Nana's Birthday Dinner

On one of the yahoo groups I am on, one of the ladies there calls her husband's mother her mother-in-love. I like that designation , so I am officially stealing it for my own husband's mother. My mother -in-love, Virginia, had her birthday last week. To help her celebrate, Jim and I cooked dinner and took it over to her house. Well, Ingle's Supermarket made the rotisserie chicken, but I made the rest.


In addition to the chicken, we had gluten free macaroni and cheese, cole slaw, and a pretty good gluten free carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I don't have any pictures of the food, but here are the recipes I used:


Gluten Free Mac and Cheese

2 cups cooked gluten free pasta (I used quinoa elbow macaroni)
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 small can evaporated milk
1 small can water
1 1/4 cups 2% milk
1 egg
2 cups grated cheese


Spray an 8" X 8" pan with olive oil. Spread the cooked pasta in the pan. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese over the noodles, and toss to mix together. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add salt and tapioca flour, stirring to cook so it does not burn. Slowly add the milk and water, stirring with a whisk so it won't be lumpy. When it thickens slightly, add the egg that has been beaten, whisking to stir it in completely. Stir in 1/2 cup cheese. Pour sauce over the noodles in the pan. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese over the top. Place the pan on a cookie sheet, and put into the oven, and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, stir the mixture towards the center, making sure the cooked part in the corners is stirred to the middle. Put back in the oven and bake for another 35 minutes. Remove from oven again, stir again. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Put back in the oven and bake for 15 more minutes.


For the carrot cake, I used the recipe on the back of the package of Pamela's Baking Mix.

1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup Splenda and 1/4 cup sugar)
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
2 1/4 cups Pamela's Baking Mix
1 1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice Powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

Beat oil, eggs, and sugar together, then mix in remaining ingredients. Batter will be very thick. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans or one 8" X 8" baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 cups confectioners sugar

Beat cheese and butter together until fluffy. Beat in sugar until well blended. Spread on cooled cake.

I baked this cake a day ahead of time and put it in the refrigerator, covered with aluminum foil. It was a bit dry the next day, but it still tasted good. I would make it again, but serve it the same day.

Oh, and when we went outside to get in the truck to leave, there was the most beautiful moonrise ever. This picture does not do it justice, but here is the best picture I could get of it, so enjoy: (Can you believe that moon?!)

Finally Got The Taxes Done

I finally bit the bullet and went to get my taxes done. I usually do them myself. I have done them for years. But in 2006, we worked in Virginia part of the year and in Georgia part of the year. I could not figure out how to do the part year resident thing, so I put the papers away and let them sit around until it was way after April 15^th, and then I thought, well, it’s already late, so I let them sit around some more. The more they sat there, undone, the more sick at my stomach I felt each time I looked at them. It wasn't that I didn't want to do them, I just couldn't figure them out. And I am not the kind of girl who likes to admit that something has whipped my butt!

So, when I got the W-2’s in for 2007 from Pennsylvania, and saw that I would have to not only file a part year resident form for for Pennsylvania, and one for Georgia, but also one for Adams County, damn, I was getting in way over my head again. So, I started looking for someone to do them all for me.

First I asked my father-in-law who he uses, but he said I wouldn’t be able to get an appointment with his tax person. Then, I asked the cashier in the restaurant at the lodge, and she said she didn’t know anyone, she just does her own. This went on for about a week, and I soon found out there is no one in Helen who does taxes. The next thing I did was look at Yahoo Yellow Pages. I found a place called One On One Tax Service in Cleveland, and made an appointment with Angelo to get all this tax crap done.

Angelo is a great guy, but when he got through, he asked his wife, Paula to come in and make sure he was getting me the biggest possible refund. Paula came in and sat down, and her fingers just flew over those keys! I have never seen anyone use a 10-key adding machine so fast!

When it was all over, in just a couple of hours (hell, I have poured over the instructions online for days!), I had two big fat envelopes full of papers, and six smaller envelopes of completed returns to mail out. It wasn’t too painful dollar wise, either. I wish I could tell you I was gettting a pile of money back, but it just ain’t so. I am still on a payment plan for 2004 and 2005, so the money we should have gotten back will be applied to the taxes I still owe, but this will make it almost paid in full. And next year I will be going back to see Angelo and Paula at One on One.

