our furry children

Tasha and Casey our first year in Canada

Tasha and Casey many years ago in Memphis

new, sweet Becky

Becky again

Cheyenne and Becky

sweet Cheyenne

and little Becky, again

our two babies

People who know us know that when I moved to Canada, I brought my two cats with me to join Tree Hugger and her dog. My two girls were Casey and Tasha. Tree Hugger's dog is Cheyenne.

Of course, Cheyenne quickly became our dog and Casey and Tasha became our cats. Both of us loved all three babies quite a lot.

Realistically, though, Cheyenne has always been her Mama's baby and Casey and Tasha were always my sweet babies. Tree Hugger does have a human daughter, just so you know.....

Tasha lived to be 18 before she crossed the Rainbow Bridge last year. Casey joined Tasha just this past July. She was 19. I was very saddened at the loss of my baby girls. I had no desire whatsoever to have any more. I was content to let Cheyenne be our only fur baby.

Well, in the seven years that cats were in the house, my sweet Tree Hugger got used to having a little fur one to hold and cuddle. You see, Cheyenne is not a cuddling kind of dog. She's a good dog, very sweet and fun to play with, but she's no cuddler. When Casey left us, my sweet Mrs just really, really missed having a fur baby to hold and love on.

She went one day to do some shopping with a friend at PetSmart. They went to the back of the store and both fell in love with this cat for adoption, named Becky. She came home talking about Becky. How Becky put her paw on the glass at the same time she did. "We bonded," she says. "She reached out to me!" my wife says. "This has to be a decision we both make" she says. This was less than two weeks after Casey died. "No, no, no." I say. "I don't want another cat!" I say.

Well......as you can see, we did indeed adopt Becky. I really didn't want to, but I just couldn't stand the thought of 1): a sweet cat just languishing in a cage and 2): my wife wanting something that badly that I could get for her. So just two weeks and two days after my sweet Casey left us, we went and got Becky out of that cage and brought her home.

Now, when my girls came to Canada, they had lived with a dog once before. They had seen and ignored a dog before. They basically did the same with Cheyenne. The three of them coexisted very well for six and seven years. I bet Cheyenne thought she would finally be the sole object of affection in the house once Casey was in heaven. Au contraire, sweet dog.

Becky doesn't ignore Cheyenne. She runs under the dog, she runs through the legs of the dog, she lies down next to the dog and she swats the dog in the face if she so desires! Casey and Tasha were 12 years of age when they came here. They were already settled in their ways. Becky is all of 4!! A mere infant compared to Cheyenne's almost 15 years. None of us had had a young 'un in the house for many years. She's definitely livened things up around here. She's what a young cat is supposed to be.....frisky!

I don't have the depth of feeling for Becky that I had for Casey and Tasha, but I am fond of her. Tree Hugger, on the other hand, is head over heels for our new kitty. She and Becky are very bonded already.

I thought it was about time to show off the newest member of our little family here.

autumn around the neighborhood

Hello again!!

So here are a few pics from our first week home and one leftover pic from the vacation.

I had commented that I wouldn't post pics of friends here, since that is their domain to do or not do. One friend, however, has pics of her own sweet self posted on her blog, so I didn't feel reluctant to post a pic of us with her. She lives in Huntsville, AL and we went to high school together. That's the pic in the middle of the bunch here.

All the other pics have been taken since we got home.

As some of you may remember, we live two blocks from where the RCMP (Canada's version of the FBI), or The Mounties, have the stables for their famous Musical Ride. They practice there and stable the horses there and perform there every year. These horses are beautiful and very gentle. Wherever the Mounties go perform, the crowds are invited afterwards to come pet the horses and ask the riders questions. Tree Hugger often walks the dog at the stables. In all but the coldest weather, the horses are usually out grazing or hanging out. It's a large, rolling campus that also contains the Canadian Police Academy, so Mounties have classes there as well as the horses.

A couple of the pics are a little washed out...sorry 'bout that. One, though, turned out pretty well. Tree Hugger is always telling the horses how beautiful they are. Of course, they love her and think the dog is amusing.

The scenery pics were taken around the stables or in our neighborhood. In the week we've been home, most of the trees have lost the majority of their leaves. Peak time doesn't last long, but it sure is exquisite.

Autumn is my favorite time of year. I just wish its beauty would last a little longer.

