My blog hasn’t’
seen a new post in quite a long time. It’s not that I haven’t written anything
because I have; however, the main reason I didn’t post them to my blog is because
on rereading them, they were more of a pity party than not. Who wants to read “poor
me, poor me, poor me” ad nauseum?
Anyway, I have
way less to poor me, myself and I, so I’d just better look to the future and
make plans for the betterment of my life. Seriously, there’s really no reason
for me to feel down or sorry for myself. I have what’s basically a new heart,
plus the other things that are affecting my body aren’t terminal, just mainly
annoying.
So, I’m not
going to go into detail about the various annoyances, rather I’m going to write
about what I’ve been accomplishing and/or what’s in the future.
Next week, I’ll board a plane
with my son AJ, granddaughter Haley and Haley’s friend, Tyler. We’re flying
into Nashville where we’ll spend a couple of days. So far, we’ve made
reservations to tour the Ryman auditorium and have our picture taken on the stage.
I can look at that later on and pretend I’m an actual country singer…as if. We’re
also going to tour the Country Music Hall of Fame and walk down Second Street
which is lined with bars. We don’t plan to imbibe at each of them, but the one
named AJ’s is a definite visit. My brother’s wife also suggested we visit Printer’s
Alley.
After those two days, we’ll get
up and head for my brother’s house which is about two hours from Nashville. It’s
also his birthday and I think he’s planning to have a fish fry to celebrate,
welcome us and have other family guests. I’m looking forward to that and to
introducing my Washington family to my Tennessee family. It’s going to be so
much fun; I can hardly wait.
We don’t have the following days
all planned out, but on one of them we’ll drive to Haleyville Alabama (for
Haley, of course) and to Mussels Shoals, the home of the oldest, and still
operating, recording studio in the state. Haley and Tyler also want to go
fishing and I think my brother, Ricky, is going to oblige them. Heck, all they
really need to do is walk down his hill and stand on the bank of the Tennessee
River and toss in a line. I don’t know if that really would work, but not being
a fisherwoman, I don’t know.
Memphis was also on our list of
go-to places, but I think we’ve decided to give it a miss. The cheapest tour of
Graceland (why we were going to go) is almost $100 and you don’t get to see
much. We could drive in to Memphis (another two hours) and just walk about the
grounds which are quite lovely I’m told, but according to the Tennessee
natives, Memphis is not a very safe city.
Still, there’s lots of stuff we
can see and visit with Ricky’s house as our home base. Shiloh National Military
Park is just minutes away and I found it very interesting on my first visit.
Plus, Savannah Tennessee is just on the other side of the river and has lots of
things to do, i.e., the Tennessee River Museum, Historic District, whiskey
tasting, a Civil War History Tour, and who knows what else. I know the whiskey
tasting will be top of the list…most likely.
AJ’s wife, Angie, couldn’t join
us because school is in session. And Kuma, well, Kuma gets a vacation as well
at Roscoe’s Ranch in Maltby. He spent last Sunday night there as a test and he
did very well. The person who dealt with him on Monday indicated he was a “Goofball.”
Since Haley’s worked there for years, I know Kuma will be in good hands while
his “Mommy” is gone, but I’ll still miss him, I’m sure.
Once I return home, it will be
time to begin putting the garden to bed for the winter. Because of all my
health problems for what seems like the entire year, lots of work I would have
normally done didn’t get done. But I plan to get it done this fall so that come
spring, it will rejuvenate in a much better way than it did this past year. I’m
even thinking about purchasing some new lily bulbs. I’ve saved the catalogs and
know I have to place my order by November 1st. I guess how much I
spend on lilies will depend on how much I spend in Tennessee.
My return will also include having Xander most every weekend until we complete his Halloween costume. He wants to learn to sew and we’ve begun. We bought the material, washed and dried it and cut out the pants. We did a bit of sewing on the pants and Xander is getting more comfortable with the machine each time he uses it. I’m going to have to cut out the jacket before I leave town mainly because the pattern is much more difficult than I expected. It’s been a long time since I’ve made anything using a pattern. Most of my sewing has been simply mending, so I hope my teaching Xander allows him to learn.
So, as you can see, the remainder
of September and October are pretty much on the books. There’s going to be no
time for sickness, doctor visits, urgent care visits or feeling down for
absolutely no reason at all. I think I’ll print out this blog and put the copy
beside my bed. Me, myself and I will read it each night and remind ourselves
that life is good, life is busy, life is exciting, life is fun, life brings new
experiences each and every day, in one way or another. How’s that for a pep
talk…I think me, myself and I rather like it…a lot.