In Today's Mail

Last week, among other things, I sent the FabGrandaughter some blank note cards and some stamps for her birthday. This is what I got in the mail today:

Be still, my heart!

When Dreams Come True

You know that sound you hear sometimes in movies, that sounds sort of like a needle being dragged abruptly across an old vinyl record? The one they use just before they suddenly stop the action and back up to an earlier point in time? Well, imagine that you are hearing that sound right about now! And then back up to here.

On February 6t^h, when I wrote that we had decided to go to work at a campground in Missouri, and told you all about how beautiful the place was, and we were really looking forward to going there, and yayaya, inside my little brain I was really thinking, Missouri, eh. Blah. Not blah to that campground, just blah to Missouri. Then last week I wrote about how I was just not getting the things done I needed to get done before we leave. I am just not that enthusiastic about going there because I want to be somewhere else.

Since I was 12 years old, I have dreamed about working and living at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Even before I knew that jobs could be had that would actually let you live inside of the national park, even before I knew how to go about applying for one of those jobs, I have longed to go there. Back then, when I was a kid, and had never seen a travel trailer, I used to daydream about going out there in a pick-up truck with a camper shell on it, because that was all I knew existed.

After Jim and I started living our full-time RV lifestyle eight years ago, and I had to start looking for a job for us every six months or so, I stumbled across a website called USAJobs.com. At first, I only searched for jobs, just to see what was available, because I did not think they had temporary seasonal jobs. I thought if we went to work for a national park, we would be tied to it for the long-term, and I could not ever get Jim to agree to that sort of job.

Well, about five years ago, when I was searching for jobs yet again, I came across a full-time RV’ers forum where someone mentioned that they had worked a seasonal job at a national park. So, off I went to the USAJobs site to look again. Oh. My. God! They did have temporary seasonal jobs, and lots of them, at all of the national parks out west. And so I started applying for any of the jobs I thought I could do.

One thing about our government, they do not make it easy to search. The job titles usually don’t have anything at all to do with what you think they might actually be. So, it was very time consuming, because I had to read all of the job descriptions and decide if the encrypted jargon equaled something I could do, or that I could convince them I could do.

Four years ago, I started filling out applications. Office Automation Assistant, Information Receptionist, Visitor Use Assistant, Volunteer Coordinator, even Laborer and Assistant Recreation Assistant (??). For four long years, I have dutifully filled in all the blanks, answered the questions written in secret code, and pushed the send button, to never hear from them again. Until last week.

On Monday of last week, a guy named Bob called me to offer me a job as a temporary seasonal Visitor Use Assistant at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The job has a very good rate of pay, it is for six months, it includes a full hook up campsite in the employee housing section, and it accrues annual leave. But, I had to decline the offer. I told Bob I really hated to turn this down, but that we also needed a job for my husband and he had not heard a word about his application.

I ended up talking to Bob for about half an hour, getting tips and information about how to apply so that both of our applications would get noticed. I ended the conversation with him by saying, “I am going to think really positive and say that I will see you out there next year.”

After I hung up the phone, I was depressed for a couple of days. I could not believe that after all that hard work, I had to turn down the job I had dreamed of all my life. So, I was sitting there minding my own pity-party business on Friday, when the phone rang again, and it was a different guy, Alan, asking for Jim. Alan offered him a temporary seasonal job in maintenance at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Jim said, “I really hate to say no, but my wife just turned down a job a couple of days ago. To which the caller replied, “What job was it? Who did she talk to? What is her name? I’m going to call Bob and see if the job is still available.”

So, Jim hung up, and a short time later, Bob called me back, and asked if I was still interested in that job. “Heck, Yeah!” was my reply. So, I interviewed with him over the phone, and he said he would call my references, and get back in touch with me.

Today, Bob called and told me my references checked out, and gave me a tentative job offer. Shortly after we hung up, Al called Jim and also gave him a tentative job offer. Now we are waiting for the package to arrive in the mail to fill out for a background check. But I truly believe, in my heart, in my little girl dreams, that I will be wearing that Smokey The Bear uniform in just a few weeks.

Sometimes the stars do line up just right.

Black Bean Nachos

Ack! When I got up and looked at the calendar this morning, I realized that we only have 19 days before we leave here for our job in Missouri. Less than 3 weeks!!! I have so much still to do before we go that I don’t know how I am going to get it all done.

