The way we lived in Tennessee

When we lived in East Tennessee, I did not yet have a blog, but I have often thought the time there would have been worth blogging about, so I decided to go ahead and start!

Life was not always easy at first; we moved from Winnipeg Canada right after my sister-in-law passed away in a car accident, so those first weeks after leaving all family over thousand miles and another country behind, in a strange place with no place to call home at first, proved to be challenging. However, we made it through those times with more pleasant than unhappy memories. Many are the moments I find myself wishing I was back there, but then I come back to reality and am thankful we are where we are at the moment. 

 

We had bought an old property with an old house that my husband wanted to renovate part time while he went to school. We were offered this camper by some church friends, which was to be our temporary home the first few months. It was quite the experience, making this our home with two small children. It was one long summer camp, that's for sure!

Most of my daily life happened outside. The laundry had to be taken to the laundromat or a friend's house. Sometimes I would take it home to dry on the lines. Then I would fold it on the small picnic table. 

 There was a little stove attached to the outside of the trailer which I mostly used. If it was too rainy, I could move it indoors. And rain it sometimes did. Those were the special times which we remember so well. Too well! Then I would loose all joy of cooking, and sometimes we would get to eat out if it rained. There was a tarp covering the outdoor kitchen, but it was not always enough to keep out the rain. It was also hard to keep all rain out the windows when it got stormy. Those were the nights we just had to ride it out and hope the next day would be sunny again.

Sometimes when it rained, we would hop in our car and go for a drive. At times we picked up McDonald's breakfast and had a picnic in the car. Here in Belize when it rains in the morning, I sometimes suggest that we go for a drive and take coffee or pick up breakfast so I can relive those good old times again. No McDonald's in this country, but I can make my own biscuits and gravy, or we can buy burritos. We never got tired of seeing how green everything was and the beautiful mountains and rivers never failed to entertain us. I especially loved the mist on the mountains after a rain.

 The children had no lack. They were happy and healthy, always finding something entertaining.

The backyard. We lived right on the edge of the forest, and the setting was perfect. We have had many a bbq on this barbecue pit. Once I even turned it into a baking oven, because I wanted to bake something so badly but didn't have an oven! I baked some biscuits that didn't exactly turn out very fluffy but were edible.

 

 We found out, to our big delight, that we had wild blackberries growing in our backyard at the woods edge. I remember going over to our friendly old neighbor asking if they were blackberries! We sure enjoyed the jam.

 Once some friends came over to help Daniel with the house, and I served them watermelon. It never tasted better.

Bathtime is always fun, no matter where it happens!

This bird visited us regularly; it was wonderful to be so one with nature out here in the 'wild' parts of Knoxville.

Yes, even the raccoon didn't fail to make his rounds at night, snooping through our things trying to find food.

I would put Joseph in this basket to play, and then Jessica would climb in the other one. Perhaps needing attention?

We could always go to the mountains when we felt like it. Thankfully gas prices were good back then and there! (Here going for a drive for fun is out of our financial reach, unless it is within a few miles of us.)

As you can see, we had a great life.Challenging, but I would not exchange what I experienced for anything in the world.

To be continued...- how we lived in our old house before renovation was complete. It was every bit as interesting.