Snowing again.  And hard.  It's only been falling for about an hour and already we've exceeded the last snowstorm by a half inch or better.  The girls seem as amazed as we are at what they are seeing (photo on right).

This is our fourth snow fall of the winter and snow is again forecast for next week and next weekend.  It has been a very unusual winter this year - and all the long time locals warned us we were in for one.  They would know.  

Of course, our bit of snow is nothing compared with other areas of the country though the last storm nearly forced Dennis to stay down in town for a weekend - all the roads on the mountain declared impassable for most of the day.  He made it back but it could have just as easily gone the other way.  This may be normal for the people here, but as former Floridians, this is still taking some getting used to.

Friends here tell me that it will take about 5 seasons to learn it all and then I'll still get surprised every now and then.  This our 3rd winter and it has been very different from the prior two.  The lakes never froze over only to be blanketed in snow, the streams (moving water, mind you) froze as well, snow lasted for more than a week and there was a three week period in January when the daytime highs didn't reach 30.  We aren't the only ones, of course.  Back in Florida, records were shattered all over the state and there were days when it was colder there than it was here! Dennis' brother in eastern Tennessee had nine inches of snow at his house in the last storm - what the media is calling February Fury.

I remember hardly paying any attention to such reports when we lived in Florida,  we were so far removed.  I hardly listened to a weather report in Florida unless it was hurricane season or a paddling or camping trip was planned.  Now we are living it (albeit more gently than our neighbors to the north).   Here, listening to the weather forecast is a required morning ritual.

I do love the winter and I love the snow - especially when you can just sit inside and watch it blanket everything in white. There is no denying the stark beauty. But we are anxious for the next change of season after this particularly cold winter.  I think that is one of the things I love the most living here: the chance to have that change.  For me, it makes me anticipate and appreciate each season that much more.

September 1, 2009

Fall is upon us despite that distinctive date not yet "officially" appearing on the calendar as yet.  It arrived around the 20th, with our first cool front and since then it has been marvelously pleasant - our high temperatures not quite reaching 80 and our morning lows crisp and invigorating 50's.  We are spoiled, there is no doubt.  Long forgotten are the April to November "summers" of Florida.  Here, even through June, July and August (our summer), we get delicious reprieves from the heat and humidity: a cooler morning here, a breezy 80 degree day there - right smack in the middle of summer!  We actually set a new record low in July - 55 degrees.  And we cherish those moments.  And we especially cherish the change of season.

The girls staring at the great white outdoors

4 inches of snow - so far...we are expecting another 3-4 inches Sunday

January 2, 2008

Happy New Year!  The holiday season was a time of change for us once again as we moved into a larger rental home (pictures at right).  We have our own things around us now making it feel much more like home. We're still awaiting the sale of our Florida house but we're making the best of it.

The weather has been the story here.  Winter has arrived in NE Alabama - we woke to 14 degrees this morning - just a bit different from Florida.  We had flurries on December 15 this year (the day we moved into our new rental place - of course!).  Our high today was all of 21 and tomorrow will also not rise above the freezing point - I must say, we are enjoying it.  Some might think the difference is too great but I think we were both ready for a change after some 20 odd years in warm, sunny Florida.

The nice part is we still get the spectacularly vivid blue-sky days, they just come with clear, fresh, cool mountain air.  Winter also provides a new landscape as has each change of the seasons.  The stark, barren trees present a beauty of their own and the feeling is of a clearing away of the old rather than of loss. 

It's actually a great time to be outside.  The trails are particularly pleasant - so much more of the forest is visible now.  Where once lush foliage obscured, we can now see well into the depths of the forest.  With the cold also has come our wet season and we are delighted to find the streams and falls filled once more.  Our favorite hike was all at once new with the coming of the rains.  Water literally percolates from the ground all along the trail and finds its way back to the stream in charming any way it can making for some wet hiking.

There are so many outdoor things to do here - it will be great fun exploring all of them.

Laurel Falls after some much needed rain - this was a trickle less than a month ago.  Below is the "pumpkin" tree.

On New Year's Day we drove around Little River Canyon to see how the big falls were faring with the rainfall we've had.  Below is Little River Falls

Thanksgiving 2007

We have really been enjoying the fall colors.  Despite all the warnings that the display would be miserly this year due to the drought, we have certainly not thought so (CLICK HERE to see for yourself!.)  The weather has been cooler than normal but we have had some wonderful 70 degree days in there as well.