I hope everyone is enjoying cooler temperatures wherever you are.

I just got through with working the weekend. Now I have Monday and Tuesday off. Don't days off come close to making life worth living??

Peace to all.

killin' time

No pics tonight. I'm at work and, as the title says, I'm killing time. I have three very quiet patients who are sleeping. It's a rare thing to have a quiet evening. I'm NOT looking a gift horse in the mouth, let me tell you.
I've been reading back over the blog and I realized something. I've never attempted, in the past, to chronicle a trip or adventure I took, before or after the beautiful Tree Hugger came into my life. It feels good to go back and read and remember people, events, tastes, history, laughter, landmarks....the journey itself. I enjoyed the story, I must say.
Maybe that sixteen days won't fade so quickly into foggy memory. I'd like that.
Maybe I'd like it if life itself took on more of a sharp, memorable quality. This blogging thing could be useful on many levels.

The Canadian federal election was held this past Tuesday. With a parliamentary system, my American friends might not be so familiar with how things go up here. The party with the majority of the seats in parliament is the party of the new Prime Minister. Two elections in a row now, the Conservative party has won what they call a minority gov't. The conservative party leader is the Prime Minister, but with a minority gov't, they can't do any real damage and force their most radical ideas through as law. The opposition parties can band together and vote down a law if they deem it important enough to do so. The opposition parties don't have as many seats as the Conservatives alone. One party could not stop the conservatives. There are three remaining parties, so at least two of them would have to band together to really bring down the conservatives.
I hate it that the conservatives are still in power, but at least with a minority gov't, they can't wreak the havoc they could if they had won a majority! Heaven help us all if they did.

Now I realize I may lose some of my friends from reading this blog if I continue to spout my own left-leaning opinions. They're just my opinions. I won't be putting down others for views different from my own.....but I will speak my peace from time to time.

That's enough killing time for tonight. Peace and love to all, no matter what your political leanings are.

winding down/finally home

Hello, all!! As I write this, we have been back home for 4 1/2 days. We've rested, run an errand or two and rested some more. I'm sorry for the lateness of the final vacation post, but it took that long for me to even WANT to work on this thing!

As you might have noticed, there are ten pics posted here, instead of the usual five. They didn't end up in chronological order, so I'll try to explain them before reporting on the last few days of our vacation.

The scenic ones were the last day of travel. We stayed our last night just two hours from home in a small NY town called Watertown. The fall colors on the way home were amazing. These pics are decent but they don't do northern NY and southern Ontario justice. Some were taken while we stopped on I-81 just before crossing the border into Canada. The ones on the water were taken on the Thousand Islands Parkway, where we started our vacation pics on Friday, Sept 26th. It seems like a long time ago now.

The "Hey Y'all" "Bye Y'all" t-shirt pics were taken on our front porch the day we arrived home. I saw this shirt being worn by the serving staff at a restaurant we ate at on the way home...more later about that place. It's got "From Tennessee" under the larger letters.

The Varsity is a very well known landmark in Atlanta. We ate chili dogs and onion rings there. I can taste them now.....

The red sign with me standing next to it is the sign for my family's home town in Tennessee. Of course, none of us lives there now! Notice my orange t-shirt. It says "Summittville Basketball" on the front and "Dynasty Lives Here" on the back. heh heh...we are a confident bunch of fans, no?? Anyway, Bradford, as you can read, is the Doodle Soup capital of the world. Doodle Soup is the broth taken off a boiled rabbit. You pour it over crumbled up crackers. Ate it many times as a child.

And lastly, I just CAN'T pass up the Bucksnort exit on I-40 between Jackson and Nashville. It's a classic!!

Now for some more travelogue....here we go.

When last we blogged, we were about to leave Atlanta. We left last Wednesday around lunch time. We had breakfast in Atlanta, with a good friend, at the Flying Biscuit. I had wanted to eat at this place the whole time I lived in Atlanta and never did. I should have! They have really good food, some of it healthy, too. Our trip from Atlanta to Huntsville, AL was in some pretty hard rain but had cleared up by the time we reached Huntsville. We visited with my best friend from high school, ate at the Macaroni Grille, and visited with kids and grandkids and loveable Husky dogs. The only flaw was not enough time. There's a feeling you can't really put words to when you're with friends you've known that long. Of course, you love them, but the richness and depth of love you feel....that's the indescribable part.

