Great Smoky Mountain Journeys
by Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
While growing up in the western half of the United States, I had no idea what I was missing a couple thousand miles away. Oh, that first time you see the mist begin to settle over the layers of the Appalachian mountains—it’s a view to remember.
This particular view was during the trip when I got to meet my brother Shayne and sister-in-law Heather for the first time. Sharing the beauty of Great Smoky Mountains National Park seemed the perfect location for our introductions after months of phone and digital communications. It was May of 2019, and this scenic overlook presented itself with perfect springtime majesty.
On June 15th, 2026, the park celebrates its 92nd birthday. Some highlights from the website state that it’s the most visited national park in the United States, it’s loaded with wildlife and places to explore. And it’s also free because of an agreement made when “Newfound Gap Road” was built. (While daily parking passes are now required to stop, enjoying the scenery out the car window does not require an entrance fee or toll.)
One of the best destinations you can drive to on your visit is Cades Cove Loop. There’s an excellent chance of seeing wildlife, so be sure to bring your zoom lens so you can keep your distance while you get the shot (and keep your health). And remember that no matter how cute they seem, they are wild—so no feeding them, no matter what Yogi or Ben may have said on TV! 😁🐻 Any effort to interact with them can result in enough domestication that the animal no longer fears humans and could need to be put down. In the case of the image you see below, I was a long way off and could see the mama bear in the field across the road. All the cars were stopped and many people were taking pictures while the babies made their way across.
Some of the prettiest scenery within the towns of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville is that along the Little Pigeon River. That’s where most of the lodging and restaurants are built, meaning you have great views even when you stop for a rest or a meal. Here’s a collage of images from around the area. It includes an image of The Old Mill Restaurant, where you’ll usually wait at least an hour to get in for some of the best food in the area (or anywhere else, for that matter). And can you believe the color in that November sunset?
by Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
I’ll close with a slightly manipulated image from late spring of 2020 when the flowers were in full bloom. On the bridge near The Old Mill, they used to have openings filled with flowers, but that has changed now for some reason. It makes me even more glad I got this image way back when trying to be creative and look through the flowers to see the waterfall. And I hope you’ve enjoyed this little visit to The Smokies.
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Shabbat Shalom & Weekend Blessings
Real life means that even with the joyful activity of lighting Shabbat (Sabbath) candles on Friday evenings, the image you took to remember it may not be the best for sharing. A little camera shake, too much wax on the candlesticks, or a bit of clutter captured in the image, and you’re looking for some creative editing tricks to make your image look prettier. So I took my candle picture to Wombo Dream and described the table and background I wanted, and then I let it work its magic. After a number of creations, I couldn’t decide between the one from the botanical filter and the filter they call abyssal void for my favorite. So, I made a collage in the Photo Studio Pro app and framed the two together. Here are a few more from the same two filters plus a couple more filters…
(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
So we’ve been lighting candles together on Friday nights for over 25 years now. I say the prayer as I first learned it in a brief Hebrew class I took with the sweet friend who opened up this world to me. Understanding some aspects of original Judaism has helped me to better understand both the Old Testament and my Jewish Messiah. When I first started to learn these things (1999), I wrote a poem called YahShua The Jew, and blogged it here in 2016 in a post also called “YahShua The Jew.”
The Hebrew prayer says …
Hebrew:
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה הָ׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר שֶׁל שַׁבָּת.Transliteration:
Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu l’hadlik ner shel Shabbat.
English Translation:
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to kindle the light of the Sabbath.
And right after we light the candles, we sing two songs together. The first is “Shabbat Shalom” and the second is from Isaiah 28:16…
Isaiah 28:16 BSB
[16] So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/isa.28.16.BSB
And here are the videos of those songs…
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Where’s Bob?
Years ago, my aunt in Arizona bought me some adorable handmade tissue box covers. They are the kind of sewing art that makes you want one of every design, so you can have a different one in each room in the house. They are some of the most unique pieces of sewing art I’ve ever seen, and my aunt offered to get me as many as I wanted, but I settled for only two of them. Growing up, it was crocheted covers that adorned everything in the house—from the spare roll on the back of the toilet to the winter doorknob covers to eliminate some of the static. While crafting isn’t my own personal strength, I truly appreciate the artistic abilities of others.
Plus, a beautiful cover gives some dignity to an object that goes through a lot of workplace drama in our house. If you’ve ever reached for a tissue only for the chain to break, you know the drama; the frustration of having to dig blindly into the cardboard to fish the next one out. In our family, we blame “Bob”—the imaginary little guy we picture living inside the box. Bob runs things like a one-man machine with a crank that pops the next tissue up each time you grab one. It can be a thankless job, but we try to tell Bob thank you when we think about it. Whenever the chain breaks, we just say Bob is taking his fifteen-minute scheduled break. Even if it’s not on our schedule, we understand. 😁
So, today, I asked hubby for a tissue, and he reached in to get one, but…
It wasn’t just a broken chain; the box was empty. My husband reached in to dig one out and said, without any fanfare or forced humor, “I guess Bob moved to another box.” It caught me by such surprise that I lost it and just laughed (out loud for real) for a long time. 🤣 Now I’m wondering if Bob moved into the Christmas box to take a nap—or a vacation since it’ll be a while before that one comes out again. We may have to offer him a raise to come back to the polka dot box. Teehee.
I did find an active Etsy seller who’s got 180+ designs of these couches, and the store says they’ll make them to-order as well. I’ve never ordered anything from Etsy, or even set up an account there, but it said it was last active on May 26th, so I hope that’s a good sign that it’s a good store. It’s called Royal Makings, and this link goes straight to the couches.
I hope this brought you a smile. Never forget the value of a joyful heart.
Proverbs 15:13a BSB
[13] A joyful heart makes a cheerful countenance.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/pro.15.13.BSB
Proverbs 17:22a BSB
[22] A joyful heart is good medicine.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/pro.17.22.BSB
And with that, I’ll close with a picture that may possibly be Bob’s new job site…
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