Happy Days are Here Again!

Tennessee
Knoxville (Left over from the 1982 World's Fair)

Frankly, Spring Break should come more often. What a treat it has been to get away. My first stop was Knoxville, Tennessee where I stayed with my sister, Susan. Sister Robin arrived that evening and we had family time which included good ole Mom & Dad. On Saturday my sisters and I fulfilled one of my mother's greatest desires--we accompanied her to a DAR meeting and agreed to join. All I have to do is to remember to find my birth certificate when I get home, scan it and send it along to Dad. The key word is remember. I also spent a few days in Harriman visiting with Mother and Dad and sealing and freezing the food that I had brought. This is the best picture of Harriman that I could find and it is too tiny to see much. Besides, Harriman is not quite as bucolic as this photo would have you believe.


Dad is so conflicted about Mother's condition. First he told me that it is a good thing I came to visit Mother because her heart will give out soon. A few minutes later he said that Mother is doing so well that she is getting better. It is a sad sight to see one's mother as a deaf and partially blind invalid who does little more than sleep each day. My dear mother has always been meticulous in her appearance and seeing her with long fingernails that need attention is hard to bear. A home health worker comes in once or twice a week to help Mother with her personal needs, but Mother's fingernails are so thick and tough that they probably need tending to with professional instruments doctors have for dealing with this type of problem. Losing Mother will be extremely difficult, but seeing her as she is now is also heart wrenching. She will enter her 90th year this April and has lived a long and productive life. I am so glad that she and Dad traveled the world before she became too ill to do so.

Virginia

I left Tennessee with a heavy heart and arrived in Blacksburg late Tuesday afternoon.

Aerial Shot of Virginia Tech

Dottie and I had already made plans to go out for the evening and it was a tonic to see her. Our first stop was the Cellar where I had a bowl of excellent soup and an order of garlic bread. M-m-m-m--m-m-m. Parking in Blacksburg is always a problem, but we found a spot directly in front of the restaurant. After we ate we crossed Main Street and walked down College Avenue to the Lyric Theater. Words cannot adequately express how it felt to once again sit in the Lyric Theater anticipating the start of a movie. All of the same old ads played over and over again--Dr. Jacobs, Big Al's, etc.--and though I've been gone almost three years, the ads have not been updated. Frankly, this was comforting. Dottie and I watched "The Last King of Scotland", a gut wrenching movie. We left the theater feeling drained. As we were walking back to the car I asked Dottie if we could drive around the drill field for old time's sake. She was amenable and enthusiastically took me on a little tour of my home town. We headed down Main Street and passed the two big eyesores that have, for me, ruined the downtown area. Blacksburg is a small town and does not need big city ways like parking garages and "luxury" apartments atop retail establishments. Dottie said the apartments were trucked in from North Carolina and sat on property near Colony Park until the structures were hoisted into place above the shops. I did notice one shop called "Alligator Alley" so the monstrosity has at least one redeeming feature. Next we went to see the Bennett House and the little ecologically designed park that surrounds it. Years ago I had been to a Halloween party in this lovely old domicile. Dottie told me that Blacksburg has joined 200 other cities in the USA that are combating global warming. Dear Dottie even got to drive her little Prius in a Prius parade downtown in celebration of the town's commitment. We then drove around the drill field and I got tears in my eyes. We went around the duck pond and then around the drill field for a second time. Yeah, that's a bit dorky, but you cannot imagine how it feels to be back in a place of sanity. Here are a few photos of my little corner of Heaven.

Burress Hall on the VT Drill Field

Duck Pond 1

Duck Pond 2

Students Walking Across the Drill Field

For good reason I am superstitious that Blogger will crash before I post this, so I am going to go ahead and hit the "Publish" button before that happens. I'll continue this later...