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2021 Road Tripping to Arkansas-Rattlesnake Saloon

19 Nov

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Tuscumbia Alabama

The day’s adventure beginning with Little River Canon Preserve had taken longer than planned. We arrived at our hotel in Tuscumbia feeling tired even though I had eliminated an anticipated stop. Hotel check in was disconcerting as the lobby was very small making maintaining distance a challenge. Once it was our turn, the front desk worker was rather abrupt, almost rude. A rarity as we have been fortunate with this chain hotel. I don’t know if she was feeling stressed or if she was just not a happy person.

Our room was equally disappointing. It definitely did not reflect the bright, cheery pictures online. When I noticed the mildew, maybe mold in the top window frame I was almost ready to leave, but we were just too tired. I barely remember that we ate supper at a Cracker Barrel.

We did sleep well that night. A plus for starting off a new day. The hotel’s breakfast was a grab and go bag, which we can’t eat and after the previous morning’s smoking mini griddle event I wasn’t eager to try that again. Fortunately there was a Waffle House, or maybe a Huddle House in walking distance. ( I get confused about which one as they are very similar.)After a short wait we were seated with nice, hot coffee delivered in record time. The day was looking good. Back at the hotel, the front desk was staffed with a very helpful and kind man.

A totally different experience from the night before and a good start to the day’s adventure, lunch at the Rattlesnake Saloon. A cousin who loves to travel backroads told us about this fascinating restaurant built in a cave than once was used as a pig pen! It sounded so unique, we had to visit it.

Their daughter, Theresa, spent 6 months road tripping and sleeping in her car and visited there a couple of weeks ago. She created this video for her You Tube channel and gave me permission to share it.

The saloon is unique in every way. Transportation down to the saloon cave is in the back of a customized pick up truck. Of course, one could walk down to the saloon but at our age, we will choose the ride!

The menu consisted of sandwich baskets. My husband ordered pulled pork and he said it was good, not exceptional, but good. I was surprised to learn that all of the food was prepared on site. The day we were there they even had live music!

Here is an excerpt from their webpage:

“The Saloon took just 49 days to construct before opening on Labor Day weekend in 2009. Since its opening, it has been featured in magazines, music videos, and tv shows and has become one of the top attractions in the area. So far our guestbooks show visitors from all 50 states and over 30 other countries have stopped at the Saloon.”

In due course a trip to the facilities was in order. I entered with some trepidation. Would it be clean? The interior walls were covered in rough wood but the back wall was one of a kind… the cave! And yes the facilities were clean.

Looking back, I wish we had visited the gift shop. Even if I didn’t purchase a thing, I have a feeling their souvenirs would be as creative as the saloon.

We rode the truck back to the parking lot which we now noticed was filled with horse trailers being unloaded. There were some beautiful horses! Along with the saloon the property has extensive trails for horseback riding and ATVs plus a campground with full hookups. The following weekend they would be hosting a mule event with people coming from across the country to show their mules. THAT I would have liked to see.

Then it was back on the road to our next night’s stop, Olive Branch, Mississippi. A town just across the border from Memphis, Tennessee and the Elvis Presley estate.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2021 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

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2021 Road Tripping to Arkansas-Little River

11 Nov

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

We follow a low carb Keto diet and hotel breakfasts can be iffy, especially in the era of Covid. Before the trip I baked some low carb muffins for my breakfasts. My husband is an eggs and bacon kind of guy, so I practiced cooking a scrambled like egg in my Dash griddle. He approved the taste and texture, and I had a plan, except maybe I forgot to test one thing…

As I made his first on the road breakfast, I added a bit of butter to the griddle to give him some extra flavor. Mistake. Butter on a griddle smokes and my practical husband pointed out that I was going to set off the fire alarm. No more butter on the griddle, lesson learned.

Our destination for this day was Little River Canyon National Preserve near Fort Payne, Alabama. From their website:

Little River is unique because it flows for most of its length atop Lookout Mountain in northeast Alabama. Forested uplands, waterfalls, canyon rims and bluffs, pools, boulders, and sandstone cliffs offer settings for a variety of recreational activities. Natural resources and cultural heritage come together to tell the story of the Preserve, a special place in the Southern Appalachians.

