"Holidays" in Nashville

Because Jessica, Mike, and Travis are all involved in the food services industry and cannot easily get time off around the holidays, we decided to schedule an early Thanksgiving/Christmas get-together with them now. So, we have been in Nashville for the last several days enjoying being together.

The evening we arrived, Jessica was still working, though she has had several days off since then. Kathie, Travis, and I drove to her restaurant that first evening to see her and to have some of the fine food they offer.

Mike and Jessica are still outfitting their new home. Prior to our visit, Mike had been busily working on a table for their kitchen. In fact, the reason he didn't join us for dinner at Jessica's restaurant was because he was putting some finishing touches on the project. He had found several pieces of interesting walnut and fashioned the table you see here, succeeding in getting it to a sufficiently complete state to allow us all to use it during our visit. The pieces of wood are just gorgeous, with one of them showing some burl. Here is Mike after just having moved the table into the kitchen.

Mike incorporated several of the interesting features of the pieces of walnut into his design. Maybe you can make out the burl in the piece on the lower right of this picture. I was very impressed with his work.

Here is the table in use as we are about to enjoy a meal of prime rib and crab cakes, which, of course, Jessica and Mike prepared for us.

Later that evening, we had tickets for a performance of the live broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry on radio station WSM (650AM). Shows are currently being broadcast from the historic old Ryan Auditorium in downtown Nashville. I used to listen to WSM as a kid and have always respected the place of the Grand Ole Opry in the history of American music. So, it was really fun for me to be there.

There were several well-known performers scheduled that evening, including Randy Travis, John Conlee, Josh Turner, Vince Gill, and Riders in the Sky. Maybe the most interesting, if not the most talented, was Kevin Costner and his band Modern West. Because of the traditional Grand Ole Opry format, no performer plays more than a couple songs, so we got to hear quite a few performers in addition to the ones I listed here.

Another evening, pizzas were created by the resident cooks. They were loaded with good things.

Meanwhile, Mike experimented with a blueberry-custard pie, which was really good. Of course, being the perfectionist he is, Mike was not satisfied with it.

This trip was also our first opportunity to meet the newest member of the household--Barney. Here he is. Barney is a good name for him. He is a very lovable pooch. I must say I'm impressed with how much training he already exhibits. He does a great "sit, down, play dead" routine already.

Barney and Josey got along pretty well. Barney didn't even mind when Josey tried to hog his bed. Ozzie (the cat) and Barney seem to get along too--maybe I should say that Ozzie tolerates Barney well. On the other hand, Ozzie isn't so fond of Josey.