Every spring before we leave I usually clean out all of the closets and storage bins. I go through all of our clothing and discard stuff we haven’t worn in the last year. I get rid of any extra things we have accumulated in the last 12 months that may be weighing us down.

As I go through everything, I make a pile of stuff to put on ebay, another pile for donations to the local library, a pile for donating to a thrift shop, and one for the trash bin. I need to get busy, but it is cold and raining today and I just don’t feel like doing it.

Before we leave town, we have a plan to go visit with friends who live 130 miles away in south Georgia. We have been talking about going out to that Chinese place in town with the FabGrandpa’s parents but have not done that yet. We need to get the truck serviced. I’m telling ya, there is just so much to do!

So what am I doing today? Just sitting here, doing nothing. Drinking a third cup of coffee. Putting off until tomorrow every little thing that I can. And thinking about what I can cook for dinner, because I try to use up as many of the groceries as I can before we travel down the road.

Last night I made us some yummy Black Bean and Shrimp Nachos. I stole the idea for this dish from a restaurant I used to go to when I worked in downtown Atlanta for the telephone company. I can’t remember the name of the place, and it is no longer there, but my friends and I used to go there once a week, and I always ordered these nachos every time.

Black Bean and Shrimp Nachos

Corn tortilla chips

1 can black beans, drained

1 jar salsa or 1 can diced tomatoes

4-5 green onions, sliced

1 can black olives, drained and sliced

1 cup shredded colby, cheddar, or jack cheese

½ lb cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined

Optional: sour cream, sliced avocado, jalapeno peppers

Place a couple of handfuls of corn tortilla chips on each plate. Sprinkle a half can of black beans on top of the chips. Add some of the salsa or tomatoes, spreading it around on top of beans and chips. Add half of the onions to each plate, then black olives, as much as you like. Cut the shrimp into bite size pieces, and add half of it to each plate. Sprinkle a half-cup of shredded cheese on top of each plate. Place the plates, one at a time, into the microwave and cook for one minute to melt the cheese. Serve with sour cream, avocado slices, and jalapeno pepper slices. Makes two dinner size servings.

I wish I had thought to take a picture of this last night because ti is really a nice looking dish on the plate.

The FabGrandaughter's Birthday

Sarah's birthday was yesterday. She was nine years old. It is really hard to believe she is that old! She was born in Guam, while her dad was stationed there with the Air Force. She has traveled to more places than I have in her short little life. She now lives in Tacoma, Washington, and I rarely get to see her. The picture below was taken last July when she flew from Washington State to Washington, D.C. to visit with her father, brother, and step-mother. She is holding a picture of Seth, my son, when he was about the same age as she is now.
When I talked to her on the phone last night, she sounded so grown up! She's all into Hannah Montana and Bratz. She's making all A's in school, and says her favorite subject is reading. She has a new baby sister who just turned one year old in November, and her mother is expecting another baby in May. I asked if she got a lot of gifts for her birthday, and she said her "real Dad" sent her a bunch of presents, but she was only opening one a day until they are all opened up. She said the fun lasts longer that way.

The picture below was taken last summer, too, at her Dad's house. That is him and FabGrandpa there with her. They all look so happy together!

I asked her if she knows I love her and miss her. She said, "Yes, because you write that on every card you send me."

A Piece Of Heaven Arrived In The Mail

When the FabGrandpa picked up our mail at the lodge on Friday, there was the box we had been waiting for. It contained a package of lasagna from Food Matters. I had read about Food Matters over at Celiac Chicks, and again in a Celiac Disease group on Facebook, and was debating on whether or not to order some, when Vanessa emailed me and asked if it would be okay for her to send me one. Honey, y'all have got to get some of this stuff!

It arrived in a styrofoam cooler inside the cardboard mailing carton, and was still cold when I got it. It's not frozen, but fresh and ready to heat up in your oven. As I am a curious old lady, I put it on my digital scales (Yes, I do just happen to have a digital postal scale just sitting around the house, thank you very much. I use it to measure my ingredients for my home made soaps). It weighed in at a hefty 2.o8 lbs, more than enough for two people to have a very filling dinner, or for one person to eat four servings.

