A Time For Everything

 

For lack of planning and something better to post about...let's remember some things, shall we?

Just gonna scroll through the collection of images I've amassed over the years and pick some experiences to remember...

During Sonshine's first year in band, they played on the steps of the Texas Capital. DD and I ended up making a run down there to see / listen to them. On the way back home we took a quick detour to visit the football field in Pflugerville where scenes from the hit show Friday Night Lights were filmed...

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As band mom for many years, I coordinated the provision of dinner for the band on game nights.

My turn...

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A rare sighting (in pictures, anyway) of the beautiful Darling Daughter (aka DD). This was taken many moons at the Fort Worth Zoo one lovely fall day.

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During my trip to Nashville with Dan back in 2019 (??) so that I could meet Mike Rowe--which I did, btw--I went on a walking tour of the city which included a trip to the original Grand Ol' Opry building.

See...

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Back when I was participating on the BBC Sherlock fandom online, I attended the 221B Con in Atlanta.

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Me in Red Rock Amphitheater in Boulder at the conclusion of my first time at GRL which was in Denver that year.

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My first Dallas Stars Season Ticket Holder event...meeting players at Six Flags. This is Tyler Sequin.

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And a final ode to the Lake House...hope your new owners are appreciating you...

As for you, dear friends, hope you have a great weekend. Get some rest.

 

My sole reason for tagging along to Nashville was to see Mike Rowe--narrator of Deadliest Catch and host of Dirty Jobs and Somebody's Gotta Do It, as well as executor of the mikerowe Works Foundation. He has a deep love for our country and it seems as though he's the only one with a realistic view of the work force situation playing out in America.

His foundation offers scholarships for trade schools and training and apprentice programs in fields like plumbing, welding, electrical, etc. There's a huge skills gap in our country and he's single-handedly trying to fill it. I try to help out by sharing stories from his Facebook page.

His presentation was everything I'd hoped it be, and he looks and sounds just like he does everywhere else. I will never *not* know his voice until the day I die. I was able to get my picture taken with him although, sadly, he had limited time which meant no chance to chat with each of the one thousand people who wanted a picture with him. It was get pushed to his side, smile at the camera, and scurry off. (But I was 4th in line. :0) I was not missing that opportunity!)

The story goes that in order to apply for your Screen Actors Guild card, you have to have an acting job, but in order to get hired for acting jobs, you have to have a Screen Actors Guild card. You can see the problem. There are a few exceptions and way back in the day, Mike Rowe found a gig that would qualify him to get the card, but didn't require one to get hired: bit player in an opera.

There are clips on YouTube, but after the Q & A with Mike at the conference, the MC asked Mike if he'd be willing to sing a little opera. And he agreed! I was so thrilled. So anyway, it's hard to see him well, but the audio is all right--I was right next to a speaker.


And have a great weekend!!!

The trip to Nashville is mostly a pretty one. Driving through the big cities, Dallas, Little Rock, Memphis, and Nashville are interesting, but the open highways in between always speak to me.

I find all terrains beautiful--mountains, beaches, even deserts, but open prairies and farmed fields are my favorite. I love the grand sweep of land, especially in spring and summer when things are green and actively growing. When the sun shines brightly and the sky is so blue it hurts to look at.



I love to see homes, from single-wide trailers and small bungalows to traditional farmhouses and sprawling ranch houses, set off the highways and nestled in a copse of protective trees. I like to see pickup truck and mini-vans parked in gravel driveways. I like to spot dogs and cats in swing-setted yards. I like to see cows in the fields.

The other thing that really struck me this time as I navigated my way across the south-eastern U.S. is that our highways, biways, spurs, and farm-to-market roads are the arteries of our great nation. (It has a lot of issues, but in the grand scheme of things, I still think it's pretty great.) I shared the road with a ton of big rigs on the way east. For several hours, it was pretty much truck after truck after truck after truck after truck.