And that goes for many of the friends we saw.

We left Huntsville on Thursday morning and stopped in Florence, AL for a quick ten minute "hug and how are you" with another cousin. She was at work and couldn't get away, but a few minutes is better than passing through without seeing her at all!

We then carried on to Memphis, where I lived for 21 years. We stayed and visited with one last cherished friend. As always, there is never enough time, is there?

On Friday morning we took care of some business with my retirement money where I worked in Memphis for 11 years, then started the long journey back....but not without some detours along the way.

The detours were all on the first day of the return trip. We had none on the second and third day other than stopping to eat, sleep or take a few quick pictures.

An hour and a half northeast of Memphis is Jackson, TN. There is a restaurant on the highway there called "The Old Country Store." It's the best country food buffet you can imagine. All you can eat for $8.99 on the weekends and a dollar less than that on weekdays! There's bar-b-que and mashed taters and homemade yeast rolls and turnip greens and banana pudding and fried chicken and pinto beans and corn and okra and.......you get the picture. It was my last chance to eat like a pig....and I did. Tree Hugger elected to order something but did have a bite or two of my food. It was awesome.

This was where I saw the wait staff wearing the cool "Hey Y'all" "Bye Y'all" t-shirts. Some were navy blue, some were orange. I wasn't about to walk away without one. This shirt has already gotten stares and favorable comments from strangers in Canada. I love it. They love it. I think I will wear this shirt out.

We left the restaurant and headed north for Bradford, TN, the small town where my father's side of the family comes from. My paternal grandmother died this past October and I wasn't able to go down to Tennessee at that time, so we went to the cemetery to pay respects to Nanny. The pic I posted above was as we were entering the town. I have many childhood memories in that town, on my grandparents' farm and exploring that graveyard. I remember thinking, as a child, that my grandparents would be buried there, but actually seeing it in reality was something else again. I felt a sense of belonging and of being home and, of course, sadness. I'm deeply glad I took that time out to go up there.

We then pointed our trusty GPS friend, Garmin, in the direction of home and started to haul a--!!

We went just beyond Louisville, KY that night to a town called LaGrange. We ate, watched tv and fell into deep, deep sleep.

Saturday morning, we ate at....where else?? Breakfast at the Cracker Barrell. Our motel was next door so it wasn't rocket science to know where we were headed for breakfast. My last CB breakfast for a long time.

We left LaGrange, KY at 10:30 that morning, with a goal of stopping in Syracuse, NY that night, a three hour drive from home. It would be a very long day, but we thought we could do it. We snacked on the road for lunch. We stopped in Buffalo for coffee and a quick good memory. We had visited Buffalo many times while living in Toronto, so it was good to see our old friend, the city of Buffalo again.

We got to Syracuse and whaddya think???? There was not a hotel room in the whole city! Some big race that weekend. We were told to drive up the road another ten miles and try again. We did....still nothing. We were told there that the nearest vacancy was Watertown, which was another 50 minutes away. At this point, we had been on the road for almost 12 hours and were about to lose the ability to perform basic functions like thinking or talking or staying awake! We got fish sandwiches and fruit at McDonald's and headed on to Watertown.

Now Watertown is a military town. When brigades come home and ship out, the families all come in and stay...where else?? Watertown hotels!! Guess what weekend it was in Watertown?? You guessed it. Well, the concierge at the Hampton Inn called a locally owned inn and he had two rooms left and said he'd save one for us. We drove there and the other room had indeed been taken while we drove there, so we got what may have been the last room in town. Can you believe that??

The motel was owned by a very lovely Indian man who couldn't have been more gracious. The room was on the second floor and the steps bowed as I walked up them with our suitcase. At least there was internet access!! The tv in the room didn't work and the room was very small, but it was clean. We both read a little while and slept the sleep of the dead.

We left that little room around 10:00 the next morning. We had coffee at Border's bookstore and.....lunch at the CB. What can I say?? See, we had eaten at several CB's over the course of the trip, but I hadn't eaten my favorite meal yet. I really, really wanted to have that roast beef before I left the states. And I did. It melted in my mouth, let me tell you. I enjoyed every morsel.

