White Christmas

Here's a bit of Nashville snow trivia that I lifted from this site:

First White Christmas Since 1993

We have already seen a snow fall this winter cause problems on the roadways, but this is only the ninth Christmas with measurable amounts of snow since snowfall record-keeping began in Nashville back in the winter of 1884 and 1885. The last time measurable snow fell on Christmas Day in Nashville was in 1993 when three-tenths of an inch was measured.

Trace amounts of snow fell on Christmas in 2002. Statistically there is only a 7 percent chance of measurable snow on any given Christmas in Nashville. The most snow ever to fall on Christmas in Nashville is 2.7 inches in 1969.

Our friends in Boston and Wisconsin are probably laughing at this, but snow on the ground here is a serious problem.  I ventured out on a recent school snow day and saw lots of cars in ditches.  There are lots of narrow windy country roads with no shoulders and big ditches, so it's kind of scary to drive on them even if it's just raining.  Yesterday they canceled church and we got to stay home and play with all our Christmas presents!

The Christmas Room

Howard and I haven't bought a Christmas tree for at least the last three years.  Sad, right?  This year we felt inspired to actually leave the house - on Black Friday - to get a tree.  We thought we wanted a fake tree, picked one out first thing, and wheeled it all over Lowe's while we looked at other stuff we thought we needed.  At the last minute we decided we wanted a real tree.  We bought our biggest tree ever - from the 8' to 9' section.  The truck came in really handy.  The Lowe's guy just 'threw' the tree into the back of the truck - easiest tree transport EVER!

The presents are in the back. We decided 
to emphasize the Savior's birth by 
putting some nativities under the tree.

My homage to The Christmas Creche Exhibit 
in Palo Alto, CA.

Okay, so I have a bit of a stocking and metal 
reindeer fetish. My sister-in-law made us the snowman

wall hanging several years ago.  Isn't it cute!?!

The Christmas Room

Santa Sighting

Seriously...he's the real deal!

Narnia?

Look what I found behind Walmart!

We had icicles like this in Wisconsin, only way thicker!  I could never take a picture because they were along a highway where there was no safe place to stop for a Kodak moment.  So, I was pretty excited to be able to finally get a picture of some.  When I see them, I feel like I've been transported to some exotic fantasy land.

I'm pretty sure these icicles are flowing off of (or through?) limestone.  There's limestone everywhere around here - it's one of the first things I noticed when we got off the plane.  In fact, there's so much limestone here in Tennessee that in 1979 it was declared the official state rock.

Snow Day

Here's the view out our back door.

Here's the view out our front window.

They say it rarely snows here.  So when it does, everything shuts down because the city isn't equipped to take care of snow.  I'm especially nervous about backing out of the garage and down our steep driveway.  I just know that I'm going to slide right into Charles' and ?? (don't know his wife's name yet) front yard.  I'm pretty sure the schools are closed today.  Some friends were telling me that they close the schools even if they think it's going to snow.

Nashville Night Life

Saturday night we went to the Grand Ole Opry for the first time.  One of Howard's high school buddies and his wife were in town, so we shared the experience with them.  What a riot!  It's a live two-hour radio show divided into four 30-minute segments, each hosted by a different celebrity and a different sponsor.  Even though we paid to get in, we still had to listen to commercials - bummer!

It's funny how you grow up hearing names like Charley Pride and Charlie Daniels but you never really know who they are or what they do.  Charley Pride is a country crooner with an amazing career.  In 1993 he was the first African American invited to perform as a regular at the Grand Ole Opry.  And Charlie Daniels - wow!  What a performer!  He looks like a Texan Santa, gigantic belt buckle and all.  Boy can he fiddle!  Howard was quite impressed with his bands' musicianship - so that says something.  

We also saw Little Jimmy Dickens - had never heard of him before.  He's a tiny little (4' 11") 89-year old sequined singer with great geriatric jokes.  Here's the gist of one of his jokes:

Patient:  Doc, I'm having trouble hearing.
Doctor:  Hmmmm, this is strange.  You've got a suppository in your ear!
Patient:  Thanks Doc, that helps a lot.  Now I know what happened to my hearing aid.

