The Gaylord Opryland Hotel is a great place to spend a cold wintery day, especially around Christmastime. My mother-in-law and I were transported from freezing Nashville temperatures to a tropical sauna within minutes. It's hard to believe that just 1.5 years ago much of the hotel was inundated by the "1000-year flood".
The indoor gardens were immaculate and beautiful, filled with thousands of poinsettias. We learned from one of the indoor gardeners that there are 16 indoor gardeners and 16 outdoor gardeners. By the way, the indoor gardeners were "hanging loose" in Hawaiian shirts while the outdoor gardeners were bundled up like Iditarod mushers. Anyway, here are a few pictures of "the tropics" in Nashville. I just realized that I didn't get any pictures of the poinsettias or the Christmas decorations. Doh! I just might have to make another trip out there before 2012.
True confessions - sometimes I listen to country music while I'm driving. I'm even starting to recognize some of the artists by voice and by face. You just can't help it when you live in Music City, unless, of course, your name is Howard. Anyway, when I browse stations, I mostly come across country or Christian music. This song by Brad Paisley cracks me up. I heard it on the radio yesterday. Although there are lots of videos to the song, none of them seem to official.
Here are the lyrics so you can sing along. And I KNOW that some of you will sing along ;o)
Kevin wasn't really all that popular in school
But I remember well the day I thought now that guy's pretty cool
He pulled into the parking lot and everybody cheered
Because he had gone and painted his entire Chevy Cavalier camouflage
Camouflage it disappears when it pulls out of his garage
Camouflage-camouflage
I asked Jenny to the prom and her mom knew how to sew
So she made a matching tux and gown from Duck Blind Mossy Oak
We took pictures in the backyard before we went to the dance
And the only thing that you can see is our faces and our hands
Camouflage, camouflage
Camouflage you should've have seen the way it popped with her coursage
Camouflage, camouflage, ain't nothing that doesn't go with camouflage
You can blend in in the country
You can stand out in the fashion world
Be invisible to a white tail and irresistible to a redneck girl
Camouflage, camouflage
Oh you're my favorite color camouflage
You can blend in in the country
You can stand out in the fashion world
Be invisible to a white tail and irresistible to a redneck girl
Well the stars and bars offend some folks and I guess I see why
Nowadays there's still a way to show your southern pride
The only thing as patriotic as the old red white and blue
Is green and gray and black and brown and tan all over you
Camouflage, camouflage
Designed by Mother Nature and by God
It's camouflage, camouflage
Oh you're my favorite color camouflage
There's a guy I keep seeing at church - he attends the ward that meets after ours. His hair is a little longer than most of the guys and he wears cowboy boots with a somewhat casual suit. Today I visited that ward and found out that his name is Tim Gates and he's a country singer in a group called Due West. He sang a solo, a hymn called More Holiness Give Me. It was quite lovely and the country in him only escaped a few times. Here's a sample of his music. He's the guy on the left.
The next one has a great message and footage of his family.
I waited a year to get this picture. I guess I'll have to wait another year for a picture of the gigantic bale spider. Darn!
Here are the not-so-spooky treats that I made for some friends. Here's where I got the idea.
Here's another money pit photo. The heat exchangers needed to be replaced. The parts ($1500) were still under warranty. Phew!
Howard and I made a pilgrimage to Cheekwood. We stumbled upon a scarecrow exhibit. I guess it's "better late than never" to start working out, right?
Meet Vincent Van "Crow".
This one is for all my girlie nieces.
There are always cool plants at Cheekwood.
We found some interesting balcony shadows.
This is not Cheekwood. On a whim, I went to Ethan Allen to look at furniture (for inspiration) and ended up talking to an enthusiastic designer who put together this living room palette for me. Fun, right?
