Don't FALL all over yourself just to get here!

 Our Fall of 2025 didn't see a lot of action since we still had Sunny recovering from her surgery, and both of us had to travel for work as well.  But we made the best of what we had! 

Wednesday, September 3 - Our 26th consecutive BFFFL fantasy football draft occurred tonight and hopefully we both did well with our selections as NFL games start for real tomorrow night! Go Sneaky Stingrays and Pisces of Eight!! 

Saturday, September 6 - Thanks to a nice cold front that moved through last night and this morning, it was cool enough for our first fire of the fall out on the patio tonight along with Sunny who is recovering nicely from here recent surgery.  We cracked open a bottle of Al Wilson's Hard-Hitting Tea (Go Vols!) that was very good to sip on.  Our friend, Curtis, joined us and brought more wood, thankfully.  We chatted and laughed 'til midnight.  

Sunday, September 7 - We had lunch today at Rock-N-Dough Pizza in East Nashville with some killer salads and good pizza (and a brew for me).  We definitely gotta come here more often!! 

Monday, September 8 - Now THAT is rental car for work!! Our local Enterprise office offered me this sweet almost (18K miles) brand-new Mustang convertible as my corporate "standard" rental today and I jumped at the chance.  We took it for a little sunset spin over to Mt. Juliet tonight to enjoy some Andy's Frozen Custard.  "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may!!"  - Robert Herrick 1648

Friday, September 12 - Happy Birthday, Ashlee!!  Despite some work travel for both of us lately, we were able to get back together tonight for Ashlee's birthday celebration down at Hop Springs in Murfreesboro to see one of our favorite performers, Will Hoge, take the stage.  After a rather awful opener, Will was great as usual and we were able to get very close to the stage.  We got some great Mexican food delivered via Door Dash from Los Barrilos beforehand while sitting outside on a very nice evening with our friend, Monique.  
And then something cool happened at the merch table after the show...see below.

We sadly learned of the recent passing of our longtime Internet friend, JD Franklin, down in Louisiana who was a founding member of our BFFFL.  We actually never met JD in person, but he was always kind in his messages and in his success.  He was the defending champ (nice way to close out your career with us, bud) as well as several other times over the quarter century of playing with him as a fierce competitor with his team always named "To Ell and Back."  We miss ya, JD.  We dedicate this 26th season to you. The BFFFL won't be the same without you. 
(Thanks for the help with the honorary graphic above CRAIYON.COM)  

Saturday, September 13 - Family time here on Martin Avenue.  There were seven, yep seven - count the heads - deer hanging out in the neighbors back yard this afternoon.  They were enjoying Sunny being in the house and not barking at them! 

When you run your own merch table, it was pretty easy to get a picture after a T-shirt purchase the other night.  We told Will we were going to use this pic in our Christmas cards this year and he said that was fine as long as we wished everyone a "HOge HOge HOge'" holiday.  A great musician and funny too!! 

Friday, September 19 - Train with Butch Walker on guitar made their Grand Old Opry debut tonight and we were there to witness it.  We haven't seen Train in a good while since lead guitarist, Jimmy Stafford, retired, but when we heard the legendary (and beloved by us) Butch Walker was sitting in on this most recent tour, we became very interested again!! They only played three songs, but they were great, and the band got a standing ovation at the end of the short set.  
Other performers tonight included Opry legend, Connie Smith; Stephanie Urbana Jones and her excellent Mariachi Honky Tonk Band; Canadian sensation, Josh Ross; veteran Opry member, John Conlee; the hilarious and talented songwriter, Don Schlitz; long-time Opry staple, Mark Wills; and the Grand Ole Opry ambassador himself, Vince Gill.  It's kind of amazing that we've never been to an actual Grand Ole Opry show, but I don't think it will be our last.  It's a great venue, good show structure and a pretty good value. 

After the show we had backstage passes "sort of" - no performers were still around, but we did get to see inside most of the 18 unique and cool dressing rooms; we got stand in the famous wood circle on stage; and enjoyed an almost hour-long history walk and talk behind the scenes with our great tour guide. 