Before the show, we soaked up some local color on Honky Tonk Row, also known as Lower Broadway.  Honky Tonk Row is about four blocks of great old architecture covered in neon.  For music lovers there are musicians playing inside the many venues, and many playing on the streets too.  For the fashion-minded there are western apparel and boot shops a plenty.  And for the hungry, there are lots of places to eat, especially barbecue places.  We ate at Jack's - along with the rest of the world.  It's got a lot of character but Howard still has yet to find barbecue that compares to Famous Dave's.

 

 

Veteran's Day

I just love it when you think you're going to do one thing and you end up stumbling upon something else that's way more interesting and meaningful than what you had planned.  Today I set out to explore some quilt shops in Franklin, a cute town in Middle Tennessee that's been around since 1799.  (Howard and I imagine ourselves living there some day.)  Anyway, as I approached the town center, I could see that traffic was blocked off and then I noticed two fire trucks hoisting a gigantic flag into the air.  I'm embarrassed to admit that it took me a few minutes to remember that it was Veteran's Day.

As fate would have it, I arrived about five minutes before the parade started - got to see the whole thing.  There were local high school and middle school marching bands and a few marching ROTC groups - I had no idea that ROTC still existed!  There were a lot of stunning classic cars carrying veterans from many different wars.  But, when these guys (below) rolled past, I got all choked up and teary-eyed and suddenly felt a great appreciation for all those who have served our country in the armed forces.

I was standing next to this woman in a pink top (below) - I think she was alone too.  She turned to me with tears in her eyes and told me how emotional she felt.  She cried throughout the entire parade and shouted out a 'thank you' to every veteran who passed by.  

The quilt shops:  After the parade, I explored two quilt shops.  One was small, cute and super organized.  The other was the most chaotic store I've ever been to.  It was huge and overwhelming, with a ginormous (spell check is accepting this word!) selection of fabrics.  If there's such a thing as a retail hoarder, I think the shop owner might be one.  When I asked where the cutting table was, one of the ladies pointed to a mound of fabric.  Sure enough, there was a table underneath the pile.  She then measured my half yard and tore the fabric - no room for cutting obviously.  If Monk were ever to step into this shop (which is physically difficult anyway because the most recent shipments are kind of blocking the front door and the front aisles), he would immediately go into a catatonic state and probably never recover.

The Perfect Day

It's amazing to see how blogging seems to be connecting women from all over.  Crystal, a friend who lives in California, sent me this link and wrote something like, "You should check out this blog.  This woman, Anna Maria, is a fabric designer and she lives in Nashville.  I love her fabrics."  

It turns out that Anna Maria lives in the next town over.  AND, via her blog I discovered that she was heading up a community project to make quilts for the middle Tennessee flood victims.  AND, they were going to get together on Wednesday, October 20th, for their next sewing session.  I emailed Anna Maria and told her that I wanted to help out.

When Wednesday morning rolled around, I started having thoughts like, "What if I'm walking into a group of women who've known each other for 20 years?  That's awkward!"  (My middle school students used to say everything was awkward.)  I almost talked myself out of going, but I'm so glad that I didn't.  It turned out to be the perfect day.  Here's what I loved about it:

• I met lots of interesting ladies, some who had come alone just like me - one woman had moved from Sunnyvale, California three years ago and her husband had worked at Yahoo!  Btw, it turns out that Anna Maria's husband works at Vandy in a department that occasionally works on projects with Howard's department.
• I received training on Tennessean pronunciation and vocabulary.  If you hear the word flares, they might be talking about flowers.  Some people say hit instead of it.  (The woman who told me about that had been skeptical the first time she had heard about it until when one day when she heard a woman commenting on her new baby, "Isn't hit beautiful?") 
• I got to be a small part of the work of dozens of women working together for a good cause.
• I got to hang out all day in a stunningly unique, but simply restored farm home, in a picturesque Fall country setting. 
• It was 72 degrees with cool breezes and blue skies - I worked on the porch for awhile trimming blocks and listening to country western music.

I regret that I didn't take any pictures, but it turns out that Channel 5 was there covering the story.  Even though I'm not in the footage, I promise you I was there!  It was the perfect day.