NPS.gov

What a gem! I learned of it from a short blurb in a magazine touting the waterfalls of north east Georgia and was pleased to see that it would fit nicely into our road trip. At the information center we learned the details of the scenic drive and were given a very helpful brochure. Our first stop was a beautiful, handicap accessible waterfall.

I regret not taking more pictures on the 11 mile drive. I really think I did. I have a sneaking suspicion that my compulsive need to delete photos from my camera, after downloading may have come into play. Or, I can go all conspiracy theory and blame their absence on the C.I.A.

The canyon was pretty amazing, not Grand Canyon amazing, but awesome. There were some kayakers but they were so far down, my camera did pick them up.

One stop was an area where eagles were known to soar, but sadly, we didn’t see any.

After we left the Preserve, we made our way to the next stop on our trip, Tuscumbria, Alabama. We chose backroads over interstate highway and we definitely wandered. Bathroom facilities seemed to be non-existent. When we finally arrived in a community with a fast food restaurant, Burger Kind, we exited the car and made a dash for the facilities. Burger King restrooms are not always well maintained but thankfully, this one was. We decided to combine the stop with lunch and were pleasantly surprised with their efficiency.

Back on the road we congratulated ourselves for our stop as we didn’t see any other places or businesses for several miles. Then we began to see large warehouses and an assortment of carpet and flooring manufacturing. Wow, who would have thought so many businesses would be in the middle of nowhere. Then we saw signs for an interstate and it made sense. Perfect access for trucking their goods. On the other side of the interstate was a Bus-ees, a mega gas station with almost anything you can think of to eat, drink or buy just for fun. It was packed with drivers from the interstate! I can testify that But-ees has THE nicest restrooms I have ever had the opportunity to visit. LOL

Photo credit:Flickr

Eventually, we did leave the back roads for the interstate. My ears were weary from the GPS directing us to turn left at the next stop sign then continue on…blah, blah blah. Fortunately, the interstate traffic was minimal and it was a pleasant drive to our nights lodging in Tuscumbria.

Veteran’s Day

I’ve been thinking a lot about veterans this week. I realized how many stories and memories are being lost. I was fortunate that my dad spoke of his WWII service, but as I age, I have so many more questions for him. I only knew one person who served in Korea and I wish I had asked him more about his experiences. Of course, he wasn’t very happy about being called up after being discharged, so while his story wouldn’t necessarily have been positive, it was his story and I wish I knew it. As we honor our Veterans this week, if the opportunity arises, ask them to tell their story.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2021 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

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2021 Road Tripping to Arkansas

4 Nov

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Day 1 Scottsboro Alabama

On September 24th my husband and I loaded up our truck and set off from our home in Western North Carolina on a three week road trip to Arkansas. Why Arkansas, you might ask? Well, we had never explored the state and a friend who would join our journey in Arkansas, offered to share her time share week with us.

It was a beautiful day to begin our journey and we chose the slow route on US 76 through Northern Georgia. We decided to stay on back roads once we entered Tennessee, avoiding the traffic and interstate of Chattanooga.

Scottsboro, Alabama boasts a fun store, Unclaimed Baggage. The company buys bulk lots of unclaimed baggage and freight from airlines. Basically one is buying someone else’s clothes and gear. We have been there twice before and have found bargains. On this day, we struck out, but it was a fun break from being on the road.

On previous visits to Unclaimed Baggage we didn’t spend any time in the town of Scottsboro, but this trip we had decided to spend the night. In part so that we could explore and also because we were limiting our daily travel to around 6 hours. After checking into our hotel we were ready to eat. Searching online for a place to have supper, I found a restaurant that looked promising. The phone GPS did a fine job routing us and we arrived with no problems. On the way I was surprised to see how pretty the area was with beautiful Lake Guntersville and distant hills. Hugely different from the dismal original downtown.

Photo Credit created by dji camera at Alabama.travel

I chose tonight’s restaurant due to it’s funky name, 50 Taters and excellent reviews. What a great southern name! My meal goal on this road trip was to eat in as many local establishments as possible. Little did I know how necessary this was going to become. The business began as a food truck specializing in 50 ways to load a baked potato and I wasn’t expecting the huge menu. Another fun thing about this restaurant is our table for two was made from an old Singer sewing machine!

