Deep thoughts from Kenny Chesney on the end of his 4 month marriage to Renee Zellweger:
“It was like opening the door to your house and having someone come in and take your big-screen TV off the wall during the big game, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
This weekend marks what would have been my cousin Ward’s third birthday. He died after an accident at a lake this past summer. We celebrated his birthday by dedicating a playground in his memory in Bell Buckle and I’ve set up a GUESTBOOK where you can leave a message.
I’ll have photos of the playground dedication up soon. My children, along with Ward’s brothers and all the other cousins sang several songs for everybody who came - Ward’s favorite songs — and then enjoyed the heck out of playing on the new playground.
ADDENDUM: Here is a lovely newspaper article with photos about the dedication and balloon release.
I have not seen Plan A, but my friend Brandon’s band The Twilight Sentinels, is really something. They sound like The Cramps crossed with The Ventures. He plays stand-ip bass and they’re incredibly fun to watch.
These cannot possibly be real, living creatures… but they are (via my friend Marrit Ingman.)
Historic preservation in Knoxville is an issue near and dear to my heart. If it interests you, you might want to check out the current City Council candidates’ responses to questions on the topic posed by the group Knox Heritage.
There are people in your life with whom you have brief but intense interactions and then you just lose track of each other. I have a few people like that in my past and I’ve wondered what has become of them.
Today I heard from someone I haven’t spoken to in fifteen years — a college fling that was some of the most fun ever — but then he dropped out of school mid-year to move to NYC and be a rock and roll star and we only spoke a few times after that.
It turns out he became an investment banker instead, and next week he’s coming into town to visit his family and he looked me up. It was just as much fun to talk to him today as it was a decade and a half ago, so I am really looking forward to seeing him and getting caught up.
I am very proud of 10-year-old Jane, who has qualified for the regional Pony Medal Equitation Finals, which will be in Virginia next month.
This is a darkly funny blog covering incidents of Really Bad Parenting from all over. The site’s motto? “Please don’t make us blog you.”
OK, I am taking votes. What do you think George Bush meant in his bizarro “P.S.” comment in this note to Harriet Mier (which I lifted from The Smoking Gun, which has an entire catalog of personal correspondence between Bush and Mier).
Post your best guess in comments section below.
My daughter told me yesterday that she believes she should be good at math because we have several “mathemagicians” in our family…
By my cousin Julie Anderson (pictured in post below):
An Ode to TJ Maxx
O, TJ Maxx, you satisfy
When I need retail thera-pie.
Driving in downtown Nashville bit
To park and walk for blocks, then sit
And drive, and drive, and drive back home…
With blistered feet, and all alone.
But wait! A cheery red sign beckons.
And I deserve a treat, I reckon.
The lingerie rack is so enticing,
Especially with TJ’s pricing.
Five sets of lovely panties and bras
Might help chase away the blahs.
Throw in some bright red fuzzy slippers,
And a ghost candy dish for the lil’ nippers.
Thus sated, I pay the smallish fee
For these frilly colorful treats for me.
Spread them out upon the bed
In matching sets of pink and red.
Smile, and give thanks for simple pleasures,
And for discount outlets with cheap treasures.
This is my lovely cousin Julie, last Saturday, helping assemble the parts of the playground being built in my hometown of Bell Buckle in memory of her two year old son, Ward, who drowned in July.
The playground will be dedicated this weekend, on what would have been Ward’s third birthday. Our whole family is feeling very sad, but also very grateful.
And Julie is grace personified.
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