It's 10:10 AM on 10/10/10

I'm sitting here waiting for the computer clock to change before I hit publish.  Maybe I'm a little OCD - just a little.

Weather Report

Check out this week's weather forecast for Nashville.  If I didn't know any better, I would say this was a forecast from the Bay Area in California.  So far, October is my favorite weather month here.  I hope I didn't just jinx it!

Cheekwood + Chihuly = Surreal

My sister came to visit for ten days.  She left on Saturday so now I have time to write about our adventures.  It's always good to have visitors because 1) it's fun, 2) the house (usually) gets clean, and 3) it motivates Howard and me to do some sightseeing.  Two Saturdays ago (9/18) the three of us discovered Cheekwood together.  

In 1896, Leslie Cheek married Mabel Wood.  Around the same time, Joel Cheek, Leslie's uncle, developed a new blend of coffee that was sold at the best hotel in Nashville, the Maxwell House.  Ring a bell?  Joel's extended family, including Leslie and Mabel, were investors. In 1928, Postum (now General Foods) purchased Maxwell House's parent company, Cheek-Neal Coffee, for more than $40 million.  Can you imagine what $40 million in 1928 would equal today!?!  It's inconceivable.

Leslie and Mabel later built a mansion on 100 wooded acres in West Nashville and named it Cheekwood - a combination of their last names.  Since 1960 Cheekwood has been open to the public and often hosts art exhibits.  When we visited, we were very lucky to stumble upon a Chihuly exhibit.  You're thinking - what in the heck is a Chihuly?

Dale Chihuly is an extremely creative glass artist with a unique and grandiose vision on how to display his stunning work.  If a Chihuly exhibit ever comes to your area, make sure you see it!  I think he had an exhibit in San Francisco not too long ago and we completely missed it!

The foundation for "Saffron Tower" cost 

$1 million to build - there's usually a guard nearby.

Hundreds of pieces had to be assembled.  If you look 

closely, you can see each tube is tied into a support.

Howard's eye for framing photos has really improved.  

I love how he 'captured' the Sphynx woman admiring 

Chihuly's work over her shoulder.

 

This piece is called "Sun", but I think it should be called

"Medusa".

Purple Herons

 

Look at how Howard caught the reflections of "Mille Fiori".

 

Blue Herons

 

Sisters

The only other stat that I can remember from the tour was that the Chihuly exhibit arrived in FIVE semi trucks, each piece individually wrapped.  Howard and I will have to go back to hear all that info again.  We bought annual passes so we're good to go.  We can take three visitors for free each time we go.  If you come to visit us before October 31st, you can experience Chihuly at Cheekwood too.  Book your flight now!  The guest room is ready, mostly.  My sister helped paint and furnish it while she was here.  We only make family work when they visit ;o) 

Thoughts on annual passes:  In each place we live Howard and I always seem to end up with an annual pass to somewhere.  In San Diego it was the San Diego Zoo.  It's no fun paying $30 (now a whopping $37!) for a one-time zoo visit and forcing yourself to stay there all day (until you're exhausted and can't walk another step) just to get your money's worth.  With the annual zoo pass we could go for only a couple hours (guilt free) to make funny faces at the monkeys, admire the hippos, and get a little exercise.  In Massachusetts, we had passes to Old Sturbridge Village.  We loved this place.  It's a living museum with characters dressed in period costumes who demo daily New England life in the early 1800s.  In the Bay Area in California it was Filoli.  Howard frequented this place and took lots of inspiring photos of the gardens there. 

When I Grow Up, I Want to be an Alpaca Rancher

I bet that not many of you know that there is a two-day national celebration called National Alpaca Farm Days.  (Click here to find an alpaca farm near you!)  On Saturday Howard and I celebrated by visiting the High Meadows Alpaca Farm in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee.

I'm not much of an animal person...but, I could totally see myself running an alpaca farm.  Alpacas are clean, cuddly, and just plain cute.  Being the fiber freak that I am, I couldn't keep my hands off of them.  Their fleece is super thick and soft.

At this farm there are 320 individually named alpacas and the head (chew chompin' and spittin') rancher knows them all by name.  It's easy to see how he can remember them - just take a look at a few of their unique faces!  "Howard, I want an alpaca and I want it NOW!"

