Happy times - part 1

Oh yes, lots to be thankful for. This probably is going to be a long blog. Since we are away for about a week I had to have a good look at my amaryllis. It's a collection from several years. I noticed there are 3 different white ones, ...

... and orange one, ...

 

... and red ones.

We also received a large envelope with two home-made cards from William and his Dad Ben. So fun! Yes, James had an fully Irish grandmother (but never knew her). That gives William an Irish great-grandmother.

Tuesday March 16 - the day! We drove again to Blacksburg and got our second Moderna shots at 12:30pm. At the end of the month we will be fully vaccinated against this horrible virus. What a wonderful feeling.

Jeremy, the pharmacist, warned us that in about 12 hours we could experience some side effects which should not last more than 24 hours.

From there we drove straight to Waynesville, NC, to a rented cabin. We had packed a lunch and enjoyed that at a highway rest area. Nice.

At 5:30 pm we were not too far from our destination. It was so pretty and easy driving ... for a car like ours. Look at the runaway truck ramp in the middle photo. There were several of them.

Next day, Wednesday, we took it easy. James did experience some side-effects starting surprisingly about 12 hours after the shot. But we both had a good nights sleep ... after we figured out how to get the house warm. We don't think it gets rented a lot (if at all) in the winter. 

The automatic gas fireplace in the living room is really very good. The heat it turns out is tremendous. It makes James feel better when he has "the chills". 

This is upstairs which of course is a wooden structure. This is really the main floor with two bedrooms. Downstairs (the walk-out basement) is what looks like cinder blocks. There is another bedroom with living room/kitchenette and a bit colder. We decided to lodge there. We found a really nice plug-in heater in the closet for the nights.

Of course after breakfast we looked a bit around. Nice view while there are no leaves yet.

From the upper deck we see the fast running creek and the statue of St. Francis. I have not seen much wildlife or birds yet, only one squirrel.

In the afternoon we decided that we should go down into town to find a grocery store. We found a Publix. Coming back up I "needed" to take some pictures of the very steep winding road but it is difficult to give an impression of the hairpin curves. Luckily there are lots of mirrors to see oncoming traffic. It seemed a bit "adventures" every time we (James) made this drive. 

Close to the house was this waterfall. I commented last evening at arrival that we need to walk to it to take a good picture of it. 

Next morning the weather was better. Before lunch we decided to take a little walk. James suggested that we should go further uphill since we didn't really know how much I could actually walk and especially on these hills. 

Looking back not far away. Can you see the roof?

It was fun walking and I felt good about it. Unfortunately we could not go as far as I could have gone and had to turn around because it started raining.

After lunch though the sky was blue again and it was lovely to have our coffee outside on the deck.

As you can see I tried to take selfies. This time though I tried to use the timer because my arm was not long enough.

I had not used the timer in quite a while and didn't make it into this photo:

But this is my favorite. Ha-ha, I was trying to figure out what was going on. 

After the coffee we decided that the morning walk just had not been enough and went out again. Since I knew now how I was faring on this we decided to go downhill so we could look at that waterfall, the Bristlecone Falls.

... and take the photo of course.

And then we were waiting for Helen and William's arrival. It is William's Spring Break but Helen had to teach in the morning so an early start was out. 

James and I played our card game. I should have ventured down the hill and bought a lottery ticket. I always got the right cards just when I needed them. And poor James never got any helpful cards. When I finally got some "bad" points he was somewhat relieved. 

Google told us how long the drive what be from Nashville to the cabin but of course that doesn't include rest stops or the stopped traffic around Knoxville.

We were happy that they arrived when it was still daylight. They settled, we had dinner and of course William and I had to play a game. 

Time to go to bed. Helen has to teach two classes tomorrow. But we are looking forward to spending time together. Part 2 will come.