Field Notes 6/2/2025

In the Field

Not much happened in this category other than I started to remove the pavers from the flower beds out front. We have several trees growing in the front yard that we put pavers around when the trees were planted. I wanted to pull them up since I don’t plan on planting anything in them other than the trees. I also started weeding the front flower beds. I think I can get this knocked off my to-do list this week. Also, I kind of broke the mower. My brother and I share the mower for the moment and I ran over a stump and thought to myself “don’t break the mower, your brother will kill you!”. But I did. I broke it. Actually, I bent one of the blades. It was a pretty good bend too. Go big or go home, as they say! It was a relatively easy, although not cheap, fix. We are back in business though. Other than that, the to-do list is still as is!

Lessons in Progress

This! I am really proud of myself for going to a concert by myself. I love Ryan Bingham (in case you missed that in last week’s post. LOL) and he was playing a concert at the casino in Cherokee, NC. I wasn’t going to do but then I thought what the heck. I have been working really hard lately and not taking much down time. I had a great interview last week. I’m still applying on and interviewing for jobs around the country still. I am making some hard decisions. I am really doing all the things and not taking a lot of time for myself. So I bought the tickets. I even splurged and bought pit tickets. I am so glad I did. Not only did Anna Lee and I drive over to Cherokee, but I went to that concert by myself. And had a blast! I met the two couples that were on the front row (that’s right, front row!!) with me. I sang. I danced. I took some videos of him and the Texas Gentleman playing and singing. It did my soul some good to get out of town for 24 hours. I miss traveling. I miss seeing the mountains every day. I do know this- I do not want to be in Knoxville. I know I’ve said it over and over, but I miss my small towns. I miss the rural communities. It’s given me some ideas on how I can create a better space in the here and now.

I couldn’t decide on what outfit to wear. I had a few picked out and then I ran into the goodwill on Friday and found THE perfect dress! I really stink at taking full length photos of myself and I was in a hurry the night of the concert. I snapped a selfie that you can see by visiting my Instagram stories. I paid $7 for the dress and it was perfect! So nice and soft and flowy. I put my cowboy boots on, did my hair, and was off to the casino for the concert. I took so many videos. Maybe I’ll share one per week so I can keep reliving that night! Anna did really well. We went over to Cherokee from the Gatlinburg side (if you are not familiar with Cherokee, there is NO good way to get to it. You have to drive over the mountain somehow. And for those of you from the upstate NY region, these mountains down here are much more pronounced so going over the mountain is REALLY going over the mountain). You know, I didn’t take one single photo. The way over to NC from Gatlinburg is BUSY and slow. I didn’t want to stop and take photos because a)it was crowded and b)I didn’t want to get behind a really slow car. They have turnouts every so often for people to pull over so all the cars can pass, but some people won’t pull over. They just keep on going really slow and holding up traffic. That was the case when I went over. Anyway. No photos from that pass.

Coming back we inadvertently ended up on ‘The Tail of the Dragon”. That was a nightmare. Not because of the road. The road itself is very, very windy. More windy than the Gatlinburg pass. But cars and motorcycles like to take this path and drive dangerously. That happened on my way over. Anna and I had such a nice ride coming out of Cherokee and taking a way I don’t think I’ve ever been before. And then we get to the Dragon. There were cars and cars and motorcycle after motorcycle. Thankfully most of them were going the opposite direction. I did pull over for some cars and then I never saw them again. But there was this jerk on a motorcycle who came flying up behind me, passed me on a curve with a double yellow line. He did the same to the truck in front of me. And then there are these people who sit at some of the turnouts and take photos and then sell them back to you. Why on earth they would take photos of me in my little cargo van is beside me. Especially because I didn’t mean to take that route. It’s not like I planned it and thought it would be amazing to have my photo taken! LOL.

Anyway, we made it down the mountain. Oh. Going over we went through Cosby. I hadn’t been there in forever! It is so beautiful there! I could almost reach out the window and touch the mountains. I’m sharing my photos from Cherokee here. We didn’t do much other than go to the concert then drive around the next morning, found a coffee shop, and then drove around some more. I was very tired from the night before and I needed to get a lot of things done at home so we didn’t delay our start home. I will go back to Cherokee when I can spend some time walking around and visiting the museums. It was a great get away but I am left with some thoughts about the reservation. I’ll let them percolate before I share them here.

