Dar & Deb at home......and away

Memphis Botanical Gardens

While in TN, Debbie took us to Memphis Botanical Gardens. We went early in the morning before it got too hot and humid and enjoyed wandering the grounds checking out the trees and flowers. Afterward Debbie took us out to her favourite bookstore for lunch.

cool "tree" house in children's garden

magnolias getting ready to open

magnolia blossom

magnolia ready to bloom

great looking tree

2 story house in children's garden

children's area decor

another little house in children's garden

azaleas in bloom

Afterward we tried to visit Dale at his studio (USA KARATE) but unfortunately he was occupied elsewhere in a meeting so we just peeked in through the windows to check out the place.

fish in the pond

Dale's studio

A

more from TN

While on the road the security settings here decided to block me from posting on my blog. It would have allowed me if I listed a cell phone and responded to a text message and if you know me you should be laughing loudly now. Anyway here are more pictures of our visit with the Bourie family.

Harrison @ ball practice

Harrison picking strawberries

Carl's boys getting wet

Happy Mother's Day Grandmoo love from Harrison

Dale

Julie & Harrison

Eric, Carl & Matthew

Smokey Mountains May 2014

Here we are on the road again. This time we are in the Smokey Mountains of TN/NC. Yesterday we enjoyed a road trip to Cades Cove where there are lots of old buildings open to the public and all for free. Today we drove from Pigeon Forge to Cherokee and back along the main road through the Smokey Mountain Park....again for free.

"Smoke" in the Smokey Mountain

Deb beside a mountain stream

Chute leading to Grist Mill

Working Grist Mill

roadside waterfall

Bigger roadside waterfall

checking water temp.....Deb was waiting for me to fall in

Wood rocking chairs outside our motel room

double door Presbyterian church in Cades cove..built by pastor in 150 days for total wage of $150

cabin on Cades Cove loop

outbuilding behind cabin

In today's tour we enjoyed hearing lots of birds, viewing many waterfalls and watching the many mountain streams along the roadside. We viewed Tufted Titmouse, Scarlet Tangier, Cardinals, Swallows and best of all a mother black bear with her cub. We saw signs warning of elk but didn't see any of them. So much for seeking spring weather, both yesterday and today topped 30 degrees C.

Deb before & after

Today was Deb's turn to deal with skin cancer. Again we are lucky people since we caught this much earlier than most people do. I noticed a couple of black spots in Deb's mole and she said her friend Barbie had mentioned same thing about a month before. An appointment with our family Dr provided a small biopsy to be taken which came back as precancerous meaning on the way to becoming cancer. We chose to have it removed before that occurs. Also lucky to be able to have the quarter sized area excised so quickly. It has only been a few weeks since the biopsy came back.

Mole before surgery


mole & margins have been removed and skin moved around so that scar will follow smile lines

Huntington Beach State Park

Today we headed out to visit Atalaya the winter castle home of the Huntington family. The castle is located in the Huntington state park. We arrived there only to discover that the castle is closed due to Halloween celebrations.. They have decorated the interior and have spooky tours at night. We did enjoy the rest of the park and wandered around the outside of the castle. We saw many plovers which look much like sandpipers. It reminded us of our travels in NB during the migration last year. We also saw lots of egrets and herons (great blue and brown). We enjoyed watching the tiny fish in the salt marsh and a short walk on the ocean beach before heading back into the city. We picked up BBQ for dinner tonight and in the morning will be headed out of Myrtle Beach and back toward Canada.