Biked to Farmers' Market for Lunch Today

It was a beautiful day to bike the 25 miles round trip to Nashville Farmers' Market at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park and along the way I used my little pocket camera (point & shoot) to capture a large Pileated Woodpecker, Wild Turkey, Wild Flowers, and the downtown Pedestrian Bridge which has just been renamed the Siegenthaler Pedestrian Bridge. There's still a lot of nature in the city when biking on the Greenway!

Farm Along Greenway

This farm is alongside the Stones River Greenway where I rode yesterday to Shelby Bottoms Nature Center and back. I think this is the farm that will soon be converted to a city park. It is hilly and I saw a large mass of May Apples in a wooded area. Nice spot in Donelson/Hermitage area.

First Bike Ride Downtown

Saturday was a beautiful Spring day and I rode my bike on the greenway from Hermitage to downtown Nashville, ate lunch at Tazza, then rode back, 24 miles round trip. It was Stones River Greenway to Shelby Bottoms Greenway through Shelby park to Davidson Road to the Titans stadium and Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge. Next time I will go all the way to Bicentennial Mall State Park and Farmers' Market for lunch. This is fun and we have a good Greenway system in Nashville and getting better.

Motown to Budapest - My Weekend Adventures!

I went with a group from McKendree to hear "The Midtown Men" sing 1960's hits with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra Thursday night - a real blast from the past! These are the same four singers who did the Broadway Musical "Jersey Boys" which I saw a few years ago in Chicago. They are really good!

Then Friday night I decided at the last minute to brave Friday night crowds at Opry Mills Mall and see a new movie with great reviews, The Grand Budapest Hotel. It is a really fun movie to watch and so artistically done as is usual for Wes Anderson - maybe his best yet! A visual feast, a lot of humor, but also a lot of serious stuff. Most of all just fun to watch in my opinion. Note that I'm aware some people hate his movies. And I was glad this theater wasn't crowded like the four theaters showing Captain America. A fun Friday night for me!

My High School Turns 75

My high school, Will Rogers High School, Tulsa, is celebrating its 75th Anniversary this year! And I just realized that it is only one year older than me! It was begun in 1939 and I was born in 1940. It's a wonderful place with many memories. We thought it was the best high school in the nation when I graduated in 1958. Our namesake's home and now Will Rogers Memorial/Museum is just north of Tulsa in Claremore, OK.

I grew up there, helped start the Will Rogers Medical Club, received the Tulsa Kiwanis Good Citizenship Award. We were the Ropers with majorettes using lariats instead of batons and our yearbook called The Lariat. There were nearly a thousand in our graduating class including pop/rock star David Gates ("Bread") and runner-up to Miss America, Anita Bryant as Miss Oklahoma our senior year. Quite a ride! The present-day school website and our Class of '58 Website tells more. 

Panama Slide Show

I put some of my photos from the Dec-Jan Panama Rainforest trip into a PowerPoint presentation and now have it online. Click the image to go to the slide show.

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My Oscars Opinions

I was glad that 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture, but disappointed that Philomena and The Book Thief did not get more recognition. And guess I'll just have to watch Dallas Buyers Club and Blue Jasmine on Netflix when available, though the previews did not appeal to me. They were big winners. And maybe I will eventually watch Gravity, though it still sounds boring even if beautiful. Maybe I will be surprised by all three!