A jewel of a July

Wednesday, July 4 - With the Independence Day holiday falling in the middle of the week this year, we keep it pretty quiet by staying at home and enjoying our pool,  some tasty grilled steaks and corn on the cob, some really good craft beer (Moo-tella 2017 Reserve) and a legal Cuban cigar (thanks Prez Obama!) while our neighbors put on a pretty good fireworks show for us.   Not a bad way to celebrate!  

Friday, July 6 - It was definitely all about Music City tonight for us as we showed our friend, Eileen, and her daughter, Meghan, around our Nashville this weekend during their visit.

We had to dodge some off and on rain showers during our night on the town, but the view of downtown Nashville from Eileen and Meghan's room at the beautiful Omni Hotel did not disappoint.  Although finding out they didn't have a secret guests-only roof-top bar at this location was a pretty big disappointment.  We ambled over to Broadway and stepped into Robert's Western World to give young Meghan her first taste of a real honky-tonk and her first taste of a PBR!  

We did a fun and unique tour of downtown later on at the Off the Wagon Tractor-Pull Tour.  Ashlee had done this tour before with some friends visiting Nashville, but it was our first time taking it together and I have to admit it was a lot of fun.

Broadway on a tractor....only in Nashville!! 
 (Memory Song:  "Better Now" by Post Malone)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yHoa4MR0W4

Saturday, July 7 - We threw a Mermaid/Merman Pool Party today which also served as a 50th Birthday Party for our good friend, Ginny.  Happy birthday, Ginny with a G!!   It was a fun day of dress up and hi-jinks that went deep into the night.  Thanks to all our friends who came from near and far to attend.  

Ashlee took this "mermaid" thing to a new level with this awesome swim-fin that really gives you a good workout.

Sunday (FUN DAY!!) July 8 - We had a nice day back in Nashville showing Eileen and Meghan more of our city, along with our friend, Rex, visiting from Atlanta.  We started with a tasty brunch at 5th And Taylor in Germantown.  We walked off some of our big meal with a short walk to the lovely Kindness Mural.  We moved on to visits to the 12th Avenue South area including some great beer at The Filling Station, then on to Marathon Village for more drinks at Corsair Brewing and Distillery.

Next up was a visit high up on the top of the new Westin Hotel to the L27 Bar for a drink with amazing views of downtown Nashville including the  "Stix" art  sculpture at the Korean Veterans /8th Avenue Roundabout.   Rex had to head back for the long drive to Atlanta afterwards, but since Eileen and Meghan's flight was still a few hours away we headed over to the west side of Nashville and the neighborhood known as The Nations where we had a great dinner there at their Frothy Monkey location.  Thanks for our friends visiting and giving us another excuse for a Sunday Funday in our beloved home of Nashville.

Monday, July 9 - We took in a showing of the delightful, funny and action-packed  Marvel Universe sequel, Ant-Man and The Wasp. tonight at our local Roxy All-Recliners Theater.  

Look up in the sky more, folks.  Clouds are one of the best free things on Earth to enjoy.  Downtown Nashville 7/16/18.

Monday, July 16 -  We met our friends that we made on the Galapagos trip a few years back, Joe and LA, for dinner in Nashville at The George Jones as they were passing through town.  Our pal, Wayne, joined us since he went on that trip also.  We had a great time catching up that went much too late for a "school night."  This new restaurant/museum dedicated to "The Possum" was a pretty cool too.  Good food, large space and a great location down on Second Avenue.  I think we will be back, especially since we didn't get to check out the roof-top bar.

Saturday, July 21 - We saw one of our favorite singer/songwriters (our 10th time by my count), Scott Miller,  today at a non-televised "Bluegrass Underground" show in their new location, The Caverns. in Pelham, TN, at the base of Monteagle Mountain.  It was a co-headlining show with another good singer/songwriter, John Moreland.  We've been to Bluegrass Underground a couple of times including to see Scott and his other long-time band, The Commonwealth, back in 2012 when it was held at Cumberland Caverns near McMinnville: (https://collagebarrage.blogspot.com/2012/02/bluegrass-underground.html).  This time he was backed by the Ladies Auxillary, an (almost) all-female band.  

Here's a cool reverse panoramic view of Scott and the band performing in the huge room in The Caverns.  It was a great show and the sight lines and acoustics in this place are excellent.

