Thursday, October 7, 2010
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!
Friday, October 1, 2010
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!
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.
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.
Monday, September 27, 2010
When I Grow Up, I Want to be an Alpaca Rancher
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.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
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!
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!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Craigslist in Nashville
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| I know a little boy in Utah who would LOVE these chairs! |
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| This bench/storage box might be a bit uncomfortable. Beware of the handle! |
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| Doesn't this guy get tired of holding up that glass all day long!?! |
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| I've seen cowhide chairs before BUT.. |
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| I've never seen a cowhide desk! |
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