Random alpaca info:

• They don't have any top teeth (same as cows, who knew!?!) and their bottom teeth have to be filed down occasionally.
• They eat hay or grasses, but will try to chew on anything - they tried to chew on Howard's clothes and lick his camera as he took close-up pictures.  Anyone know how to remove alpaca spit from a camera lens!?!
• They are bred for their fiber. 
• Their fleece is softer and warmer than sheep's wool.  It doesn't contain lanolin which makes it less prickly than wool, but not water repellent like wool.
• The female's gestation period is eleven months.
• Some have been house trained because of their clean defecation habits, which means they have a communal poop pile and they don't graze there.
  

Why Tennessee?

People keep asking me "Why Tennessee?" - often with a very incredulous tone.  I'm going to document it here and now.  

It seems like we were destined to come here at some point in our lives.  About 15 years ago, Howard was accepted to medical school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.  We decided to stay in San Diego so that he could attend UCSD Medical School while I kept my teaching job in National City.  

Three years ago he had the chance to come here again to do research at Vanderbilt.  At the same time, he also had the chance to work at Google in Mountain View, California.  We knew that if he didn't work at Google, he'd regret it.  So he worked there for three years.  During that time, he started to miss academia.  He sent out the word that he wanted to return to academia and, in a horrible economy, felt fortunate to have a couple of great job offers.  We decided it was finally time to come to Tennessee.

Here's the cool part of the story that can't be neglected.  During medical school, Howard was randomly assigned to an adviser named Dan Masys.  Dan told him about a field called medical informatics.  He suggested that Howard do a two-month rotation at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland to see if he liked the field.  He loved it!  While Howard was doing his PhD in Boston, Dan relocated to Nashville to take a position as Professor and Department Chair of Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt University.  The amazing thing about Dan is that, even though, he wanted Howard to come to Vanderbilt three years ago, he encouraged him to take the job at Google.  What an amazing guy!  He's had such an influence in Howard's career path and I still have yet to meet him!

The real credit for all of this really goes to the Lord though.  On paper, it all looks like a well-orchestrated career path - only we didn't orchestrate it.  All we did was follow the guidance that we got through our faith and prayers.  It was a long tough haul that included many cross-country moves, but I think we finally got to where we were supposed to be - in Tennessee!  Yee haw!

Craigslist in Nashville

I know a little boy in Utah who would 
LOVE these chairs!

This bench/storage box might be a 
bit uncomfortable.  Beware of the handle!

Doesn't this guy get tired of holding
up that glass all day long!?!

I've seen cowhide chairs before BUT..

I've never seen a cowhide desk!

Just curious - how would you market these products on craigslist?

Random Stuff

There are Chinese back rub kiosks in the mall here!  I was afraid there wouldn't be.  Woo hoo!

In the Publix grocery store some of the magazines/publications at the checkout lines are hidden behind plastic screens, magazines like:  Glamour, Cover Girl, and even The National Enquirer.

I got my hair cut and colored in some random place that I googled.  All 30+ stylists in this very trendy warehouse-type salon were dressed in black, gray or white (their dress code) and many of them were tattooed.  One guy had spiders tattooed from his right wrist up to his right ear.  (I'm assuming they went all the way up.  He was wearing a shirt.)  The spiders work well for October, but what about the other 11 months?  Anyway, the cool surprise about this place was discovering overhead TV monitors when I leaned back for the shampoo.  I've always wished that dentists would put TVs in their ceilings.  Studio Gavin beat them to it.  Oh, they also had complimentary cokes (the Tennessean word for sodas), water, wine and tea biscuits.  I think I paid for more than a cut and color!

I've always enjoyed the live piano music at Nordstrom, but I experienced something a bit different in a new-to-me department store called Belk.  I felt very suspicious and guilty hiding between racks of clothing to take this picture.

Here's a country singer in the women's
clothing section of Belk.  Everyone
has to get their start somewhere.

The Chicken

Oh, silly me!  I meant the kitchen.  A friend of mine from long ago, who didn't know much English, once said chicken instead of kitchen.  He turned three shades of rojo when I told him in Spanish that he had said gallina instead of cocina.

