A Very Nashville Christmas!

Every year here in Nashville we are fortunate to have some great Holiday entertainment. Some you pay for, and some you don't.  Here are a few highlights.  

The Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular is straight from New York City and comes to Nashville every year and has been doing so for the last 20 years. Why they chose Nashville is anyone's guess.  My estimation is that there is less Snow in Nashville and even more, less traffic and less New Yawk Attitude!  Yeah, that's some good reasons to spend the holidays in the South.

The Opryland Hotel puts up more Christmas Decorations than my neighbor Bubba, but not by much.  Seriously, they put up more than 2 MILLION lights all over their hotel.  Outside...

AND inside!  Three huge solarium areas with live music, waterfalls and decorations in every corner.  Pay for parking and a whole carload of folks can enjoy this free show.  Walk around the inside and visit the shops and restaurants, too!  The Opryland Hotel shares parking lots with the Opry Mills Mall, where you can shop for anything from a new boat to a Gibson Guitar!

There are hundreds of other things to do at the Holidays here in the South, but I don't think there is enough room here to list them all.  

I'll leave you with a good thought.  Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukah, Felize Festivus, or what ever you celebrate this year. And a Happy New Year, too!

Nashville's Downtown Bike Rental

Just last week, I was headed from my office to the Bus Station to take the long ride home when I came across this.  It's a bike rack with a credit card machine attached.  Quite apparently, you can rent bikes by the hour to travel around Nashville and see what there is to see.

The downtown area of Nashville is on a hill and it's one of the things which gives me a workout when I go walking.  I can't imagine what it would do on a bike.  The more I think on this, I realize there are large flat areas to view and with a bike may just be the best way to do it.  The downtown area itself is rife with history and historic places to see going back to before the civil war and as recent as the civil rights era of the 1960's.  For many years our downtown  sidewalks have been adorned with a wide green stripe giving tourists and locals alike a path to follow to view each of these historic places.  The Walking Tour, it was called. (And no, I never went a-walking the walking tour - so sue me.)

It's neat to see the city embracing the idea of biking as a way to get around the city, even if you do have to pay to rent them. The bikes are all painted a nice rich red and each comes with a built in basket and heavy duty lock. Across town are the newly installed GREENBIKES which are Free to use to visit the local parks and biking areas within.  (And yes, those bikes are indeed painted green.)

You'll also note that this rack has a big "B" on it. At first I thought this was identifying it as the 2nd such installation. No such thing!  It's actually the name of the company, "Nashville B-cycle" and there are actually more than 20 locations across the main part of the city.  You can learn more at their site.*

Ride around and enjoy the city, a great way to visit the south! 

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In truth, the site you see pictured has been removed (reasons unknown); but there are many others close by and I know folks to use this service regularly.  

The Southern Wine glass

Well, here it is, just in time for Gift Giving Holidays (you know, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus or what ever holiday you may celebrate and give gifts this time of year) and you know you want it!  

This is a real item, as pictured below, photographed at my local retail store. It's nothing more than a Ball Canning Jar (approximately a pint...hey, I didn't take time to measure things) fixed permanently on top of a glass base (glass candle holder maybe?)   I have even seen these in a smaller size for the women-folk.  ("Women folk?" Honestly, I rarely talk like that, I don't know why this always happens when I get to typing on this blog.) 

Now there's two things to like about this creation.  One: There's a lid to keep the flying critters out of your fermented grape beverage (yes, I agree that it can also be used for fermented apple, fermented succotash or even some of my brother Bubba's Bottle Barley Beer. Let's not quibble on the details...it is the happiest of holiday seasons after all...) The lid can also keep the young progeny from pilfering your sour mash/beer/whatever as opening the lid is a two step process which  gives even the most tipsy of teetotalers plenty of time to thwart such pilfering in process.  

The other reason is of course, the design. The classic Ball Jar Design.  Perfect for any time of year, actually . And of course there is the size.  Enough to keep you going through Aunt Trudy's long winded speech about how she personally stopped prohibition or some such thing (clearly I was more interested in my fermented beverage than in that story she's told again and again, and yeah..again.) 

So,  if you're looking to LOOK like a southerner you'd best be asking Santa (aka: Bubba Claus, here in the south) for one of these.  Else-wise you may find yourself drinking out of some left over 50's aluminum juice glass come New Years.  

I Didn't See You There - Christmas Edition

Well, it's Christmastime in the south and I came across this bad boy and I'm a bit ker-flumoxed.  I totally understand the whole Stocking thing, but the camouflage just eludes me.  What if Santa doesn't see it?  What if you can't find it on Christmas morning?  

Ok, I joke, I chide and in fact, I really like this kind of decoration.  It's not red and green and it's not gold or blue.    It's the color and design of someone who loves hunting.  Or wait, maybe they just like Camouflage?  Yes, I think that IS the ticket.   Seriously, there are more designs of Christmas Stockings than you can shake a Yule Log at, so why not a nice design that makes you feel good?  You want Hooters Girls? Go for it!  You want Crimson Tide? Why not?  You want Camouflage?  It's right there for you!  (Hey, seriously  I found this near to home.  If you want one, let me know...) 

And in fact, here is the actual front of the thing, I turned it over to see the back and took the top pic.  Gotta love the 'leather' there at the top, with the 'embossed' deer emblem.  Yes, Christmas in the South.  Camouflaged...It's a southern thing.  

