'Tis The Season To Be Busy

Goodness gracious, this has been a busy week.

We have had some wonderful visits with friends.  Tuesday evening I had dinner with a couple of my team members from my school teaching days.  We went to the same restaurant (J. Alexander’s) that has become our “traditional” place to gather I think since it opened 15 or so years ago.  The food was wonderful, as always, but seeing my friends was what it was all about.  Thursday evening we had dinner with good friends and hiking buddies, Doug and Diana.  Diana made a wonderful pizza for us.  We got caught up with what all they have been doing this year and some of their plans for the coming year.  Yesterday, long-time hiking and backpacking buddies, Patricia and Jeff, came up from Tullahoma for a visit.  We had what our fellow RVer, Darrell, would call a “chat and chew”--talk and eat.  We hadn’t seen Jeff and Patricia in several years and it was great to see them again and catch up on their goin’s on.  They are not yet RVers, but are getting the bug and have been window shopping a couple times. It was fun showing them around our rig and talking RV shop.  We really appreciate them driving all that way for a visit.  That means a great deal to us.

Friends haven’t been the only thing to occupy our time this week.  There has been some family stuff as well.  I spent the afternoon Tuesday with my mother.  She is doing much better since her little stay in the hospital.  We didn’t do anything in particular, but sometimes it is great just to sit and talk.  Usually we are busy preparing a meal or some other activity and don’t just sit down and talk.  That was nice.  Yesterday afternoon and evening, we had a babysitting gig with Kayley.  Jack and Ansley were due (they may say overdue) for a night out.  We were excited to be the ones to babysit Kayley.  Big Dad (grandpa) had visions of playing the whole time, but Kayley chose to sleep.  It was fun to watch her sleep, though, and we had a great time.

In between all this fun stuff, we have been cooking, cleaning, and buying propane. It has been very cold in middle Tennessee this week making us soooo ready to head south.  We stay warm, of course, but it does take a lot of propane.  We are grateful for every day that the sun is shining.  Even if it is cold outside, the sun through the windows warms us up nicely and it keeps the furnace from running so much.

Today, we are dressed up in layer after layer of clothing and are heading out to the trail.  One of our hiking club friends is leading a hike at Beaman Park this morning and we want to join her and the rest of the gang for a brisk walk on this cold morning.

That’s it for now.

Opryland Hotel

One of the most popular places in Nashville to visit during the holiday season is Opry Land Hotel.  Decorated to the nines, folks come in droves.  This is not really a “tradition” with us, but we find ourselves there almost every year just to gaze at the decorations.  Of course, the best time to go is after dark to get the full effect of the lighting.  However, we have been in those crowds too many times in previous years.  A more quiet time is in the morning.

All of the plants are real, of course

Many years ago, it was free and there still isn’t a charge to enter the hotel, but now the  parking is expensive.  Last I heard it was $10.  For those in the area, we have figured out a way to avoid the parking charge.  Opry Mills Mall is just next door and there is a sidewalk leading right to the Delta entrance of the hotel.  Park at the theater end of the mall as close to the employee parking area as possible and toward the hotel.  The sidewalk in front of a fake boulder (left over from the old Opryland theme park days) leads away from the mall and right to the hotel.  Easy! and Free!

Being parked at the mall made it easy to make a brief shopping stop.  We didn’t stay long.  By the time we got there, crowds had begun to gather.  One store really caught my eye--the Crocs store.   You know--Crocs--the latest craze in footwear.  I had no idea they had a high-heel model.  There was nothing in this store but Crocs and they were in every color, size, and style.  Who would have thought.

Crocs started out as a “beach” shoe.  It was lightweight, water didn’t hurt it (I’m not going to say “waterproof” since they are riddled with holes), and it slips on and off easily.  It had all the attributes the hiking community was looking for in a camp shoe.  When backpacking, hikers want a pair of lightweight shoes to slip into after a long day in boots.  Naturally, we each have a pair.  I haven’t done an official study, but I’d say 90% of backpackers have a pair of Crocs lashed to the back of their packs.

Well, that was our morning.  Now I have a dessert baking in the oven to take to our good friends, Doug and Diana, who have invited us to share homemade pizza with them tonight.  Ahh, ‘tis the season to party.  Ain’t it great?

Sweet Treats for the Holidays

During our time in Nashville each winter, we are usually invited to a number of social things and dinners or lunch with friends.  We also like to take a small gift to those hosting parties, the TTA newsletter party, and a few family members.  Tell me, is there anything better than chocolate for these small tokens of appreciation?

