Day 3 of trying to make something almost everyday. I made a picture!
This is the big blue whale on route 66 in Catoosa, Oklahoma. We took my son’s girlfriend there this afternoon. We told her we were going to take her to see the whale and she was pretty excited until we told her it wasn’t a living blue whale. Then when she saw it she thought it was soooo cool!
I don’t make new years’ resolutions. I did it once and didn’t even get through the first two weeks before I broke the resolution. So this is not a resolution: I’m just going to try to make something almost every day. New Years day I made dinner. Does that count? January 2nd, I made this tree for my son to put on his computer.
I cut it out of vinyl with my Silhouette machine. I love that I can cut out just about any design I want on it. A few days before I had drawn and cut out this little guy for my computer:
He is really cute when the apple lights up.
(and links so you can check them out):
1. I wish I had seen Jackson Browne and Sara Watkins at the Ryman (http://www.ryman.com/; http://www.jacksonbrowne.com/; http://sarawatkins.com/).
I have to tell you a story about Sara Watkins. Our hometown Claremore, OK has the Bluegrass and Chili Festival every year. About 2001 (I think), some musicians which were going to play the Chili Fest went to my kids’ elementary school and I think they played a song (not really sure). Of course, the kids wanted to go to see them perform at the chili fest so we went and watched them that night. They were Nickel Creek: Chris Thile, Sean Watkins and Sara Watkins! They were amazing. After the show, my son said, “their music makes me feelhappy.” The way he said it, it sounded like he was experiencing a physical feeling of happiness. I thought that was so cool! We purchased a CD and the band signed it. While we were getting it signed, I told Sara Watkins that it was so nice of them to visit the school and I told her what my son had said. She was wonderfully sweet about it. They were so young and so nice to everyone.
I really wish I had seen Ms. Watkins and Jackson Browne in Nashville (I’ve loved Jackson Browne’s music since high school).
2. I wish I had gone inside the Union Station hotel (http://www.unionstationhotelnashville.com/about-us/history) . We passed it several times on our way to downtown but I never found the time to go in.
3. I wish I had taken the Grand Ole Opry tour and gone to a show at the Opry (http://www.opry.com/). A friend took the tour and then saw the show and they thoroughly enjoyed both.
4. I wish I had gone to Cheekwood Museum and Gardens (http://www.cheekwood.org/Home.aspx). After looking at their website again, I can’t believe I didn’t go. It looks sooooo cool! While we were in Nashville, Cheekwood was having a tree house exhibit. Now wouldn’t that have been great to see? (I Googled images for Cheekwood Treehouses and found lots of pictures. This website had a few but you really ought to Google it yourself (http://acrosstennessee.com/2012/08/treehouse/).
5. I wish I had peeked over the fence to get a picture of the guitar-shaped swimming pool. On our NashTrash tour the guides said it was “the most famous swimming pool you are never going to see.” According to them, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley swam in there! You can see it on Google maps by going to Music Circle and Division in Nashville. If you zoom in too much a building will block it, but I discovered something new! (Ok, you’ve probably known it all along – just humor me and think – “wow, that’s neat!”) If you zoom in too much then you turn the little compass in the upper left corner until the N is on the right, you will be able to see the guitar. Admit it, this is new to you too.
6. I wish I had seen more live shows. In a town where every open door has live music pouring out, there are really no excuses for not seeing more shows.
I guess I’ll just have to go back!
What follows are some pictures that didn’t fit in the previous two posts. I hope you enjoy.
These guys (there were two of them) greeted us each time we arrived at or departed the hotel. They were kind enough to give us an indication of the weather forecast for the day.
Cute little signs around our hotel.
Printer’s Alley sign says: “Rich in the heritage of American history, world famous Printers Alley carries a hundred year tradition of entertainment excellence. Millions of visitors have been entertained here by time honored guests ranging from W.C. Fields of Vaudeville days, to today’s superstars of stage, screen and television. These cobblestones have been trodden by five U.S. Presidents and scores of international diplomats. People from all walks of life… from all over the world come here to enjoy the variety of entertainment offered in Printers Alley. History surrounds you here. The walls of these buildings bespeak our age and heritage and serve as constant reminders of our historic entertainment past. We are proud of our heritage and prouder still to offer it to you our patrons. Thank you for visiting world famous Printers Alley.”
In an alley in downtown Nashville. Do you suppose this is an audition? Just some guys shootin’ the breeze and hummin’ a few bars? I don’t know.
Taylor Swift is supposed to live at the top of this building. I don’t know if it is true.
Did you forget something??? Ear buds? Phone charger? iPod? Never fear – you can get them here! (At Opryland Hotel.)