I've heard it said that the trucking industry is the backbone of our nation. And while I get the metaphor, I think a better one is that the trucking industry is our nation's blood cells. The roads, from nation-traversing super highways to that small two-lane highway through Small Town America, are the arteries and the trucks are the blood cells delivering the gamut of goods from food to clothing and mail to gasoline to even the most rural small town. Most of them, anyway. My mother-in-law lives in a small Texas town, population approximately 200. I think all it gets is mail. There's another small town, though a bit larger in scope, about ten miles up the road that has gas stations and convenience stores. According to Google Maps, it also sports a bar, a couple of repair shops, and a restaurant.

Yeah, so the open road got me a bit thinky...

Hope you're well on this gorgeous Wednesday.

As mentioned on Monday, I went to Nashville last week. In addition to MIKE ROWE, I heard a guy named Larry Winget speak. He's marketed himself as "the pitbull of personal development" and "the world's only irritational speaker." He was funny and personable, but most importantly he was real and realistic. (Much like Mike Rowe...)

In fact, he poked a little of fun at some of those other inspirational messages. He points out that some of them don't even make any sense. For example...

1) You can be successful if you give 110%.

-->Larry says you can only give 100%. That's all there is.

2) If you can think it, if you can say it, you can achieve it.

-->Larry says he'd be Halle Berry, if that really worked.

3) You can be anything you want to be.

-->Larry says short, overweight people will never be runway models or ballerinas. Just. Ain't. Happening.

And so on.

What he does say is that honesty, integrity, and just plain old hard work will get you so much farther than just believing in feel-good claptrap. (That's my paraphrasing, he didn't put it quite that way.)

Everyone wants to believe they can get something for nothing. Everyone tries to get more for less. Even me. Probably even you.

But if you want to be successful at whatever you're trying to do, you have do it right/be good at it, be nice, and keep your word. Easy to say, easy to aspire to. Not always easy to pull off. C'mon, let's face it, we're all human.

And even though he was speaking to a roomful of IT guys, his point was applicable to everyone. Even me as an author.

Now I can't be as good a writer as Shakespeare or Hemingway. Patterson or Brown. ROWLING. Roberts or Steele. But I can strive to be the best writer I can be.

There's always something to learn and I'm still trying to get a grasp on plot. Some plots come easy, some don't, so for the foreseeable future, I've got to figure out how to consistently cobble out a decent plot.

So...the point of this post? I don't even know, other than if you get a chance to listen to Larry (check YouTube maybe?), you should.

And try to be a better, nicer person. Me, I mean. I need to work on that.

Hope you're having a great week!!

I traveled to MUSIC CITY last week-aka Nashville, Tennessee-with DH. Which was why there was no post on Friday.

And the reason I went to Nashville was to see... MIKE ROWE!! You may be familiar with him strictly by name or you may know him by his voice. He's been narrating Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" for twelve years now. He's also been host of "Dirty Jobs" and "Somebody's Gotta Do It."

So not only did I get to see and hear Mike Rowe in person, I got to hear Mike Rowe sing opera, and I got to take my picture with him!! Sadly there were a lot of people and limited time and I didn't actually get to chat with him during the picture session except to say "Thank You" for so much more than his talk earlier in the day.

I'll share pictures and opera and some of the meat and potatoes of what he said later...for now, have some random pictures of my visit.


About 2.5 hours into the drive, my car asked me if I wanted to take a rest. I really did, but kept driving for another hour before stopping for gas. :)

This is obviously the AT&T Building...I however call it the Batman Building. It made me laugh during my first trip to Nashville in 2013, and it made me laugh again.

Being the hockey nerd I've become, I wanted to see the Nashville Predators' arena up close and personal, so a trip to the fan shop was in order.

While Bridgestone Arena was just up the street from the hotel where DH's conference (and Mike Rowe) was being held, The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is attached at the backside to the hotel. And actually, the photo was taken from right outside the fan shop!

I didn't go through the museum this time, though I did the last time. I ducked into the gift shop to buy a little something for DD. Here are my pictures from the last time, if you're so inclined.

And last but not least, the Mississippi River as we crossed over on the way home, leaving Tennessee and entering Arkansas.


More from Nashville coming Wednesday and Friday and possibly even next Monday.

Have a great week.

Back to Music City we go!

After my trip through the Ryman and on the Studio B Tour, I found myself back at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. I was ready to meander through it. It carries a couple of special exhibits as well as its general ones. Specials included costumes and things from Carrie Underwood's Blown Away Tour as well as The Bakersfield Sound. The Hall of Fame and Museum is also constructing an addition which will include a Reba McEntire presentation.


