Chairlift to the Tip Top

 

Chairlift to the Tip Top

On our recent Great Smoky Mountain trip, we had intended all along to go to Dollywood.  As we arrived there, we decided to skip the amusement park scene and opted to go to Ober Gatlinburg instead.  It was my daughter-in-law Cassie and her two boys and myself that went on this grand adventure.  Ted and Rande were golfing at the Gatlinburg golf course.  Sande stayed in the room and kept baby Hannah.  By the way, Ted ended up beating his personal best and shot a 78 on a par 72 mountainous course.  He is still coming down off the elation that he felt.  Back to the story of Ober Gatlinburg.  A huge gondola that probably holds 75 people took us to the activities at the top of the mountain.  It was about a 15-minute ride and the scenery from that vantage point was amazing.  Charles spotted two black bears on the road below.  These were the only bears we saw on our trip.  There was a house built on the side of the mountain that was a copy of the original Barbie toy house.  Another house was called the stilt house and only 6 inches of the house was actually built on the ground and the rest was supported by stilts.  The ride up in itself was a treat, but at the top was an indoor skating rink.  Right away Charles wanted to go get on the ice.  He had taken skating lessons when he was 3 years old, so he was ready to try his skills.  They had small plastic apparatuses that could be used to assist in balancing while pushing it in front of you.  Charles got a hold of one of those and went cautiously on his way.  He only fell a couple of times before getting the hang of it.  Later, when Cassie and Grayson joined us, Charles pushed Grayson around while he sat on the pushcart.  Also at the top was a variety of challenging outdoor experiences.  There was a mountain roller coaster, mountain trail biking, a zipline, a rock-climbing tower, a jump pillow, a tube ride, swing chair ride, and a spider jump trampoline equipped with harness for doing flips!  They did many of these activities while I enjoyed watching.  The mountain roller coaster had a 2 hour wait time so that was unfortunate.  We were not willing to wait for Cassie and Charles to ride.  A large screen was positioned outside that offered news and sports.  The breaking news happened that President Biden had dropped out of the Presidential race while we were there.  It was one of those “where were you when” moments. My favorite attraction, however, was the chair lift.  We were already on top of a mountain, but not at the tip top.  The chair lift went to the tip top.  Cassie and Grayson rode together, and Charles and I rode together.  Only a metal bar across our laps separated us from the ground below.  It was a slow ride, and the view was incredible. I suppose we were only 20 ft off the ground. I wondered why I didn’t see sandals, cell phones, sunglasses or hats on the ground below. It would have been easy to accidentally drop something off the chair.  A bear was spotted up ahead of us.  The folks on the way down that we passed were all excited and telling us about it, but unfortunately the bear was gone by the time we arrived at that spot.  There was nothing at the tip top to see except the view and a tourist stand selling photos that they took of our approaching the top.  Charles wanted to have a picture of us kissing, so he held a constant lip lock on my cheek for what seemed like 5 minutes to ensure it was in the photo.  It was cute, but we passed on the photo and headed down again.  We were able to take our own photos because going up we were ahead of Cassie and Grayson and when we dismounted, we took a photo of their arrival.  The same is true when we returned to the bottom and Cassie took our arrival.  They sat in front of us on the way back.  The funniest thing started to happen as we descended the mountain on our chairlift.  The people we passed initiated games of rock/paper/scissors with the approaching chair.  Charles had a grand time playing this well-known game with the passing tourists.  In fact, he won with the majority of his games.  Grayson was also playing, and we could see him in front of us.  It was a reminder that ultimately, we are all in the same chairlift, dangling our feet above the ground, reaching for the sky and celebrating with strangers.  What a ride!

Tammy Harvey

8/7/2024

Strong Ears

 

