Good afternoon from half way up a mountain in Gatlinburg, TN. I'm sittting out here on the balcony, it is 74 degrees on a partly cloudy day and there is nothing but a valley of trees and the next mountain  in my view. It is totally peaceful and beautiful. I'm glad to say that we see very little evidence of the disastrous fire that swept through less than six months ago.

All of the girls and their families arrived right on schedule on Sunday. Ms. Kate and I came down Saturday just because we were anxious to get on the road and get here. Everyone had a safe trip in getting here which was all I had asked God for and as usual, God delivers. The only detractor to the tripis for me. On Friday evening, about ten minute after all the dentist offices close in Evansville, I lost a huge filling from a tooth and have a gaping hole now in my mouth. Fortunately, the tooth is one that I have had a root canal done on so there is no Parian involved with it with the exception of the sharp spike of the edges that did not break off. That is worrying my tongue a lot, but it could have beeen a lot worse. I called my dentists office and left a message but that does no good since they would not be open until today. However, their answering machine gave me my dentists emergency number and I called that. Also had to leave a message on that --- and he never returned my call. So, we came on down. My daughter Julie worked for several years as a dental technician and she said she would pick up some "Dentemp" and put in a temp filling for me. So, after she got here yesterday afternoon, we put some of that in. We haven't had a lot of success with that either. It has all come back out. So, I've called my dentists office again and now have an appointment for after we get back from vacation.

We all went to the Aquarium this morning, (well, noonish by the time we all got moving). hen Ms. Kate, Lisa and Gary and I came back to the cabin while the others continued doing stuff down town. I think they were all going miniature golfing. But, we had to get back here so Ms. Kate could mix up the ice cream for us to freeze later. Her recipe calls for it to chill for quite a while before we freeze it. We are doing Butter Pecan this evening. We may do vanilla later in the week. Life is good!

Have a wonderful rest of your day. As I sit here and here the crows off in the distance and litle else, the view I see probably looked just like this when Christ walked the earth. It is a humbling thought. Peace.