Then, as you have seen, we drove home and took some pictures along the way. We got home around 3:30, unpacked the car and immediately left to go pick up our beloved furry children. We were so glad to see them! They weren't 100% sure about us....absence always does that....but they warmed up to us fast.

So since we have been home, we have done very little. We've rushed to take some autumn pictures while the leaves are still on the trees. I'll post them soon. We've slept a lot and caught up on a lot of tv. I go back to work tomorrow night...ugh. Life hits.

So now....posts might not be so interesting as a travelogue was. Normal life might be downright boring. I don't know. I just know that I have enjoyed this. We shall see. Vacation lends itself to fun. Every day stuff can be interesting if blogged by the right person. I don't know if that's me!

More later.

last day in Atlanta

Well, it has been a very good time for us here. We haven't had time to see everyone we wanted to see. There just didn't end up being enough lunch and dinner dates for everyone we wanted to see. We regret that. We have, however, had very, very good times with those we have gotten to see.

Sunday night we went to a sing-a-long Mamma Mia with friends. What fun! We ate at Joe's Crab Shack afterwards and came away stuffed! Tree Hugger and I do love our coconut shrimp....yummmmmm. One of those friends has been a friend for many years. The other is a brand new friend. Reconnecting with them or meeting them for the first time.....it's just the stuff life is made of. Love it.

Saturday night we ate with some other friends, at their home and two other friends joined us there. There were six of us in all and the country home cooking was awesome!! We had Honey Baked Ham and smoked turkey and luscious vegetables. The dessert was a Rasberrry Elegant cake that was a killer! ooooooo weee!! Shut your mouth and slap my granny!

Monday we spent the day with one of my dearest friends. We've known each other for 34 years. We shopped at the outlet mall at Dawsonville, GA and came away with some good deals. She and Tree Hugger have bonded over the years and are almost as dear friends. We ate at a popular Atlanta eatery called "Eats" The company was much better than the food, but the food wasn't bad...just not outstanding. And make sure you know.....I was the one who choose the place, so blame me!!

Today has been our last full day here. We had one more meal with the friend we spent yesterday with. Ate Chic-fil-A for lunch! There's not a better chicken sandwich anywhere. And who has better lemonade than Chic-fil-A?? NOBODY!! Tonight we see one more set of friends for dinner and come back here to the motel to pack and get some sleep.

We have so enjoyed staying in one place for a few days and being able to recoup some lost sleep! The best thing, though, is being able to reconnect with those who mean so much. They make life SO much richer. We dearly love every one of you.

We leave around lunch time tomorrow for Huntsville, AL and another reunion with an old friend. This one has been my friend since September 1969 - sophomore year of high school. That will be a good time, as well. Bank on it.

The pics above are as follows: the flower thing was this unusual red and yellow leafed thing at Monticello. I have others from Monticello that I will post eventually, but this was one more I thought I'd include while doing vacation posts. The other three are of our day at the Biltmore House. Two are of us in front of the house, and the house without us. The other is the view from the front door of the house, looking back at the gigantic lawn, wall and more lawn before you can get to where the long distance view of the front of the house is taken from. It's a massive place, to say the least.

More later......hope you enjoy the pics and stories!

attempt at pics

Well, here I am....seeing how long an attempt at uploading at pics will take.

We just got back from a very enjoyable lunch with my cousin and her husband and daughter (cousin-in-law and first cousin once removed...if you're into that) at.....you guessed it, the Cracker Barrell.

Isn't it always good to hook up with people who mean so much to you? You just can't beat that. We enjoyed them thoroughly.

We stopped at a roadside stand and stocked up on pecans at a bargain price, as well as a couple of bananas and peaches. We also bought fried peach pies, but they were.....to be kind....substandard. Enough said, on that.

Now we're headed out with friends to see Mamma Mia and have dinner at yet another awesome southern cooking place. Do we perceive a theme here?? Ya think????

The pics I'm attempting to upload (while I've typed this they still haven't finished) are three of our day at Monticello and a couple taken in the Smoky Mountains. One is the back of the house (the front pics were a little too dark), a very unusually beautiful flower in the gardens at Monticello and one of us in front of the back of the house. The two in the Smokies are of a nice stream with lots of rocks and a view of some mountains from a pass within Cades Cove. I really like pics that are framed by something like two tree branches or two fence posts or two sides of a pass, like this one!

