Music City U.S.A.



Us in front of the infamous Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.  It was Clint's first
time to experience Tootsie's.
January 13, 2012





Clint planned a surprise weekend trip for me a few weeks ago.  We
were on our way to Nashville to see the Grand Ole Opry!



Window shopping ... ♫ how much is that torso in the window,
the one with the ...  ♫

The Nashville skyline as we arrived Friday afternoon
on January 13, 2012.

Clint in the lobby of the Marriott Courtyard on West End,
we were pleased with the hotel.  We're
waiting for the shuttle to take us to the Ryman.



Conversation overheard at this traffic light:  "Clint, get back into
this shuttle!  You have no business going into "Larry's place!"









Approaching Broadway on Friday evening, January 13, 2012



Clint trying to upstage Elvis!

One could hardly move in Tootsie's,
including Clint.

I made this photo inside the old original Ryman.  I was reminded once again
we were watching a live radio show.  It was interesting to see all the
activity behind the scenes.

I kept thinking Broadway has a Bourbon Street atmosphere to it.
The crowds were wonderful to see, when I lived in Nashville in
1974 I can remember this area being empty.

Who could give a warmer welcome than
Minnie Pearl and Hank Williams!

The Rolls Royce of country singers, Connie Smith.

Vince Gill

Ricky Skaggs

Enjoyed seeing the old photos and albums
in this old shop.



Clint had made reservations for dinner at the Stockyard.  In the early 2000s, we had
really enjoyed eating there and I especially enjoyed the singer in the lounge there.  Clint started
reading recent reviews and was shocked by what he read.  We canceled the reservations
and ate at Demo's instead.  We beat the crowd that extended around the corner.

Saturday as we headed back to the hotel, I thought this was the most
 beautiful scene from Broadway looking toward West End Avenue.

We had the most wonderful time.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

When I wrote my previous blog yesterday and clicked on "Publish Post", I was thinking it might just spiral down the cyberspace black hole without anyone reading it.  Thank you all for your visits and reading my posts! I am doing okay. I am reading all your blog posts, not yours Ginny because you don't have one ... yet. :~)  Before I started this blog post today, I was not going to do anymore "woe is me" posts right now.  As life would have it, something happened today that was unbelievable.  After I got back into the car with Clint this afternoon, I was a little shaky/sick and was telling Clint what I had just experienced. (Clint's first response was 'good blog material') It had not quite dawned on me  what had just happened until Clint reminded me and said:  You just saved a woman's life.

I did, this afternoon I saved a woman's life!  I will tell about this next time I write, I may leave this Nashville post up for a day or two. Take care and thanks again for your visits.

Sunday Morning

Changes are never easy.  This little change of posting a blog without a photo is feeling a little odd to me.  I just thought I'd try it.  I can't see myself doing it often, posting without a photo.

During the almost eight years we were living in Plano, TX, we were in church on Sunday morning.  It was extremely rare for us to miss a Sunday. Clint had his singing ministry, every single Sunday we packed his guitar, songbooks, music stand and stool.  One of the years he was singing and serving as class leader of our class.  At least four of the years I was the inreach/outreach person for our Sunday school class.  I also served as the greeter to welcome visitors, would get their contact information and introduce them to our large Sunday school class.

Since we have moved back to Tennessee, we have not found a church yet.  A month after moving here, I visited a nearby church but it was not a good fit.  The pastor singing for the first 50 minutes was not going to work for us. Really, I'm not kiddin'!  A few weeks ago Clint stopped by another local church, a member was there cleaning and answered some questions Clint had about the church. She didn't request any contact information from him and he left there not feeling too warm and fuzzy.  (That is why my mission is to make visitors feel very welcomed and as comfortable as I can make them.)  In a couple of weeks we are going on a little trip.  When we return we are going to make an earnest effort to look for a church.

Our Sunday mornings are not without us hearing a sermon every Sunday.  We have been listening to Charles Stanley every Sunday morning at 8:00 am EST on In Touch Ministries.  These sermons are the best we've ever heard.  He has been doing a series on Faith and todays's topic was "Wavering Faith".  I have learned so much from him, now if I can just apply these principles to my life. 

