Long before the sun came up Saturday morning the birds started singing. It had finally warmed enough for us to sleep with the windows open. When the birds woke me at 6:45 (much earlier than my normal Saturday wake-up call), it was a welcome entrance to the ‘real’ spring–the spring when we can drink our morning coffee on the front porch, when the lightning bugs entertain us in the early evening, and when the finest of culinary events finally starts: homegrown tomatoes.

I hopped out of bed and let Hannah snooze a bit longer, went downstairs to make coffee and enjoy a little reading time on the front porch.

After a lazy morning, we headed out to Knoxville to enjoy a bit of the Rossini Festival. You may think (as we did) that this would be a grand cultural and arts experience. In fact, it was mainly a street fair that showed some of the uglier side of Knoxville. In Hannah’s words, “OMG, we found the ‘people of Walmart’ on Gay Street.” We ducked into a craft beer bar and made our own afternoon.

Sunday was church, a quick donut stop, and up to the river to celebrate my step-dad’s birthday.

Low country boil in the hills of Tennessee

Overall, quite a lovely weekend.