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

You can’t make this stuff up.  That’s what I would call the story I’m about to share.  It happened on a recent mountain trip with my son Ted’s family.  They had just had a baby girl six weeks before to add to their two rambunctious boys.  It was their first long outing with three children in tow.  My son drove, his wife rode in the passenger seat, I sat next to the baby’s car seat and the two older boys were each in a car seat at the very back.  My job was rather easy because the baby slept most of the trip.  I mostly was the liaison between the front and back seats with an occasional pacifier replacement duty.  We had just left Tuckaleechee Caverns in Townsend, TN where we enjoyed a long and exhausting tour of the fascinating underground cave.  There were over 200 slippery steps to maneuver and various places where you had to watch your head.  Although I didn’t have to watch my head because I am the height of a fifth grader, it was exciting and educational too.  On our way back to our resort in Pigeon Forge, Cassie, my daughter-in-law suggested we take another more scenic route.  We wanted to see everything we possibly could on our travels.  It turned out to be a rather mountainous, winding road.  The nearly five-year-old, Grayson, in the back was looking at a phone and all of a sudden shouted out that he thought he was going to throw up!  Cassie handed me the first thing she could find to act as a “bucket” for him to use.  After all, we had borrowed her mother’s car for the trip, and it was our responsibility to keep it as clean as possible given we had 3 children to transport.  What she handed me to give him was a quart-sized soda cup half-filled with Dr. Pepper.  I quickly passed it to him, and he promptly tilted it to the side and spilled most of it on the car interior.  My son, in the meantime, was looking for a place to pull off to the side of the road.  I had purchased a book at the gift shop and had a small plastic sack available at my feet.  I hurriedly took the book out and handed the bag to Grayson for insurance that he might use it to throw up in.  He took it and without hesitation put one handle on his right ear and one handle on his left ear and then proceeded to wear it like a feed bag in front of his mouth!  It was hilarious.  Charles, who is seven years old corrected him saying he better hang onto it with his hands, or it would fall down if he threw up in it.  Grayson shouted back “NO, my ears are strong!” and continued to wear his makeshift throw up invention until we arrived back at the resort.  He didn’t ever throw up, but my son did have to clean up the Dr. Pepper that was spilled.  These are the moments that memories are made of!

Tammy Harvey

7/31/2024

Walking on Sunshine

 

Walking on Sunshine

“Walking on Sunshine” is a classic song by Katrina and the Waves that debuted in 1983.

In 1983, when Jerry and I met, it became our song.  To us, it is a song about how happy you feel when you are in love.  Upbeat and full of energy, just like Jerry was.  The lyrics, “And don’t it feel good?!”, I can almost hear him sing right now.  When Thomas and Danielle were married in 2012, Jerry and I were asked to pick a song to walk into the reception to, as we were introduced.  It was without question that it had to be this song.  In 2018, at Jerry’s celebration of life ceremony, we played this song as our family exited the sanctuary after the service.  It is the epitome of a feel-good song, positive and optimistic.  (Oh, I have read about how the song is about drugs and sadness, but I’ll have no part of that.)  It has always been a happy love song for us.  Now, even 41 years later, I walk into a hardware store, a thrift store or a restaurant and hear it, the one-hit wonder (our song), being played over the speakers.  Of course, when I hear it, I smile and think of Jerry who loved to sing it, and it encourages me. To “walk on sunshine” means to be extremely happy which I know Jerry must be in heaven.  He may even be literally walking on sunshine right now!

I would encourage you and your significant other to have “a song”.  You never know when it might come in handy to brighten your day.

Tammy Harvey  on 7/15/2024

Thrifting

 

Thrifting

Why do I like old things almost better than new?

Nostalgic shopping is exciting, from my point of view,

I like to go thrifting to see what is there,

At the donation centers, such a variety of wares,

I see items reminiscent of my childhood,

Old relics, long forgotten, the memories are good,

Trash to some, treasures to me,

Lost in a world of fantasy,

As I stroll down the aisles, it’s like the five and dime,

It takes me to another place in time,

I might as well be walking on another planet,

The anxiety melts, it’s like a weighted blanket,

Of course, I love the bargains, the thrill of a deal,

But the memories that flood me, really do heal,

I love the 1960’s and 70’s vibe, it’s true,

But I also love the 30’s and 40’s, don’t you?

Lifestyles have changed in just a few decades,

Not as many items are exclusively handmade,

Unique and unusually nostalgic items bring me joy,

It could be a figurine, an old book or even a toy,

Thrifted artwork is a must, for me, at least,

I’m always on the hunt for a beautifully framed piece,

Old books, old jewelry, old knick-knacks and such,

Are the things I really love so much!