Thinking back of all the times in my life I was in a crisis and not knowing where to turn, trying to fix things myself ... I could have saved myself a lot of grief if I had only had faith things would work out for what was best for me and that it was a "done deal" as Charles explains. These ways most times were way beyond my human understanding and much better than I could have ever imagined!  Charles asked, "Is anything too hard for God?"  He said he heard a few "nos" from the congregation and then asked the question again and there was a loud collective "No".  He also posed the question, "Has God ever failed you?" Looking back on my life I don't know how I have survived this long.  No, God has never failed me.  Now for the part of faith, may I keep it strong and from wavering. We never know what God has in store for us,  from this 29th day of January, 2012,  Sunday at 5:02 pm.  Only time will tell when God reveals it in His perfect timing.

After we listened to Charles Stanley, we headed to Buddy's Barbeque for breakfast and were pleasantly surprised at how good it was.  Speaking of barbeque, we then headed for the grocery store to buy our favorite barbeque sauce, "Blue's Hog".  Our realtor bought us a jar when we were house hunting here back in April 2011.  He enters barbeque competitions and said this sauce is the best that is commercially made.  We agree.

☺ Thanks to anyone reading this far!

Between The Lines

Rudyard Kipling



Rudyard Kipling quoted from a speech, in
The Times, February 15, 1923



Yesterday I had  the above Kipling quote on my mind.  I ran across the following poem later in the day when I was going through some old papers.  After reading it I thought of adding it to this post, it seemed a perfect fit.  I had forgotten about Clint writing it around 1998.  This poem is written in The Rondeau form as was the famous poem, "In Flander's Fields".



Between The Lines


Between the lines the truth does lie
In understated, silent, sly
    Suggestion; thus 'tis hard to know
    Exact explanations, and so
We wonder whether, what...and why.

We read and listen; then do try
To interpret meaning, and spy
     Understanding beyond, below,
               Between the lines.

Weigh woven words which may belie
The thoughts that underneath them fly
     Averse; so secretly they sow
     Innate insights, inklings which grow---
Lying, lurking with spectral sigh...
             Between the lines.

~Clint Ellison
   1998



Clint's computer has been "acting up".  A few months ago while visiting my mom in LaFollette, I stopped by a computer repair shop.  The guy was especially nice and helpful. I had told him I was quoted a price of $80 to uninstall and reinstall a new security system.  He suggested the free version of Avast and even made me a CD to use when I was ready to install it...totally free!  I offered to pay him and thanked him profusely.   I had computer repair bills in Plano, TX, over $300!

Yesterday Clint dropped his computer off at this shop and I visited mom for over an hour.  I was more upset about one of the residents there than seeing my mom, this man came rolling in near us in his wheelchair, he must have had Parkinson's Disease. I talked to him, asking him his name, etc. I was struck by how ratty and stained looking his pants were.  I was thinking I needed to buy the man a new pair of pants and was surprised that he was wearing such old ones.  I was telling my sister this story, she kinda laughed a little and said that his family could probably not do a thing with him, he probably wanted to wear only that pair of pants.  This pants looked like they were the bottom half of his leisure suit from the 1970s. (My sister was a nurse in geriatrics for 30 years)

Last night I had a little bit of a pity party of one ... just thinking about things.  Clint was the uninvited "guest" to the "party".  I can do without these kinds of "parties" and try not to "host" too many of them.  My daughter called and had us laughing earlier in the evening, she was describing her massage experience.  She was telling how she had to fight with all her might to not laugh when the guy was touching the arches of her feet. I know the feeling, I would have been the same way. 

I'll end with a bit a good news, I completed a new portrait and it is in the mail!  Next  comes the oil painting which is to hang over our mantel.

☺

The Green Eyed Monster

(

To this day I vividly remember reading Othello many years ago, how could anyone ever forget the drama and passion? I can't help but feel guilty when I am jealous of someone (usually a man (CLINT)).  Maybe I should rephrase the part about feeling guilty involving a man (CLINT).  Forget guilty when jealousy strikes, I am past that feeling ... I feel hot, scared, angry, hurt, tearful, pain ...  I feel guilty when I try to make myself not feel guilty and try to fight the feelings.  Involving Clint, he usually knows something is up with me because I am not talking. ;~)  A couple of years ago I felt "hot, scared, angry, hurt, tearful, pain" when Clint had friended a FB request from a past woman "acquaintance".  Here comes the guilt again, I "sneaked" into his FB account and saw he had told her when he responded to her FB friend request that she looked pretty in her profile picture. BTW, I really didn't sneak into his FB account, we know each other's passwords to our email accounts, too. 

