Doc Satan's Halloween Hoedown!

Just a few daytime pics from our huge Halloween party last Saturday, taken a couple hours before all the action of the evening...

Sam (the character from 'Trick or Treat') beckons you
to walk down the path and join us at the Bonfire

The Cemetery (homage to 45 Grave's classic, landmark album
on tombstone in rear) 

Jack Effigy welcomes you!

StumpHenge gateway and Mr. Bones

Closeup of Sam, who became the highlight of the party
(I created him from mixed materials)

The 2011 Horror Hootenanny in Nashville...

I have SO many photos to process (over 250) and so much to say about it... but just don't have the proper time to devote right now, so I'll leave it at this: it was a BLAST! A stellar success and the most fun I've had since last year's Hoot. Dr. Gangrene did a great job, as did everyone else who was a part of it. Of course, I went overboard on the ghoulish monster makeup (see pic below) but it was to be expected. I think the bald cap and pointy ears freaked a lot of people out... hee hee hee.

Mark and me, scarin' things up at the 2011 Hootenanny

Overall, a great turnout of people, many fantastic bands... and I'm already at work on the next one!

Dr. Gangrene and Sheree "Little Bloody Dead Bo Peep"

Me and Sheree with the awesome Wolfie Von Crud
from the Creeping Cruds

By far, this guy was the scariest zombie in the place!
A truly amazing makeup job!

Sheree and me pose for our latest 'portrait'

I have LOTS more photos to come in the next few days.

Have a happy and meaningful All Hallow's Eve...

Be safe, remember with love and respect the ones who have passed, and most importantly, have a good time making new memories!

I spent Friday, October 29, with dear friends Ethan and Gwen at Mt. Olivet cemetery in Nashville

Absence makes the heart grow fonder!

What a long, HOT and laborious summer it's been! I had been literally drained of energy the entire season. After the May flood, the weather suddenly got hotter than the hinges of Hades (and for the most part, was sustained for nearly 3 full months at or around 102+ degrees with humidity to boot!), and I began to work a lot more hours, which meant no time to do what I love best - jawin' away here on my Blogs. As y'all know, I do not fare well in the heat, and tend to withdraw to shady, cool areas of the house (with the air conditioner set to 'meat locker cold' temperatures). A very unusual summer we had, to be sure, and hopefully, the last of its kind. 

Now that Autumn - oh, glorious Autumn! - is in the air, I feel a sense of overall renewal. The atmosphere is very cool and crisp, the leaves are turning fall colors, and Halloween is just over a month away. My favorite time of year is around the corner and I'm feeling it deep in my core.

My dearest, most treasured friend in the entire world (Debby! Debby! Debby!) came out to visit me last week, and did we have a blast! I had not seen her in 3 long years and missed her terribly. Not to worry, we crammed a lot of fun and activity into a mere 8 days of vacation time, which began with a trip down south to lovely Tullahoma to hear a live performance of my favorite band of roving Celts, The Secret Commonwealth, at a venue called The Celtic Cup. 

A really neat place to dine and hear live music!

A really neat place, very much has the Irish pub look and vibe but serves food, coffee drinks and delicious desserts instead of alcohol. (No worries, we got tanked up plenty afterward)

A pared-down version of The Secret Commonwealth wows the crowd

HOWEVER! - The most hilarious episode for us this past week was our decision to take a canoe trip up the lovely Harpeth River. The weather was perfect, sunny and nice, with not a bit of humidity to mar it. We brought a little cooler chest with water, some nuts and dried fruit, and headed off at the drop-off point in Shacklett (about 10 miles up the road from my home) at a place called Tip-A-Canoe. 

Ok, first hint: with a name like TIP-A-Canoe, you'd think we'd maybe have been more careful, hm? The trip started off just beautifully as we leisurely rowed in the aluminum canoe up the river to the pick-up point we were instructed to look for. "It should only take an hour, maybe an hour & a half," said the man behind the counter, but he mistakenly directed us to the wrong area... 