Like I mentioned above, I had a great interview last week. I’m not sure if I will get invited back in for the next step, but I am happy to have had such a good interview. I had one a couple of weeks ago that was one of the most awkward I’ve ever had. And no matter what happens, I am happy that there is interest in me and what I can bring into a role. I have another interview today. I am still waiting to hear from a lot of places and I will also continue to apply for positions. I know the right one is out there and when the time is right, it will happen. In the meantime I will continue to tackle life like I have been.

I bought myself a little notebook to help keep track of all my projects and my ideas. I love a good notebook (those of you who know me, will know this to be absolutely true!). I am trying to be more digital, but I still like pen and paper for journaling and for keeping track of my to-do list and all these thoughts and ideas swirling around in my head.

Tried & Tested

Other than the Coffee and Pie Chat that I posted about yesterday, I made goat cheese ice cream. It’s been on my list for a long time. I bought ingredients before, but ended up using those ingredients for other recipes. Then I bought the ingredients again a couple of weeks ago and decided that this past weekend was THE time to get it done. I got back from my trip on Saturday and thought ‘why not!’. The recipe is pretty easy over all and didn’t take long to make. I cleaned the kitchen while the milk and cream heated on the stove. Then I blended in the goat cheese and cooled it all. Then you throw it in your churn and then you’re done! I will let you know how it tastes. My friend Elizabeth and I have had a whole discussion about how it will turn out. Or is that churn out. LOL.

I posted about the ice cream on social media and got some interest in the recipe. The recipe is from Hello, My Name is Ice Cream by Dana Cree. I’ve had this book for a few years now and love it! I highly recommend it if you are into making ice cream and learning all about ice cream. I’ll do a separate post this week with the recipe and some photos! Stay tuned.

The above set of photos are all the things I see when I travel around delivering groceries. It reminds me of all the beauty that we miss out on everyday. Or at least it is helping me slow down and see things differently. I hadn’t taken photos for such a long time and I love taking photos. I want to get better at photography. Anyway. I notice a lot of things as I am driving around. I want to start putting some of those thoughts down-like how a lot of farmland here in the Knoxville area is being sold off and housing developments are being built in their place. Maybe a photo series about this?! Food for thought.

Noted & Saved

I don’t have too much to report here. I am playing tennis tonight for the first time since high school. I’ve been interested in getting back into playing. I was hoping to find a court with a backboard so I could hit some balls around but then I was on perusing a group on Facebook and there was a conversation about getting together and playing. I jumped on board quick! I did warn the other participants that I haven’t played since high school but they didn’t seem to mind. It’s all about having fun anyway. And I found a tennis racket at the goodwill for $2! Score!

I have plans to visit a friend and her daughter this week to go thrifting! I’m excited about that. I ended up thrifting two items that I took to the concert with me (neither of which I got a picture of). One was the dress I wore and the other was a Michael Kors fanny pack. It’s very fancy and surprisingly wasn’t that much money.

Oh. I love a good documentary. Did I ever tell you this?! I love the David Beckham documentary. I love Full Swing. I watched the Martha Stewart one and the one about Polo. I just love them. I have a free subscription to Apple TV for the next 3 months. I found this documentary about surfing called Make or Break. Boy. It’s so interesting to watch. Do y’all remember Kelly Slater from the 90’s? I sure do. He was still surfing some 30 years later!! WOW. And to think of all that we could accomplish if we set our minds to it and worked hard at it. It’s so inspiring.

I also downloaded Spotify again. I’ve missed my eclectic playlists on there. After seeing Ryan Bingham I need to dive into some other equally as interesting and amazing music. I’ve always known how much music soothes my soul. I especially love seeing it live, but I love driving around back roads with the windows down listing to music that fills me up.

On My Radar

Not much to report here either. I saw a coyote run through the backyard this past week. Anna and I were on the back porch and she started barking a little and looking into the back field. I didn’t see anything until it was almost across the creek. I can hear them at night a lot and have only seen one one other time. I’m guessing no chickens for us for a while!

I made a page in my notebook to help me keep track of things I want to share with y’all. A week isn’t that long but when it comes to sitting and writing these posts, I draw a blank on everything that’s happened. Then I push publish and I think of a million things I meant to tell you! I think we’ll stop here for today. Things have been on the status quo lately but I hope as I get more of routine set things will start to pick up and I can report back with all the details of what’s happening. We’ll start it all off slow and steady and then pick up steam as we move along.

Tell me what you’ve been up to this past week!

‘til next time
-k
xoxo