Hello, dear readers, my name is Jennifer. I'm one of Dave Jenkins' two best granddaughters, as he often tells me. I happen to be the red-haired one with five children who farms the lands he used to own in McLemore Cove, which he's shared quite a bit about here. His other granddaughter is a trained ballerina and soon-to-be medical school student!
My grandpa loves this blog and you, his readers and friends, so he asked me to share an update. I’ve actually been working with my grandpa for a while on his blog and print shop, so it was an honor to be asked to author a post, too.
If only it were under better circumstances.
Let me assure you: contrary to the title of his last post, he is not obsolete. However, he might feel like it at the moment, as he’s currently recovering from complications related to his fractured vertebrae, which he wrote about a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, things got worse before they got better, and he was admitted to the hospital—hence, the lapse in blog posts.
The good news is that he quickly improved again in the hospital and was moved to a rehabilitation center, where he'll stay for several more weeks. The plan is to make sure his back heals properly and that he gets the physical therapy necessary to get him back on his feet—literally.
He’s still unable to sit up much, so he probably won’t be blogging again anytime soon, but we’ll see if we can come up with some content I can post. I visited him last weekend, and although I hate to see him in pain, I enjoyed talking with him as I always do. His back might be broken, but his sense of humor is still intact! He managed to tease the nurse, tell me he’s proud of me, and finish his favorite strawberry milkshake. We even discussed one of our ongoing projects together: getting some of his books republished.
So, again, he’s not obsolete. Not even close. We’ll keep working on this blog and other projects together, and if any of you can recommend an interested publisher or self-publishing platform that allows for a hardcover wide-format book, please let me know. You can reach me at jenny@peachesandpotatoes.com.
I’m also going to be answering comments, so if you have a message for Dave, please leave a comment below and I’ll make sure he sees it!
About the photo:
This has always been one of my favorite shots by my grandpa. It’s also the photo that serves as the background for this blog, as you can probably tell. So here’s your chance to see it in detail!
Coincidentally, there’s a photo of this exact same spot in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park hanging on the wall in the room where my grandpa’s staying. (It’s actually not far from there—only a little over an hour.) However, at first it was almost unrecognizable as the same place because the colors were so oversaturated and darkened to make the photo look more dramatic.
I think this shot by my grandpa is worlds better. Tranquil. Transcendent. And much better suited for a place of healing, if you ask me. Hey, maybe there’s a market for that—fine art prints for medical and office buildings. That might be our next project.