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.