Bringing Nashville To An End

 I've been home for a week so it's time to wind up my Nashville posts.

I've been tired and lacked the ambition to do so previously.

A funny story.....

At the first rest stop on Sunday morning Carole stops me and starts telling me about a lunch date she recently had. Carole is one of  the women we've spent time with on previous trips.

She tells Bev about her upcoming trip to Nashville and Bev says her daughter in law's mother is also taking a bus trip to Nashville.....that'd be me! Bev and Carole work out at the same facility....2 hours from here.....it's a small world.

Carolee, me, Carole

We visited the new Johnny Cash museum.

I'd like to read more about him.

We visited Antique Archeology....where sometimes  American Pickers is taped. 

We attended a dinner show at Nashville Nightlife and saw Tim Watson aka thefiddleman.

The star of his show was his 18 year old son, what stage presence....he'll go places.

We toured Studio B, where Elvis recorded. 

This is the piano he used, he liked the lights turned down really low. 

This is unassuming Studio B, where many famous singers recorded. It was an interesting tour.

We also toured the Country Music museum and hall of fame, lots to see there.
One day we had some time to walk around and have lunch on our own. Carolee asked some locals for a recommendation...they said Demos.... we walked the 2 or 3 blocks to the restaurant. I had never heard of trigger fish but decided to try it. I highly recommend it!
Later we stopped at the Gaylord hotel and convention center to tour the magnificent gardens....OH MY...it was LOVE!!!
That evening we went to the Grand Ole Opry. It was fabulous! I really enjoyed it. Our seats were on the mezzanine, in front.....good seats in an building that seats 4400. We saw Josh Turner, Ricky Scaggs, Lee Greenwood, Darryl  Worley, and the MusiCorps Wounded Warrior Band (they were AWESOME).

That was my Nashville trip.

I came home, had my 2nd round of chemo, and felt like crap for a week. 

Finally, late this afternoon, I started to feel human again.....let the good times roll!

More of Nashville

One of the maybe, not so popular, places we visited in Nashville was the Upper Room Chapel. The tour included a lovely taped talk in the main chapel and off to the side is a small chapel for prayer and reflection. Outside is a beautiful agape garden....which we were all about b/c there were no gardens to be seen in WI at this time.

part of of the very large stained glass window

nearly life sized carving of the Last Supper

in the back you can see the stained glass window

carved piece of art

quilts

paper mache music stand

garden

just some of the beautiful artworks

Next we headed to the Tennessee Centennial  park where we viewed the Parthenon. 

 this wall depicts the history of Tennessee, it breaks apart when the civil war appears

 There's a tribute to WWI

These are the bell towers, 95 of them because there are 95 counties in TN. The bells play music every hour. 

Every state has a bell tower also.,

The state capitol lays at the end of the park. 

It's a beautiful park, I'm not sure where it changes from Centennial park to the Bicentennial park. We were there over lunch  and many people were walking and enjoying the wonderful weather. We at in the huge food court. There was also a flea market but I didn't have time to check that out.

More to come.......................

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend, so far our weather has been perfect, although it looks like we might get some rain later. I hope it hold out until after the cook out at my friends.  I'm still kinda tired after Thursday's treatment. Our grandson was here Saturday night, all day Sunday, and Sunday night, and will be here most of today, so I couldn't rest as much as I'd like. He's pretty happy to spend lots of time on the computer and TV so is not very hard to take care of...but....and NO I can not say no to him. 

Hi Ho Hi Ho, It's Off to Nashville I Go!

Sunday morning I was up at 4AM so I could be on the road by 5, as usual I was a little late. I wasn't trying to wake him but my grandson heard me and he was up at 4:30, so was Kev. 

Neither of them went back to bed later.

The sunrise was so pretty, and thankfully it was in back of us, this photo doesn't do it justice. 

We started off our bus trip at 7:40 at the Ryan road park and ride south of Milwaukee, sooo easy to find. We were the last ones on and 5 minutes after we sat down we had a bloody mary in hand. YES! We're on V A C A T I O N!!!

On the way there we watched Walk The Line, the biographical movie about Johnny Cash. Loved it!

Day 1 in Nashville, I wanted a picture because I still had most of my hair and thought I looked cute. I put my little headband on and didn't touch my hair all day. I have since donned hats.

