"A Poet of the People"

Last weekend my other half and I went to the Carl Sandburg Home in Flat Rock, NC. I had seen the sign for the home on the side of the highway countless times but had my friend not said we should really go, I'm not sure I would have. And I'm glad we did because we had a blast!

The Carl Sandburg Home is a National Historic Site run by the National Park Service. It costs $5 per person to tour the house, but the grounds, trails, and barn are free.

For those of you who are like me and have no clue who this gentleman was, let me educate for a brief moment. Carl Sandburg was a famous (it surprised me how famous!) writer, folk singer, activist, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and biographer (two for his poetry, one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln). He died June 22, 1967 and his wife sold the property with its contents and cultural resources donated to the National Park Service in 1968. One of the stipulations was that the calendar in the house remain open to June 1967. I wish I had taken a picture of it to show you!

Lake on the way up to the house and goat barn

View of the house from the trail

Trail leading up to the house. When we were heading back to our car a lady yells to us, "Is this hike worth it?!" We said, "Oh, definitely." And then Chris and I both look at each other and say, "Hike??" It was .25 mile and 100 foot elevation gain. Funny.

Lilian Sandburg's (wife) passion was goats and one of the main reasons they moved to North Carolina. All of the goats on the property are descendants of her original goats. Or so they say.

I used to want goats. And then I read parts of the keeping backyard goats book they had in their giftshop.

Chicken butts

Of course I had to take a picture of the piano

Every room was full of books; apparently the collection contains 12,000 volumes. This is actually the dining room. They weren't big tv watchers but every year Zenith would send them the latest television set they had made.

I fell in love with this kitchen and now I'm thinking my dream home will be in the mid-century modern style. ;)

Love it.

Love old appliances. Honestly, I don't even know what this is. Stove/oven?

I know what these are!

This guy's GOATee (haha - get it?) is AWESOME

The goat barn. It was a beautiful day to visit the Carl Sandburg Home.

And I will leave you with a fun little video of Carl Sandburg on What's My Line?.

Happy Earth Day!

When we moved to Kansas City last August, I instantly realized that I had taken western North Carolina for granted. Since moving back, I've made more of an effort to get out and enjoy this beautiful part of the country I'm so blessed to live in.

The weekend after we put Athena to sleep, we went to Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest and hiked the trail there. It's an easy two loops totaling 2 miles. From the USDA Forest Service site: This forest is one of the Nation’s most impressive remnants of old-growth forest. The forest contains magnificent examples of more than 100 tree species, many over 400-years-old, and some more than 20 feet in circumference and 100 feet tall.  

There are some other trails that branch off of the main trail, but we decided to go back and do those once the trees leaf out. Oh! I almost forgot! There are all these warnings posted..."This is an old-growth forest. Beware of falling limbs and trees." This is NO JOKE. We watched a tree fall not even 15 minutes into our hike. If our hearts weren't already pumping from the hike, they were then!

Canopy shot - trees just starting to leaf out

My boys

Q: Why did the Fungi leave the party? A: There wasn't mushroom. 

Trillium grandiflorum

Oh the places you'll go

The hubs and I made this list the other day on our ride back from Orlando.  I'm hoping we'll cross more off than we add.  I didn't include Italy since I know we're going there soon anyway.  Here's my question to you:  how does one travel in a country where one doesn't know the language?  Going to China scares me!   

O'dark Thirty

C and I were up before the crack of dawn to help out with the Valley of the Lilies Half Marathon today.  For all you trivia junkies out there, "Cullowhee", the town where our beautiful WCU campus is located, means "Valley of the Lilies".

I recorded the placing of the male finishers and C recorded everyone's times with the fancy timer do-hicky as they ran across the finish line.  We had tons of fun and I hope I get to do it all again next year.

First overall homeboy was bookin' it!  Check out a blurb here.

C is convinced we're going to do the Asheville half in September.  Mainly because it's on his birthday.  If I can let my ankle heal & fit a 10K in before training would begin for a half, then I'm all for it.  Here's to new hobbies!

On your mark, get set, GO!

My place of work is going bonkers right now.  There's a half marathon scheduled for Sunday that we're co-directing and everyone's running around like crazy trying to get everything ready. 

I'm super excited because C and I are volunteering.  He'll be marking people's times as they finish and I'll be helping enter times into the database. 

I'm really just so thankful that I get to be a part of something like this.  This is the first half marathon held in our area and with 189 registrants (way more than we expected, btw), it's sure to be a successful one.

I can't say enough how much I love working where I work.  It stinks because no, I don't want to be an Administrative Assistant my entire life but I love the attitudes people have there (one of the few places people actually choose to go on campus) and the general feeling people have toward wellness.  I always feel like striving for more and if I've had a bad day (be it physically or mentally) there's always another one with loads of promise around the corner.

As my boss would say:  Make it a great day!

My Calling?

My husband and I went on a hike with a friend this weekend.  It was absolutely awesome to be back outside again.  I couldn't tell you the last time I went on a hike it's been so long.

After my field research was complete I shipped my hiking boots back to the manufacturer because the seams were coming undone and I only had them a couple of months.  I never did get new boots, however, because they're just so blame expensive.  I feel like once I get a new pair I'll feel whole again.

I went looking back through my pictures of Belize and the river work I did.  Such great times.  I miss it so much and really look forward to doing field work again.  A GREAT feeling to have considering I went through a long period of time when I didn't want to think about hiking or going into a forest or anything.

I love love love love love the work I'm doing in the rec center right now and the people with whom I'm working.  Everyone is very mindful of their "wellness" and generally upbeat.  I can't imagine my life without fitness and positive people now.

I'll have to try to find some way to meld the two together.

P.S. My friend over at Wandering Thoughts wrote about having a glass of wine while working on her prospectus.  I tried that tonight and it didn't work so well.  My written words have a certain slant and letters keep getting transposed.  Perhaps I should work up to a full glass?  :)   

Path to 5k

Got through another mile yesterday.  Met up with my coworker at the gym and she did two while I did one.  I can't wait til I'm there with her.  The plan for the next two weeks is to get up to 1.5 miles.  I don't see that as all that daunting, so that's cool.  I really hope I'll be able to boost my speed some too.

The mile I ran yesterday was a little harder than Friday's mile.  I got a stitch in my side which sucked.  Anyone know how to prevent or work through that?

My thoughts on why it felt harder:

1. I ate at 11:30 and I started jogging around 2:15.  Is that enough time to digest?
2. There weren't as many people at the gym to keep my mind occupied.
3. The air at one side of the track was much warmer than the other.

I need a super awesome playlist too.  Anyone have any suggestions?

I downloaded the active.com iPhone app and went through and 'favorited' a bunch of races.  I hope C will be down for some...I know I won't do it unless he goes with me.  Or maybe my coworker would go with me.  At any rate, I'm excited about it.  I think this could be a really fun (and healthy) new hobby.  It would be neat to work my way up to 10ks and half marathons.  We shall see.

Day 1 Complete

I am going to run a 5k.  Always wanted to, never have.  My wonderful brother created a training plan for me.  I started this plan today.  Run 1 mile. 

I am not a runner.  I have not run since...since...more than a year ago. 

I "ran" a mile today.  I don't know what my pace was, but I did it.  I almost passed out after I finished my final lap, but I did it.

I am proud.

I shall run 1 mile again on Wednesday.