Sunday, September 21 - We got to see Nicole Kidman in person this afternoon before a showing of what I think is one of her best performances in Cold Mountain in the CMA Theater at the Country Music Hall of Fame in downtown Nashville.  Nicole was lovely and charming and seems really genuine when she talks about her love for Nashville, the Preds and bringing more films to the area to be made.  We decided not to stay for the movie since we were hungry and had work and pet obligations.  The CMA Theater is very nice, and we would love to see a musical performance here sometime, but the screen they were going to show the film on wasn't all that, so I don't think we missed much since we had both seen it before.  We had some great apps next door at Barlines before heading home. 

(Editor's note:  Just over a week later we learned that Nicole had separated from long-time husband, Keith Urban, since earlier in the summer!  Crazy!!)

Well, our skyline looking west from our patio and pool changed drastically this week as a tree service company did more than just top the big ash tree that sits on our property line.  It definitely needed topping since some kind of bug/blight hit it last summer pretty hard leaving a lot of the high branches bare of leaves that didn't come back this summer.  Sad, but true.  It's nice to see the stars I guess...
(Update:  the next day the whole thing was gone and stump ground up.  So long, big fella, it was good to know you.)

Saturday September 27 and Sunday, September 28 - We attended the 2025 Pilgrimage Festival once again this weekend and included stay overnight in Franklin on Saturday night for some extra fun.  

Saturday, September 27 - We arrived in the early afternoon with a great parking spot in the North Lot (thanks Ashlee!) after picking up our friends, Danny and Brenda.  Our first musical performance we saw were The People on the Porch on the small Americana Music Triangle stage.  They were very good.  Maggie Rose and her tremendous voice and stage presence were on the largest Midnight Sun stage next.  Father John Misty and his smooth crooning were the next new-to-us discovery also on the Midnight Sun Stage.  The foot-stomping energy of The Turnpike Troubadours (photo above) pushed on into sundown on the big stage as well.  

Kings of Leon (photo above) were the headliners tonight and put on a tremendous set, looking and sounding better than we've ever seen them.  We stayed for the entire show and got out of the festival in under an hour which wasn't bad.  After dropping off Danny and Brenda, we checked into the nearby Fairfield Inn at Cool Springs which was pretty nice.  Comfy bed!! 

Sunday, September 28 - We stayed overnight in the area so we could enjoy a belated birthday present for Ashlee from me: a fancy tea at the January Restaurant at the swanky Southhall Farm in Franklin.  The tea and food were delicious and plentiful.  Thanks again to Danny and Brenda for dropping a lot of dimes to attend with us.  

We got to Day 2 of The Pilgrimage Festival a little later today but in time to catch Grace Potter's set on the big Midnight Sun stage.  It's good to see her getting back to her rock roots instead of still leaning into the pop genre.  Just stay a rocker, Grace.  Our favorite set of the festival was next over on the smaller Gold Record Stage where Better Than Ezra tore it up.  Lead singer (and festival founder), Kevin Griffen, played a cool guitar made specifically for the festival by Gibson Guitars and then gave the thing away to a kid in the audience during a performance of "Live a Little"!!  So awesome!! BTE also brought out Emerson Hart from Tonic for their massive 90's hit, "If You Could Only See" and then Candlebox lead singer Kevin Martin for a rendition of their biggest hit, "Far Behind."  It was a real 90's rockfest!!  The CEO of Gibson Guitars, Cesar Gueikian, was also on stage shredding a couple of his own products.  What a great show!! 

We "chilled" a bit back at our chairs on a tree-shaded hill above the big Midnight Sun stage to see Young the Giant take us into twilight.  John Meyer closed the festival, and we stayed for a few songs.  He sounded great, but wasn't playing any hits that we knew, so we ducked out early to miss traffic and get home to our pets and me on the road to Knoxville for work in the morning.  Another great Pilgrimage Festival.  Hard to believe it's been going on for 10 years now.  Nice job, Kevin!! 

Tuesday, September 30 - "Well, if you can't be...with the one you love, honey...love Downton Abbey at the same time!!"  I think that's how the old hippie song went.  Ashlee and I have been trying to see the new film sequel, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, together ever since it came out a couple weeks ago, but we just haven't been able to find the time.  So, we decided we would go tonight conjointly and see it on the big screen before it's gone while I was working in Knoxville and she was at home.  We both thought it was a wonderful, tear-jerking conclusion to one of the greatest TV - and movie -series ever made! 