On day 1 we drove through Curtiswood lane and say many beautiful home that had previously been owned by: Tex Ritter, Minnie Pearl (when she was home her car was parked in the carport and the band vehicle was also parked outside), Eddie Arnold, Webb Pierce, Hank Williams, Tammy Wynette, Roseanne Cash, the governor's mansion which has an underground barroom, and more. We didn't get any good pictures because the house are set back and there are a lot of tress in front of them.

On the way to Music Square we had to drive around the circle and saw the 'Musica' statue.

Nine larger-than-life nudes cavort and float up to 40 feet in the air. At the apex, a naked woman holds aloft a tambourine. Prudish locals howled (and not about the tambourine) but the statues remain.      (quote I found online) 

Our guide told us that when the hockey teams wins they'll be wearing hockey jersey's and on St Patrick's day they're wearing kilts....just a little trivia. 

***end of today's vacation post, more to come***
I had my 2nd chemo treatment yesterday, it went really well. Since I was there over the noon hour they fed me delicious creamy of vegetable soup and a sandwich and some juice. After Edie put my laptop on a chair (because sometimes the side tables don't hold) my side table fell down, spilling my water, juice, and ice tea. Go figure! I napped a little yesterday afternoon but felt pretty good, better than I remember feeling last time. Could the probiotics and vitamin I am taking be the difference? The birds woke me up too early today so I might take a short nap this morning before I go in for my Nuelasta injection. I am also going to get hydration while I am there....I have the time and the nurses keep telling me how much better it will make me feel. My hair is virtually gone on the side that I sleep on, I think I will cut the other side. I am not shaving my head or paying anyone to cut it. I have a couple of hats and ordered a few more things yesterday. I do have a wig but I don't know if I'll wear it for everyday. The birds woke me up at 4:30 so I think I am going to try for a nap this morning before I go  back to the clinic.

Thanks for stopping by!

Feelings

What I was thinking on the bus as we drove to Nashville:

The sun so bright and warm,

green grass and flowers abound.

Missing spring so I want to cry.

Red hat upon my head, 

strands of gold floating around.

Fearing it almost makes me cry.

The beauty, the blessings,

just some of what I have seen.

His love brings a tear to my eye. 

We saw this could on the way home tonight......I think it looks like a heart, do you!

It's back to reality; the trees are still sprouting leaves, fields are not green, flowers have not been planted, and it is NOT warm where I live. So, for now, I will remember the warmth and flowers from the last couple of days,

Home Sweet Home?

See the bird nest?

It was not a part of the wreath when I put it out several weeks ago.

Will there be a bird sitting on in in the future?

Guess we'll have to wait and find out because I do not have the heart to pull it off and toss it.

Have a great week!

I should be in Nashville, having a great time in 80 degree temps :-)

Check back in a few days for photos.

Seeing God's Hand

Even though my scalp hurts and I am shedding like a sheepdog in mid summer I can see God's hand in this.

• The last time I got my hair cut it was shorter than I wanted, but I grew to like it. Soon it will be gone.
• I am officially retired, this isn't what I had planned, but at least I won't be stressing about work and squeezing in DR appts.
• Kev, who has a hard time showing affection goes to all my Dr appointments, hugs me back when I hug him and is showing me that he cares, this can bring us closer.
• My appetite has changed: I don't crave the sweets, red meat I pass up, but I want more veggies. All of that is just plain healthier for me, cancer or not.
• The trips I had planned are all scheduled for before my chemo treatments, at a time when I am feeling my best. 
• I had chest pains several days ago and went to ER (my heart is good) but when a CT scan was done they saw something on my lung. Yesterday the DR showed me how small it is, said it is not breast cancer that spread to my lung, but is possibly a spore that I inhaled as a kid. At least we know it's there and it can be checked again by one of those 'interesting' CT scans that make you feel like you just wet your pants. 
• The egg hunt that I (accidental) planned for Mother's Day was a blessing for my bff who lost her mother about 2 weeks previously. She was here with the family and not sitting at home being depressed.