We decided to share a BBQ platter and it was delicious! The wait staff were friendly and fast and seemed happy to be there.

When we finished our meal, we decided to go back to our hotel for an early night. I didn’t want to tire my hubby on our first day of the trip.

November 4, 2021

Last week we drove to South Carolina to deliver chicken soup to a friend. We decided to add a little adventure to the familiar drive along US 76 west to enjoy the delayed Fall foliage. We stopped at the Bull Sluice put in on the Chataooga river and I walked down to the beach.

I was a little disappointed with the amount of color but it was a steep walk down the path to the water and I didn’t trust my ability to make it back up if I went any further.

As I began up the return path, I felt some anxiety. There was no one to help me and my husband definitely should not try to rescue me. As my concern increased, I decided to check my heart rate on my fitness watch. 117. Not bad. I’m ok. I can do this. I began counting my steps, finding that 40 steps was my limit before I needed to rest. And so I made it up the trail, 40 steps at a time.

Afterwards, I reflected on how easy it is to become discouraged. I gained two pounds this week, I lost my cool with someone on Twitter, or when will this pandemic ever end? I need to realize life’s problems can be approached by just taking “40 steps” at a time.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2021 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

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Covid Impressions from our Road Trip

19 Oct

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

September 24th my husband and I set off on a three-week road trip. Due to my husband’s health challenges we chose to do a fairly short trip in miles,  over an extended time period.

 I will be writing about the places in we visited in future blogs. Today is just about Covid and it’s effects on travel. 

We began our trip in Western North Carolina and our first overnight was in neighboring Alabama. According to news reports Alabama had a low vaccination rate and high Covid numbers. Our small town was enduring a rise in Covid numbers and although not mandatory many were wearing masks when out in the community. To my surprise only a handful of the Alabamians that we saw seemed to feel masks were needed. We chose to take our meals in local restaurants when possible, and they seemed to have adequate and cheerful staff.

After Alabama we moved on to northern Mississippi, very close to Memphis, Tennessee. Once again, low mask use but unlike Alabama, finding restaurants that were staffed well was a challenge. One evening we tried two national chain restaurants. One had an hour wait due to lack of staff, the other wasn’t allowed to seat diners unless the hostess cleared all of the tables first. No one was busing tables. Kind of gross actually. We said no thanks and moved on. Another restaurant was drive through only. After three tries we found a local restaurant that was open, staffed, clean and the smoked beef brisket was delicious. Most disturbing, in the chain restaurants, I sensed a feeling of dark heaviness.

We traveled further west to Arkansas. We like to stop at McDonalds on road trips as they usually have clean restrooms but several of them were drive through only, although their bathrooms were open.( Travel tip-chainstore pharmacies tend to have adequate restrooms as well)   Once we arrived at our VRBO in Arkansas we set out to explore the town. We found an excellent BBQ restaurant where one orders at the counter and the food is brought to your table in disposable  containers. When finished, the diner throws containers, cups etc into the garbage. The food was good and the atmosphere was cheerful. Masks were worn but not in great numbers. We drove through a high tourist area and there were a lot of people exploring historic sites and checking out shops.

Our next destination was in north central Arkansas. When we arrived at our rented time-share the road was blocked due to the communitie’s October Fest. We spent a week exploring the area and except for one crafter, no one seemed concerned about Covid. Shops and restaurants were open. Staffing was not optimal but it was adequate.

The first legs of our road trip were fairly short due to my husband being the driver and tiring easily. A week into the journey our daughter and a friend flew into Arkansas to share our trip. Fortunately our daughter was able to help my husband with the driving as we traveled to Franklin, Tennessee to tour an historic home from the Civil War era.

Masks were not required. After leaving the historic home we had planned to indulge in Krispy Kreme( Husband’s vice) doughnuts and coffee. Sadly the indoor seating was closed and a limited variety was available in the drive through. We made the best of it by finding a shady place to park and enjoy our treat. Then it was on to Kentucky, our final leg of the trip.

During our McDonald’s stops we found it interesting that most that allowed inside dining had disabled the self ordering kiosks to prevent the spread of Covid. Imagine our surprise when a McDonald’s in Kentucky asked customers to use the kiosks to prevent spread. We visited The Ark Encounter and The Creation Museum and masks were worn by around 25% of the people. The Ark philosophy was for guests to respect individual decisions.  We found restaurants open and staffed.

