I’m leaving Tennessee for Arizona this morning (see Tour Page for details). I’ve been charged by my seven year-old with the task of taking a picture of a cactus while I’m away. But she’s half-hearted about it, knowing that the perfect cactus specimen is no match for what we just left in Cherokee National Park.
We spent four days in - seriously - the most beautiful little slice of earth I’ve ever walked. Greens that look fake in photographs. The canopy of trees overhead was so dense the space we played on underneath was a cool and dim dusk no matter what time of day.
A creek ran behind our small wooden cabin - the easy trickle and miscellaneous woodland bug sounds made a nap possible and downright tempting anytime of day. Sure, there was rain off and on everyday but it kept us cool and gave us big people an excuse to come out of the woods and sit a spell on the porch with a cold plastic cup of sweet tea.
I will miss you, Tennessee.
I’m heading to Arizona for the weekend - Phoenix and Sierra Vista (See tour page for details).
Which reminds me of a fine film I’ve watched far too many times to still be deemed mentally healthy. My last year of college (I talk about this briefly in my shows these days), I moved out of an apartment and into half of a garage, shut off the cable and the telephone and the water to save money for a wedding ring. Before I killed the power altogether, I used to watch the only four movies I owned again and again: Forest Gump, Independence Day, Braveheart and Raising Arizona.
I only watched while I ate and then I hit pause and headed out the door again for class or work. I wonder if watching in such short bursts burned these flicks onto my brain more easily than all the stuff in my textbooks because I have almost every line of dialogue from these four movies memorized still and I can’t remember for the life of me the difference between a Neopolitan and German 6 chord. And, really, how useful is that stuff in books anyway compared to movie dialogue. Lines from Raising Arizona are particularly useful to have in one’s verbal arsenal: amusing to me, confounding to others.
You’d be amazed how many ways one can use “Boy, you got a panty on your head” or “Not unless round’s funny.” Amazed. Truly useful stuff.
I’ll blog again from Arizona this weekend...or my name’s not Nathan Arizona.
Today is the last day of the 40 Day Fast. Head over to Inspired To Action for a recap of the last 40 days and an opportunity to get involved (and get linked).
This is me and my son Gresham in the nature.
To be more specific and take up a bit more space, that is me in shorts and a bandana Fundana, flashing a gang sign of some sort while holding a massive fish caught in Rocky Mountain Cherokee National Park. And a cane pole appears to be protruding from by butt.
I assure you it is not. It’s difficult to smile so convincingly with a cane pole protruding from one’s butt. People say.
I am back from vacation and will post more about the fun that was had. First, I need a shower and my favorite bed in the whole wide world: mine.
Ben and I woke up before God this morning - God’s approximate wake-up time is 4:30AM Texas time - and flew home from Florida. We did this so that I could have a couple hours to unpack, repack, blog this here post for you all, load the mini van up and drive to east Tennessee.
My family, Brian and his wife Amy (my wife’s sister) and their kids, Kathy (the other sister), and my in-laws are heading to the Chattanooga area to live in a cabin in the nature for the week. My wife has planned this excursion and promises there will be a hay ride through an apple orchard, a river to raft and horses to ride. There will also be fantastic food cooked by my mother-in-law and at least one mean game of cards played after the kids go to bed.
I will spend much time in the nature. Walking in the nature. Sitting in the nature. Smelling the nature. Taking pictures of the nature. Getting wet from the nature and generally enjoying the nature.
In the nature there are no cell phone signals and there is no internet access. I will post again when I return from the nature on Friday August 1st. Until then, visit these fine blogs I’ll miss reading this week.
Boo Mama
Brant Hansen
Internet Monk
The Pioneer Woman
Challies
Seth Godin
Team Pyro
Rocks In My Dryer