Walking through was like a trip down memory lane, and I was re-introduced to artists I hadn't thought of or heard in years. The whole time I kept thinking how much my dad and my younger daughter would have enjoyed the whole thing.

The best part, of course, was the actual Hall of Fame the rotunda on the front left of the building. Round because no one is better or worse than any other. Three music staffs (the set of five lines on which notes are arranged) line the walls and the plaques are hung randomly. Most recent Hall of Famers includes Kenny Rogers, Bobby Bare, and "Cowboy" Jack Clement.


After the museum, I crossed the street to the Music City Walk of Fame.



And after that, I trudged back to the parking garage to go back to the hotel to get ready for my  anniversary dinner aboard the General Jackson Riverboat. I don't have too many pictures from the evening because it was my anniversary and I just wanted to enjoy the meal and the show and the view of downtown Nashville from the Cumberland River. The Heart of Tennessee, A Musical Journey was fantastic and I was familiar with just about every song they sang. It was fabulous. All pics are also on Shutterfly--use the link above.


And we're not through yet! But Saturday's trek is for another day. I hope I'm not boring you all too much. But it was such a neat trip, I can't help but share.

So after tramping around downtown Nashville for five/six hours last Thursday and taking close to a hundred pictures, I needed to decide what was on the agenda for Friday.

As I mentioned Wednesday, my options included the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere and the Belle Meade Plantation right up the road from the hotel, among tons of other options. I mean, there were tons of Civil War markers all over the place and I'm a history buff too.

What I ultimately decided to do was go back downtown and tour the Ryman Auditorium and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. At first I hadn't planned to do either. But something just got in my head or my heart (I think it was my daddy.) and I realized that I couldn't visit Nashville for the very first time and *not* go see these places up close and personal. Even though I'd walked by them and taken pictures of the outsides just the day before. I had to go inside them. And I'm SOOOOO glad I did.

I credit my love of country music to both my parents. To my mom who just always had the radio on, exposing me to it. That's just what we listened to in the years when music becomes an important part of kid's life: junior high and high school. And to my dad who loved music so very much and exposed to me to real records and many different musical genres.

A few highlights of the Ryman:



After the Ryman, I headed over to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. But first--I took the Studio B Tour...

Oh my gosh! I'm so so so glad I did. Another wonderful treat. Our tour guide was rather cute, too!



Anyway, Music Row, contrary to my original belief is not in downtown. It's really a pair of residential side streets that look mostly like a regular neighborhood. Except, of course, for all the signs in the front yards.


Young Randy, the tour guide, shared a few anecdotes with the group that I'm going to share with you.

First: The hit song "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton is not your traditional love song. She wrote it for Porter Wagoner as a thank you for the opportunity he gave her to be on his show, which was the launching point of her career. Because she wanted to go out on her own, she was "fired" from his show. As a way to show no hard feelings, she wrote and performed this song for Porter.

Second: Don Gibson wrote his two biggest hits (Oh, Lonesome Me and I Can't Stop Loving You) after his wife up and left him. He continued to send her roses on their anniversary thanking her.

Third: Elvis Presley, who recorded over half his hits in Studio B, was A) responsible for making Studio B famous--he preferred it over Studio A, and B) requested or made arrangements for light fixtures that held four different colored light bulbs. He liked to set the mood while recording songs.



In fact, if you listen closely at the end of an original recording of Are You Lonesome Tonight? you can hear a thud.  To set the mood, the lights ended up being turned completely off and Elvis hit his head on the microphone.




For the rest of my pictures of the Ryman Auditorium and the Studio B Tour, visit my Shutterfly Share page.

And there's still more to come! I hope you'll stay tuned.

Back to Music City!

So you're going to Nashville--what do you see???

Once I decided to go, I needed to figure out what to do or see. Thank goodness for Google. After a few searches, I had all kinds of things to choose from. Of course, Nashville is the country music capital of the world, so no trip would be complete without a pass down Music Row or past the Ryman Auditorium or the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

I'd definitely decided on a self-guided walking tour, complete with a map and pictures and descriptions of the things I was supposed to see. A trip to the zoo was also a possibility, but I didn't want to schedule every minute of every day either just because I'd be exhausted and I don't really roll that way. DH goes there quarterly, so I can go back at some point.

