Camouflage

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)

Camouflage
Brad Paisley

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 

Church Perks in Music City

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.

Highlights from October

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?

Now We're Talkin'

We finally had one of those "Whoa, what the heck is that?" moments here in Nashville.  I thought we'd have more of them.  

We got stuck behind this guy last Saturday on a country road.  I drove while Howard played paparazzo (singular for paparazzi).  He stuck his head and camera out the window and snapped a bazillion photos hoping for a least one or two good ones.  I was a little nervous that the guy would get annoyed with us and start shooting at us. 

Anyway, I figured out what it is.  I guess all those trips to Latin America finally paid off.  Can you figure it out?

Here's a close up for you.

Mysteries of the Del

Howard and I spent a lot of time on Coronado when we were dating.  We used to walk from his apartment to the Hotel del Coronado (the Del) all the time.

 

Howard took this picture of the Del.  Isn't it beautiful?

When we go back to visit the Del, we feel like we own the place as we walk through its familiar halls, grand rooms, and quaint shops.  Some things have stayed the same, like the old and still operating cage elevator.

The old cage elevator

Some things have changed.  We can remember when there were tennis courts between the beach and the hotel rather than the $1000/night beachfront condos and villas that are there now.

A long time ago we learned about Kate Morgan, a young woman who mysteriously died in 1892 somewhere in the vicinity of those current-day fancy schmancy condos and villas.  Her death is registered as a suicide but some people believe that she was murdered by her husband.  It's rumored that she continues to roam the halls of the hotel today, waiting for either her husband or for the truth to be known.  This book tells the story if you want to find out more. 

Many guests and employees have witnessed ghostly happenings at the hotel.  Toilets flush on their own, lights flicker and turn off and on, things fly off the shelves, curtains billow when the windows are closed, etc.  You can hear it for yourself.  Just watch the clip.

Howard and I once stayed in the room next to the famed room 3327, although Howard says it's really room 3312.  I'm pretty sure Kate came to visit us that night.  During the night I felt the air circulating abnormally and I felt a presence hovering over me.  I'm pretty sure I wasn't dreaming and surprisingly, I wasn't scared.

Here's another 'mystery' about the Del, not as eery as the Kate Morgan story.  There are these funky sand dunes on the beach near the Del and they have ice plant growing on the top of them.  The beach there is so flat and extensive that they seem out of place.  What's up with that? 

Well, we know something that you might not know.  Here's a bird's eye view of those sand dunes.  Cool, right?

 

Compliments of Google Earth