The version Vanessa sent me was the meat and vegetable lasagna. It does have cows milk in it, but I do not have a problem with milk products, so it was good for me. If you can't do dairy, she makes a version that is casein free. To see the ingredients better, just click on the picture below to make it bigger.


This is what the lasagna looked like out of the box. All I had to do was turn on the oven, put the package on a baking sheet, and set the timer for 40 minutes. (I always start with the least time the first time I cook something because my tiny little oven has strange temps sometimes.) I made some of those yummy garlic cheese biscuits to go with, and if I had had some salad fixings I would have had that too, but I am out in the country miles from a store...

Which brings me to another thing I want to point out: If Vanessa can deliver this stuff to ME, out here in a travel trailer at a state park on top of a mountain in Georgia, she can deliver it anywhere.Ok, so about an hour later, I took it out of the oven, and served. See how delish this looks? I was very good, and the only clean-up I had to do was toss the pan in the trash.
FabGrandpa, who has no dietary restrictions other than the ones I impose on him because I am the cook and I only cook gluten free, enjoyed this dinner very much. He told me to e-mail Vanessa and tell her she didn't send enough!

Oh, and (hint, hint) all you FabChildren out there: This would make a great birthday present or Mother's Day Gift for your FabMother. Just click here to order.

Another Project Completed!

I did not know how freeing it would be to get Becky's quilt on the road to being finished! Just the very idea that it is on the long arm machine has let me tackle other projects that have gone undone.

This week I completed Becca's quilt. I did the quilting on my sewing machine, just making wavy lines diagonally across it with a lovely varigated thread. I put the last stitch in the binding today, and since the sun was shining I spent the afternoon on a photo shoot with the quilt as the star:

This was photographed on a log at the creek behind our travel trailer.

I love to see my quilts hanging on the clothesline. That brown one is the one I made for Jim, the FabGrandpa.
Close-up detail of the wavy line quilting. Can you see the colors in the thread?
Another close-up of the quilting stitches.
Another view of the creek behind our campsite.

Out On The Town

The FabGrandpa and I crawled out of the woods last weekend and went down to the big city to spend the night with Becky. This is the view from her balcony:

She lives in a high-rise condo (with no guest room, as noted earlier) right on Peacthree Street in downtown Atlanta. She took us out to dinner at The Vortex, an ecclectic place with posters of biker chicks on the wall and loud rock music blaring from a juke-box.

It says right on the menu that The Vortex is an “Idiot Free Zone” and that they are not politically correct. They had great cheeseburgers (I had mine sans bun). It was a fabulous place to start the evening. Here are Jim and Becky at The Vortex:

After that, we drive over to Blind Willie’s. It is billed as Atlanta’s finest blues bar, and I agree. I love the slogan on their website “It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Sleazy”, but I did not find the place to be sleazy. When we got there, the place was packed, so we had to share a table with some young guys. They were quite friendly, even bought a round of drinks for the whole table. We stayed there through one set, then sashayed down the block to 10 High.

Now, Becky had been telling us about this great karaoke bar she has been going to, and we have been thinking to ourselves that we could not believe she would like karaoke. Jim and Becky pictured here post Jaeger Bombs at 10 High:But let me tell you, this was not your father’s karaoke bar! At 10 High, there is a live heavy metal band, Metal-some. Our niece Emily, Becky, and me at 10 High:The people who sing karaoke are on stage with the band, with back-up singers, and it is dang good! I have never seen anything quite like it. Well, I have seen movies with night club scenes where you had to work your way through a sea of people to get to the bar, but I have never been in a place like that until Saturday night.

So, yeah, after a night of bar hopping, we were up bright and early on Sunday afternoon, going down to Dekalb Farmer’s Market to eat lunch and do some shopping. I stocked up on herbs and spices: I love that place, it is like no other place I have ever been. Part farmer’s market, part grocery store, part cafeteria.

They sell no paper goods, cleaning products, or sodas. But you can get gluten free flours, all kinds of vegetables, and herbs and spices in huge containers cheap. There is a fish market, a butcher shop, a deli, a bakery, and a dairy section. I always spend too much money, but how can you resist the swiss chard, the kohlrabi, the gulf shrimp, the fresh mozzarella cheese, the basil, the—well, the everything! I got out of there for under a hundred bucks, but I got so much stuff.

