"The mountains are calling and I must go." -John Muir

I would love to say that the reason for our absence from the wonderful world of reading, adventure and blogging was due to the fact that we went on an amazing adventure, found ourselves completely lost, made wonderful discoveries, new friends, and entered 2018 with a huge bang! The reality is, 2017 felt like falling on a bed of legos while being trampled by a herd of wild buffalo. Unfortunately, 2018 has not been much of an improvement.

Mingus Mill, NC

We ended the year dealing with the death of a close loved one and began the new year with more loss, and more sadness following the death of a close family friend. We journeyed to the smoky mountains (our first trip in 8 years) to grieve with family hoping for a fresh start to the new year.

Mingus Mill, NC

The next six and a half weeks were spent helping my 86 year old grandmother, who has been battling breast cancer for several years, through her twice daily radiation treatments. This is a woman who has never been sick, taken medication, or slowed down a day in her life. Getting her to slow down is like trying to stop a raging bull from goring you by waving a red flag in front of his face. You're going to get injured! Thankfully, she is on the mend, feeling much better and a good deal less...cranky.

Now that things have calmed down, a tad at least, we can begin to catch up on our reading and adventuring.

Wishing everyone much joy from 400 feet up in the Eye of Orlando!