Tammy Harvey on  7/15/2024

Baby Sister

 

Baby Sister

“I think my water just broke” I heard her say,

Frantically, my daughter-in-law was calling today,

She was 36 weeks pregnant and not due at all,

So, we all were surprised by this urgent phone call,

It was her third, so I anticipated it would go fast,

I hopped in my car and arrived there at last,

The 10-minute drive felt unusually long,

I was praying on my way that nothing was wrong,

The hospital said the baby was definitely arriving,

But without complications, the baby was thriving,

Their baby girl was born, in four hours’ flat,

Prayerfully, we like it like that,

Precious and tiny, not quite six pounds,

Healthy and hungry, making squeaky mouse sounds,

She disguised herself as a preemie, quite clever is she,

With no preemie complications, a warrior she’d be,

Born on a Friday night; home on Sunday,

Fearfully and wonderfully made, I’d say,

Her parents named her Hannah, the youngest of three,

With two big brothers to protect her, she’s problem-free,

A princess, a little lady, she’ll be a tough one, I’ll bet,

She is a joy to us all, and God’s not finished with her yet!

Tammy Harvey

7/1/2024

Nest Disaster

 

Bird’s Nest Disaster

I have worked really hard on providing a welcoming sanctuary to bees, butterflies and birds in my small courtyard.  I have planted numerous pollinators in my perennial garden.  Bird bath, bee bath, bee barn, birdhouse, butterfly house and birdfeeders are all provided in my garden.  With the exception of rabbits, which were eating everything, I welcome all the wildlife, mostly bluebirds who have nested in my box.  However, there was one place I had in the eave of my screened porch that was going to be off-limits to the birds.  They had found it was a nice place to perch and deposit their poop all around the column below. I ordered a spiked piece of mailable metal designed to deter birds from landing.  After much struggle, on a ladder, at an odd angle, I proceeded to install this device, satisfied I had taken care of the issue.

I went out of town for a week and when I returned there was some weeding to be done so I was out there grooming my flowerbeds when I saw house finches go into the area I had “restricted”.  To my dismay, I looked up and saw they had built a nest on top of the deterrent.  Immediately, I thought “oh, no you didn’t just build there”!  Impulsively, I grabbed a broom and proceeded to poke the nest out of its safe place.  It came tumbling to the ground and 3 tiny blue eggs fell to the concrete and yellow yolks burst out.  I was mortified.  I guess I did not anticipate that the eggs could already be in there.  I was devastated.  I was in shock.  How could I destroy something that I was advocating for?  So what if that wasn’t the ideal spot for a nest, in my opinion.  I was so quick to act that I didn’t think.  I couldn’t take it back.  I couldn’t fix it.  The parents returned over and over again and seemed to be confused about the missing nest.  I was totally devastated and ashamed.  Tears trickled down my face.  These beautiful birds are so special to me, yet I had determined their misfortune.  What an anomaly.

To complete the story, these parent birds are resilient, and I am so grateful that they did not give up.  They proceeded to rebuild their nest in a large metal sphere that hangs on my porch.  It is the ideal place!  Immediately they began gathering twigs and sprigs and formed a beautiful nest.  I can watch the birds sit on the nest and enjoy them as they grow their family.  It is a lesson in the danger of impulsivity and anger on my part.  In addition, it is a lesson for me to observe their adaptability and determination.  You can bet, I will think twice before raising a broom over my head again!

Tammy Harvey

6/13/2024

The Lost Tooth

 

The Lost Tooth

It would be the seventh baby tooth for the seven-year-old,

His Dad pulled it out like it was a morsel of gold,

No complaining, no resistance, the boy had been to this rodeo,

He was tired of the wiggly bit dangling there, hindering him so,

He walked right up and opened up wide,

His Dad’s big hand went gently inside,

Wham, bam, the tooth was out,

There was a slight pause then a gleeful shout,

“I’ll put it here, in the middle of the table, for safe keeping”, his dad said,

Amongst the lunch debris of the meal, we had just had,

Later on, I was cleaning up, I wiped the table really well,

Was the tooth really “lost”?... time would tell,

Later on, we looked at the table, but to our dismay,

The cleaning had really and truly wiped it away!

The lost tooth was “lost”, once again,

Sometimes in situations, you just can’t win,

We looked high and we looked low,

Searching on our hands and knees, you know,

Combing through the rug and seat cushions too,

Feeling helpless, not knowing what to do,

After checking the sink and down in the drain,

We had only to resolve and to carefully explain:

The lost tooth was lost, not figuratively, but literally,

The result of it did not change the boy’s sensibility,

The boy knew it was an accident and readily forgave,

The Tooth Fairy rewarded him, for he had been brave.

Tammy Harvey

6/13/2024