Now that I have talked about masks and restaurants, I want to mention hotels. Consistently the hotels appeared to be understaffed with the front desk clerk working on folding towels and managing the breakfast room. I’m not sure how they didn’t lose their minds. More than once we saw housekeeping trying to clean rooms with a small child in tow. 

If you are pondering a road trip, I would encourage you to do it. Life has to go on. Take the precautions that will make you feel secure and safe. We wiped down our rooms with alcohol  wipes and used hand sanitizer obsessively.

Take your spirit of adventure. Some places will delight but others may be different, but isn’t different part of the adventure?  We usually opt for free outdoor activities over crowded  indoor ones. That made it easier to manage our expectations.  Find joy in being with people you love. Build memories to savor.

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A Quick Trip

18 Sep

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

What a couple of weeks this has been. First my husband’s sinus infection that I worried was Covid, then a quick trip from North Carolina to Florida, which seems a little crazy since we have a late September road trip to prepare for.

But and it’s big….I love free and we were gifted a free one night stay in a family suite at a Disney World resort and we would get to spend some days with our daughter. Plus, since Covid, I have been building up a nice nest egg of credit card points that would pay for our food.

What I didn’t factor in was Florida heat in September. We were spoiled with the cool mountain temperatures.

Florida does not have fall. Well at least not until December.

We chose to visit our favorite park, EPCOT and arrived there around 12:30 pm. This is our first trip to Disney with a handicap parking pass. I am so glad my husband has one or we would have never made it into the park. I’m not sure if it was due to Covid or shortage of staff but the trams were not running. We had to take a lot of rest stops. I think my husband is now ready to accept a motorized scooter that was offered to him.

I enjoy the fabulous landscaping in all of the Disney parks. This trip I was surprised at the flower choices. Coleus in different colors were used liberally, accented with caladium, canna lily and penta. There were also plantings of flowers that reminded me of field flowers. They were all beautiful.

I forgot to mention that Disney World is limiting attendance at the parks and requires advance reservations for entrance. We were pleased to be able to reserve both the entrance and lunch in one of the country themed restaurants. We chose Germany. I had checked out the restaurants online and noted that the Biergarten Restaurant was currently serving an all inclusive buffet, minus alcohol. That was extra. With online check in using an app no lines were necessary and that was a plus. The Disney dining app even gave us a count down to check in time notification. That was quite helpful and we resting at a table with an umbrella after the walk to get near the restaurant.

Once our name was called, a funny thing happened. Our party and another one were booked for the same time and had the same first and last name! Only ours was a party of three and they were a party two. It took some paper shuffling for the cast members to straighten it out.

The meal was delicious. I enjoyed the beer and cheese soup and their version of Mac and Cheese. The desserts were yummy too. I filled a plate with one each of the desserts (they were small) and we tried them all. My husband enjoyed a couple of them so much he had to have his own slices. He is very sweet to let me share pictures of him with food.

Our sugar binge is over, done, history. For now.

The Biergarten also had entertainment. Here is a short clip. I imagine this would be a fun restaurant with a large group of friends or family. How do they manage to blow those long horns?

After lunch we received notification our resort room was ready. Once again, check in was done in the app so no line to wait in. It took us awhile to make it to the park exit. When we were close to the parking lot, our daughter went ahead and brought the car to pick us up.

We stayed at The Art of Animation. By the time we arrived there I was too hot and tired to take a photo of the outside. Our building theme was Cars, as in the movie, Cars and the room decor was cute. Along with a queen size bed, the suite had a queen Murphy bed that by day, masquerades as a table.

Thoughts about Covid and Disney. Masks are required at all indoor spaces and some people wore them outdoors as well. It was easy to be socially distant for us, but we did notice that people waiting in lines were not maintaining distance outside. Since I didn’t go into the buildings, I don’t know what it was like indoors. There were a couple of rides we would have enjoyed but we decided to pass on them at this time.Except for the area around Mexico (which I am pretty sure was because people were trying to find a way to get a cold Margarita) we didn’t feel crowded. In the evening, we visited Disney Springs, the restaurant and shopping district. Masks were worn outside there, more so than in the park.