About her FB picture being "pretty", he said for her the picture was a darn good one.  Suddenly I was feeling better and honestly, have not given it another thought. Well ... hey, I just did, didn't I!

A big part of our jealousy is the fact we met online as pen pals.  I imagined the FB woman might try to start corresponding with him and lure him away. I know ... insecurity and fear of abandonment.  He has the same feelings about me.  Once again, I know when something is not right and he is quiet.  Several years ago he picked me up from the airport and was quiet. Sure enough, he had looked at my emails and had become upset over an innocent FB message from a guy who grew up in my neighborhood. 

I can remember our dogs and cats being jealous of human attention or should I say inattention.

Last evening as were were talking around our "candle/camp" fire, I was telling Clint when I was a "youngster" in my 20s, I never dreamed jealousy could rear its ugly head in the relationships of "old people" in their 50s and 60s. Gosh, surely at that age you would be past such stuff.  NOT!

I've made light of some of the things I have written here but jealousy is a terrible and powerful emotion and looking back in our cases ... over nothing.  The truth is, here we are hurling through our twilight years and drawing our ever fleeting breath to trouble ourselves in such a manner.  {:~(



"Jealousy and Flirtation" by Haynes King (1831-1904)





Recent Reflections and Lingering Christmas

Tales 'round the old campfire ... well, in this case the candle light.  Last week
I lit this candle in the living room and we loved the shadows ... they seemed to be dancing
from a very flickering candle. Clint sat across from me and told me some tall tales.  ☺



The day after Christmas, Clint and I attended the "Windows to Heaven:
Treasures From the Russian Icons" exhibit at the McClung Museum
in Knoxville, Tennessee.  The University was closed that day,
no problem with parking!  I was captivated by the history and
style of these paintings!



The masked one has returned, we are growing fond of
our little cardinals. 

Some fun loving people in the museum parking lot at the McClung.  The guy and his wife were shoving
and pushing the man inside from the back and laughing as we walked by.  They saw my camera dangling
from my wrist and
made a joke about a picture.  I took this picture and warned them it might
appear in a blog!  :-)

Last week we visited the oldest city in Tennessee, Jonesborough.
It was a perfect cool and sunny day.

We visited the Andrew Johnson museum and tailor house in
Greeneville.  My grandmother enjoyed telling the story of how
we were related to Andrew Johnson.  Clint reminds me that
he was the first president to be impeached.  ha!

A window display on the streets of Jonesborough, Tennessee.

Jewelry worn by Mrs. Andrew Johnson on April 15, 1865, at the inauguration of her husband
Andrew Johnson.  Johnson was inaugurated after the assassination of President
Abraham Lincoln.

Scenes like like make me so happy I am back home!

A picture made from the car, love this expanse of sky!

Beautiful contrast between the white church and the blue sky. This
church is in Jonesborough, Tennessee.

No relation to Peter Pan or J.R.'s  mom. :-)

Jonesborough, Tennessee



Beautiful old architecture in Jonesborough, Tennessee.



Snow was falling from underneath the dark clouds.

Last week we had some light snow fall.  The snow had fallen
on top of our patio table.

Precious little bird tracks on our deck ...

It has been a long time since we have had quiche and it makes
a perfect supper as it did Sunday.  This is the Southern
Living recipe for ham and bacon quiche.  A good way to use
up a little ham.

The following pictures may seem out of place here.  I had scanned them and had wanted to post them before Christmas but never got around to it.  Since my blog is also part family scrapbook, I am going to include them in this post.

My sister Patti and me, Christmas Eve 1963.  I am sorry to say I can't
recall my step-mother's little dog's name.

Christmas Eve, 1963, I still have the ruby ring that was in the box I am holding.

My  brother Jimmy, Christmas 1961, at my grandparents'
house next door.  He passed away last June 2011.

An excited Cindy and Patti, Christmas Eve 1960.
How do you like that decoration job on that tree!  ☺

We all appear a little somber and sad in this picture.  This must have been around the
time of the ♫ D-i-v-o-r-c-e ♫. 

My brother, Jimmy (Jimbo to us) and Lucinda, my daughter.
Christmas, 1977

Another Christmas has passed ...time to put away all the decorations.









I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."



~ Charles Dickens (1812-1870), English author. From 'A Christmas Carol'.


♥