TN condo - 4

Then it was morning again and I went out on the deck to greet it. It was a clear day with abundant sunshine and much birdsong, much of which I couldn’t identify except for the very annoyed cry of a blue jay. In the distance, a woodpecker was sound-marking its territory with a loud rat-a-tat-tat on what sounded like an aluminum rain gutter. The skunk of last evening is still gone but I did catch a slight whiff of the remainder of its presence, I was grateful that it was only slight.

Breakfast was not totally organized and we just munched on whatever was available. Afterwards we cooled our jets and did some crossword puzzles and just generally relaxed. As it neared lunchtime it was decided that we would fix a picnic lunch and go to a park by one of the nearby lakes. Arriving there, we took our foodstuffs to a table near the water’s edge and enjoyed our open-air lunch. We then walked out on the dock nearby for an up close and personal look at the water quality.

Then OB and I did a bit of exploring around the shore, startling a few chipmunks along the way. On the way back to the condo, we stopped at a place of business called the ‘Custard Cabin’. This was an ice cream place and we chose our lunch dessert from among their products. It wasn’t the soft-serve type, nor was it the hard frozen kind but somewhere in between and very tasty.

We had seen signs for a beach and marina, so after our ice cream we went to find that place on the map. It was located just down the road on another of the larger lakes. It wasn’t huge but did have a fair amount of boats tied up there. I thought it a bit different that almost all of the boats were the pontoon type of craft. They did have a small man-made beach of sorts and there were even a few folks splashing around in the cordoned off swimming area. We finally got enough of the exploring and headed back to the condo.

We spent some time out on the deck just relaxing and discussing the issues and problems of the world and even solving most of them to our satisfaction. FSISIL had put on some homemade soup earlier and three of us went in to enjoy this, leaving the non-hungry Spice out on the deck reading. The soup was tasty and we polished it off in short order. We cleaned up the dishes and then attacked some crossword puzzles while we were watching American Idol.

Next morning I awoke and found myself face-to-face with Wednesday, our return home day. We each grabbed a bite to eat in our own fashion and started putting our belongings back together and loading them in the van. We did the necessary things at the condo with the linens and towels, dropped off the keys and we were on our way. Back down I-40 through Knoxville and again catching I-26 near Ashville.

We exited I-26 once more at exit 40 near Hendersonville to eat at the J & S Cafeteria – this eatery just happens to be across the highway from the airport there. We stood in line, picked up our edibles and enjoyed consuming them very much – also enjoyed the break from the highway. Noticed before and this time that there were more older folks eating there than the younger varieties – I guess we just like our veggies better. I’m certainly grateful to my Creator for veggies. TBC ec