And what began as a calm, fun adventure with lots of "Ooh, how pretty, how serene this is" turned into a scary-ass ride for survival!!! I kid you not. The river is a Class 1 category which means it's perfect for beginners, as it's generally calm water... but the fact that it had recently rained and there was lots of debris and huge trees knocked over in the middle of the river everywhere from the May flood meant a lot of squeezed-off sections where the water suddenly bottle-necked into mini-rapids. Debby and I were confident and said to one another that "We'll do just fine, we are not going to capsize because we are Strong and Capable Women, arrrrr." 

We watched a man and woman in the canoe a few dozen feet ahead of us attempt to maneuver  the rapids, then turned sideways and get dumped into the rushing water. 

Mantra repeated:"We'll do just fine, we are not going to capsize because we are Strong and Capable Women, arrrrr." 

The next thing we knew, we too felt the canoe pull out from under us and then the instantaneous, rude realization of capsizing into the river! It was frightening to have water above your head as you struggle to stay calm (and grab your cooler chest as it rapidly sinks underneath you). So much for our confidence-building mantra. 

My most vivid memory was coming up for air, and looking at Debby as she did the same thing, and both of us with wild eyes the size of saucers as we called each other's names and tried to keep afloat. Thankfully, the water was only about five feet deep where we got dumped, but still, it was nerve-wracking trying to walk across the rocky river bottom to the shore while dragging our heavy, water-filled canoe. I am a good, capable swimmer but when you're suddenly dunked you tend to kind of panic a wee bit.

(I have this weird fear of having deep, dark water beneath me - "WHAT IS DOWN BELOW ME THAT I CANNOT SEE?" - which stemmed from a negative experience I had when I was 13 years old out in California, at a place called Castaic Lake. It has stayed with me all this time and even when I am at home, watching a show that has deep, dark water in it, I tend to get that feeling of fear in my gut.)

We started to laugh out of nervousness - and good thing, too, as we looked like a couple of drowned rats! Our makeup was running down our faces, our hair and clothes were hanging, dripping wet. I kept saying, "I can't believe we just did that!" and dissolving into fits of hysterical laughter. You have to laugh at a time like that. 

As you can well imagine, from there, we were extremely cautious at the several approaching bottle-necks in the river and rushing rapids. Many times we brought the boat to shore,  and dragged it across the little inlet to go past the rapids, before getting in to continue our paddling. By then our so-called hour & a half excursion turned into almost SIX HOURS of grueling exhaustion. We'd lost one of our water bottles and all of our snacks when we capsized and were beginning to get sunburned and losing energy fast. Rationing water and looking out for snakes (poor Debby has a mortal fear of reptiles) was the motivating factor in getting to the end of our journey. It was no fun any more, and we were hungry and wanted to go home and change into dry clothes.

Finally we made it, and not a moment too soon! The lady back at the canoe place checked us off as we walked in, still wet and looking worse for wear, and exclaimed in her thick Southern accent, "Well, bless y'all's hearts! We're proud y'all made it that far!"

'That far' was a grand total of more than 11 miles, which, as she said, only the more experienced canoers do. Yeah, next time I say I want to go for a canoe ride, please hit me over the head with something, willya?

More of our vacation to come in an upcoming blog! 

Honky-tonkin' and drinking 99-cent PBR at
Layla's Hillbilly Bluegrass Inn on Broadway in downtown Nashville.
Big huge fun!

  

Where have I been?

Working a part-time job that has turned into more of a full-time one has kept me from my regularly scheduled blogging sprees! This will soon change, however, as I'll be returning to a shorter work week in the days to come.

The recent flood suffered here in Nashville has affected us all very deeply in so many ways. I cannot begin to express the sadness I've felt at the overall devastation throughout the state. Highway 70 in Bellevue was finally reopened after being closed off due to not only the high waters, but for several large sections of hillside that collapsed onto the road and into the Harpeth River. 

Spooky thing is that I had been talking to Mark about this concern maybe a week or so before it happened. I'd noticed that there was a section of the highway that had a jagged strip down the center which had been patched and repaired with asphalt that paralleled a huge overhang of rocky cliffs, and it gave me a really  bad feeling each time I drove over it. I said to him that all it would need was a good, heavy rain to soak the road and hill... and that is exactly what happened.