This is where we attended church on Sunday morning. The church was very friendly.
I met this cute little couple at the visitors center. We talked for at least 15 minutes. They run marathons! Seriously! He is very proud of the fact that he finishes first in his age group. I want to be just like them when I grow up. Just look at those beautiful smiles!
According to various sources, this alley behind the Ryman saw a lot of music stars as they ran over to Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge before, after and during their acts at the Ryman. (I understand performers didn’t make it back in time for their performances.)
The State Capitol.
Doesn’t this just make you want to be a country music fan?
Wait. How does that work? Don’t they have to stop first? If they’re stopped aren’t they going slower than 5 MPH? (A sign we saw at Sonic.)
Next up… things we wish we had done while we were in Nashville.
This is a continuation of the list of things we did while we were in Nashville. If you missed the first part, you can catch up here.
6. The Parthenon http://www.nashville.gov/Parthenon/– This is a replica of the one in Athens! It was built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee centennial celebration. It was intended to be a temporary exhibit but it was so well loved that it was rebuilt as a permanent structure in the 1920s (It took about 10 years to rebuild). The conference’s opening reception was held here and I am so glad we got to see it! We had a lot of time to look around the place as we munched on delicious finger foods. The basement houses a big exhibit on the history of the Parthenon and serves as Nashville’s art museum. I would say this is a must do if you are visiting Nashville.
This is Brenda Kay, Schunkums, Sheri Lynn and Trixie at the Country Music Hall of Fame. We weren’t here for the CMHoF tour; we were here to pick up a drink (our guides suggested Jack Daniels) and go to the rest room.
This poor man was harassed from the moment he introduced himself. His face is so red, it has turned purple!
7. Nash Trash Tour http://www.nashtrash.com/ – I wouldn’t recommend this to just anyone. In fact they don’t recommend it to anyone under the age of 13. Be prepared to get embarrassed and to laugh a lot. One poor single guy on our tour was picked on constantly by our tour guides, Sheri Lynn and Brenda Kay. My friend and I preempted their harassment by introducing ourselves as Trixie and Schunkums. Brenda Kay offered to let us out at the strip club to collect our pay checks. Canned squirty cheese and crackers are served during the tour but you have to squirt your own cracker. I highly recommend this tour for those without delicate sensibilities.
The Cascade Room at the Opryland Hotel.
8. Opryland Hotel – You really have to see this place to believe it. It is kind of like a small Disneyland without the rides. We didn’t stay here. We just went to see it. The $20 parking fee was worth the four hours we spent walking around inside. Our mission was to get dessert. We explored each of the five areas and looked at menus from all ten of the restaurants. We finally decided on the Irish Pub for our dessert. We were there after dark. I would like to have gone back during the day to see what a difference the light from the glass ceiling makes to the atmosphere. You could probably spend a long weekend here and never need to leave the hotel. (But then why would you want to do that when there are so many fun things to do in Nashville?)
9. Vanderbilt campus– It just so happens that our hotel was right across the street from Vanderbilt University. My husband and I took a nice walk through the campus, around the medical school then over to Music Row.
Fried green beans. Yum, yum!
10. Ate lots of fried food– we have a rule in our family: when we are out of town (even just a few miles out of town) we cannot eat at a restaurant that we have in our town. (Sonic is an exception – especially during happy hour). We live in a pretty small town with fairly limited dining options so it’s not hard to follow the rule. In Nashville it seems like almost everything we ate was deep fried. We even ate fried green beans! It was good food, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that I felt about ten pounds heavier by the time we left.
The green beans were from Puckett’s Grocery and Restaurant. We also had sweet potato pancakes at the Pancake Pantry. Every time we went by the place there was a line out the door. It didn’t matter what time of day. The food is just that good!
Next up – some pictures that just didn’t fit anywhere else in these posts. Then – a list of places we wish we had visited while we were in Nashville.
1. The Bluebird Café http://www.bluebirdcafe.com/–
We had a great time! We went on Sunday which is song-writers night. They have two shows but once you are inside you can stay for both. Only song writers perform and they only perform material they have written themselves. The first show was a writer named Brad Cole http://www.bradcolemusic.com/. He put on a great show. The next show was probably 10 to 12 different writers performing about three songs each. They were all really good! The Bluebird hosts great song writers famous and not-so famous. Judging from my one-time experience, I would think you would get a great show any night of the week. If I ever go back to Nashville – this will definitely be on my to-do list.
