Tennessee never looked so fine

Most of you know by now that I spent last week in Tennessee. Great time. Absolutely fantastic. Words wouldn't do it justice, so despite my knack for a keen vocabulary for just a 10-month old (my birthday was Monday!), I figured I would just let the photos do most of the talking ... with a little commentary on the side. Enjoy ...

An early-morning walk with Grammy. Didn't much care for the toboggan. Later in the day we paid a visit to Grammy's work, where I invited myself to lunch.


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I went to check out the cows at Memaw and Paw's house. Even got to watch them eat! And I got to sit on the tractor. Farming may not be a bad career.


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I sat on the porch with Grammy for a while, and later went to visit with my friend Julian. His parents, Wes and Nikki were there, too. Julian was cool about letting me chew on his toys.


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Next we went to Memaw Pate's house, where I got to hang out with her, Aunt Sue, JoAnn, Amy and Susan, as well as Hunter. Good catching up with everyone.


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Mommy and Papa and I went to the lake with Memaw and Paw. Mace Dogg went with us, too! Beautiful scene. I really enjoyed being there -- perfect weather. And pefect for a nap afterward with Memaw Arnold and Macy.


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It was sad to leave Elizabethton, even sad to say goodbye to the kitties. But off we went to Knoxville ...


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In Knoxville, we went directly to the park, where we celebrated Irene and Walt's birthdays. In the meantime, I got to swing with Mommy and Uncle Matt, and even by myself.


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We sang Happy Birthday to Irene and Walt and had a great picnic at the park. Everyone else had chicken from KFC. Me? I had the usual food from a jar. Ho-hum. I did try some cake, and it was OK.


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After we ate, we headed back to the swings. They were just too much fun. So Nana hung out with me and pushed me a while on the swing. Great time.


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After that, I was exhausted and fell asleep as Uncle Matt and Mommy stopped by the hospital to see Aunt Jane and Papaw. We spent the night at Nana's house and then I hung out with Uncle Matt and Papa as Mommy and Nana went back for a visit to the hospital. After that, it was back home to Atlanta. I hated to leave, especially on such a beautiful day when I could have easily just lounged around at Nana's house. But I'll be back. Fear not.

Hudson W. Pate

Rocky Top, you'll always be ...

What's the best way to remove the sour taste of a Tennessee football season gone bad? Head to Knoxville for a weekend.

I didn't go to a game -- the Vols played (and lost) at Auburn on Saturday -- but I did ride up with mommy to spend the day in Knoxville. We went to see Aunt Jane, who had to go to the hospital for a few days. She's doing better now ... thanks to my visit? Probably.

During my time there I did get to go eat with Nana and Uncle Matt and Papaw. We went to Austin's, and I'm not big on buffets (see one of my earlier blog posts), but this time it was pretty good. Of course, I'm only going by what mommy says, and she's a fan of smorgasbords. Meanwhile, I had my typical jar food and a few bites of the real stuff.

It was a really good weekend, and really great to see everyone. We came back to Atlanta Sunday morning and just hung out the rest of the day.

This week has been pretty typical so far, although I did go to church on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday night I got to hang out with mommy and Kati as they worked on AWANA stuff. Then I busted up papa's meeting. I was feeling a little confined and wanted to crawl around. I saw papa through the door, Kati gave me to Amy, and Amy put me on the floor -- and then I was gone. I headed over to papa and just hung out while he tried to finish the meeting. But by the sounds of it, they were already finished. If not, too bad.

Wednesday I went back to church and ate some pizza, then had my jar food. And (don't tell anybody) convinced papa to slip me a bite of cake. Just a bite. It was cool to hang out during AWANA and go around to a few classrooms and see everybody. I'm looking forward to when I can go to AWANA, although it may be a while.

This weekend is a big one at church, and then we're headed back to Tennessee for a whole week. So it may be a while before I write again. What can I say? I'm a travelin' man.

Hudson W. Pate