I am hoping that God can use me to witness to others who may not know Him. I am also hoping that I continure to feel this good throughout the whole summer! And thank you again for all of your prayers and support!!! - my 'real life' family and friends and my new blogger friends.  Have a great weekend!!!! I'll be off to Nashville early Sunday morning, chemo when I am back on thursday, so you won't hear from me for a few days. 

the Friday 56

p. 56  "I am much more in tune with the felines,  whose initial inclination on being awakened is not to snap to with a "Well, well! What fascinating activity is in store for us today?" but reluctantly relinquish somnolence with an even more snarky version of what as always been my own personal battle cry: "What do you want from me?" 

I picked up this book at a garage sale and just started reading it.....I was looking for a light read after my last, somewhat confusing, book. I own a signed copy of this true story of a couple's journey through 47 states with a dog and 2 cats. I think I'm going to like the humor and antics of their trip. 

read more book snippets on Freda's blog. 

Stampin' Up Cards

Monday afternoon I went to the Stamp a long and made a few cards:

I always need birthday cards.

Everyone who was there got a free small stamp for coming....I think it was for Mother's day. 

I chose the 'Miss you' stamp that fit perfectly in one of the squares in the card below.

Cute, simple card....perfect for one of my granddaughters.

Yesterday afternoon my bff and I went to a salon to discuss wigs. That was perfect timing because my fine, thin hair is getting thinner. I found one wig that was the right color, it was OK and not expensive. Then I saw another short one that I liked the style of and the color was OK. I tried it on and we all liked it. It was a lot more than the other one but I really liked it so I bought it. Unfortunately our insurance doesn't cover wigs. After that we stopped at the cancer center and I picked up some more head coverings. They provide such a service, there are bins and bins of things you can just take. It's been donated by cancer survivors and I'll donate my stuff back when I am through with it. I should have plenty of stuff for now....if I need something different I can take my time and be choosy. 

Boy, today was cold........brrrr.........The sun finally came out late this afternoon but the thermometer never even hit 50. On the bright side it's going to to 80 in Nashville.....my body will be in shock!!!

Guess I better find some tank tops and capris to pack!

Thanks for stopping by!

Another New Adventure

Nope, not looking forward to this one, not one bit! I am so thankful for the world wide web and youtube. 

*Yesterday afternoon my hair/head started hurting

*the hair follicles are dying (couldn't the arthritis cells die instead?)

*my hair is starting to fall out  (sad face - the hair on my legs is still intact - darn)

*last night and this morning I watched videos about tying turbans and scarves

*there are a lot of fashionable looks to be had

I'm glad scarves, turbans, and hats are in style.

Once again I will be dare to be different, but not as different as I was when I was the only kid in our small town with red hair whom the high school boys teased.

I do have a request.....

If you're a praying person please pray that my hair stays with me until next Wednesday when I return from Nashville. I don't have any idea of how long the process takes so if you have any insight please comment.

I thank everyone for your kind thoughts, comments, and prayers!!!!

Why?

You're thinking now she's going to rant on about 'Why me? Why did this have to happen to me?' No, I haven't had those thoughts.....at least not yet. My bff once said "Why not me?" That's right, after all He allowed his only son to suffer and die for us. Things happen...they happen to anyone.

Matt. 5:45 He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Actually I am thinking 'why am I not a wreck worrying about this cancer that is inside of me?' Why am I just going on with life as normal? Why do I not break down and bawl when I think of my mom on her birthday or Mother's Day?

I am not saying that I don't cry or have my own pity party now and then, I do, but not very often. An act of kindness will often bring a tear to my eye. Normally tears just run down my face, I am not a sobber....and I'm glad. Was I ever? I don't think so......but my memory is so bad that I am not sure.....not a bad thing in this case. 

Sometimes I wonder if I have a heart......I do, I care about a lot of people and things. Maybe I have trained myself not to worry, maybe I trust in God. Guess it's just who I am.

I'm thankful that I am able to 'make hay while the sun shines'. Do you know what that means? I hope I can maintain my good attitude all through this journey until I can say "I'm a survivor."

Thanks for coming along on this journey with me.

Mother's Day/Egg Hunt

Sunday turned out to be a pretty nice day, not as nice as Saturday but nice enough to spend the day on the deck......and most of us did. Some of the guys stayed in to watch TV, nothing unusual about that.

Remember that container full of eggs in my last post?

Well, grandpa hid them while Grandson J and I were in church, and he had RULES.

Here he is directing the kids (at a local school).

 Two of my grands sort through some of their goodies. 

 The 2 'little girls'.

