Not Pixies

 April 23rd

When I hurt my foot, the rest of the trip shifted in my head. For me, I figured it would be a struggle to maintain my step count. Well, that was after I realized it probably didn't warrant a trip to some random urgent care place. I'm really thankful that even with the hikes we have been doing, my foot seems to be getting better. Stephanie had goals that she still wanted to meet. This morning I dropped her off in the Smoky Mountains to do a ten plus round trip hike. My initial plan was to just go a mile or two up the same trail and then go back to the resort. The parking lot was full though. Instead, I dropped her off and looked for other adventures. 

My first stop was at a large overlook complete with bathrooms and the Appalachian Trail going through it. I stayed there for a little while, partially because I kept falling asleep in the car, partially to eat some breakfast. 






Using the provided pull-offs along the road I would stop and look around, maybe take some pictures and listen to the birds. There were two places that I also went for short walks. On one of these I had an odd occurrence. Walking along I suddenly heard what sort of sounded like large raindrops falling, but just a few and it stopped. Looking around I saw a couple blades of grass move. Pixies is where my imagination went. Some things were following and hiding as I went. Every step I took, created at least a half dozen things moving around me. They were, of course, grasshoppers. They jumped downhill in front and behind me every time I took a step or set my pole out. It was hilarious. 





Grasshopper 


Eventually I made it back to the resort, took a shower, and then a walk. After her work, Selina and I set out to do some window shopping in Cherokee before picking up Stephanie. We also saw some elk!  




After picking up Stephanie we did “The Loop.” The section of road actually forms a loop by including a tunnel. We saw more elk on the way back, so Stephanie got to see them too.





Stephanie gave me a llama pen!   

☮

Continued to read: No Time Like the Past, by Jodi Taylor.

Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Birka Day Two

Image
 January 24th Intention for the day: Look for the positive/proactive side in all the exchanges possible. Here are some happy things from today: Much of the early part of my day was spent volunteering at the event.  I also attended a meeting for exchequers (treasurers).  There is a possibility that I will be doing that again. I got to spend a little bit of time with my new protégés.  They both know that I want them to update their information on their wiki pages.   I ended up having a lot of fun with a friend who tried to steal a French fry from me.  It became a lovely game of trying to get a snack without the other noticing.  During court this afternoon some wonderful people were given awards for their deeds.  One of these people is a dear friend and the current Seneschal of our Barony.  He was made a Member of the Order of the Mark.  This is a new peerage level award in the SCA.  Here is a link that describes the current peer ...
Read more

Happy 2026

Image
 You found it! January 1st. Welcome to a new year of me looking for happiness and gratitude within my day. Thank you for being here. I'm going to try to make a small change to my life habits and I'm going to attempt to bring that to my daily blog.   A recent video I saw was about habits to add to a morning to make a happier life. One of these suggestions was to start the day with an intention. That should mean something mindful or positive. It might turn into a goal for me as I tend to be practical so my mind works that way more. One intention for today was going to include getting out for a walk. As the wind blows and the temperature drops, I'm debating that. That is also more like a goal. The other was to do something different that I might not otherwise do. Writing an intention down before my day starts and trying to follow-through will be part of this. I hope you join me as I attempt to build this new habit. The above was written after a nice breakfast out ...
Read more

Sunrise Spectacular

Image
Some happy things from today: Since I was up in the middle of the night this morning I decided to try to be a little productive and did laundry.  I had expected to be the only one awake but I wasn't.  I'm happy that I was able to get my laundry in and out before it had an impact on any of the other ten people in the house.   A bonus for getting up early was to get to see a spectacular before-the-storm sunrise. There were other things I thought I would do today, most didn't happen.  Instead I brought Gideon to school and one of our housemates to take their driving test.  The driving test was scheduled at a DMV about an hour away.  We left early so we could practice some things before the test.  We found a mostly abandoned parking lot and practiced parallel parking.  It was a good time.  Things out of my mouth concerning our “pretend” on street parking included, “Well, you're on the sidewalk,” and “Great, but you're still half in the stree...
Read more