2. Ryman Auditorium tour http://www.ryman.com/ – The Ryman is called the Mother Church of Country Music. It is part music hall and part museum. It claims to have the 2nd best acoustics in the world. It was built in 1892 as a great tabernacle by a businessman/steamboat captain for Rev. Sam Jones. Through the years it has been used for church, political rallies, community events and lots different kinds of entertainment. It served as the home of the Grand Ole Opry for 31 years. The tour was great; the venue is amazing. Name a band, singer or songwriter and I bet they’ve been on the Ryman stage. Oh, I’ve been on there too. When you take the tour, there is a little roped off area that is actually part of the stage. I sang, “la la la la al” just so I could say I sang on stage at the Ryman. I’m so glad I did this. Jackson Browne and Sara Watkins were playing the Ryman while we were there but we had to attend another event that night. Jackson Browne is one of my absolute favorites – I was soooo sad to miss him.
Picture: This is the Pedal Tavern. There is music, a bartender and a driver. The guests sit on the outside and pedal while they drink. In these two pictures they are stopped at a stop light. When the light turned green, the driver shouted, “pedal – let’s go – pedal” (you can see him in the second picture serving up some brew as they waited at the light).
3. Walking around downtown – especially 2nd Avenue & Broadway. I really wish the boys had been with us. I think they would have loved just walking down the street and hearing live music pouring out of every open doorway.
4. The Country Music Hall of Fame – If I were a country music fan, I’m sure I would have gotten more out of this. It was very well done. The building itself is fascinating. It looks like piano keys and from the air it supposed to look like a bass clef. There is a huge new building being built next door which is supposed to look like a guitar from the air.
5. Hatch Show Prints – This letterpress poster shop has been around since 1879! Their walls are covered with shelves and drawers of type and they have the old-fashioned crank-type letter press machines. You can go in there and watch them crank out posters. While I was there, they were making Carrie Underwood (fellow Okie) posters in pink. They have two cats and a puppy that run around the shop. Well, I think they more sleep than run but you get the idea. One cat is BIG and fat, the other cat is normal but they say it’s a bit cranky (that could be a pun since they “crank” out posters – it makes sense they would have a cranky cat – ha ha). The puppy was locked in a kennel but he was cute.
I’ll put more of the things we did in the next post. See you then!
Every year my husband attends a conference. Every year this conference is in a different city. The conference has made for some very nice vacations for me and the boys. My poor husband has had to work, but the boys and I would get to know a new city every year! Most of the time we would drive to the conference so we had some pretty awesome road trips.
This year the conference was in Nashville, Tennessee and it was our first conference without at least one of the boys (well, since Ben was born). Kinda sad, really. Ben was working and Alex was on a mission trip to Costa Rica.
In the past I would spend months finding out as much as I could about the location and all the things to do there. I was trying to keep the boys entertained and I wanted their experiences to be as enriching as possible. This year was different. I didn’t do any planning! Next year I will be doing the planning again. I just felt like I let a great opportunity slip by me – the opportunity to get to know a really cool city.
This year was my husband’s 21st year in the conference. He was inducted as a life member which means he doesn’t have to be appointed every four years. Great news for us! He gave a short speech and we got to go to the life-members dinner. I’m so proud of him.
(This is a really blurry picture of him speaking at the conference.)
Next I’ll tell you some of the things we (mostly I) did in Nashville.
Okay, so I have come to accept that I am a bit of a control freak. And I know I have a tendency to plan things to death (hey, I am capable of changing plans – I am flexible). But you know what? Sometimes you just have a gut feeling that something is a bad idea. I get talked out of that gut feeling way too often.
So, I had mentioned that we had travel plans and that my son had travel plans. Well, being the control freak that I am, I just didn’t want my son in the house while I was 10 hours away. Is that so wrong?
You know all the pre-trip preparations I’m sure we all go through: you turn up the air conditioner, close the blinds, stop the mail and newspaper, make sure the garage door is down and the front door is locked, etc. (Maybe just control freaks go through this???) I wanted to know that all of that stuff remained done. Now, who do you trust to make sure that the long list got done and remained done? Would you trust the person who managed to get home from camp with only the clothes that remained on the floor of the cabin? I don’t think so. (Let me insert here that I love my son very, very much and he is a great kid.)
In the plan-before-bedbugs, he was only going to be in town twelve hours. He was going to spend the night with a friend and have no need to go into our house. Now he was going to be home for three days after we leave. Ugh. Luckily for me, he went to visit is brother (and his girl friend) for a day. Then there was a lock-in at the church the night we left which left only about 36 hours that he would be in town. It would be too much to hope that he would find no reason to come home, right?