Now we are back in the woods, but eating such elegant foods you wouldn't know it unless you looked out the window. Last night we had bruschetta, with fresh mozzarella and basil. Tonight it will be sauteed shrimp and swiss chard with gluten free quinoa spaghetti. I can hardly wait.

A New Writing Gig

I have started writing at a new venue for me, The Fun Times Guide To RV Road Trips. I would appreciate you clicking on over there and taking a look. I would feel very flattered and my head would grow immensely if you would comment on my articles over there, too. Yeah, Shameless is my middle name these days.

Almost Finished

Are you a lister? By that, I mean, do you keep a list of things you need to do, should do, must do, either written down on a piece of paper or in your head? I am very obsessive compulsive about MAKING lists of things I need to do. But when it comes to actually DOING those things, well, that is a different story. Sometimes I feel like I will literally die if I don’t have that list in my pocket. But there are some things on that list that have been on it for years!

Now that you know that particular thing about me, maybe knowing it will let you understand how happy I am that I actually accomplished one of those things this week. A major thing.

The item that has been on my list of things to do for the longest was the first thing I accomplished this week. You see, seven years ago I bought the fabric to make a quilt for my stepdaughter, Becky. I can remember the day I showed her the pattern and the fabrics I had picked out. She was excited about it, and happy that I was going to be making it for her. She was going to use it in the guest room of her first house that she had just bought. Five years ago, I actually cut out the pieces for the top and sewed them together. The top has been folded neatly and stored under my bed ever since then. It has traveled with me to Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and back to Georgia. She has moved on to a new home, with no guest room. Hmmm, could that in itself be a hint?

The last time I said anything to Becky about it, she said, “Don’t tell me anything else about that quilt. I am never going to get it, and you know it, so just hush.” It’s not that I didn’t want her to have it. I really love her; she has been in my life for more than 16 years. And while we didn’t see eye to eye when I first became her stepmother, we have become closer and have had some fun together since then.

And, that quilt top lying unfinished has prevented me from starting on a couple of other projects I have to do. How can I finish the quilt I made for Becca, my daughter, when the one for Becky just lies there, accusing me of being the procrastinator I am turning out to be? How can I start on any other thing when I have not completed that one? And now, after all these years, it is a matter of pride, a matter of proving that I do really mean for Becky to have that quilt. So, on Monday, I took it to the quilt shop and dropped it off to be machine quilted. I can hardly wait to get it back so I can put on the binding and sign it:

“To Becky, from your loving stepmother, Karen. May your days be as cheerful as these colors are bright, may your dreams be happy throughout night.”

Mushroom and Sausage Fritatta

The folks over at Peanut Butter Etouffee are hosting a recipe challenge called The Second Annual Peanut Butter ´Etouffee Pullet Surprise The recipes entered into this contest must contain eggs. And, as always, recipes I post must be gluten free. This one fits both requirements. As you can see, it was served on some of my finest dinnerware:

Most days I try to include some veggies in most of our meals, including breakfast. Our favorite breakfast menu is fritatta with grits. I try to vary the ingredients in the fritatta to keep from eating the same thing day after day. Here is one of our favorite combinations:

Mushroom, Potato, and Sausage Fritatta

2 small red potatos
½ medium onion, chopped
½ cup sliced mushrooms
¼ lb pork sausage
1 tablespoon butter
3 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and dice the potatoes. Place in a microwave proof dish with a couple tablespoons water, cover, and microwave for 8 minutes, or until soft. Drain

Crumble up the sausage and cook until browned in a large skillet with a lid. Remove sausage from pan, and drain off the grease. Melt the butter in the pan. Add onion and mushrooms and sautee until onions are clear. Add potatoes and sausage, and sautee one minute more. Add salt and pepper to taste. Crack the eggs into a bowl and scramble well. Pour eggs over meat and vegetables in the pan, cover with the lid, and turn heat to low. Cook for two minutes, then turn heat off. Let sit another 5 mintues before serving. This serves two hungry adults.

Other vegetables we like to add are asparagus, zuchinni, yellow squash, bell peppers, fresh green beans, or broccoli. You can also substitute ham, bacon, chopped roasted pork, leftover roasted chicken, or smoked sausage for the pork sausage. Just use whatever you like. The possibilities are endless.

MMMM, Biscuits!

