Nashville Wrap Up

May 22, 2018 By Carole

Remember that trip to Nashville we took last month? I have more photos to share with you, to round out our experience because, believe it or not, it was about more than music and food.

It was also about boots. Lots and lots of boots.

We each bought two pair. I love Dale’s new brown ones because they aren’t as pointy and in-your-face-I’m-wearing-cowboy-boots as some that he has. Mine, on the other hard, are very pointy and very I’m-wearing-cowboy-boots. Not just these brown ones . . .

But these black ones, too. Both pairs are super comfortable and I wore them all week. I’ve even worn them since we’ve been home but . . . since I’m in Massachusetts . . . I have not worn them with skinny jeans tucked in . . . it’s just not a thing here.

Nashville has some great places to hang out like Pinewood Social, which is complete with a coffee bar, a bowling alley, a swimming pool, and really fabulous food. We went there twice, once for late night drinks and once for lunch but we never did do any bowling.

This here is the pedestrian bridge as seen from the roof top bar of Acme Feed & Seed. We never did get to walk over it . . . you may recall it was rather cold for most of the week . . . but that just means we’ll have to go back.

Nashville also has great murals although technically this one is in Franklin.

And this one isn’t really a mural, just a cool (and rather appropriate) sign in a restaurant.

We made a special point of visiting the angel wings mural. I just love this one and I’m glad Dale was able to get a picture of me in front of them . . . it’s hard for this photographer to hand over the camera, you know.

And that’s a wrap on Nashville. At least for this time because I can promise you, we’ll be going back!

Weekending

May 21, 2018 By Carole

Happy Monday, friends! And can I just say, right now, how glad I am that next Monday is a holiday? Because this Monday work thing seems to come around much too quickly. I imagine that’s partly because we manage to cram so much into the weekend. Here. I’ll show you . . .

Friday:

A walk with Jack in the afternoon. He was tired and refused to sleep so we went for a walk since I thought the stroller would lull him to sleep. It didn’t but when we came back he fell asleep immediately and was out for about 90 minutes.

Friday Night Snacks. You know the drill. We caught up on some TV and watched the first episode of Little Women on Masterpiece Theater. It’s good but feels a bit rushed to me, I think it would be hard to follow if you didn’t know the story.

Saturday:

Up early (very early) for the royal wedding and some knitting. I thought the wedding was spectacular, loved the wedding gown, was utterly impressed with the ceremony itself (the gospel choir! the exuberant pastor! the flowers!), and it was all worth getting up for. Plus, it gave me a great excuse to take a late morning nap.

It was a raw and rainy day so there wasn’t much opportunity for yard work but we still got some stuff done around the house and then headed out in search of food. We had a wonderful time at The Olde Hitching Post, the restaurant where we had our wedding reception almost 21 years ago.

The music in the lounge was great and we had a really lovely evening. We even sneaked into the room where we had our reception on our way out and danced in the dark to Moon River (our wedding song) as it played on my iPhone in my pocket book. Tots romantic.

Sunday:

The weather finally cooperated for outside work and the first order of the day was getting our new window boxes hung. Dale did a great job getting them done and it really didn’t take much time at all, which makes me wonder why we didn’t do this 3 years ago when we first did the new siding on the house. This is step one of our new-front-yard-curb-appeal plan, all those plants you currently see in those beds are either being relocated or ditched, more on that as we make progress.

I went to a local nursery to get annuals for the window boxes and container gardens. I also picked up some lettuce but we’ll hold off on the rest of the vegetables until next weekend. It was awesome to enjoy the warmth of the day and wander through all the greenhouses making my selections.

And then I planted containers. I went with more foliage and less flowers this year although I’m sure I’ll get zinnias and some other things going, too. It started to rain just as I was finishing up – I actually planted the lettuce in a pretty steady downpour – but I got it done and the rain was a welcome way to get everything watered.

It cleared up enough for a cocktail on the deck but a passing shower drove us back inside where we hung out on the couch and caught up on more tv.

It was a busy, productive, fun weekend!

Eye Candy Friday

May 18, 2018 By Carole

I shared this photo on Instagram the other day and said how the smell of lilacs brings me right back to my childhood. The reason is because we had a giant hedge of lilacs growing down the entire side of our driveway. The scent was so strong and heady and I loved it. Now I find them too powerful to bring inside but I love to breath in their scent when I’m outside and it really does remind me of the home where I grew up.

I love that flowers are everywhere this time of year – it’s so easy to snap and share beautiful photos! I hope you’ll find some wherever you are this weekend, too.

Three On Thursday

May 17, 2018 By Carole

Let’s get random this Thursday, mmmmmkay? As in, here are 3 totally random and unconnected things bouncing around in my head right now.

Hannah and Mikey have decided to postpone her graduation party due to the lousy weather forecast for this Saturday. Hannah has this vision for the day and there was just no way that vision was about to come true with 40 people crammed into their 3 room apartment. So, it’s been postponed for a couple of weeks and, even though there’s no guarantee the weather will be better, we’re going to hope for the best!
The word begin is suddenly showing up all around me. First, I bought myself a set of sacred invitation cards. When they arrived I sat down with them and went through them all and checked them out. Then I turned them over and randomly chose one. The word on that card? Begin. I laughed right out loud and thought, how perfectly appropriate. So I grabbed my journal to write about the experience and when I looked at the cover of my journal my mouth dropped open because guess what it says – “the best way to get something done is to being”. Huh. And then on Instagram yesterday my friend Heather, who posts an angel card every day, shared one that said, “a wonderful new beginning is blossoming in my life.” I think the universe is trying to tell me something!
Mary is once again organizing Summer Book Bingo! I’ll be participating and probably going for a cover-all again. I’ve got my card ready although I haven’t planned any of my titles yet and I need to do that soon because I’ve found that’s really the best way to insure success. Head on over to Mary’s blog to create your own Summer Book Bingo card!

And those are my random thoughts today, hope you found them entertaining. Or something.

If you wrote a post for today please share it below and have a fabulous Thursday, friends!

An InLinkz Link-up

Wednesdays Are For Knitting

May 16, 2018 By Carole

On Monday night our town held Annual Town Meeting. This is something I always attend, many years ago as a Department Head and then for the last twenty-one years as a town resident and registered voter. I always sit with Dale and our friends in the same general area. And I always knit during the meeting.

You know where this is going, right?

Now that I am a selectman in town I sit up on the stage with my colleagues on the board and various other town officials. And I can’t knit, of course. You all know that I can absolutely pay attention while I’m knitting but the average non-knitter doesn’t know that and, let’s face it, I’m there to do a job and knitting just isn’t part of that gig.

Can I just say, of all the things I considered when I decided to run for selectman . . . the things I knew would be challenging . . . the sacrifices I might have to make . . . not knitting at town meeting never even crossed my mind. You know when it finally dawned on me that I couldn’t bring my knitting? About 30 minutes before the meeting. I can’t help but wonder, if I had considered this particular sacrifice back in January when I made my decision to run, if I would have chosen differently.

You know I’m kidding. Mostly.

If I had actually been knitting, I would have been working on these socks.

Halloween colors, yes, but at the rate I finish a pair of socks these days, well, I don’t think it’s too early to be working on them.