Today, was candy making day around here.  Over the course of about 30 years of candy making, I have settled on three items that have become my favorites--almond bark, peanut clusters, and truffles.  Besides being good, they are all very easy to make.

For the almond bark, I toast slivered almonds in a low oven until they are slightly golden.  After they are cool, I stir them into melted white chocolate.  I usually use the chocolate wafers that I get at Hobby Lobby.  White chocolate morsels available at the grocery are also fine.  Spread the warm mixture out on parchment paper in a layer about 1/4 inch thick.  When completely cooled, break apart into bite-sized pieces.

The peanut clusters are even easier.  Stir a can of salted peanuts into a pound of melted milk or dark chocolate.  Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment paper.  Allow to cool completely.  I put the chocolate in the microwave to melt.

The truffles are a little more involved, but still not complicated.  I found this recipe in the 2006 Taste of Home Best Holiday Recipes magazine.  In a microwave safe bowl mix 1 can sweetened condensed milk with 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels.  Heat on 50% power until melted.  Stir in 1 tablespoon vanilla extract.  Chill this mixture in the refrigerator until it is cool enough to handle.  Shape into 1-inch balls.  Roll the balls in baking cocoa, flaked coconut, finely chopped nuts, and/or candy sprinkles.  How easy is that for something that looks so complicated.  This recipe makes 4 dozen.

Cookies are also a great gift.  I’ll get into the cookie making next week.

Now my focus is keeping Gene from eating all the goodies before they can be delivered.

19 Shopping Days til Christmas

The countdown has started. We like to countdown the days to an event and just let the anticipation build. Of the many holiday festivities scheduled for the next 19 days, tonight is the annual Tennessee Trails Christmas Party. We don’t stay out late for much, but we usually stay out late for this. Therefore, I will be posting this early and report on the party tomorrow.

A couple of my best friends

me, Susan, and Karen

I need to go back a couple days and just say that I had a fantastic evening with my former team mates, Karen and Susan. We met at one of our favorite restaurants in town, J. Alexander’s. I think we started going there when they first opened and have been loyal patrons ever since. Of course, we don’t go as often now as we did when we were teaching together and needed the comfort that only spinach queso dip and warm tortilla chips could provide. We’ve laughed and we’ve cried at J. Alexander’s. We’ve gone there for baby showers and for retirement parties. Susan brought pictures of her almost grown children and Karen and I marveled at how big these children were who had been born on our watch. The oldest is not in college—where has the time gone? These are the ladies who taught me how to teach (even though Tennessee State takes credit for having educated me in the art of teaching children). I did my student teaching on their team and remained there until the school system made so many changes we had to go our separate ways, each ending up teaching at different schools. Thursday evening we talked about the current state of Metro Nashville school system, about retirement, about the dismal state of the economy, a little about politics (we’re a house divided so we usually steer clear of that subject), and about Mormon church underwear. They are the best, and I love them to death.

Today, I can see Gene’s head and arms stuck up from a pile of road maps and campground directories. He is trying to map out a route for the first leg of our next journey from here to Montgomery, Alabama and then on to Perry, Georgia for the next Christmas celebration with brother, nephews and their wives. We have the GPS and are looking forward to using that in our travels. However, we have not found software to exclude low underpasses in trip planning. Without that, we still have to use the trucker’s atlas to select our route.

I will busy myself with a few housekeeping chores and preparing food to take to the party tonight. I originally planned to take a smoked salmon log with crackers and purchased all the necessary ingredients. However, I also have more apples and pears in the fruit basket than Gene and I can eat before they go bad, so I decided this morning to fix one of my favorite Barefoot Contessa recipes—Pear, Apple and Cranberry Crisp. We are really looking forward to this party because it is where we see all our hiking buddies.

Details tomorrow.

Christmas Shopping with my Mother

When we first got to Nashville, I got with my mother and we made a list of things we wanted to do together and scheduled those things on our calendars.  Today was our shopping day.  I got to her house early and we headed out to Cool Springs Galleria.

The miracle worker.