Anyway, the kitchen is pretty much done.  I've never lived in a house with such a large and spacious kitchen in my entire life.  For 16+ years of marriage my kitchen stuff has overflowed into purchased storage cabinets, hall closets, and even into the garage (when we were lucky enough to have a garage in our last place!).  Everything, including our food storage, fits in our new kitchen and there is still room to spare!  Howard has done most of the cooking in recent years, but I have to say that I'm almost tempted to start cooking again - almost.

There's a ton of storage in the pantry and the island.

One of my favorite kitchen features is the desk area.
The door to the right leads to the laundry room.

 No more boxes!

The Bearded Man

On Sunday I noticed a guy at church wearing an old-fashioned black suit.  He also had one of those Brigham Young type beards - the kind that outlines the jaw but provides no upper lip coverage.

Imagine my surprise when one of the women who was speaking in church then looked towards the bearded man and told the congregation how much she appreciated her home teacher, Abe Lincoln!  "What!?! No way!" I thought, "Nah, can't be, IMpossible...Hmmm, maybe he's a great great great great great grandson."

Of course, the first thing I did when church was over was to ask someone about the mysterious bearded man.  It turns out that during the week 'Abe Lincoln' does school presentations about the former president.  The person I talked to couldn't even remember his real name!

Inverted Box Pleat Window Top Treatment

...or 'Out-of-the-Box Thinking' or 'It's Curtains for You!'

Here's my temporary solution to blocking the suffocating heat and blinding light that our bare eastern windows allow to infiltrate the kitchen every morning.  I also don't like being in a fish bowl at night!  I thought I was pretty clever.  I'm sure the neighbors thought I was just weird, and the delivery guys too - they had to move them out of the way before bringing the washer and dryer in through the sliding glass door.

 Look to the right - you can see how much sunlight
(and imagine how much heat) the boxes were blocking!

There are advantages to this box window
treatment - it's easy to accessorize!

 

School Days

It's very weird to think that all my former colleagues (in many states) have started their school year already...without me.  I decided to take the year off.  I know it's a luxury and I'm grateful that Howard is supporting me - in more ways than one!  

There's a part of me that wants to run out and find a job NOW!  I'm a teacher.  I work.  That's what I do.  I've done it for 23 years!  I don't know anything else.  BUT, I know it sounds crazy in this economy, I'm going to force myself to NOT be employed.  This year off is dedicated to discovering my artistic self and to doing some community volunteer work.  

I better get started by unpacking all the boxes upstairs in my new craft room.  Another luxury, I know.  I'm grateful.

Church Folk

Howard (hubby's code name) and I visited Nashville about 15 years ago.  He was interviewing for medical school at Vanderbilt.  He was accepted, but we decided to stay in San Diego and he went to med school at UCSD.  But, I digress.

So, when we were here way back when, I only remember a few things.  I remember driving down a main street lined with nothing but monstrous churches.  I also remember our trip to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky.  And, I remember the Relief Society (women's) meeting that I attended.  I can't remember where the building was or what the name of the branch/ward was, but I remember there were about six ladies there, one was the teacher and one was me, Eunice (my code name).  The five of us listeners were all spread out, far apart.  The feeling in the room was very icy and not too welcoming.  My worst-case scenario self panicked about possibly becoming a member of that branch/ward.

Fast forward, fifteen years later.  In June we came out for a quick trip to check out the area and to find a place to live.  We were surprised to find out that there were four church buildings and a small temple in the Nashville area.  The ward we visited was packed, there were even four or five rows of chairs set up in the cultural hall - with people in them!  We were really surprised when we ran into a couple of families who used to be in our Boston ward.  (Sing along with me:  It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all...)

Apparently Nissan attracted a lot of people to the area when they moved their corporate office to Nashville a few years ago.  Vanderbilt also attracts a lot of medical people.  Anyway, our new ward, the Old Hickory Ward, is much bigger than I ever imagined it would be.  (On Sunday someone mentioned that there are 450 members in our ward.)  However, there seem to be very few 'real' Tennesseans.  Most of the members are transplants and it seems like the majority of them have lived in California at one time or another. 

We were really surprised to learn that a lot of ward members live near us.  There's a new beta church website where you can see where your ward members live.  Click here to check it out.