I write this entry from Townsend, Tennessee - the "Quiet Side of the Smokies" as it is known.  We decided to get out of the house and do something fun (the rental just doesn't feel quite like home to me - especially for a holiday) so we packed up our new camper, the kittens and headed out.  The nice part about where we live is how much closer we are to all the places we like to visit - it was just a short 3 hours and we were here.

Townsend has good biking - road, a nice bike path through town as well as being close to Cades Cove in the Smokies where you can bike the 11 mile loop.  There are also a number of excellent hikes nearby.  The commercialism and crowds haven't struck as badly here, at least for now,  which is why we prefer it to the busier Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge areas (too much like International Drive).

On our drive through Cades Cove we spotted a number of deer as well as a bear and her two cubs.  This is the first time we've been here at this time of year and it looks so different with its own unique beauty.  The trees have lost many of their leaves and things unseen before are now visible bringing a completely new perspective.  The crowds are also thinning now that the fall color season has passed and the weather is still mild enough to be conducive to hiking and biking.

The new camper has been a long time in coming.  We got started with our tiny Sero Scotty, just 13 feet long, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. it was a great weekender, but with the two of us and two kittens we'd simply outgrown it and were ready for the next step so we took the plunge.  This is our maiden trip and it has been incredible.  We hardly know what to do with ourselves with so much extra room.  And the kittens have just made themselves right at home.  I know we'll all enjoy it for years to come.

September 13, 2007

The weather has changed here and what a treat it is.  In Florida, we would still be waiting another two months for this:  low to mid 80’s during the day and low 60’s overnight.  It is delightful and I have the very same feeling of invigoration I have each year when I first throw open the windows to the cool breezes after a long, hot summer.

Of course, the biggest difference is that here, in our new home, the summer while hot, was mercifully brief – a month long.  A very far cry from the May through October brutality of our former home. 

And I’m not sure if it’s just my pure delight at the brevity but even the humidity did not trouble me here.  Our return visit to Florida over Labor Day after a month-long absence was a shock.  Stepping out of the car I was drenched without so much as lifting a finger.  Surely there must be some odd climactic phenomenon.  How can the very same humidity feel so very different with only a change of latitude and longitude? 

Suffice it to say, I could not wait to depart and return to my new home atop the mountain where the forces on high shelter us from the perils of Florida balminess.

Upon return we were greeted with a gentle high of 84 and mornings cool enough to open the windows for the better part of the day.  Just last evening we slept with the bedroom window open and I had to retreat under the comforter for warmth – on the 12^th of September!  I know that I am dwelling on this – gushing even.  But after 30-some years in Florida (can this be right??) I am thoroughly enjoying this.  Yes, this is why I crave change.

I live in anticipation of a cool fall, a chilly Thanksgiving Day and a bracing (and dare we wish – white?) Christmas.  I will delight in roasting a Thanksgiving turkey without requiring air conditioning to temper the all-day effects of a hot oven.  I await cozy evenings by the fireplace at the onset of winter rather than the near close of it.  I am anxious for the experience of packing away one season’s clothing for another.  I will be overjoyed to no longer have sleeveless tops hanging beside long-sleeved shirts in my closet; shorts accompanying jeans. 

I know (and have been duly warned by friends who know) that it will also present some surprises and challenges.  But I am already wondering if it will be cold enough.  Should we retire someplace further north?  Or perhaps at even higher elevation? 

Right now I think yes.  But ask me again in March or April but I am fairly certain I already know the answer.

August 22, 2007

It’s coming up on a month now.  It has been hot here – guess we must have brought it with us from Florida because everyone is talking about how unprecedented the heat is.  Of course, it’s all over the country so we’re off the hook, I guess.  The good news is, even the worst heat only lasts for a month or so – August, four weeks, that’s it.  The rest of the year is absolutely gorgeous.  To give you an idea, we camped in July up here this year.  We have NEVER camped in July anywhere.  Not even Maine (though you certainly could there!.  And not only did we camp but we were actually able to sit outside and enjoy the outdoors.  We didn’t have any campfires but at night the air actually did still get crisp so the mornings were a delight. 

