Our wonderful friends from Myrtle Beach were traveling in Tennessee recently and we had the pleasure of spending some quality time with them having card marathons! Great friends who we miss terribly and it was so good to see and spend several days with them.

Unfortunately our other card marathon friends are in Texas and we miss them greatly too. We had hoped to visit them during the Christmas holiday but due to knee replacement surgery and other setbacks we had to cancel our upcoming trip to visit them. We are planning and looking forward to connecting with them over this coming summer while they're in Pennsylvania. Then try to connect with both for another big card marathon in August or September.

Some times life just gets in the way of doing the things that bring an abundance of joy. Our friends mean a lot to us and we try to keep in touch with those that are long distance! Friends are the important treasures in our lives that we never want to lose touch with. Every day that we'll be in Pennsylvania will be filled with visiting and spending our time close friends. Can't wait!

We love living in Tennessee, the weather especially is what drew us here. We were tired of winter and snow and wanted to move where the weather was a little warmer but not too hot. Tennessee's landscape is very much like Pennsylvania's so we're not missing anything in that way. However, our other choice was South Carolina along the coast. We had looked at some areas near Myrtle Beach and  Murral's Inlet. So at some point we may reconsider those areas. We'll see!

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!
Sam

I love the morning, its a clean slate for my imagination to run on. I am definitely a morning girl. I love the peace and silence of it. I climb out of bed everso quitetly so as to not wake my husband and slip out of the bedroom and head to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, Irish breakfast my favoite. Its 5:30 and still fairly dark outside. I grab my favorite cup from the cupboard, a soft blue and smooth to the touch. There's just something special about this cup that makes me feel good inside, like a hug.

As the water brews I prepare my tea and measure out the honey. I pull the cream from the frig. I like my tea with cream, it was the way my grandmother would prepare it for me as a child. She and her father enjoyed their tea, "like the English" she said. She told me her father was from Yorkshire England. I remember smiling and loving my grammy for that time together. She has long since past away but the memories are vivid like it was yesterday.

I gathered my tea and cuddled in the corner of the sofa to enjoy it and the peace of the morning. I close my eyes as I sip the tea and think about things I would like to do and things I would like to paint. I love to paint, and my favorite medium is watercolor. Its soft too and I love how it flows and works into the paper, kind of like me working into my day.

This is such a cool shot, the
picture speaks its own beauty.

We've had some amazing mornings out on the lake kayaking. This particular morning it was really foggy with a thick mist. Got some good photos. I've never seen a morning like this it was so beautiful. They almost take on the look of old black and white photos. Errie. You can see the sun peaking through the clouds and reflecting on the ripples in the water at the front of my kayak.

I love how the sun is reflected here in
the ripples from my paddles. 

Daryl is kayaking there ahead of me and
beyond him is the Dragon boat.

We have had such a wonderful new year here in Tennessee, sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure this is really true. We miss our friends back home but have hopes they will all have an opportunity to visit us sometime in the near future.

Scavenger Hunt Spoons & Mittens!

One of us had to get our picture in a
port-a-potty. Lucky you Bill!

We join a Halloween scavenger hunt with friends of ours that was lots of fun as you can see in the pictures. It was an all-day hunt, then a costume dinner and dancing at the Yacht Club that evening. It was a great time.

Toward the end of October, we went on a long weekend trip to Myrtle Beach to meet up with some near and dear friends and had a great card marathon with them! Jon is there but missing from the picture, and me, of course taking the picture. It was great, although the guys did most of the winning this time around instead of us girls! That's ok, we hope we'll get another chance come Spring of 2019.

We're all Myrtle Beach Bums

And here we are in December. I've been slowed down for a little while to recoup from knee replacement surgery on my right leg on December 3rd. Doing pretty good despite the swelling, and pain. Lots our Euchre friends blessed us with some fantastic meals that kept us nourished over the past two weeks. Thanks to all of you! I finally felt pretty good yesterday and decided I really needed to get out of the house and go for a ride. Tonight, we're going out for pizza then over to visit some friends for a little while. We'll see how long I can tolerate sitting. It may not be too long but at least it will give me a break from home.

A year ago I stood at a crossroad in my life. I couldn't believe I was retiring. Part of me wanted to and the other part not so sure. We put our house of 26 years up for sale and decided that we wanted to move south, never expecting to sell our house in two days UGH! We had just a little over 30 days to pack up and leave Pennsylvania for parts unknown. We searched several options in North Carolina and South Carolina but neither seemed to fit us. So we headed into Tennessee on a recommendation from a friend.

We ended up in Loudon Tennessee, at Tellico Village. What a beautiful place, couldn't have asked for anything better than this; Smokey Mountains and a gorgeous lake all a few minutes from our new home. This has been a fantastic new year and a new life retired. We've made an abundance of new friends, and there's something to do here every day. If you're bored in Tellico Village it's your own fault.

We have been kayaking, swimming, enjoying working out at the Wellness Center and playing cards at the Recreation Center. We are close to Pigeon Forge, Dollywood and several other great places to visit. We absolutely love it here!

It didn't take me long to get my art studio set up in one of our spare bedrooms. Lots of beauty here to paint. I hope you'll join me in our new location as I paint and blog from Tennessee!

We have enjoyed some beautiful weather during the month of February and had a nice taste of Spring, however it is still winter and we were so reminded of that this morning!

I was looking forward to having my morning coffee on the porch, but that is out of the question now :(

Good morning friends!
Don't panic I've just removed some of my latest blog posts, it really hasn't been since September that I've posted. Just cleaning up.
I have finally given my notice of retirement and looking forward to my last day on Friday, May 5th. Just two months away! Now begins the work of downsizing! I've been doing a little of that already but the heavy duty work starts now.
We are planning to move south, how far and where is still a mystery. We're looking around Myrtle Beach, and possibly some areas in Tennessee, maybe even North Carolina. It's a difficult decision. We don't want to make a mistake and have to move again. We're taking our time, checking out all options available.
I will be keeping my studio and possibly opening up a gallery in the area we move to. I want it to be comfortable, a place to come in, enjoy the artwork, paintings and cards, relax with a good magazine and a cup of coffee or tea and visit for awhile. I will also be offering art classes taught by myself as well as other local artists.