if they wished they'd written fewer verses; the album version clocks in at over 8 minutes.) A girl behind me tapped me on the shoulder and started a tirade, "You know, it's just rude that you people just come in and get right in front of someone. I've been sitting here since before the band started and you just waltz up and....." Actually, I totally agree with her; it was rude of me. I apologized and turned to go, but Henry grabbed me and pulled me in front of him, and his friend pushed me in front of him, and I was right at the front of the stage, right under David Lowrey, lead singer of Cracker. Aaaah, where I belong.
The first thing I noticed is that Lowrey's looking his age. Whew! He's been at it, first with Camper Van Beethoven, now Cracker, since the early 80's. Rock-n-roll is not an easy lifestyle. The second thing is that the man I had displaced (or rather, had been displaced by Henry's friend) looked a bit uncomfortable. I decided to bow out of my stage position and find my friends.
The rest of the night goes onto blur fast forward. Cracker ended, Heat started, mosh pit ensues. Nancy and Steve disappear, Matt and I hang out, I dance and sway to my favorite songs and avoid the sweaty young men who are circling the pit. It was my first time seeing the Reverend Horton Heat, and the show was as expected. Obnoxious fans, but we were able to avoid them so it was all good.
OK, I've not been writing this all day. Went to the store and have done a few other things, but it's almost 3:30 and I'm closer to feeling like myself again. But I've got to limit these late nights.
I just looked at Creative Loafing's concert listing for upcoming shows. I don't see anything that tempts me. For now.
Jen
Friday, June 4, 2010
At the produce market this week
It's tomato time in Florida, which means tomatoes can be had dirt cheap at the produce market located at Hillsborough and 30th. I went earlier this week and bought a 25 pound box for $5. Considering that tomatoes--on sale this week at Publix-- are $1.29 a pound....well, you do the math.
Great, but what does one do with 25 pounds of tomatoes all at once? Well, I opened the box the last two mornings and got a really ripe one out and ate it atop my pita and hummus for breakfast. Slathered thick slices on my half turkey sandwich for lunch. Mmmm.
Today I decided to tackle the rest of them. I blanched and skinned almost all of them and put up six quarts in the freezer. I put a few aside to eat. I put a few in the window to get super ripe and I'll make salsa out of them. And I'm making spaghetti and meatballs tonight. The sauce is simmering in the background as I type and my stomach in growling.
Also in season are cantaloupes (the Florida kind). Big ripe juicy fragrant and tasty at 2 for $1. And watermelons are in. Can pick up a small to medium sized seedless for $2-$3.
Happy shopping.
Jen
Great, but what does one do with 25 pounds of tomatoes all at once? Well, I opened the box the last two mornings and got a really ripe one out and ate it atop my pita and hummus for breakfast. Slathered thick slices on my half turkey sandwich for lunch. Mmmm.
Today I decided to tackle the rest of them. I blanched and skinned almost all of them and put up six quarts in the freezer. I put a few aside to eat. I put a few in the window to get super ripe and I'll make salsa out of them. And I'm making spaghetti and meatballs tonight. The sauce is simmering in the background as I type and my stomach in growling.
Also in season are cantaloupes (the Florida kind). Big ripe juicy fragrant and tasty at 2 for $1. And watermelons are in. Can pick up a small to medium sized seedless for $2-$3.
Happy shopping.
Jen
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
House smells
My husband swears I'm crazy, but each place I go has it's own unique smell. Just as each person has their own unique smell, so does each place. Each of my friends' houses have their own distinct odor. It's not bad, it just is. It's a person's aura, I think, that settles into their living area. When my friend, Cindy, moved from her condo to her new place a few years ago, her new house smelled like her old house did.
And I don't think that my sense of smell is that sensitive.
Maybe it's a combination of products one uses that creates each unique scent. I think it has to do with who inhabits a dwelling.
It's not just houses. A Publix smells different from a Sweetbay, which smells different from a Winn-Dixie. Surely I can't be the first to notice this? Almost all K-Marts smell alike.
I'm sharing this, 'cause whenever I come home from being gone for awhile, my house doesn't smell right. Like I said, my husband thinks I'm nuts. But when we pulled in at about six o'-clock last night and I walked in the house, it didn't smell like home. I've been home almost 24 hours and the fragrance (which is generally unnoticeable to me, except when it's off) is about back in balance.
Whew.
Jen
And I don't think that my sense of smell is that sensitive.
Maybe it's a combination of products one uses that creates each unique scent. I think it has to do with who inhabits a dwelling.
It's not just houses. A Publix smells different from a Sweetbay, which smells different from a Winn-Dixie. Surely I can't be the first to notice this? Almost all K-Marts smell alike.
I'm sharing this, 'cause whenever I come home from being gone for awhile, my house doesn't smell right. Like I said, my husband thinks I'm nuts. But when we pulled in at about six o'-clock last night and I walked in the house, it didn't smell like home. I've been home almost 24 hours and the fragrance (which is generally unnoticeable to me, except when it's off) is about back in balance.