Friday, October 3 - We had a fun time tonight at the SOLD-OUT Haunting Tales at Hawthorn Hill ghost tales in Castalian Springs just north of home along with our friends, Curtis and Kate.   The tales that were told were a little lame, but all in good fun and getting to tour the historic Hawthorn Hill home was worth the time. 

Saturday, October 4 - We attended the SOLD-OUT Cedar City Brewing Company Beer Fest up on the square here in Lebanon this afternoon.  We started with a tasty lunch at the host, Cedar City Brewing, which was only open to VIP Early Entrants (like us).  We then had a great time swilling some good and not so good craft beers from all over the area despite some hotter than usual temps for early October.  

Wednesday, October 14 - After several days apart due to travel and/or work, Ashlee and I rode up to Gallatin together tonight so I could do another drop-in for a dog-sitting gig there this weekend, but more importantly, so we could have dinner at the Vui's Kitchen location nearby.  Yummm!!  It was great, and they treated Sunny to a free bowl of chicken as well as we dined on their patio outside the restaurant.  
We ate there again on Sunday, October 19th!  Open one in Lebanon!! 

Ashlee's done a scary great job of decorating the house for Halloween this season including this adorable wreath she picked up at our local Octoberfest here in town. No boos here, just hoo-rays!!   

Thursday, October 23 - We had our first visit to the Lebanon Public House tonight despite it being in operation over a year now (not since 1802).  We had great cocktails and tasty small plates with some of the proceeds going to the kittens of Mighty Miracles Rescue! 

Saturday, October 25 - We went to see Johnnyswim perform tonight with front row seats and pre-show backstage access at the new Nashville music venue, The Pinnacle (thanks, Ashlee!!).  It was a great time, and Amanda and Abner couldn't have been nicer, and their show was great.  We were very impressed with The Pinnacle and will definitely come back for more shows in the future hopefully.  

We only had to take our selfie backstage with Abner of Johnnyswim twice to get us to look normal.  Abner looked great in both takes, of course! 

Sunday, October 26- We attended the SOLD-OUT Duke at UT college basketball televised exhibition game at the Food City Center/Thompson-Boling Arena on the campus of UT in Knoxville tonight - CONJOINTLY!   I had tickets first with my friend, Toney, and then Ashlee decided to come to the game also with her friend, Mollie.  Our seats ended up being very close to each other and we even got to sit with each other for the second half thanks to some empty seats around Ashlee and Mollie.  It was a great atmosphere, and our Duke boys got the win 83-76!!  It was great to see our Blue Devils play live in person together.  It's been a while!! 

Friday, November 8 - Well, we tried to go to Memphis tonight to see an NBA game and does some fancy Christmas wreath shopping, but terrible gridlock traffic and stormy weather derailed that plan.  There's four-plus hours we'll never get back!  At least most of the time was nicely (and hilariously) filled with the start of the audiobook, "Actress of a Certain Age" written and narrated by actor, Jeff Hiller, who we grew to love on the now defunct (what a shame!) HBO show, "Somebody, Somewhere."   Not sure when we will finish it, but we definitely will.  

Friday, November 14 - The couple that vaccinates together...
We got our free flu and Covid shots at the same time today at our local CVS since we still believe in vaccines despite our current dumbass administration.  

Saturday, November 16 - We checked out the new food-truck oasis and bar called The Trailer Park out on Hwy. 109 with some friends today.  It was OK, but some of the trucks on site weren't even open at lunch time, and those that were served just OK food.  It was kind of loud too and chock full of kids.  We ambled over to East Nashville Beer Works - Wilson County next door afterwards and had a few libations to close out the afternoon. 

Tuesday, November 18 - We went to see Brett Dennen at City Winery in Nashville tonight with front row premier seats next to the stage!  We had some great food and libations as usual there also.  It was a unique and enjoyable show with Brett doing the first set with songs inspired by watercolor paintings he had done also.  The second set was all requests from the audience along with stories of why they wanted to hear the song and little drawings of art from the fans also.