Followers

Wednesday 31 August 2011

Little girl on a plane......




An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and
he turned to her and said, "Do you want to talk?  Flights go quicker
if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just started to read her book,
replied to the total stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know," said the atheist. "How about why there is
no GOD or no Heaven or Hell or no life after death?" as he smiled
smugly.

"OK," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first.  A horse, a cow and a deer all eat the same stuff -   grass.    Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty but a horse produces clumps.  Why do you suppose that is?"

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea."

To which the little girl replied, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss why there is no GOD or no Heaven or Hell or no life after death, when you don't know shit?"

And then she went back to reading her book.
Imagine the expression on his face and tell me you didn't laugh.  

Tuesday 30 August 2011

Remembering......



A much loved grandson

Reece

Born 30th August 1990 
Died 6th August 1996

on what would have been your 21st birthday

Cherished forever
Forgotten never


Thursday 25 August 2011

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #174 Raid..



Cindy woke with a start.

Crash, thundering footsteps up the stairs.

The bedroom door flew open, armed police surrounded her.

"What the.....?

"Where is he, where's Jack?" they roared.

"Jack who?" she screamed.

"Jack Smart, you know who, come on where is he?" they demanded.

"Next door I imagine, in his house!"

Oops, wrong house!



Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Dixieland Part 10.....

Our final full day in the Deep South found us heading back to Atlanta stopping at Lynchburg on the way,



where we looked round the town square






enjoying the quaint shops


and lovely buildings


even managing to pose on the veranda before heading off to the place we stopped in Lynchburg to see






 The Jack Daniels Distillery -the oldest registered distillery in the U.S.



It's where Jack first crafted the recipe for Old No.7.  It's where the pure, iron-free cave spring water flows.


Jack's statue outside the entrance to the spring


Inside the cave

It's where every drop of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Sipin' Whiskey is still made today.



The tour of the distillery was really interesting and the smell of the whiskey was very inviting.  Unfortunately, all you are allowed to do is SMELL the whiskey because Lynchburg is located in Moore County, Tennessee which is officially a 'dry county', that means no alcoholic beverages may be sold within Moore County and we weren't allowed even a taste!    The distillery is permitted to sell special collector bottles of whiskey only to tourists from outside the county but they were really expensive and as we're not collectors and just wanted to drink it we didn't bother buying any.

Continuing our journey our next stop was Chattanooga to see this..





The first Chattanooga Choo Choo Train was Cincinnati Southern Railroad's small wood burning steam locomotive that started its journey through history from Cincinnati, Ohio on March 5, 1880.   Nearly all trains travelling to the South passed through Chattanooga.  the wood burning "Choo Choo was the first to provide none-stop service.





A news paper reporter dubbed the huffing and puffing little steam locomotive the Chattanooga Choo Choo.  Although the Chattanooga's Terminal Station was significant in its role of the train era with it's 'Track 29', little was known about the first Chattanooga Choo Choo.   Only after Glen Miller's orchestra made the catchy song popular in the later 1940's did the name become world famous.

The train resides at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel, which was the terminal station in downtown Chattanooga.









On December 1st 1909 the first train pulled into the station and the depot grew to serve nearly 50 passenger trains a day.   Over the years the bustling terminal greeted Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt.   Passenger train traffic slowed to a halt in the 1960's with the dominance of auto and air travel and railway activity was replaced by these faster modes of transportation.   Almost 61 years after the opening, the grand old building was closed to the public when the last train stopped on August 11th 1970.   The Terminal Station seemed destined for the similar fate of Union Station but it was saved by a group of local businessmen who were inspired by the theme of the "Chattanooga Choo Choo" investing $4million, and the beautiful Terminal Station once again opened its doors to welcome visitors to Chattanooga on April 11th 1973 as a unique vacation complex.   The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


Leaving Chattanooga behind we headed towards Atlanta, where our tour of the South started, to spend our last night staying at the Hotel Midtown Atlanta again.   We were sad that our wonderful holiday was coming to an end but looking forward to what our final day had to offer - a tour of the World of Coca Cola and the 'Road To Tara'.   I hope you'll join me for my final post about our tour of the South Dixieland Part 11.


Read Dixieland Part 1 here
Read Dixieland Part 2 here
Read Dixieland Part 3 here
Read Dixieland Part 4 here
Read Dixieland Part 5 here
Read Dixieland Part 6 here
Read Dixieland Part 7 here
Read Dixieland Part 8 here
Read Dixieland Part 9 here




Sunday 21 August 2011

Succinctly Yours - A Microfiction Meme #22


Grandma at Grandma's Goulash provides a picture and a word prompt for this Microfiction Meme and the rules are use the photo as inspiration for a story of 140 characters OR 140 words.


Want more challenge? Use the word of the week in your story. This part is optional.


This week's word is TEPID here's the picture and my offering using the picture and word of the week  in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.




Amy opened her eyes, relieved to see the tepid sunshine seeping through the tiny window, 

it meant she had survived another day in captivity.

Friday 19 August 2011

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #173 Message....