The one on the right has a birthday coming up in 2 weeks and I am not sure if I'll see her then, so she got our gift early. Granddaughter M 'helped' her open them, C wasn't upset. 

It was a really nice day, the kids played nice. The adults visited.

I had a simple menu and asked those coming over to bring something. I am trying to take life easier and not stress out about such things. I think serving corn on the cob (first of the season) was a hit!

Mother's Day is not my favorite holiday.

I did get a present tho-SD gave me a candy bar bouquet and Hobby Lobby gift card..... a very pleasant surprise. 

After everyone had left and we had things picked up I walked over to Kev, gave him a hug and said "I love you". He hugged me back and said the same to me. That's a BIG deal in my book!!!

It's going to be a busy week, this first full week of retirement. Oh, last wednesday was my last day. I said I will go back to help out if needed. 

Have a wonderful week!!!

It's Inevitable

I feel fine, wonderful, like my own self again

but

it's inevitable....

I have another chemo

.....in 10 days.

I want to say "I feel fine, I don't want any more treatments".

but

the test reports say otherwise.

So

in those forthcoming days 

I have plans:

coffee with a friend,

the Stamp a long,

an appointment to discuss wigs,

dentist (not too excited about that one),

book club,

spending my friend's gift certificate at the thrift store,

more lab work and another Dr appointment,

and

a 4 day bus trip to Nashville, TN.

The bus trip with other Red Hatters has been planned for months. Carolee and I have gone on 2 other trips with them and we enjoy it so we signed up right away!!!

Originally my 2nd chemo was scheduled for that Monday, but I talked to the Dr and he moved it to Thursday when I'm back. YAY!!!

I have several trips or events planned this summer and it looks like my chemo treatments are scheduled for after them.

I consider myself lucky - I have all of my hair, although it looks like crap. It's dull as can be :-( and I'd like to color it.....but I won't. 

What will happen after round 2???

Loosing my hair will really bother me, I know it will. I have naturally wavy red hair (even though it doesn't look like it now that's what I grew up with). It was never quite right when I was growing up - wrong color, too curly- but as I've grown into an adult I have developed a liking to it.

early 1990's

Thanks for taking the time for my musings...........

Hope you have/had a great Mothers Day!!!

We are having a partly cloudy day and the egg hunt will go on as planned.

I am sad that my sister is not coming, she doesn't feel wll and doesn't want to get me sick. Two of my son's will not be here either, but I will enjoy the company of those who will celebrate the day with us!!!!

It Was A Very Good Day

Friday, it was a very good day.

I slept good the night before, got up early, answered a 6:42AM phone call and spent an hour on the phone with my bff. 

At 7 my grandson calls and asks me if I can bring spoons, cups, and french vanilla ice cream to school for his project for the culture fair. Mom knows I will not say no. She wouldn't let him call me Wednesday night to ask if I was going to be attending book munchers. I showed up at the school Thursday with lunches for both boys......the older boy has a different lunch than J so he went through the line and purchased his lunch....which he ended up tossing b/c he preferred the sub I brought. I was able to catch J on the way down to the lunch room so we had lunch together. One of S's friends told him I was at school so he found us in the library and I was able to spend a few minutes with him too.

Life is good.

After my phone calls I enjoyed some computer time.

Then I got another phone call from a friend who wanted to come over......I in my jammies, and she was dressed. "Sure come on over"

Kathy brings me this beautiful, hand made lap quilt that matches my living room perfectly. 

You can't see it here, but there are 72 tiny buttons that are the quilting part. 

It would have taken me years to make something like this.

 When I open the box I see this personal message.

I tell Kathy that someday, when she has a few minutes I want her to look at my sewing machine, it's new, and just a cheap basic machine but I was having trouble with it. She told me the bobbin thread was wrong, she re threaded it, and actually took in the blouse I was working on. I still have to zig zag and trim the seams...but it's done!

Thanks Kathy.

Life is good.

At 12:30 I was at J's school for their class's 'culture fair'. The students pick a country, make a board, write a report, etc. They often have food samples, hence the ice cream I picked up for J.

Hubby was off work, he didn't go with me.

Both of J's parents were home, they didn't attend......J said mom 'didn't feel good'.

I offered his dad a ride but he ignored my text.

Later I saw pictures on facebook of dad and the younger brother at the park....taken by mom.

