Scenic Sunday

To me, this looks like somewhere tropical with the deep blue-green color of the lake and the treed mountains on the other side. Nope. It's right here in Tennessee. Watauga Lake is reported to be one of the cleanest lakes in the nation, and based on the gorgeous color, I believe it. I'm not a big fan of lake swimming, but I'd jump in here. This North Coast (Cleveland) girl misses the water.

Calfkiller

It's Watery Wednesday again!

This time, I give you local color. This is taken from an old railroad bridge that is now a walking bridge (and in some disrepair, sadly) at the little town park in Sparta. I'm just so wowed by the gorgeous blue-green color of this little river!

The name of this little gem is the Calfkiller River, just another colorful Tennessee name. Apparently a Cherokee tribe that once lived here had a chief whose name translated "Calf Killer" (what an odd Indian name). The river bisects Sparta before it meets with the much more impressive Caney Fork.

Tennessee Governor's Academy

The smirk that says "I think I did okay."

This weekend my son Brandon and I went to Knoxville, where he interviewed for Tennessee Governor's Academy of Math and Science. From the entire state only 24 students get to attend each year. The program is amazing; a student-led learning environment. They go to University of Tennessee for physics lab and work with scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on a mentoring basis.

More on the trip in future posts.

Skywatch Friday

It's been a bad tornado season here in Tennessee; two were killed in not so far Murfreesboro yesterday and a whole lot more injured.

It wasn't bad here, really. Russ, Bran and I went to have sushi when the angry gloom was starting, then ran for the car pelted by rain and got ourselves good and soaked. Wish I'd taken pictures of the flood swirling into the storm drain in Cookeville. We took refuge in Books a Million till the tornado warning passed. When I got home I took this picture of a still-angry sky.

Spring in February

That's Dink enjoying the sunshine. Last Saturday it felt good enough that Bran and I went to the little park in town and took the dogs for a lap and up to the bridge. Temps have almost reached the 70s the last week. It's dropped down to 40s-50s today and I expect another cold spell soon. When Russ got off work Saturday (he's working only half days on Saturday now, yay!) we went up to City Park in Cookeville and walked to the waterfall. There are waterfalls in all kinds of amazing out-of-the-way places in Tennessee. Now that I have a camera I intend to document all kinds of them.

In other news, Bran tried out for the WCHS tennis team yesterday. Updates to come, though coach says he's very likely to be on the team.

Old Stone Fort

Yesterday Russell surprised Brandon and I with an impromptu trip to Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park. What a cool place... we missed their actual activities but they had atlatl, weaving, cording, pottery and flintknapping demonstrations, among other things, and that was just this weekend.

The place is a 2000-year-old Native American ceremonial site. We walked the 1.25-mile trail that borders Native American earthworks placed in the triangle formed by the Big Duck and Little Duck rivers rushing below in places as far as 85 feet, and the Little Duck drops over some really nice waterfalls in two places. There are little side-trail deviations so your walk can be different each time you go. Besides that, there's a cute little museum with artifacts and reproductions, and samples from their twice a year flintknapping workshops (my favorite: an arrowhead made from the bottom of a glass Clorox bottle). They have a time tunnel and some info about archaeology.

Interesting, that: we white Americans valuing cultures whose descendants our ancestors are responsible for all but wiping out. I've always been a bit awed because England has thousand-year-old structures, and here in this land no buildings exist older than 200-ish years, since we haven't been here longer than that. A bit ethnocentric of me. Here's a structure (albeit in some places hard to see, since externally it looks like a pile of dirt that could be naturally formed) that has stood here since Christ walked the earth, or thereabouts.

A nice walk in the woods, with some thought provoking content, as well, and worth the drive if you're anywhere close. Here's their website:
http://www.tennessee.gov/environment/parks/OldStoneFort/

I know the pictures leave a lot to be desired, but they're not bad for cell phone pics. I promise to get the camera fixed soon for more adventures....