And when we drove DH to the conference the first day, thank goodness we took the back road, because I saw some gorgeous homes and architecture (I'm a architecture nerd even though I know nothing about it.) *and* I discovered the Belle Meade Plantation was right up the road and open daily for tours. A live plantation?? Right up my alley. As for the zoo...well, an elephant is an elephant is elephant, right? But maybe. I still had time to fill.

Here are a few highlights from my walking tour. All my pictures can be found on my Shutterfly account, if you're so inclined.


Below: the guitar in front of the Hard Rock Cafe at the corner of Broadway and First Streets.

Below: the entrance to Printers Alley.

The Wildhorse Saloon

The Ryman Auditorium--home of the Grand Ol' Opry until 1974. Some say its acoustics rival Carnegie Hall.

The Tennessee capitol building.

Hope you'll come back on Friday for day three of my trip and more pictures!

Today, you get a two-fer! My Movie Monday post which I'd already postponed once should already be up, so scroll a little farther down for it. In addition you get the details of my trip to Nashville!!!


Road Trip, Day One

So DH had a conference in Nashville and invited me along, and I said YES!!! I hardly ever take time off work and show up when I'm sick, etc., etc., etc., so I thought this time I was gonna live a little. The travel and hotel is a business expense for him, so that part didn't really cost extra for me to go. Plus our anniversary was the 19th, so it seemed ordained for me to go.

It was approximately a 10 to 12 hour trip by car. We rented one as our employees needed ours for their client appointments. This is what we got:
 

 A Honda Civic. A nice little car, but not one I'd buy if in the market for a new car. First of all, not enough cup holders for the number of beverages I travel with!


I drove the first leg, from Fort Worth well into Arkansas. I enjoy driving through Texas and depending on which way you travel (north, south, east, or west) you're going to encounter a lot of different terrains. I wanted to get a picture of the "Leaving Texas" sign, but either I missed it, or there isn't one when when you head east on I-30 into Arkansas. Instead, DH took this:



And while driving along I-30/I-40 through Arkansas and into Tennessee was pretty because, almost the whole way, the highways are bordered by thick copses of trees, it quickly became monotonous because, well, the highways are bordered by thick copses of trees on both sides! I usually prefer wide open spaces like farm fields. Don't get me wrong--I like trees, but again the view quickly became tedious.

We did see a couple of cool things along the way however. Like a crop duster dusting a small field right along the highway:
 

And this... They're not the greatest pictures, but basically it's some sort of vine plant that's overtaken and overgrown the rest of the foliage. It looks like a huge slipcover or like topiary. I did learn that this vine is not native--it came from Japan or somewhere and takes over the other foliage. That's not so good, I guess, but it's very neat looking.



We hit Memphis shortly before rush hour and as this is a mini-vacation for me, I asked DH to stop for dinner. I mean we weren't visiting Memphis but the timing was fortuitous, so I figured we could at least eat there. So I did a quick search on the best places to eat in Memphis and decided upon:



It was just a little hole in the wall kind of place a couple blocks from the Mississippi River, but they had some awesome chicken and were voted the in ten best eats in Memphis at least in 2009 and 2011.

Rewinding just a bit...

Entering Tennessee means crossing the mighty Mississippi River!





We arrived at the hotel about 8:30 and got all settled in for the night. We're actually in Bell Meade rather than Nashville proper, but it's a very picturesque little suburb and I'm quite pleased with it.

I was a little worried about ten hours in the car with DH, but in light of my new-found life lesson on happiness it turned out fine. We talked about a lot of things, including said life lesson, and he was all for my decision to not let his irritation and grumpiness affect my moods--unless of course I'm responsible for his mood. Ninety-nine times out of one hundred, I'm not, so...

It was a lovely day for a drive, with gorgeous blue skies and scattered clouds all the way from Fort Worth to Nashville.


More details and photos of my trip on Wednesday!


Have you ever been to Nashville??