A Day of Changed Plans

Yesterday was a “carved in putty” day in that what was planned wasn’t what happened.  When I say planned, it’s not like we have a detailed agenda or anything like that but, we did have an outing planned.  We actually went on our outing, however, I forgot to change batteries in the camera so when we arrived and began taking pictures the “Lo Bat” indicator appeared.  So, we decided to return home and start packing up for our move to Cedars of Lebanon.

We went to the Beechcraft Heritage Museum which is located at the  Tullahoma airport.  Beechcraft Aircraft was founded in 1932 by Walter and Olive Beech in Wichita, Kansas and has remained as one of the premier civilian aircraft manufacturer since.

While we were at the museum, and talking with the manager, we learned that they have an annual fly-in each year in October.  Twenty-ten’s is scheduled for October 13 through the 17th; therefore, being that we will be back in the area around that time, we will return then to see all of the old aircraft up close and personal.  Should we miss that event, we will definitely return to tour the museum at a future date.  The photograph below is of Beech’s first production model in 1932.

We were going to return back to Lebanon on Wednesday but, being that Jackie has been having some problems with her pregnancy and has been ordered to bed rest by her doctor, we returned a day early to help out with some of the domestic chores.  Also, Matthew is being asked to work overtime to help clear the increased workload due to the flooding which means that they can use a little help on the home front.

So, here we are, all set up in a nice site here at Cedars of Lebanon State Park for the next few days.  Today will be our bi-monthly visit to Wally World to ensure that I don’t starve to death (I’m wasting away to nothing ;-)).  Then we’ll go over to Matt and Jackie’s for some domestic engineering so “that’s it for today”.

Bell Buckle, Tennessee

We left for Murfreesboro around 9:00 AM and made a beeline for the nearest Cracker Barrel restaurant for brunch.  We both enjoy Uncle Herschel’s Favorite breakfast; Judy likes her eggs scrambled while I like mine over medium, Judy gets the sugar cured ham while I enjoy the pork chop, Judy orders the fried apples while I get hash browns with green peppers and onions, we both like the biscuits but hold the grits, and we both wash it down with lots and lots of coffee. 

After licking our chops over Uncle Herschel’s Favorite breakfast we headed for the Men’s Warehouse to return the penguin suit – note here; I kept the shorts and sandals :-).  Next we made a quick stop at Barnes and Noble Bookstore.

Then it was on to our sightseeing.  One place that we’ve wanted to visit for some time now is Bell Buckle, Tennessee.  Where in the world do you suppose the name Bell Buckle came from?  No one knows for sure since stories vary, but some believe the name came from a bell and buckle tied around a tree close to a free flowing creek. Others believe the Indians carved a bell and buckle into a tree to discourage settlers while still others believe the bell and buckle symbol was used by surveyors to signify the usefulness of the land for pasture.  So, you can choose your own version.

Bell Buckle was founded as a railroad town in 1853 (incorporated in 1856) and  became the major stockyard between Nashville and Chattanooga.  It grew to a population of more than 1,000 with banks, groceries, pharmacies, and other businesses being established. 

In the late 1880’s the Webb School was located in Bell Buckle which further contributed to the community’s growth.  Today the school continues to be a prestigious private boarding and day school with an international student body.  It is a college preparatory school for grades six through twelve with a beautiful campus.

The trains no longer stop in Bell Buckle but the town has transformed itself by restoring and renovating their Victorian style homes and businesses into a unique collection of colorful shops and eateries.

We parked and walked about the town visiting several of the shops and sampling a white chocolate raspberry ice cream cone (in a waffle cone, of course).  Can you say, “Ummm, ummm, gooooood?”  Especially on a “warm summer’s day”!

Tennessee’s back roads with its rolling hills and farm lands make for one beautiful country drive.  Our friends, Gordon and Sandra, love to take pictures of old barns and we can tell ya that there are “a ton” of old barns along the way (we should have stopped and taken some pictures). 

We drove the back roads from Bell Buckle to Normandy making a stop at Wartrace, Tennessee where I played tag with a couple of trains.  This is another old Tennessean town (1852) and has ties back to Andrew Jackson who originally owned the land where the town sits.  Jackson named it War Trail Creek because of the Indians who used the area trails as warpaths or war trails.   The name was subsequently shortened to Wartrace Creek and finally to just plain Wartrace.  It was, also, the site for the winter encampment for retreating Confederate troops from the Stones River Battle in 1862.

While in Wartrace we found this old time filling station – remember when gas pumps looked like these?

Arriving home shortly before three left just enough time to sit outside with Alex and enjoy this nice warm weather.  We have another outing planned for today so tune in tomorrow to find out where we went, what we saw, and what we did!!!

Rain, Rain Go Away

If you have seen the news you know that Nashville and the surrounding area has had record breaking rainfall over this past weekend.  It began raining early Saturday morning and kept it up until late last night.  We were far enough east of Nashville and only got two horrendous thunder storms – one when we departed from the wedding heading for the reception and another one last night between 10 and 12.