She kept picking her cell phone up fiddling with it.


“Are you expecting a message?” he asked.


“No, no, just trying the apps on my new phone”.


“You seem to be getting a lot of alerts” he said.


“I’m on Twitter” she said, “it’s great!”


He wished he’d never bought her the damn smart phone!


Not exactly fiction as I think this is how MWM probably feels this week. LOL

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.


Wednesday 17 August 2011

The Correct Insurance......

Are you insured for sex?   Make sure you get the correct insurance for the sex you are having. 
Here is a list of companies catering for most tastes.


  • Sex with your wife/husband: Legal & General
  • Sex on the telephone: Direct Line
  • Sex with your partner: Standard Life.
  • Sex with someone different: Go Compare
  • Sex with a fat guy/bird: More Than
  • Sex on the back seat of a car: Sheila's Wheels
  • Sex with some posh guy/bird: Privileged.
  • Sex with a transvestite: Confused.com

Monday 15 August 2011

Succinctly Yours - A Microfiction Meme #21


Grandma at Grandma's Goulash provides a picture and a word prompt for this Microfiction Meme and the rules are use the photo as inspiration for a story of 140 characters OR 140 words.


Want more challenge? Use the word of the week in your story. This part is optional.


This week's word is FRANTIC here's the picture and my offering using the picture and word of the week  in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.



Frantic, breathless and exhausted after being chased for two hours Mr Beech collapsed in his chair, 

thankful he’d escaped the woodworm army.

Friday 12 August 2011

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #172 Great Job...



It's a great job reading for a living.


I get to read all sorts - fact, fiction, maps, you name it I've probably read it.


I love smooth white paper, coloured paper is harder to read.


There's not usually any problems, but if I get stuck


they just call the photocopier engineer out to fix me.




Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Dixieland Part 9......

After breakfast on Day 10 of our holiday we boarded the coach for a tour of Nashville.  Nashville was originally called Nashboro when the British settled there, it was renamed Nashville by the French.  

Our first stop was the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park which was built 20 years ago for Nashville's 200th birthday to complement the Tennessee State Capitol Building, which is the oldest in the country.   The land where the park is built was originally sites of industrial premises.


Within the park are 95 granite columns or Carillons in the Court of 3 Stars.   The Court of 3 Stars is a focal point of the park and the site of a 95-bell carillon representing Tennessee's musical heritage.   The 95 bells represent the citizens of Tennessee's 95 counties.   A 96th bell, known as the answer bell, is located on the grounds of the State Capitol and rings in answer to the 95 bells, symbolizing government answering to the people.   The carillons are some of the largest in the world.  they play Tennessee themed songs at the top of the hour, every hour. 





The park also houses the WW2 Memorial Park with it's huge pillars of black granite, photo etched with images from the battles of WW2.  There are also short descriptions below each photo that describe the images and their importance to Tennessee history.  




These granite pillars surround a very impressive 18,000lb black granite globe that floats and rotates on an 
1/8-inch bed of water.  





The globe is etched with markings of how a globe would have looked during WW2.  You can actually rotate the globe quite easily, it's amazing.

We passed the Centennial Park, which was built for Nashville's 100th birthday, and saw the magnificent Parthenon



which was originally built for Tennessee's 1897 Centennial Exposition.

The next leg of the city tour took us to Millionnaire's Row/Franklin Road, known as the 'old money part of town', where people such as Dolly Parton, The Jacksons, The Judds, Tex Ritter, Minnie Pearl, Tanya Tucker, Martina MacBride, the owner of Crispy Creme Donut's live(d).


This is the house orginally owned by Hank and Audrey Williams which Tammy Wynette later bought and where she died.  

Leaving the fabulous houses of the famous behind. we made our way to 'Music Row' an area just to the southwest of Downtown Nashville, which is home to hundreds of businesses related to the music industry, passing the controversial Musica Statue on the way.


The statue is a bronze sculpture by Alan LeQuire,  made up of nine nude figures, male and female, in the centre of a roundabout, it was built as part of an urban renewal project for the Music Row neighbourhood.  It is controversial due to its depiction of nudity, although according to LeQuire the work is entirely tasteful and not at all sexualised.    However the figures are quite often dressed; (in this instance in yellow t-shirts) on St. Patrick's Day 2010 a local music group, the Willis Clan, clothed the statues in oversized Celtic kilts and blouses they had made for the event!   

We also got a great view of what is locally known as The Batman Building,


home to AT&T (American Telegraph Company).  The smaller building to the left of the batman building is locally referred to as R2D2. 

Driving round 'Music Row' we saw Curb Records, ASCAP, Songwriters House - where writers can take a nap, Vibe Studio,  SESAC, Heart Chart Music,  Major Bob Music, Idlehour - where Willie Nelson recorded, 16 Ton Studio, Crystal Gale's building, before reaching our destination





the famous RCA Victor Studio B, where we got off the coach, pausing for photoshoot,


before entering the iconic building where Elvis recorded for 13 years.


