Plaasabilities

Nashville Tennessee Temple The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved Through my work in phenomenological research I have become more aware of the significance of place to a person's experience of everyday living. Ask someone to tell you about their childhood and they are likely to talk about not only family and friends but the places where meaningful things happened in their life. They may tell you about the house they lived in, the school they attended, or the place where the family went on vacations. As human beings we find connection in special places. I have many special places, but more importantly, I have a few sacred places that hold great meaning for me. As a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I choose to spend time learning and serving in temples. Not only are all temples beautiful, but they are very peaceful places where I feel the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and receive guidance from...

"Benched" Colorful maple tree in front of the Sugarlands Visitors Center Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved Trees BY   JOYCE KILMER I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in Summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree. I was blessed with the opportunity to escape to the Smokies today. I had a meeting in Pigeon Forge at 2 PM so it made perfect sense to take a leisurely drive along the Little River on my way. I was impressed with the amount of colorful leaves that still remain, mostly on the hillsides, but also some along the river. The sky was a brilliant blue and the trees were varying hu...

In the Christmas movie classic It's a Wonderful Life, Clarence, the angel, tells George Bailey (aka Jimmy Stewart) that "no man is a failure that has friends." When life gets hard you find out who your real friends are. You know the ones -- the people who call or text you just to see how you are doing, the ones who just show up with loving words and generous hugs, the ones who are happy when you call them at 11 PM or 6 AM because you're life is falling apart and you need someone to reassure you that things will be OK, and the ones that take you away from your troubles for a morning and surround you with love and laughter. I'm very grateful to have such friends, including the lovely women who took me hiking in the Smokies today. Thank you all so much!

Middlin' Middle Prong Little River, Tremont Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved Nothing Gold Can Stay Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. Robert Frost, 1923 As a nature lover and photographer I eagerly await the first hints of buds emerging from the trees in early spring. I adore the bright, cheery green trees in the Smokies in April. That green evolves to a deep, velvety hue as summer progresses then, before you know it, hints of gold show up in early September. It's just a tease, of course, as the richest red and golds won't show up until late October. It's futile to wish those rich hues would remain. Fall always has it's way as wind, rain, and snow turn the golds to brown and down, down, down they come. Gone. The gold is gone. The leaves ar...

Winter woods aren't desolate As they would seem to be, For beauty dwells at every turn For searching eyes to see. The black of trees is ermine trimmed; Each bush is wearing lace And Nature's spread with lavish hand White velvet every place. Where winter sunrays lightly touch The ice-encrusted stream, Upon its crystal countenance A thousand diamonds gleam. No, winter woods aren't desolate-- There's beauty enough to spare; And those in search of loveliness Will surely find it there.    Virginia Blanck Moore   The Best of Ideals ©1978

I am blessed to live in the shadows of the Great Smoky Mountains and work as a National Park Volunteer at Clingmans Dome. I spend as much time as I can in the Smokies enjoying my love for nature and photography. I love the time I spend in the park and the opportunity I have to interact with park visitors. One thing I have learned as a volunteer is to watch out for visitors who might be in difficulty. It is not uncommon to find distressed visitors at Clingmans Dome, due in large part to the effects of high altitude. Looking for someone who might be having an issue has become almost second nature to me. It was a chilly and rainy day at the Dome yesterday, though it was not too terribly cold. We were in the clouds all day so we didn't have nearly the volume of visitors we might have on a clear day. Frankly, there wasn't enough activity to require the service of three volunteers and two GSMA employees. I felt prompted to go ahead and leave before the scheduled end of my shift a...

Not all those who wander are lost.  J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973); Writer, Poet, Philologist, University Professor I inherited my wanderlust tendencies from my father. I consider it to be one of the greatest attributes he has given me. I am rarely content to be stuck indoors -- be it work, school, or at home. After a while I have to get out and get into nature. Living in East Tennessee, that often means heading to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park or one of many state or local parks. But really, any road or path that piques my curiosity will do as long as I am exploring. Daddy used to call it "getting lost."  He'd pile all us kids into our big Plymouth station wagon and say, "Let's go get lost." Translated, this means let's go to an area that we sort of know, drive down roads we've never been on before, and see what we can discover. We rarely ever got truly lost, but we saw things we might have missed had we opted to not go down the roa...