Things are really a mess in and around Nashville with lots and lots of road closures.  The Cumberland River has over run its banks and will crest sometime this afternoon.  Here in Normandy we did get enough rain to flood out a half dozen campsites that are next to the lake.  We’re parked on “high ground” and don’t have any worries.

The sun is rising this morning and it will be a hot/steamy kind of day with temps in the high 80’s with high humidity but, this too will pass.  We don’t have any formal plans but do need to take the Penguin suit back and clean up the house – “it looks like it was called for and couldn’t come!!” (that was one of my mother’s old sayings).

We have extended our stay here at Barton Springs Recreation Area until at least Tuesday before returning back to Cedars of Lebanon where we’ll be getting ready for Jackie’s graduation on Saturday.  The next big event in the Patterson family will be the birth of Radek James in July (grand son number two).

Just a neat tid-bit; my nephew Shawn, my brother’s son, also “got hitched” on Saturday in Boston.  Shawn and Mary, even though they didn’t get to attend each other’s weddings, have been keeping in touch with each other.  We received word from my brother this morning that everything went well.  Congrats to Shawn and Tomoko Patterson, may you enjoy a long and happy marriage.

There are a couple of sightseeing things that we want to do while we are in the Tullahoma area and we hope to get to them over the next couple of days.  So, tune in again tomorrow to see what we found to do. 

Oh yes, if you didn’t catch yesterday’s journal entry, since we didn’t publish until after 4:00 PM, continue to scroll down to see pictures from Joel and Mary’s wedding.

The Wedding

Yesterday is now just a blur.  We got up early and began our running around in order to get everyone where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be there.  We’re not even going to attempt to give you a full account of the day but we can tell you that everything went pretty much to plan.  The only issue was the down pour (and when I say down pour, I mean down pour) that took place right at the end of the wedding while everyone was attempting to get to the reception.  What a mess, to say the least (up in the Nashville area there was record floods that continued on right into today).

So, who says dear ol’ dad can’t wear shorts and sandals to a wedding?  Here I am already to go – hope my daughter doesn’t freak out!!

Hopefully we’ll get some much nicer photos once the photographer finishes his work but here are some that we snapped along the way.  It took us a long time to set up the backdrop for this first picture (we just couldn’t find anymore “stuff” to throw in there).

The ceremony was mixed with the traditional and the non-traditional.  Joel and Mary wrote their own vows which they recited during the ring exchange ceremony.

   The preacher is a personal friend of Mary and Joel’s and, also, a full time policeman in Nashville so he ensured that they were properly hitched.

The “Photo Thing” took place right after the wedding – here is a family photo that Joel’s Dad (Greg) snapped for us.  It is hard when working with kids so Kalina and Lola are not visible – but they’re in there, somewhere!!

After about a six or seven mile trip to the George Dickel Distillery (the reception site) the festivities began with a great meal along with a few drinks of beer and/or wine.  Here are a few photos from the evening (place your cursor over the picture for further information).

            

            

                

Well, we’re proud parents to say the least and extremely happy with our new son-in-law and his family.  We look forward to many happy times together in the future.

This morning was extremely busy as well.  First of all, we had Matt, Jackie, Catia, and Kalina stay over at our “house” last night as it is an hour drive for them.  We didn’t ask the Katt’s for their permission and they weren’t “over joyed” with our decision.  Secondly, we arose at oh-dark-thirty this morning to get back over to the hotel to see everyone off.  Brian is riding with guests from Grand Rapids (who attended the wedding) and Marc, Amie, Briana, Lola, and Rocco wanted to hit the road early heading east to “beat the storm”.  We returned home around eight and spent the rest of the morning with the Murfreesboro brood before they hit the road (to drive right into the storm).

Once they left, it was nap time for Grandpa – these late nights and early mornings along with wrestling with five grand kids can make a soul tired.  This afternoon we began going through all the pictures to select a few for this blog entry.  Hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as we have enjoyed bringing them to you.  In the meantime, we hope you keep dry and have a great day!!!

Hours To Minutes

The countdown has gone from months to weeks to days to hours.  Soon it will be down to minutes before Mary Elizabeth Patterson becomes Mrs. Joel Fortner.

Yesterday was a busy day – we had to go back to Murfreesboro to pick up my penguin suit.  Marc and Amie (and kids) had driven up to visit Matt and Jackie (and kids) so we stopped by there for about an hour before heading to Men’s Warehouse.  Once the penguin suit was acquired, we headed back to Normandy Lake where I took a nap before the rehearsal events began while Judy busied herself with various final preparations for herself and Brian.

We drove into the Jameson Inn to pick up Briana (junior bridesmaid) and Catia (flower girl) and then headed to the church for the rehearsal where everything went according to plan.  The reception was held at the Arnold Air Force Base Lakeside Clubhouse which is an excellent facility.  We were home by quarter after nine and in bed shortly thereafter.

Needless to say, today will be another busy day so I shall linger no longer.  Until later . . .