Driving down the reopened stretch of highway was heartbreaking. There is about a mile or so of homes near the Harpeth that were completely destroyed. As I drove home from work on Saturday, May 15th - me and Mark's 5th wedding anniversary - I burst into tears as I saw huge piles of mud-soaked furniture, tangled belongings, torn out walls and appliances, children's toys, shrapnel of all sorts.... just for as far as the eye could see. Homeowners with face masks and gloves were outside, piling up what was left of their homes... of their lives... onto the edge of their ruined properties near the highway, waiting for the city to come pick up the discards. 

I had wanted to blog about this, too, but the grief was too great. Each day I've cried at the tragedy, but as the town is slowly rebuilding and getting stronger, I too am gaining back my sense of strength. The human spirit continues to grow as Nashville citizens step up to help out and contribute. It does my heart a world of good! No wonder they call this "The Volunteer State!" 

But I'll never forget the nice, white-haired old man who came into our shop a few days after the rains stopped, whistling a happy tune and smiling broadly at me. I asked if I could help him find something, to which he replied he was looking for a special toy for a special puppy. Having chosen one, I brought him to the cash register and started general conversation with him: "Were you affected by the flood?" to which he responded, very point-blank, "Yes. I lost everything, but was able to save my dog."

His almost casual response took me by complete surprise, and I instantly looked into his bright, sparkly blue eyes, which only lost their happy sheen for but a split second. I felt like I was going to burst into tears, but struggled to keep composed as I apologized profusely to him and walked him to his car, wishing him well and offering blanket words of comfort like "It will get better from here" and "one door shuts, another opens" and the like, all feeling hollow in my own ears. This poor man lost it all in the flood, but still retained his sense of humor and had an optimistic heart for the future... and all he wanted to do was to buy a new toy for his beloved doggie. I was overwhelmed with emotions.

I walked back into the store, quietly made my way to the rear restroom where I shut the door and sat for ten minutes, bawling my eyes out.

Please help the Nashville Flood victims!

http://www.middletennredcross.org

UPDATED: Two sources of pain...

For those who have asked me, I'm including a new photo here of the Twist's wondrous property on Highway 70 in Kingston Springs, "Outdoor Stuff & The Milo Art Gallery." There is a link below you can click on to take you to Ronnie's blog, which is where you can find the press release about this amazing and historical property. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 


Yeah, I know, what a dramatic intro... but hear me out!

Our neighbors in Kingston Springs - local rockabilly singer/musician, Ronnie Lee Twist and his beautiful wife, artist Nikki Danby Twist - have put their amazing home and statuary shop/art gallery on the market! NO!!! This can't be. Say it ain't so! 

Mark and I have loved to peruse the awesome display of cement garden statues they offer. The Twists are the nicest people you'll ever meet. They welcome you inside, offer you a cool drink if it's hot outside, never rush you off, and pretty much treat you like you're family. I've never seen such a wide selection of cement statuary in my life, too, ranging in all sizes, shapes, and subjects. The property spans close to eight acres of rolling Tennessee countryside and has a very long and historical past (see below for the link).

You've seen some of their wonderful statues posted here, which I have in various places around our property, including the whimsical standing kitty cat holding a basket (which I filled with birdseed during the winter) and the cement bench in our shady Stump Henge area.

One of the many amazing statues you'll find  

Anyone who is interested in buying the property and business can contact the Twists (but I'm seriously hoping they decide to stay here!) and can read their press release about the history of the property by clicking here: http://www.ronnieleetwist.blogspot.com

A place to rest in the shady Henge on this lovely bench

The other source of pain I'm having is in the form of a upper respiratory cold.... yuck! I'm blaming my boss on causing this, as he was in the throes of a chest cold, coughing his brains out all over the place. I'm a fanatic when it comes to staying healthy, but even though I took precautions to  not catch his germs, it still got me anyway. The fact that the pollen count is at an all-time record high right now in Tennessee is probably not helping it much, either. I don't have allergies, luckily, but the air is filled with pollen. Each morning when I go to my car, I find it covered in a fine layer of yellow and green powder.

Off I go now, to slurp up copious quantities of herbal remedies. Back when I'm feeling more human.