Last year I attended J's older brothers culture fair and mom was there with her brother. 

When I told dad he missed the fair he said J waited until the last minute and his brother and cousin helped him with it. I wanted to say that I thought there should have been a little parental involvement.....but I did not.

I could see evidence of parental help all over the place.....they made the food, help with costumes, one girl wore a t-shirt that her mom (I talked to the mom) had drawn and colored the flag on. 

Why can't they be parents and take part in the boys life???? The older one is very responsible and agreeable, this middle son is outspoken and often not agreeable, the baby (almost 4) is the BABY. I can just see the trouble brewing :-(

I admit his board was one of the worst ones there but I was there to encourage him and I will be there for all of my grands if at all possible.

Life is good.

It was kinda nice that afternoon so I sat outside and read for a while.

That is nearly perfection for me.

Hubby pulled out the deck furniture.

After all we are having an egg hunt on Sunday.

Last night I sat on the floor, in front of the TV and filled this many eggs...how many? Don't know, too lazy to count.

Hubby will hide as many as he can and the rest will get tossed on the lawn.

Life is good!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!!

Sayner Stampede or the Long and Short Of It

Last Friday morning I picked up my friend about 11AM for our annual trek up north to our favorite little stamping/scrapbooking convention. Sayner is a tiny town in northern Wi, it's a little over 200 miles from here. Don't ask me how long it takes to get there....we make a couple of stops on the way. 

This year we took 2 cars: Deb and Shirley in one and Carolee and I were in the other one.

There's some road construction in Green Bay so Deb & Shirley drove around the round a bout, I am familiar with the road so buzzed right through....good thing they left before we did....oh yeah, they also stopped at the casino on the way up, we didn't.

We met at our favorite truck stop for the seafood buffet and played a few rounds of the 'quarter game'.

I met my old school friend and we tried to catch up a bit.

Deb, Joanne, me, Shirley

Carolee snapped the photo so she didn't have to be in it. :-(

 This sweetheart looked at us as we snapped photos.  May 2nd and still snow in northern Wi.

I was still kinda 'foggy' last weekend. 

I didn't buy much because I have so many scrabbooking items already (and don't use most of them).

I did make a bunch of make'n takes, my favorite part. 

this one is cute, but has a lot of tiny pieces, not sure if I'd make many like this.

 Simple, sorta masculine, birthday card. Maybe I should have chosen the bluish backing paper.

 cute!

 This is my favorite one! I will be making more of these with Washi tape.....I just need to find a stamp for the front. I can cut a similar butterfly with my Silhouette.

 Yes, that is ice on the lake.

   

Eagle carving....too bad someone had to attempt to destroy the WELCOME carving.

 I am happy to report that I made enough money selling my used stamps and supplies to pay for my hotel room and even had a bit left over. 

 On our way home on Sunday we were pleasantly surprised that our favorite liquidators is NOT closed, so we HAD to stop and do some shopping.

It was a nice weekend.....but it sure was good to be home and sleep in my own bed.

• 11 days after chemo and I feel great
• bad dreams are over and I sleep all night
• only a tiny bit of fog in my brain (that's what I think)
• my appetite has changed, I eat very little red meat (only had some b/c hubby made burgers for supper one night). I am eating lots more veggies
• I am getting sick of drinking, drinking, drinking

I may have to change the name of my blog..............chocolate is not so appealing to me right now.

Have a great Mother's Day!!!!!

On The Road Again

I and 3 good friends are on the road this weekend to the annual stamping convention in northern WI. I wanna go, but I wanna stay home and sit too....but I wanna go more. I didn't sleep good last night b/c my dil and I just can't get along. Naturally, the one who is a sweetie lives further away. I really try to get along with H, but we are both strong willed and have different ways of seeing their middle, sometimes disagreeable son. He is just like his dad, so I think I have some perspective. Let it go Linda!!!! Dam it , I will....and I'll have a good time even if I have to go back to the hotel mid afternoon to have a nap!!!.

Yesterday I was feeling better, like a human :-)

I do not think I have to work on Monday, a new person is starting and I think Lisa is coming back to train her. I NEED some quiet time for myself. I do want to work some days in May so I have an income. According to my original plan I should have been done by now.

I hope to get back to reading and commenting on your blogs soon.

Until then I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart or your comments and prayers.