Our house is neon green - in the picture, 
not in real life ;o)

Chick-fil-A

We ate at Chick-fil-A for the first time tonight.  We were pleasantly surprised to discover that they are not open on Sundays.  S. Truett Cathy, the man who started the chain in 1967, believes that his employees should be able to spend Sundays hanging out with family and/or expressing their faith.  Click here to read about some of Cathy's other ingredients for business success.  Look at the billboard above - he even encourages Family Night!

 Their ads are hysterical - lots of 
bovine bantering and poultry persecution.

Homeless and Jobless

For a couple of weeks all we had in our possession was one carry-on and one personal item each.  I'm always a worst-case scenario type of person.  When we were washing our limited wardrobe at the laundromat the other night, I said to hubby, "What if our clothes catch on fire in the dryer and all we have are the clothes on our backs?"  That kind of happened to me once in Mexico!  I had waffle underwear after that experience!  But, I digress.

It's a strange feeling to send off all your worldly possessions with a bunch of strangers - especially when one of them has a confederate flag tattooed on the back of his shaven head and a swastika on his forearm.  We also shipped our car.  The eagle-eyed gal who checked us in found dents we never knew we had. 

For two weeks we visited family in Idaho and Utah, taking one-way flights and renting cars along the way.  During those two weeks, we were homeless - couldn't legally claim an address.  That was a strange feeling to be off of almost everybody's radar - kind of nice and eerie at the same time.

I should clarify that I'm the only one who's jobless, by choice.  I feel fortunate that I have some time to reinvent myself.  I want to explore my artistic side.  Hubby will start his new job at Vanderbilt University in a couple of weeks.

We're happy to report that all of our stuff is here with us in Nashville now.  We got our car on Saturday and the rest of our stuff arrived yesterday.  Phew!

Church

Yesterday we went to our new ward - the Old Hickory Ward in the Nashville Stake.  It only took 25 minutes to get there!  The ward members were super friendly and we even got an invitation to Sunday dinner.  Several people told us they used to live in the Bay Area or that they had grown up in the Bay Area.   One family had actually been in the same ward that we just came from and we discovered that we had mutual friends.

During Relief Society a younger woman (W) came over to sit by me.  The conversation went something like this:
W:   I served a mission in San Diego.  You look familiar to me.
Me: When were you there?
W:  1999-2000
Me: We were in 13th Ward then.
W:   Bishop Miller?
Me: Yes.  What's your maiden name?
W:   Sister So-and-so.
(Pause)
Me:  Did you faint once in the middle of a talk?
W:   (blushing and laughing)  Yes, that was me!

This conversation happened right before she had to teach Relief Society!  I reminded her to NOT lock her knees.  

First Impressions

I kick myself for not having recorded my first impressions of Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and California (the Bay Area).  I'm not going to make the same mistake this time, although I'm already a week behind.  I'm pretty sure that living in Nashville is going to be quite an interesting experience.  Here are some of the things I've noticed so far:

It's hotter than cayenne pepper.

It's hilly and green.

It's hotter than a fox in a forest fire.

There are lots of American-made trucks - we might be joining the ranks soon.

There's lots of driving - nothing is conveniently close.

Everyone is super friendly and they don't mind chatting awhile - even when they're doing a job for you and you're paying them a fixed rate.

The 'man mullet' lives - saw two guys sporting it yesterday.

The $7.50 Saturday morning buffet at Shoney's attracts a LARGE group of people.

Many people in restaurants say a silent prayer before they eat.

There's a lot of clergy out and about.

There are LOTS of gargantuan churches - Nashville is supposed to be the belt buckle of the bible belt!

People get together at Panera on Wednesday evenings for Bible study.

Did I mention that it's HOT and HUMID!?!

There's a lot of thunder and lightning.

The roads are well-paved.

It's very clean.

The neighbors are friendly and not afraid to just come over and introduce themselves.

We have Hobby Lobby and Famous Dave's here - two places we frequented in Wisconsin.

Did I mention that it's hot!?!

Billy Ray sporting a man mullet.

I can't believe I got my blog name - woohoo!

I'll write more later.  Good start, right?