USA!
Since returning from J and I’s amazing European trip, I’ve been adjusting to life in Tennessee.
The oppressive heat and humidity of late summer transitioned into a wet and cool fall. The leaves are dying and dropping and the night comes early, but the resident groundhog is still out of his burrow.
I look forward to it getting cold enough to wear my Icelandic sweater.
A few highlights, by area:
North, But Near Nashville
J and I enjoyed biking on the country roads amongst corn, milo, tobacco, and livestock.
I began to learn “Where is My Mind?” on a slightly out of tune upright piano and took long drives into Nashville for numerous job interviews.
Bugs found on the porch in one afternoon.
Zombie door.
Corn.
Flowering tobacco.
Harvesting tobacco.
Longish horns.
Structural issues.
The doll.
Muscle car interior.
Blue barber.
Not the most stylish cuts.
Tobacco barn.
Pungent and wonderful.
Abandoned house.
Industrial emptiness.
Asheville, NC
A five hour drive awarded us with old friends, good meals, a horse, and waterfalls.
Our Asheville room.
Reunited.
If it’s paneling, it’s here.
Overgrowth.
Pinball museum full of functional machines.
Blue ridges.
Smokey ridges.
Street mattress.
Partial moth.
Green on green.
The old horse.
Hiking to waterfalls.
Covered bridge.
The wasps’ domain.
Cone.
One of many falls.
Braving the noisy underpass of Hooker Falls.
Misty river.
Smokey Mountain view.
Mammoth Cave and Some River the South
Four hours were spent walking four miles underground in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave. Above ground, we spotted a bald eagle.
Inside Mammoth Cave.
Extruded gypsum.
Abandoned concessions.
Cave walkers.
The pit.
We also had a family reunion/birthday party at a rented house along a river in southern Tennessee.
Riverside wraparound.
Apple bonanza.
Marshmallow roasting fire on the porch.
Nashville Area
J and I spent time in a basement, greenway biking, car and house hunting, eating sandwiches, and finding work. I’ve been trying to adjust to the humidity, bad drivers, landscape and live beavers.
I unpacked my half-sized MIDI keyboard to continue practicing piano versions of the tune above, The Suburbs, Amelie Theme, and Mad World. I’m not very good, nor will I ever be.
Almost had a villa named after me.
Beaver pool.
Functional trestle.
Broom & Mop.
Biking the greenway.
The hill of the abandoned gold course.
Bulbous.
Inside the abandoned golf clubhouse.
Old tennis.
Bleachers.
Bridge over turtled water.
Abandoned airport.
Time to takeoff on my bike.
Zombie business.
Old golf cart path.
Donelson Bowl exterior.
Donelson Bowl sign.
My towel fell off the door and turned into poop.
Pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River.
A view from the Natchez Trace Parkway.
So I bought my first car.
Tissue in the evening light.
Weekend warrior.
Under the dome.
The Belle Meade Stairs of Percy Warner Park.
Autumn leaves.
Can you spot the deer?
Outdoor waiting area.
It’s different here. But despite more adult trappings, I feel just as in limbo as before.
Again, I find myself frustrated by the paperwork, dental care, work and other responsibilities of adulthood and “real life.”
Maybe once everything is transferred from storage to the money pit, I’ll feel otherwise.
3 Comments
nik, love your photography. keep going!
November 12th, 2015 at 3:47 pmI just discovered your blog & I have been reading for about 2 hours!
It is AWESOME!! I feel like I have been walking with you and J.
Your description under the pictures are also AWESOME!
One of our sons lives in Nashville and has for awhile. He went to David Lipscomb University, for a couple a years, but didn’t graduate. In spite of not being a college graduate he has been able to find great jobs in the area.
I am near Charleston, SC & our son lived here from age 10 until he graduated from high school. He actually has quite a few friends from here who also went to Lipscomb, so we always enjoy seeing everyone when we go there.
His wife is from Illinois and went to college in St Louis, but had some friends in Nashville and I believe that is how they met. lol,
They now live in Nolensville. If you like Southern Home Cooking, you will love Nana’s restaurant. I believe it is on the main St in town, but I haven’t done much driving there, so I am not positive!
You have my email, so if you would like to get their email to swap neat places in & around Nashville, let me know.
P.S. The main thing I wanted to tell you is that my best friend lives up in Vandleer near Dickson, TN and they have some friends that I have met who have built a log cabin off the grid We have been there several times and it is ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!! I am not sure if they still rent out the cabins they have or not, but I can find out & if you would like to see the place I can probably arrange for you to get a private tour of the land. It is on the creek and is in kind of mountainous area. His family even has a Sawmill onsite.
Thanks again for your blog! I will be reading ALL the Archives!
I love your blogs,
November 11th, 2015 at 8:47 amlove you Grandma