Of course I was out of town the 36 hours that he was in town so I don’t really know what happened or how much he was in the house. I assume he came home to sleep after the lock-in. All I know is that I had one of those gut feelings. So after he was safely on the plane to Costa Rica I called my wonderful friend Penny (as my husband rolled his eyes at me). I asked her if she could run by my house to make sure the garage door was down and the doors were locked. I also asked her to run by the church to make sure my son’s car was locked. Am I too much of a control freak? I think NOT!
Penny later called with the good news and the bad news. The good news was that his car was locked up tight and the windows were rolled up. The bad news – our front door was unlocked. I’m sticking with my gut feelings!
Just so you know, we did finally get the bag of clothes he had left at camp – about 3 and a half weeks later. We put it in a black trash can in the middle of the yard for three days. We know for sure that the temperature got up to 141 degrees. My handy-dandy meat probing thermometer told us that.
Then we put the bag it in the freezer at 0 degrees overnight. I threw away the suitcase and washed everything else in hot water then ran everything through the dryer twice. Six weeks later, no sign of bedbugs!
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license. Author: Jiří Humpolíček
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks!
It was Tuesday, early evening a few weeks ago when my 18-year-old son called. He was supposed to be at church camp. (He has never called from church camp before – this is a reason for concern.)
Me: Hello.
Him: Hey, so they closed camp and I was wondering if I could just drive down to OKC to visit (insert girlfriend’s name).
Me: What?
Him: Yeah, so they closed camp and I just left so I was wondering ….
Me: Wait, why did they close camp?
Him: They found bedbugs.
Me: Whoa, what? They found bedbugs? Where?
Him: Creekside.
Me: What cabin were you in?
Him: Creekside.
My mind was racing. I had spent months trying to figure out how we were going to coordinate his travel plans with our travel plans in a way I felt comfortable. Possibly more on that later. Now he was calling to tell me he was coming home from camp three days early and he is bringing bedbugs with him????
This picture is public domain from the CDC: http://phil.cdc.gov/phil/details.asp?pid=11739
Him: The bedbugs weren’t in my room.
Me: Still!
Him: So can I go see GF?
Me: (Thinking: Why did I ever give in and let him drive to camp. I have always thought there needed to be a rule against that. Why do they always make the parents be the bad guys? This would be his last church camp. Why did I let him talk me into letting him drive? This wouldn’t even be an issue if I had stuck by my guns and NOT let him drive to camp. How did predict that this was going to be a disaster?
Me: No!
Him: Why not? (Oh, to be 18 when life is so simple.)
Me: It’s after 9:00 and it’s a 3 hour drive. You wouldn’t get to see her tonight anyway.
Him: I checked the GPS and its only 2 hours away.
Me: No its not. I’ve driven that drive and it is 3 hours. (Not only had I driven and know it is three hour drive, I double checked with MapQuest and it is 2 hours and 57 minutes. Apparently truncating makes things sound better.)
Besides where would you stay? It wouldn’t be fair to call your brother and say, “I’ll be in at midnight so can I sleep at your place.”
Him: He won’t mind.
Me: Hey, are traveling with the group? I thought we agreed you were going to stay with the group on the way home.
Him: No. They were probably going to stop and get something to eat on the way home.
Me: You were supposed to stay with the group.
Him: Sorry. So can I go to OKC?
Me: Here, talk to your dad. (Me to hubby as I was handing him the phone – “don’t let him go to OKC)
His one-and-a-half-hour drive home gave us time to briefly relax and try to come up with solutions to all these new problems. What were we going to do with the bedbug clothes, he is still going to want to see GF, just not tonight, and what do we do with our travel plans now?
Try explaining to an 18 year old the importance of leaving all of his camp stuff as far away from the house as possible. He will explain to you how he looked through it. He knows what bedbugs look like. The camp dean looked through his stuff. The camp dean knows what they look like. An exterminator looked though his stuff. He is not bringing any home. And even if he did, the best way to get rid of them is to run your clothes in the dryer for a few hours. Easy. And just in case, they wrapped everything up in lawn bags for the trip home.
Well, I didn’t want them in my dryer or my house even if they were bagged up. I called my uncle, the exterminator, and he said to throw those bags in a car with the windows rolled up in the hot sun for a few days and that ought to kill anything.
My son did come home with a lawn bag, neatly tied but that only contained the sleeping bag and clothes that were left on the floor after he had packed up his suitcase. (That makes me feel more secure!) He had left the bag with his suitcase as well as some other stuff at camp.
Nearly three weeks later, we have yet to get the suitcase full of clothes back (I just hope they are in the back seat of someone’s very hot car) and the bag with the sleeping bag is still unopened in the sunniest spot in our backyard. To tell you the truth, we have considered throwing away the clothes because we figured it would be cheaper to replace them than have the house exterminated.
Rainbows in Waterfalls 