This trip was planned several months ago. The morning after arriving in Florida, we learned our son in North Carolina had Covid and was admitted to hospital and was placed on a vent. We were scared. I cried a lot the first day. Yet I was thankful to be in Florida with our daughter so that we could face this together. So we could pray together. He was in a small local hospital and they were looking for an ICU bed for him in a large facility. We prayed for that bed, thinking he would go to Mission Hospital in Asheville. We were kind of stunned when we learned he was transferred by air flight over 280 miles to Duke University Hospital in North Carolina. The number one hospital in the state. I am thankful God’s ways and thoughts are higher than mine. Yesterday was 10 days on a vent and the reports had been up and down. Then we received the call. Our son was off the vent, breathing on his own and talking. We almost had church in the parking lot of Sam’s Club. His wife is going to be allowed to visit him soon and that will be good medicine for both of them.

Our son may have a long recovery ahead and we will continue to pray and give thanks. Through all of this, we have been blessed with comfort that for us, can only come from God. One of my favorite passages in the Old Testament is about the twelve spies sent to check out the Promised land. Ten of them returned saying no way, no how. Those dudes are big. But two, Joshua and Caleb said yes they are but our God is bigger. The Israelites went with the opinion of the 10 and that didn’t turn out too well. A month ago, I made a magnet for my refrigerator that reads, “The Israelites saw giants but Caleb and Joshua saw God.” Daily and sometimes, minute by minute I prayed, “The doctors see Covid Pneumonia but I see God.” That was my comfort, is my comfort and it is available to everyone.

My final thought. I am trusting that our son will recover completely. I grieve for the many, many who have lost people they love to this horrid virus. I like this verse in Romans12:15

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

May our days soon be filled with more rejoicing and less mourning due to this virus.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2021 goal is continue touse my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

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Just a Little Talk with Jesus

7 Sep

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Of late, I have been singing myself to sleep with the song “Just a Little Talk with Jesus” One of the many seeds of faith planted in my child heart that now sustains me as our child faces a difficult decision. Oh parents, isn’t it the hardest when we have to stand by while our child struggles?

Isaiah 55:11 is a frequent verse that I have often associated with those turning away from God, praise God it also means the seeds of His truth planted in our hearts will not be lost, but will grow. They will multiply. They sustain me.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

I have precious memories of my family and my mother’s sister’s family singing this song. My uncle Connie could really hit the low notes. My dad sang tenor and played guitar, mom added her unbelievably beautiful alto and my aunt Della her clear, high soprano. How I wish we had the modern recording abilities then, but memories live beyond every new technology.

I listened to two versions of the song on You Tube. One with Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash The other an unknown to me group of African A Capella singers, Jehovah Shalom A Capella. The celebrity rendition was snappy and upbeat but I loved the smiles and blending voices of the African singers.

The days we are living in are hard and some days hope seems to have vanished. Even friends who have remained positive during the season are weary. I am weary. And yes, there is a song from my childhood for that. Come Unto Me. To keep my mind from dwelling on the negative I try to fill my mind and heart with God’s peace.

When churches were closed, so many went online and that has been a huge blessing to me! I regularly watch First Baptist Orlando. The pastor, Dr.David Uth is kind and loving and teaches in an easy to understand manner. The congregation is diverse and the church cares about the community and devotes time and money to it. The singing is wonderful. The 8:30 service music is a blend of traditional and contemporary and I enjoy it. The old songs soothe my heart and the newer ones lift it!

My Florida home church, Gateway Community is also online. The pastor, Clay Stephens is totally different from David Uth but they both love and serve God and although both can be called Doctor, neither uses the title. We call ours, Pastor Clay. He doesn’t have the smooth delivery of many, I am 100% positive the man has serious ADHD but a pastor doesn’t have to be perfect to serve God. Our small church is blessed to call him pastor. He is currently doing a series on Revelations available on You Tube. I have heard this preached many times but I appreciate that Clay admits to not having all the answers.Each week he stresses God’s love for all through the difficult times. Although, unlike the Orlando church we are small, we operate a food pantry to assist our neighbors.

All of the above to say, there is hope and there is peace to be found. You don’t have to venture into a church to find it. You are not alone and you are loved.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2021 goal is continue touse my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

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Is It Ok to be Lazy?