My mother is a shopper.  Even if she doesn’t buy anything, she likes to go look and “finger the merchandise”, as she calls it.  When I was in high school, once a month we would go shopping.  Much of my adult life, I have lived a far distance from her.  I’d come home for a visit and the first thing she’d want to do was go shopping.  We have even been known to take trips to Chicago or Atlanta just for the shopping.  I always enjoyed those trips, not because I enjoy shopping, but because she is such a hoot and never failed to make the trip a real experience.  Oh my gosh, can she find the stuff to buy.  It is some sort of sickness with her, however.  She just loves to shop.  Most often she will not keep the purchases.  After a few days, she’ll take them back.  I asked her one time why she bought stuff if she didn’t want or need it and her answer was that she “just loved the shopping part”—looking, touching, trying on, and apparently even the paying part.  She was mostly Christmas shopping today, so I expect she will keep most of what she got.  However, she did buy a pair of shoes and a jacket for herself.  My money is on the jacket going back.  We’ll see.  She told me today, that she had really enjoyed our day.  My dad usually goes with her, she said, and he always sets a time when he wants to meet up.  According to her, she never has enough time to really shop.  It occurred to me that that may be his method of keeping her spending under control.

We walked from one end of the mall to the other.  We stopped in William-Sonoma for a sample of chocolate peppermint bark and free apple cider.   I had my camera slung over my shoulder just in case a Kodak moment popped up along the way and an eager little sales girl from one of those kiosks in the middle of the mall ran up to mother and asked me to take her picture.  Then we were trapped and had to listen to her sales pitch.  She knew all the tricks.  She even asked if we were sisters.  I couldn’t decide if she thought my mother looked really young or if I looked really old.  Anyway, first thing I knew, she had mother by the hand and was buffing the ridges off one of her fingernails the whole while chanting “first blue, then gray, then white” so we could learn the proper way to buff.  Then she showed us the miracle.  I knew it was a miracle because she asked if I believed in miracles.  Of course, I said “yes”—then she revealed my mothers nail.  It was smooth and shiny—truly a miracle if you had seen that nail beforehand.  I wanted to buy one of those buffers right then and there, but you couldn’t get the buffer by itself.  You had to get the whole kit for $49.  Thanks, but no thanks.  I didn’t think that miracle was worth $49.

When I was about to collapse in the floor from hunger, we headed to Ruby Tuesday.  Over our soup and salad lunch, she checked her shopping list.  The only things left were gift card.  Speaking of miracles—this was a true miracle—I had the opportunity to teach my mother something.  That doesn’t happen often in anybody’s life since mothers tend to know it all.  But today I got a turn.  She was wondering how to get the gift cards and I suggested Kroger.  She was shocked.  So we went to Kroger and gathered around the stand with the gift cards from almost every business establishment known to man.  She was amazed.  She grabbed what she needed.  There was one tense moment at the check-out when she couldn’t find her credit card, but that quickly passed when she finally looked in her wallet.

I had to dash from her house to meet my friends for dinner, but I’ll have to save that story for tomorrow.  It deserves more time and energy than I have tonight.

A Country Christmas at Opryland Hotel

This afternoon Gene and I took our annual stroll through Gaylord Opryland Resort Hotel and Convention Center. Each year at the holiday season, the hotel is decorated to the nines and they call it “A Country Christmas”.  Thousands of visitors lose themselves in the spirit of the season as they gaze at the magnificent displays in literally every nook of this massive hotel.  The Delta area, as well as the Conservatory, have glass roofs, so you would get the best effect of the lighting after dark.  However, I didn’t think I would be able to get very good photos with only my little camera flash in such a massive area, so we went this afternoon to take advantage of the brilliant sunshine flowing through the roof.

One of the big draws to Opryland is their outdoor lighting display.  I went over this morning to get shots of the nativity scene, but it might actually be better to try that after dark.

We have to drive by the hotel to go almost anywhere and during those drive bys I have been trying to determine the best vantage point for a good shot of the lights.  It seems that I would have to stand on the off ramp to McGavock Pike on the westbound side of Briley Parkway.  That’s a heavy traffic area, especially with folks coming to the hotel to see the lights.  The road builders must have realized this was the best place to make a picture because there is a sidewalk along a portion of that ramp.  I think I will give it a try, but not today.  It is suppose to be 20 degrees tonight.  I ain’t going out in that kind of cold just to get a picture.  But this is Nashville, and, like they say, if you don’t like the weather today, just wait a couple days and it will change.  When it does, I’ll be out there risking life and limb to bring you the outdoor light display at Opryland Hotel.

Until then, enjoy these shots from inside the hotel and the nativity scene.  For photos taken both inside and out during spring, see the April 18th entry.

A roaring fire in the Magnolia lobby.