At Considerable Cost

I am uploading so many pictures, but the first purpose of this blog is to serve as a record for our family, so here goes another set! We decided to use Gatlinburg, Tennessee as our home base.   Our hotel was located around the corner from the main strip, so we were in a quiet area, but able to walk downtown in just a few minutes.   We arrived just before midnight from Vicksburg, so we had our first real look at Gatlinburg and the beautiful Smoky Mountains the next morning.   We walked downtown to take in the sights and eat breakfast.   Gatlinburg is a total tourist town with a mix of quaint gift shops and souvenir ones, spread out between several Ripley's attractions and all the varieties of mini golf a person could want.   It has a quality of being wonderfully tacky and uniquely American, and I really mean that in a good way.   I'm a person who has a desire for my children to see both Washington, D.C. and Elvis's Graceland....

Black eyes.   Technically brown, but any border of iris is lost in their depths.   Not just windows to her soul, but to their observer, they seemed to also be a mirror into his own soul.   Eyes whose near blackness had the same effect as the nun's black habit, always turning my thoughts to God.   In the daylight, those turned thoughts were fresh, hopeful and exciting: a new life, redemption, belief sparkled within delicate almond-frames.   Sharp wit and wisdom beyond years.   But then there was the night, as the blackness deepened around, so it did in those eyes.   Still sparkling, but now with a depth of experience and knowledge.   She was close to God, in love and hope, but that proximity also opened her up to the spiritual world.   The reality of battles, forces, of angels and demons.   Sure, knowing, and peaceful, relying on the name of Jesus and to use the evangelical vernacul...

My Serious Diet, as compared to my other half-hearted 'I'm just going to eat better' attempts over the past few years, is going on week five now.   I didn't weigh during the first two weeks, determined that I would not let my life be ruled by a scale.   I finally gave in on week three, though.   My latest weigh-in today showed I've lost 14 lbs. since I first weighed .    Yay, me!   I'm hoping I'll soon be able to wear my wedding bands again.   On my finger.   Otherwise, that sentence may not make perfect sense and reminds me of a great Designing Women moment (as do most things): It's interesting to diet during Lent.   I've never dieted during a real observance of Lent before.   It means none of my Lenten practices involve giving up any kind of food product beyond those requirements of Fridays, Ash Wednesday, and Good Friday.   I'm already eating the minimum number of calorie...

Each year at midnight, the hour which begins Ash Wednesday, this is the scene in the French Quarter.   Behind the last of the parades and revelers comes mounted policemen who line up across the entire street to sweep the crowds away.   They are followed by clean-up crews and street-sweepers so that by the time the sun casts her first rays on the Crescent City on Ash Wednesday, all but the smallest signs of the season's excess and sometimes, debauchery, have disappeared. There's something so hopeful, so decent about this physical, concrete image.   Even in a city that prides itself on good times, there is still some respect and some solemnity left.   How many more tourist dollars could they bring in if they just allowed the party to continue?   Maybe turn the French Quarter into an amusement park where it's Mardi Gras all year?   But no, the streets are swept and the party people are sent home to assess their damages, regro...