Whew.
Jen
A Weekend in the Mountains/The Money Pit
My husband, way before he was my husband, vacationed around Bryson City, NC. Once we had a family, the tradition continued. Then he found out that a co-worker, Troy, had a place outside Bryson City, and we got to stay there a few times. It was a tiny one bedroom cabin, but it had a killer view. It was remote and peaceful.
We'd always talked about being snowbirds after retirement. Let's face it, Florida summers suck. And Florida winters are great. We'd hoped to find a place to settle in the mountains of NC for our summer place. The last time we were up there, the 4th of July two years ago, we'd talked about it, looked at real estate catalogs, and decided to start looking for a place. In fact, we'd planned that I would come back on my own after the kids were back in school and scout around to see what I could see.
We mentioned this to Troy's neighbors, and they said, "Well, you know, there's a log house on top of this mountain we kit built 20 years ago for a lady who's since passed on. There have been several owners, but the last ones lost it. It's bank owned now." Ed and I traipsed up to the top of this very steep driveway that we didn't even know was there, and there was this log house, fireplaces on each side, a long covered front porch. We looked inside. It was a mess, but very fixable. 3 bedrooms, 3 baths (well, 2 1/2..the previous owners had taken the claw footed tub that was in the middle bath)...laundry room, nice sitting room in the back, lots of cabinets in the kitchen, and that great front porch. 9' x 60'.
We talked, discussed, sweated and decided to make a low ball offer. After some dickering, it was ours.
We love it, but let's face it, it's a money pit.
Cue Sad Trombone:
http://www.sadtrombone.com/
OK, that's the intro, but we escaped there for the weekend.
We've spent so much time working over the past almost two years, it was good to take a relaxing weekend. I mostly sat on my front porch, in the one rocking chair that we have, and read. And blissed to the view. And watched the pair of birds who built a nest on our porch chirp and fuss over my presence. (Eastern Phoebes.) With my dog, Serra, sprawled out on the porch close to me.
As a family we played games and games and games. (Cranium and chess and cards and dominoes and scrabble) I'm hoping my kids will have fond memories of these days when they get older. I know they both hate the car ride up the house. It is 10+ hours sometimes, but in my mind, it is sooo worth it. It is so peaceful. So cool. So serene. So beautiful. So green. So isolated. A large part of my heart gets left there whenever we leave. I feel that I really belong there.
Was gonna ride my bike yesterday but it rained. Hopefully next time.
I'm back in Florida, glad to be. I've missed my friends. But I miss my rocking chair on my porch on my house outside of Bryson City, NC.
Jen
We'd always talked about being snowbirds after retirement. Let's face it, Florida summers suck. And Florida winters are great. We'd hoped to find a place to settle in the mountains of NC for our summer place. The last time we were up there, the 4th of July two years ago, we'd talked about it, looked at real estate catalogs, and decided to start looking for a place. In fact, we'd planned that I would come back on my own after the kids were back in school and scout around to see what I could see.
We mentioned this to Troy's neighbors, and they said, "Well, you know, there's a log house on top of this mountain we kit built 20 years ago for a lady who's since passed on. There have been several owners, but the last ones lost it. It's bank owned now." Ed and I traipsed up to the top of this very steep driveway that we didn't even know was there, and there was this log house, fireplaces on each side, a long covered front porch. We looked inside. It was a mess, but very fixable. 3 bedrooms, 3 baths (well, 2 1/2..the previous owners had taken the claw footed tub that was in the middle bath)...laundry room, nice sitting room in the back, lots of cabinets in the kitchen, and that great front porch. 9' x 60'.
We talked, discussed, sweated and decided to make a low ball offer. After some dickering, it was ours.
We love it, but let's face it, it's a money pit.
Cue Sad Trombone:
http://www.sadtrombone.com/
OK, that's the intro, but we escaped there for the weekend.
We've spent so much time working over the past almost two years, it was good to take a relaxing weekend. I mostly sat on my front porch, in the one rocking chair that we have, and read. And blissed to the view. And watched the pair of birds who built a nest on our porch chirp and fuss over my presence. (Eastern Phoebes.) With my dog, Serra, sprawled out on the porch close to me.
As a family we played games and games and games. (Cranium and chess and cards and dominoes and scrabble) I'm hoping my kids will have fond memories of these days when they get older. I know they both hate the car ride up the house. It is 10+ hours sometimes, but in my mind, it is sooo worth it. It is so peaceful. So cool. So serene. So beautiful. So green. So isolated. A large part of my heart gets left there whenever we leave. I feel that I really belong there.
Was gonna ride my bike yesterday but it rained. Hopefully next time.
I'm back in Florida, glad to be. I've missed my friends. But I miss my rocking chair on my porch on my house outside of Bryson City, NC.
Jen
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