We were very impressed with the new locale for "Bluegrass Underground" they are calling The Caverns.  Someone'has sunk a lot of money in this place.  I would say this won't be the last show we see here.  It's not as deep underground as the room at Cumberland Caverns, but the entrance (photo above) is big and easy to manage.  And they can now sell beer!  Just remember to bring a jacket and close-toed shoes...it's cold in the cave, even in mid-July!!

We had some time to kill before the show in Pelham, so we made a few interesting stops beforehand around the area.  First up was a delicious lunch at the Murfreesboro location of Jack Brown's Beer and Burger Joint.  We then stopped by Rutledge Falls in Manchester and agreed we need to come for a swim here sometime.  Finally, we made a stop at the second gate entrance to Arnold Air Force Base in Tullahoma to check out some of the cool old retired jets they have on display there.  Not only are they interesting displays that you can walk right up to and even touch, they are also each set as memorials to fallen soldiers throughout U.S. military history.

Sunday, July 22 - We drove up to Hendersonville today to the Streets of Indian Lake Theaters (all recliners!) to catch an early showing of the Fred Rogers of  "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" documentary, Won't You Be My Neighbor?.  It was interesting, funny and very moving.  Warm up the Best Documentary Oscar for this one, we think.  We had a tasty lunch afterwards at Crowler USA in the same shopping complex.

Wednesday, July 25 - We saw another one of our favorite musical acts for the umpteenth time tonight as the band, O/A/R, took to the famous Ryman Auditorium stage in downtown Nashville.  Ashlee flew home from a business trip in time for us to the catch a few songs of the second opener, Matt Nathanson, who we've seen and enjoyed once before.  Matt worked the crowd and the room superbly, even channeling Michael Franti with a jaunt upstairs into the balcony during my favorite song of his, "Headphones."    O/A/R started pretty late after two openers, so we stayed for about an hour before the late night and the annoying drunk people around us made us need to head home.   (Editor's Note:  It might be our age, but  the live music scene that we've enjoyed for so many years now has really become a chore recently with later and later shows, and more and more (not always drunk) rude people talking loudly during shows and/or creating other distractions around us.  We seem to be a real magnet for these people, but I am sure it's not just us and it's everywhere.  I think the number of live shows we attend will start to decline sharply in the future, if it hasn't already. What a sad reality...)

Thursday,  July 26 - We were there for opening night of Mission: Impossible - Fallout in IMAX at Opry Mills with our pal, Wayne tonight. We thought the movie was excellent.  Just another hit for Mr. Hollywood, Tom Cruise, who is still doing most of his own stunts at the age of 56.  He broke his leg filming this one, learned to fly a helicopter and completed a halo skydiving jump from 25,000 feet.  Someone really earning his millions in Tinsel Town!   

Saturday, July 29 - We had a fun and active Saturday today that started with a visit to the Madison Model Train Show where our friend, Charly, had a table set up selling some of his collection.  We are just starting to get into the hobby and are planning an outdoor garden train.  We found a nice G-scale starter set and bought some extra track for it from Charly.  Ashlee even won a couple of cool door prizes.

Our next stop was St. Thomas Sports Park where the Tennessee Titans were holding their second open practice for the upcoming season.  They were in full pads today and it was pretty hot, so a lot of breaks were given.  It was cool see # 77, Taylor Lewan, on the field, fresh from his signing of a new 5-year contract.  We met our friends, Danny and Wayne, there and we all had a good time checking out the goings-on.

We got the thrill of getting the autograph of new Titans Head Coach, Mike Vrabel, as practice ended.  Seems like a good dude and he was a helluva player. Let's hope that all translates to success for our boys come this fall.

Our Titans foursome headed to lunch after the practice ended to the nearby Old School Farm to Table Restaurant (and Farm).  We had a delicious lunch in the old converted schoolhouse that consisted mostly of products grown right outside on the farm.  We will definitely have to get back here for dinner soon.

It was time for some work next as we headed home to start trimming tree limbs from around our house (and saving ourselves the $1500 quote we got from our local tree service company).  Ashlee ordered a little electric chain saw off Amazon mounted on a telescoping handle that actually worked pretty well.  With the help of our friends, the aforementioned, Charly,  and his wife, Wendy, we got everything done in a short amount of time.  I borrowed some hard-hats from work for safety and even though the girls looked cute in them, they actually did a lot of work dragging limbs to the back of our property after Charly, who bravely climbed on our roof, had sawed them off and I pulled them down to the ground.   It was a good team-effort and we celebrated our accomplishment with a cook-out and libations the rest of the evening.