4 Sep

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

My burning question of the day: is it ok to be lazy?

The weather here in the North Carolina mountains has turned Fall-ish. The last two mornings I have savored time on the porch, enjoying coffee and leisurely conversation with my husband. Morning porch times has extended well into mid morning.

Hurricane Ida tracked through our area as a tropical storm dropping a fair amount of rain. Reports on Facebook of the local falls being full, compelled me to see them for myself. So we did. And they were beautiful.

We have been enjoying Dry Falls for 40 years beginning during our annual vacations. During drought it still flows but not with such vigor. In years past one climbed down several levels of stone steps. At the bottom you can walk behind the falls. It’s refreshing on a warm summer day. A few years ago the park service added an handicap accessible viewing area and that is where we viewed it today. One winter the temperatures dropped very low for several days and we were able to see it with frozen ice surround ing. It was awesome.

Bridal Veil Falls, just a few miles away, was another summer favorite. Its flow is usually gentle and our children enjoyed “mining” for gem stones at the bottom. One year they found several small stones that were either garnet or rubies. I put them in an empty can of Pringles potato chip for safe keeping. Ha ha. In the process of cleaning out the car after vacation, I threw the chip can in the trash.

Now as I write this in mid afternoon I am watching a girl’s television show with my daughter. We watch together using FaceTime. I loved the moments in this day.

I didn’t accomplish anything at all, except for a couple of computer chores for church. I was lazy today, but I’m retired, so that’s ok-right?

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2021 goal is continue touse my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

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Our Covid Tests Were Negative and Other Things.

28 Aug

My Take

Onisha Ellis

On the 12th of August my husband began to feel unwell. I fretted, and he insisted it was a sinus infection. By the weekend he wasn’t feeling well at all and I had begun to have sniffles. On Monday morning I called the county health department and we went for tests in the afternoon. We didn’t get the results until Thursday. Meanwhile my husband’s sinus pain worsened but my symptoms disappeared. Our local hospital has a fairly good urgent care center and as soon as we had the results, we drove to the center armed with his report. My husband was right…sinus infection. Thankfully the medicines are working and he is on the mend.

Our daughter was here for a short visit and was supposed to fly home on the 16th. A few days before her flight, she received a message the airlines had cancelled the flight. That turned out to be fortuitous as around 1 am on the 16th the electricity went out for 10 hours. None of us slept well after that. It would have made for a very long day for her.

Once we were all up and about, I wanted to go into town to get coffee. We have a Coleman camping stove but it was buried in the garage and I didn’t want my still recovering husband to have to dig it out but, well, you know men. He found it and set it up. Our daughter went upstairs and brought down our ancient stove top percolator. As I prepared the coffee pot I wondered if I would still be able to make a decent cup of perked coffee. Once the pot began to bubble, it all came back to me. I adjusted the flames and watched the color change in the glass knob on the top. I told my daughter I was passing on to her the ancient art of making coffee. It turned out quite well.

While our daughter was here we managed to visit a couple of waterfalls in between rain showers.When we arrived at Whitewater falls after an hour and a half drive it was raining and we were starving. Fortunately there was an empty picnic shelter that we could pull up to and unload the food.

We visited this waterfall a few weeks ago with our cousins and were anxious to share it with our daughter.

Our next stop was Silver Run falls. I think of this as a friendly waterfall. The trail is short and well maintained and the falls, while not majestic are pretty and is a favorite place for locals to let their children splash.

Our daughter had rebooked her cancelled flight for Thursday but when our Covid tests results weren’t available on Wednesday she asked for and received permission to work from our home in North Carolina until Monday. We of course, were thrilled to have her with us a few extra days. Before she left, the two of us had lunch at an interesting restaurant near downtown. All of the seating was outdoors, some under a shelter and others covered with large umbrellas. Those umbrellas were came in handy as yet one more rain shower passed over.

On Monday we had to be up at 5 am to take her to the airport. i am not fond of arising before the sun but I do enjoy a nice sunrise. From our home in the mountains, we seldom see sunrise so I was looking forward to a spectacular one! I forgot about fog. I had resigned myself to no sunrise and then we rounded a curve in the road and there it was.