Hope you like them. If I have time, I'll try uploading more this evening before we hit the bed for the night. To be frank, there aren't too many more, but I can try to get them uploaded.

I just decided that since I had a few minutes before our evening plans, it couldn't hurt to try. It did finally take about five minutes, but what's five minutes??? right??

More later!!

tired puppies

Hello to all our friends, wondering...."where is LePew Man's blog??"
Well, things have been a little hectic since last we communicated.
There aren't any pictures right now due to a very slow connection. I just don't want to spend the time waiting and waiting for pics to load. I will post them next week from home and alert you all that there are loads of pics to see. For now, I will stick to narrative so you can at least know how we're doing!
Once we left the Washington, DC area, we drove to Charlottesville, VA to spend some time with Mr Jefferson, at his home, Monticello. We loved it. We were there about 2 1/2 hours. The weather was great. The views from his idyllic mountain top home were amazing.
We then drove to my brother and sister-in-law's house. We had not seen each other in several years, so this was a very nice reunion for us. Tree Hugger had never met her brother-in-law or his wonderful wife, so it was special for them, as well. Having not seen each other in some time, I didn't want to take time out to fiddle on the computer, so this past Monday didn't lend itself to a blog post.
Then on Tuesday, we drove to Knoxville, TN and spent the whole afternoon driving around in the glorious and wonderful mountains of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. No place on earth is as wondrous and special to me as the Smokies. Tree Hugger had never been, so she was definitely up for seeing this place I love so much. They did not disappoint. The day was clear so views were uncluttered. There was wild turkey and deer to gaze at. There was the signature mist at times. Of course, the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia, that we drove through to get there, were pretty darned beautiful, as well!
That evening, we had some really good bar-b-que at Gerald's Smokehouse with some of my fellow Tennessee Lady Vol fans and one unbiased reporter...or so she tries to be. She's a damned good reporter and judges things well, so I'll allow that she can remain impartial....I guess! Anyway, the food was good and the company couldn't have been any better. Two of those friends gave me some totally, way cool Lady Vol paraphernalia, too!
Wednesday morning, we stopped at McMillin's on the way out of town. McMillin's is a store that sells all things Tennessee Vols. I, of course, wanted mostly Lady Vol stuff. The manager there, a really nice guy by the name of Kelly, is a member of the Lady Vols message board, so I got to meet another fan that I have communicated with online. I got some cool stuff...including a key chain that plays "Rocky Top." Can you stand it?? I love it!!
I'm saving the sad story of our lack of internet access to the end.
After Knoxville, we drove to Asheville, NC. What a beautiful drive. We spent that whole afternoon at the Biltmore House. We ate at a lovely restaurant on the estate, then did the house tour. It's gotten extremely expensive to tour the house, so that might be my last time at the Biltmore House! Anyway, the late lunch was superb. The tour of the house itself was beautiful and worth having Tree Hugger see it for the first time. It was my fourth.
The next day, we slept in for some much needed rest. We left Asheville around 11:00 and headed for Atlanta, where we are now. We have seen so many friends already! Lunch with some, dinner with others. Each and every reunion has been wonderful, delightful and deeply satisfying. Today we see some very dear family (cousins) and very dear friends tonight. Our time in Atlanta will continue to be like that until we leave on Wednesday. Even though we are a little weary, our hearts are full.
I've not taken pictures of meet-ups with friends or family. I don't mind posting my own picture online, but I won't post the pictures of other people online. I could ask their permission to do so, but I think that is their domain to do or not do. Any pictures will be of Tree Hugger and me or things we've seen. So....for this last half of the vacation, there will be fewer pictures anyway. BUT.....when I do post pics, next week, of what you haven't seen yet, they will be good and you will like them! You got that???
Regarding the internet connections......I didn't want to spend time away from family at my brother's place. The Knoxville motel only had dial-up which I consider the same as no access. The Asheville motel screwed up my reservation and didn't even have a room available with access. The connection here in the motel in Atlanta is either "low" or "very low" which makes the speed very sluggish. Uploading pics would take a looong time. I'm just not going to fool with that. If we find a motel on the way home with a speedy connection, I'll get a head start on that. Until then, just enjoy the narrative and eagerly await the picture show.
I'll post again in a day or two. Hope you enjoyed the pictureless travelogue!!