It has been almost a year since I started eating gluten free. It has been that long since I had a biscuit. Well, at least since I had a GOOD biscuit. And let me tell you, I know good biscuits. Not that popped out of a can, stuck together kind that you just stick in the oven and bake. My first husband’s mother, Pauline, could make some dang good biscuits. She is who taught me how to make them. Even my mother, the Original FabGrandma, said once that I could make better biscuits than she could. So, you can imagine my tragic, heartfelt loss over biscuits made of wheat flour that I can no longer eat.

Last week, my daughter, the Fabulous Gluten Free Becca, sent me an email with a gluten free biscuit recipe enclosed. She said, “Mom, you have GOT to try these. They are SO GOOD!! So for dinner last night, I mixed up a batch of them. Jim and I sort of fought over the last one. I didn’t cook all of them last night, so after he left this morning, I baked two more for my breakfast. And then I cooked the rest of the batch for dinner tonight. I managed to get a picture of the last one, only after telling Jim “Don’t you dare eat that last biscuit!”

I do not know where on the internet Becca got this recipe, but if you are the originator of it, thank you so much. E-mail me and I will gladly give you the well-deserved credit for this creation. I have never used the Pamela’s Baking/Pancake mix before. I sort of choked up on the price tag—at $7.49 for a 24-ounce bag it was expensive even for gluten free stuff, but I was determined to try this recipe. I’m glad I did. The recipe makes 12 medium sized biscuits. I left mine in the oven for the full 15 minutes. They turned out crispy and browned on the bottom and so light, fluffy, and moist on the inside, I thought I was eating one of Pauline’s cathead biscuits from back in 1972. And the dough refrigerated well. The ones I baked this morning and tonight were just as good as the first ones last night.

Cheddar Garlic Gluten Free Biscuits

2 cups Pamela's Baking/Pancake mix
1/2 cup shortening
2/3 cup Milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
a few shakes of garlic powder

Mix the shortening with the baking mix with a fork or your fingers, until it is about the size of peas. Add in the cheese and mix again with a fork or your fingers until the cheese is all mixed in. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well. Drop by rounded tablespoons on a greased pan.

Coating/topping:
4 tbs melted butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp parsley
Coat the top of biscuits with this right before you put them in the oven
bake at 375 for 10-15 min

A Love Story

Thank you, my seester, for sending me this valentine. Although I do like to get valentine cards in the mail from my girlfriends and my sister, Jim and I don't "do" valentines, just as we don't "do" Christmas gifts and anniversary gifts for each other. We both feel the same way about that: we both want to be loved and cared for by the other every day. I would rather have a little surprise gift on any ordinary day, than on a mandated occasion. I want him to say "I love you" in the middle of the night, when we both just happen to wake up for a second, you know, when one of us has snored too loudly or something like that.

I love it when he fixes me a cup of coffee with just the right amount of chocolate Coffee Mate. I love it when he picks me up a scratch off lottery ticket when he is at the store. I love it that he will eat all my gluten free stuff without complaint, and that he gets it that I can't eat stuff like biscuits and donuts anymore. And he always thanks me for cooking dinner by saying "Thank you, my love." And when I ask him to do something for me, he says "Certainly, my love."

Yeah, it is a mushy thing, but how else can I tell you about the guy I love. And now, for those of you who don't know, here is how we met:

I was a divorced mom with three teenagers, going slowly out of my mind. I had bought myself a new lawnmower for my 39th birthday, but it was missing a bolt on one side of the handle from the day I brought it home from the store. A couple of months later I got so fed up with the handle that would not stay up, that I jumped in the car and went to the hardware store that my brother in law managed to buy a bolt to fix it.

When I walked into the store, my sister's husband was standing there talking to this guy. Alan looked at me and said, "Look what the cat dragged in." and the guy said, "Why are you talking about this nice lady like that?" to which Alan replied, "She is my wife's sister, so it's okay." and the guy said, "all the more reason to be kind to her." (ooooh, I liked that) Anyway, the guy waited on me and got the bolt for me and I went home to finish mowing the lawn. I did not even know his name.

So, when I got through with the yard, I called my brother in law at the store and asked if that guy was married. He said no. Then I asked what his name was, and Alan said "Jim." So, I told Alan to give Jim my phone number and tell him if he was interested in going out to dinner to give me a call. And he did. 16 years ago. On our first date we went to a state park to go for a walk. Hmmm, we did that yesterday, too.

