I have been settled in Knoxville, Tennessee for almost two months now. I wanted to give little update on my adaptation to a slower paced life. It is somewhat ironic that my life here is considered slower paced because the workload demand for simply maintaining the property is much great than it was in metro-Atlanta. In Atlanta, I had a very small lot to maintain as I lived in a suburban subdivision. It seemed more about being near the city and all it had to offer, and less about spending a great deal of time maintaining property. Please do not understand, I love Atlanta and all it has to offer. It is like a shining gem of beauty represented by the arts, theaters, sports, and great titans of industry and philosophy! But now I proudly call Knoxville home!

I have embraced this wonderful city nestled among the Great Smokey Mountains. It too has beauty rooted in its own unique culture and music and sense of place. I am the proud tender of a wonderful organic vegetable garden, an extensive wildflower garden, a sun garden, and a shade garden. Did I mention I am an avid gardener? I have also happily acquired eleven buff orpington chicks...almost chickens now! I find myself working around my property now; everything from cutting the limbs of a Bradford Pear (horribly weak ornamental tree that has weak limbs and only lives to a maximum of thirty years) that succumbed to mild winds to picking cherries from the enormous tree that I didn't even realize was a cherry tree! Granted I have not succumbed to the fashion of wranglers with big belt buckles; there is a nice pair of Lucchese boots I could drop several hundred dollars on! The work is laborious and the soreness in my muscles can be intense and this isn't even how I make money!

There are few things more enjoyable than sipping a cold drink watching the sunset over the back pasture, where the neighbor keeps horses. Unless it is waking up early enough to look out the bedroom window in time to see the sunrise over the mountains. Sound cheesy? It would be if it weren't true.

So I ask the question the title of this post hints at...Is it the interstate or the scenic highway?