We enjoyed her visit and the house feels a little lonely now.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2021 goal is continue touse my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

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Girl’s Day Fun

13 Aug

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

My husband and I share our birthday month, August and exactly two weeks apart. Our daughter in Florida plans to visit between our birthdays to celebrate both. Husband’s day was on Tuesday and our daughter arrived from Florida on Wednesday. Not even close to half way between, but who cares? She is here and we are happy

Wednesday was a long day for my husband, what with the trip to the airport, a late lunch, some shopping and then an hour and a half drive home. After a long day, he needs a full day to recuperate, so I planned a fun girl’s day adventure, locally of course.

Someone recently asked in the what’s happening in Franklin Facebook group, where to find a good bakery. I was surprised at the number of bakeries in this small town. I decided our girl’s adventure would be a spin off of the well known pub crawl. We would do a bakery craw

Armed with the phone GPS I typed in the first bakery address, Cinnamon Hill Pastries and Gelato. We wouldn’t have found it without the GPS. I am pretty sure the previous building tenant was a tattoo parlor and I would have driven right past it. Actually Rebekah would have driven past, as I was navigating. Once inside there was no sign of its possible tattoo history with it’s gleaming wood floors and large, bright windows. The owner had a large assortment of homemade gelato and a small assortment of European pastries. We decided to share an Italian pastry with a long name. The owner suggested simply calling it a seashell pastry due to its shape. The outer texture was similar to an italian bread loaf yet flaky like a croissant. Inside was infused with orange flavor and ricotta. It was delicious. For our gelato, we chose hazelnut. I haven’t been a fan of hazelnut, it always seems to taste blah. But this hazelnut was good

Our next stop was Brooklyn Bagels, a recommendation from a friend who heard about our adventure. She spoke so highly of it, we had to try it. Situated on a corner in Franklin’s downtown, it is a good location for those looking for a quick treat or meal. I was impressed with their menu which included sandwich bagels and even a pizza bagel! The owners are friendly and definitely from New York. Their goal is to give their customers good service with wait times under 5 minutes. Rebekah chose an Asiago bagel to enjoy for breakfast Friday.

A customer in Cinnamon Hill recommended Bend Willow Bake Shop for its breads. It should have been s straight shot down from Brooklyn Bagels and it was, we simply didn’t see it. After passing it, GPS rerouted and suggested we turn the wrong way on a one way street. With two failed attempts we decided to move on to La Toluca, a Mexican bakery that had rave comments on Facebook for quality and price. We did make a quick stop at the library used book store so Rebekah could dash in to search for books by two of her current favorite authors. That girl reads so many different genres I can’t keep up with her favorites.

La Toluca did not disappoint. As soon as we entered we inhaled the tantalizing aroma of fresh baking. I admired the lighted display cases with their overwhelming assortment of pastries. After a lot of oohing we decided on a pineapple pastry and planned to stop at a local park to eat it but plans change.

Since we would be approaching Bend Willow Bake Shop from a different direction, we decided to give the GPS one more chance. We found the bakery but not without some difficulty. The bakery is in a lovely, well landscaped. two story house. Everything color coordinated including the sign. Tasteful blending is admirable but blending in so perfectly a business is unrecognized, not so much.

This bakery is all about the ambiance. A wide front porch invites one to sit a while. Inside is trendy with conversation friendly seating and the baked goods tastefully displayed.The assortment of baked items was limited, but it was getting on to mid afternoon, so definitely might have been a contributing factor. We chose an interesting pastry, peach hazelnut, that seemed to have a biscuit type bottom and a course muffin type top.

Standing behind the house is a wooden gazebo and we decided to eat our pastries there, rather than driving to the park. The pineapple pastry from La Toluca was by far the better of the two with a crunchy and flaky outside and an inside muffin texture that was light and fluffy. The peach hazelnut biscuit didn’t have much flavor.Definitely no pop. This may be due to the burnt bottom. The burnt biscuit flavor wasn’t distasteful to me as I enjoy the depth of flavor the burn adds but in this case it obscured any other flavor. La Toluca also impressed with its pricing. Our pastry there cost $1.25 and the one at Bend Willow cost $3.50.

Although rain was predicted, we enjoyed partly cloudy skies with a few rumbly clouds. What a fun way to spend an afternoon. Maybe next time she visits we could do an ice cream crawl.

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Lava

25 Jul

youtube.com/watch

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