Serenity Cellars, near the foot of Yonah Mountain. “Yonah” is the Cherokee word for “bear.” There’s a lovely trail to the top, if it should stop raining.
In a very nice cabin set in majestic old forest growth outside of Helen, Ga., Susan I looked forward to several days of hiking on some of the area’s charming and challenging trails — but have been foiled by three straight days of rain.
I like hiking, and I like rain, but not in combination.
Nevertheless, we’ve enjoyed a few rare days of enjoying life with no special agenda, sleeping as long as we want, watching the hummingbirds fight over the feeder, listening to the rain tickle the leaves, and breathing in the freshness.
The cabin has wifi, which is a mixed blessing. It enables us to watch the radar for brief breaks in the rain, to read the news, and to keep up with friends posting pieces of their lives on Facebook.
It also, however, opens the door to evil. Sitting around with not much else to do can easily leave one thinking about food, which is all over the web. Have you seen the latest offering from Krispy Kreme? It’s a special edition Reese’s Peanut Butter donut: a fat glazed donut filled with peanut butter creme, dipped in chocolate, and topped with mini peanut butter chips, peanuts, and a chocolate and peanut butter drizzle. Oh, wow: two of my favorites in one squishy combination. Fortunately, there are no Krispy Kreme stores near Helen.
A picture of that donut could be used to illustrate an online dictionary’s entry on “decadent,” or even “evil.” I had to look up the nutrition information, of course. Surprisingly, one donut is “only” 400 calories, along with 24 grams of fat and 42 grams of carbs — well short of a Big Mac, which has 563 calories, 33 grams of fat, and 44 carbs. I won’t be eating one of those, either.
These days, those are fantasy foods. We brought our vegetable “spiralizer” with us, and for dinner last night we grilled salmon in with a homemade teriyaki sauce and served it on a nest of delicious stir-fried zucchini spirals. With a fresh fruit salad on the side, there was no guilty aftertaste.
Take that, temptation.
(Thanks to Susan for the photos, except for the donut.)
Professor of Old Testament at Campbell University Divinity School in Buies Creek, North Carolina, and the Contributing Editor and Curriculum Writer at Good Faith Media.
