Straight Up

This is the overlook at the top of House Mountain, the highest point in Knox County, 2100 feet high. This natural area managed by the State of Tennessee is only 10 miles away from Knoxville. I could tell you about tectonic plates and synclinal folds that formed the mountain. Or I could just mention that the Overlook Trail is really made for mountain goats that like to climb straight up steep inclines and scramble across boulders. And then they eat their lunch on a sunny rock high above the rolling farmland of Knox County.

Uplifting

"I will lift mine eyes unto these hills from whence cometh my help."

-The Bible, Psalm 121

I wanted to give you something uplifting to look at as we celebrate Martin Luther King Day here in the US today, and look forward with hope to a new presidency tomorrow.

The immutable Smoky Mountains frame our horizon and our lives here in East Tennessee. I feel a great sense of peace when I look at them.

Hazy

The sun is shining through the haze of summer in East Tennessee. The Tennessee River meanders along, the Smokies wait for you in the distance. It's time to recover from the holiday. 

Play Ball

If it's spring, it must be the start of baseball season. Here's a Little League game at one of the ballfields at Lakeshore Park in West Knoxville. This is also one of my favorite viewspots on the Lakeshore Greenway, the two mile (3.2 kilometer) path that encircles the park, with the green of the trees and the blue of the river, and the Great Smoky Mountains meeting the clouds in the distance.