That Pie is Nuts!

One of the things that the South is truly known for is food.  No time is this more evident than at this time of year - Thanksgiving. Along with the Deep fried turkey, and the usual Poke Salad or collard greens, the Southern Thanksgiving is not complete without Pecan Pie. (You can call it 'PEA-kan' or 'peh-KAHN'- it don't make no never-mind to me.) Pecan pie is so important to Southerners that it's on almost every menu in every restaurant from Raleigh to New Orleans. (Pronounce this as 'Nawluns', to be sure. There is no other pronunciation acceptable in the South) 

When I was a kid, one of my father's relatives sent the same gift every year. A big bucket of Pecans. It was her signature gift. When I say bucket, I mean a big cardboard thing (easily 1-2 gallons!) of Pecan halves from a reputable fruit and nut seller. (They are still around, I'm just not about to advertise for them this time of year.) 

My siblings and I would lay waste to that bucket, grabbing handfuls on the way through the kitchen, on the way to watch Star Trek (before it was hip) - but there was so much it would still last at least a month - sometimes more. And now here is my childhood snack fave made into a pie! I swoon, I drool, I reach for a fork!  

What's in this amazingly simple dessert delight?  Pecans (Well, duh!), but the rest is just corn syrup, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Mix it all together and pour into a pie crust. Bake. Eat. Repeat. It seems like a simple recipe, and yet Southern cooks each have their own special recipe, more corn syrup, less sugar, some with less eggs, some with more and most assuredly, some better than others. One such recipe I just found has...let me sit down while I write this as I'm feeling sort of faint ... CHOCOLATE! Yes, CHOCOLATE!  Pecan Pie with chocolate chunks!  Oh lordy, it makes you want some right this moment!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and I plan to get me a mess of the aforementioned pie - with or without chocolate. One Serving at least.   (What's this they put at the bottom of recipes? One pie serves 8-12?  Who's idea is this? One Pie - One serving! And don't forget the whipped cream!) 

Margaritaville Drive-In

There are times I'd like to be able to hop in the car and head out to pick up some ready made drinks for when friends drop by.  I mean, let's be honest here, I'm not about to share my Tennessee Sippin' Whiskey with just anyone who drops by and besides, company always puts me in a 'mixed-drink-and-fruit-with-an-umbrella' kind of mood.  But who wants to do all that work?

If only...

HOLD THE PHONE!  Back up the TRUCK!  That drive-in up there serves not one, not two, but SIX different flavors of Margaritas and if you can look careful at the big photo, you will see that they also have Piña Coladas, Sangria, Mudslides and more!  I may be in heaven!  No, wait - if that is heaven, then heaven is Louisiana and I'm stuck in Tennessee!

To those that don't know, these are only legal in Louisiana and Texas.  Drive-ins are legal in these states in that they sell closed drinks for transportation to a destination (and not for imbibing while you drive.)  Perfect for picking up a couple of cool refreshments on the way home from work, or - as I stated above - for when that special company comes visiting for the Holidays!

Now, if we can just figure out how to get them to deliver to Nashville, I'd really be set.

What Can We Call These?

It's here somewhere...I know it...

Halloween just passed, and what with all the ghoulies and goblins running around the neighborhood, I didn't notice that there was something else more sinister at work. It didn't even seem evident until this last weekend.  Y'see, this last weekend, I finished my latest household project, a set of handrails on the front porch.  

A couple of weeks ago, I carefully dug four holes next to the porch and set four posts into cement. Yes, Me, working with cement -and doing a mighty fine job of it, too, but that's not the problem.  (My brother Bubba the retired English Teacher will fairly swoon at the proper use of a comma instead of a semicolon in the last sentence, and I'm happy to do it to him.  Digressing, yes, as always.) 

The problem was or is as it always is when I am working on projects of this nature.  It goes like this: I put the posts in cement and now that the cement is set, I'm ready to finish.  This last Saturday I picked up the final two pieces of wood for the handrails.  Careful cutting and positioning and I'm ready for the special deck screws I know I have left over from a big project.  

But I can't find them.  

I'm pretty sure this is not the usual, 'Where did I put those?' No, it wasn't me who misplaced them. This is something more sinister.  I looked in all the places I would have put a box of screws - a special plastic box of 100 that I purchased some time ago and I KNOW I didn't finish the box.  They should be there, right where I left them.

Something took them. 

No. Seriously, hear me out.  Someone, or ...Some THING, took them. I know it. They were here, I remember putting the box on the shelf in the shed where I have decided to store all my fasterners   (Screws, Nails, Staples, bobby pins and what not..) 

If this were Ireland, I'd know it was leprechauns.  If this were Scandinavia, I'd say tomten, but we're here in Southern USA. Nashville. So, it must be some little creature who steals things like this and places them someplace I just can't see them.  I've looked and can't find the screws anywhere..well, I can't see the little Tomte-chauns, either, but that's to be expected.  

So, now along with the missing screws, I have to figure out a name for these little Southern Lepra-tomte-gremlin critters and I just don't have the time.  And since I know you're wondering, Yes, I went out and purchased yet another box of screws to finish the project.  It's nice. Handrails for the front porch.  Gonna paint them next weekend.  (I should rename this blog Marv Digresses, or better yet: Reader's Digress...ok, where were we?) 

Got a name for these critters?  Let me know.  (Something tells me if we find their name, we can control them and I might get my box of screws back.)