In fact, even in this heat wave where temperatures in the valley topped 100 (up on the mountain where we are is almost always 5-7 degrees cooler and breezy) we still went on hikes in the mornings with temperatures in the high 60’s.  If we’d been in Florida we would have been soaked and exhausted after 20 minutes outside in the oppressive heat and humidity.  Seems like no matter how warm the day gets here you still get a break in the mornings. 

 We are waiting like expectant children for the fall.  We are told that it usually arrives here by the first week of September and the weather forecast is already prognosticating low to mid 80’s for Labor Day and overnight lows of 59!  Wouldn’t you know that we’ll be back in Florida that weekend, missing our first taste of our first fall?  That’s okay, there will be plenty to enjoy once we return. 

We are also making the rental more like home.  We hung a couple of hummingbird feeders hoping to attract some of the little flutterers.  Dennis was barely back indoors before two or three were staking claim and fighting the others off.  We promptly went out and got another and hung it in the front by the window.  We are delighted to see them all day long.  They even stop to rest on the arch of the pole often sitting for quite a long time.  There are several types here and we are anxious to learn all about them.  We had only Ruby Throated in Florida.  This is going to be lots of fun. 

We are all settling in nicely.  Dennis and I went for a hike again this morning before work.  This has become a nice routine and we have done it faithfully just about every morning since we arrived.

We live only 10 minutes from Fort DeSoto Park (the very place we camped during our July visit) and it has a number of very pretty trails.  It gets light early here – before 5:30 – and we have already adjusted to it usually arising right around 5.  That gives us plenty of time to get out and hike for an hour before the work day begins.  Biking is a bit more of a challenge and we are still looking for places close by that we can ride.  There are hills here – something we are definitely not quite used to yet. 

Shopping can be a bit of a challenge.  Fort Payne is definitely lacking some of the shopping conveniences but then again, that’s also one of the very reason we like it here.  It hasn’t been a hardship.  With Dennis’ daily forays to Huntsville or Birmingham or other metro areas and a touch of modern technology, I just email him a list on his Blackberry if I need him to make a stop at Whole Foods or Fresh Market or Super Target.  Plus Chattanooga is only about 40 minutes away. Some might find it a detriment but I do not.  It actually makes it more of an event.

For certain, when I return home to our little place atop the mountain and look out over the valley below I wonder why everyone wouldn’t want to live here then I stop myself and thank goodness they don’t.

August 09, 2007

Greetings Friends.  Well, we are now into our first full week of mountain living and it has been full of surprises, all delightful. 

I admit that when I first thought about relocating I had conjured many of the same preconceived ideas that many people have when they hear ‘Alabama’.  I imagined flat, barren, featureless landscapes, cotton fields as far as the eye could see, and all the stereotypes that have been applied.  I was mistaken on every account. 

As for the landscape, Alabama is in a word:  beautiful.  I haven’t yet had a lot of time to explore but my drives from Birmingham, Chattanooga, and Huntsville have all been picturesque.  There are rolling hills, mountain vistas and lovely lakes and reservoirs.  For certain it offers more than I expected, far more.  Most importantly, it is undeveloped. Here there is land, wide and open.  Trees far outnumber people rather than the reverse, as it should be.  With each passing day I realize how thankful I am that I’m here.

And the people I have encountered are some of the friendliest I have ever had the pleasure to meet. 

Perhaps it simply is that there are fewer people.  Perhaps it is that the pace is slower.  Perhaps it is the wide open spaces that gives people more personal space – people don’t feel as hemmed in here.  Perhaps it is all of these things.  For certain, it is none of the things I previously thought.

The new digs - still on the mountain bluff but a nice wooded setting.  We now have a carport for the kayak trailer and plenty of room for both campers (the little Scotty goes up for sale this weekend!)

Below is the great room complete with our Charlie Brown Christmas tree...it's nice to have so much more room than we had in the A-frame.

This is the view to the second floor - our 2 offices and a bathroom

The view outside on the wrap-around deck

Fog over the valley below

Dennis shows off the new camper while the kittens make themselves at home

The girls are settling right in and already have their favorite places.  One is the rocking chair in the corner of the office. As you can see in the picture, they are the best of friends. 

They also like to lay on the beds right under the window.  They certainly like their comfort!!

Sunset over Fort Payne