And now, for your viewing pleasure:

A Day In The Life Of A Volunteer Camp Host

So, just what is it that a volunteer camp host does? And why do we do it? Here at Unicoi State Park in north Georgia, we are required to work 24 hours per week. The things we do vary from week to week, depending on what they need done. Most often, we do the normal campground duties, like cleaning out fire rings at the camp sites. We are amazed at the number of people who burn their trash in their fire rings. It is hard to believe that they enjoy the aroma of burning plastic. We wind up cleaning out all the leftover paper and plastic debris, so that the next person who uses that site won't get toxic fumes in their wieners and marshmallows.
We also pick up all the trash left behind. All of this rubbish came from one site. I know to some people it doesn't look like a lot, but if everyone left this little bit behind and it wasn't picked up, the campground would soon look like a dump. And no, those cigarette butts don't break down and disappear. They are still just as ugly to see next year when you come back if someone doesn't pick them up. And what about all those little bare feet running around next summer? If they stepped on those bottle caps it could ruin a nice vacation.
One of the camp hosts does a site check twice a day to document which sites are occupied and by whom. We give this information to the front desk at the lodge, so when they have new arrivals they will know which campsites are available, and so that they will know where each guest is camping in case they need to contact them.
The is always a project list of little things that need to be done. Here, Jim is attaching colored reflectors to the sign posts so that campers will know what color campsites are available on each road in the campground. The sites are color coded to designate what utilities are available and/or how long a of a camper will fit into the site.
In the camp store, called The Trading Post, there is always something to be done. Keeping the t-shirts folded and neatly stacked, stocking shelves, and sweeping the floor are things that need to be done every day.
The volunteers who are assigned to the trading post also ring up sales, give out trail maps and hiking information, and directions to other points of interest in the area. We meet a lot of people who come in for the day or to camp with us over the weekend.
The park hosts a huge arts and crafts show every year. The show takes place in a couple of weeks. Getting ready for it means a lot of very important, but little, tasks need to be done. We stuff envelopes, make name tags, and prepare parking passes for the show.
Although not a part of our official duties, we like to help guests when they need a hand. This young couple, Brian and Jude and their cute little dog, Russ, hiked down the mountain from Anna Ruby Falls, a 5 mile trip one way. It was getting late in the day, so Jim and I drove them back up to their car at the top of the mountain. They are a very interesting couple--she is from England and he is from Atlanta. They are getting married soon, and going to the Phillipines where she is going to teach in a British school there. Cool!
We do a lot here, but the Georgia State Parks give us a lot of perks, too. In addition to that spiffy black hat Jim gets to wear, and a certificate good for five free nights of camping at any Georgia State Park, we get a very nice full hook up site. We use the Toro cart to get around the park while we are on duty.
We get to use the laundry facilities free of charge to wash our clothes, and we get a 50% discount at the lodge restaurant, where the buffet features fried trout every night of the week. And, oooh, that dessert bar is quite yummy, too.
Best of all, we get to work with all the nice people who are on the paid staff. This is Scott and Ellen. Ellen is the person we go to with any questions, and who assigns the jobs we do. We have already signed up to come back next winter. They have five camp host spots here, so if anyone wants to come, let me know, and I'll send the info on how to sign up. Oh, and did I mention that we get to live in this beautiful place for a few months, where most people only get to visit for a day or two?

A Walk In The Park

Yesterday was a beautiful day in north Georgia, so we decided to go for a hike. We didn't make it the entire 5 miles--but we did make a 3 mile round trip of it. Smith Creek Hiking Trail starts in Unicoi State Park and ends up at Anna Ruby Falls on U.S. Forest Service property.

This is where we started our hike, off an old forest service road.
An earth and log stairway down a steep slope. The trees are flashed with blue paint to mark the trail.
Isn't it amazing how this tree hangs on to the hillside with those enormous roots?
I wish you could hear the water bubbling along in Smith Creek. This was a lovely spot to rest and just listen to the forest.
This tree was cut just enough to clear the trail. It must have fallen during a storm we had here last month.Jim found these feather remains of a large bird--probably an owl or a hawk.
A beautiful fungus growing out of a decaying log.
I wonder if these lovers are still together? They left their mark here years ago on the side of the trail.