Elvis Hits recorded at Studio B

Other famous people who have recorded at Studio B are Skeeter Davis who recorded her famous hit 'End Of The World', which was written by Sylvia Dee (Josephine De Sylvia).   Most people think the song is about splitting up with a boyfriend but she actually wrote it when she was thirteen about her father who had just had died.     Dolly Parton recorded 'I Will Always Love You' at Studio B, she wrote the song about her split with Porter Wagner.   Roy Orbison recorded 'Only The Lonely' there too.

We were taken into the actual recording studio where all these famous people had recorded their hits and were surprised at just how small it is.


Our group in the recording studio

We even got to sit at the very piano Elvis used to tinkle on.





Our guide told us that Elvis used to record at the studio on Sundays, arriving at 10 p.m. and working right through the night finishing at 5 a.m. the following morning.  Apparently he liked to set the mood in the studio by having things like a Christmas Tree when he was recording Christmas albums.   As we sat there the guide told us one time Elvis had, during a recording session, asked that the lights be turned off, the guide then turned the lights off in the studio to demonstrate and we then heard Elvis singing 'Are You Lonesome Tonight'.   It was like Elvis was in the room, a very moving moment and quite eerie to know we were listening to the actual recording of such an iconic song in the very place it was recorded.    If you ever get the chance do visit Studio B and do the tour, it's absolutely fascinating.

The next stop on our itinerary was The Country Music Hall of Fame, where we saw fabulous exhibits such as Tammy Wynette's many costumes, contents of her wardrobe and jewellery and clothes and other items belonging to various country stars, past and present (see slide show below, click on View All Images if you want a closer look).




 The Gold Record Wall is magnificent


and the Rotunda, a special room designed to recognise Hall of Fame members, is amazing,


Will The Circle Be Unbroken

all the big stars are there on the wall


Elvis Presley and Minnie Pearl



Dolly Parton

The first members of the Hall Of Fame were Jimmie Rodgers, Fred Rose and Hank Williams, who were inducted in 1961 and the most recent  are Bobby Braddock, Reba McEntire and Jean Shepard in 2011.   Did you know that Roy Rogers is the only person inducted two times into the Hall of Fame.  The first was with the Original Sons of the Pioneers and the second was as a solo artist.  The members plaques are placed randomly around the room because everyone recognised here is an equal.   The room is round to ensure that every Hall of Fame member has a place of equal importance.   

After seeing all there was to see we made our way down to the snack bar for a quick sandwich and drink before we had to meet the coach to take us back to the hotel where we got ready to go to the Loveless Cafe for our evening meal.   Nationally acclaimed and frequented by celebrities, world travellers and local appetites alike the Loveless was originally known as the Harpeth Valley Tea Room.   The Loveless Motel and Cafe first started serving its famous fried chicken and biscuits in 1951 when the property was purchased by Lon and Annie Loveless.  They set up picnic tables in the front yard and sold chicken from the front door to travellers driving up and down US Highway 100.   Lon Loveless ran the motel and handled the hams while hungering crowds were drawn to Annie's homemade preserves and from-scratch biscuits - one of few secret recipes that has remained unchanged to this day.   Here's what we enjoyed

Southern Fried Chicken
Smoked Turkey
Pork
Biscuits
Collard Greens
Green Beans
Pickled Cucumber
Pancakes
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Apple Pie
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Key Lime Pie

Phew I'm stuffed just remembering what we ate and it was absolutely DEELISH!     Stuffed to bursting we headed back to Broadway where we finished off the evening with a couple of drinks in Layla's Bluegrass Bar, enjoying the fabulous music Nashville has to offer one last time before going back to our hotel to get a good night's sleep, as we had to be up early the following morning for the journey back to Atlanta, visiting Lynchburg and Chattanooga on the way. Join me for Dixieland Part 10 to find out what we saw on the last leg of our journey.

Read Dixieland Part 1 here
Read Dixieland Part 2 here
Read Dixieland Part 3 here
Read Dixieland Part 4 here
Read Dixieland Part 5 here
Read Dixieland Part 6 here
Read Dixieland Part 7 here
Read Dixieland Part 8 here

Monday 8 August 2011

Succinctly Yours - A Microfiction Meme #20





Grandma at Grandma's Goulash provides a picture and a word prompt for this Microfiction Meme and the rules are use the photo as inspiration for a story of 140 characters OR 140 words.


Want more challenge? Use the word of the week in your story. This part is optional.


This week's word is OBLIVIOUS here's the picture and my offering using the picture and word of the week  in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.



May’s skirt was about to get tangled in the wheels of the clown’s scooter

because he was busy admiring her cleavage and oblivious to danger!


Friday 5 August 2011

Friday 55 Flash Fiction # 171 Burglary..



Finding the open window they took advantage.


The men climbed through in search of valuables.


Peering through the bedroom doorway they saw the occupier.


He lay, eyes staring vacantly, unblinking, unmoving.


"Christ, he's dead!" said one.


"Oh well, he won't miss this lot now will he?" said his mate, as he searched the bedroom cupboards.



Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.