I spent the day yesterday riding around the countryside in a convertible — if only everyday could be like that.

As we drove up the road, we saw something odd in the distance. As we grew closer we finally figured out it was a very tall tractor riding up the road. So we rode behind him until the end of the road where we turned around (turns out we were on the wrong road…).

The rain has been good for Tennessee lately — making for some very green pictures for me.

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Day in the Life by Courtney

Pourin’ the rain… That’s all I have to say.

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just a picture by Courtney

Last night I had dreams of dogs, and they were all talking to each other. My shar-pei Sam was there, only he kept saying his name was Patty. I can’t remember much of the dream now, other than that part. A gender-changed dog sort of sticks out in your mind…

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Dreams by Courtney

The other night I had a dream about my Granny. I was sitting in Grandpa’s chair and turned my head to the left, and there she was, standing, looking at us, where she usually sat. We all wondered how she’d gotten there, as she was supposed to be in the nursing home, not in good shape.

At that point in the dream, I woke up, saying, “That can’t be right; she’s dead.” Then I woke up for real.

My grandmother lived a very good, full, long life until the last 5 or 6 months. She’d seen a lot of the world, she’d spent time with her grandchildren (that’s an understatement), she’d live her life to the fullest. So it was hard that last 5 or 6 months to see her not living life — though I wasn’t seeing it, I was only hearing about it since I was on the other end of the US.

Which is why this entire thing still feels like some weird dream — it doesn’t feel real. She’s not gone, I’m just 3,000 miles away.

What’s funny is now when I try to remember all of the things we’ve done together over the years, there’s only one moment that really sticks out in my head. I was in college, home for the summer. Granny was always telling me how proud she was of me, but this time was different.

We were walking out of the living room, where Grandpa was watching the news. She told me, “I’m so proud of you and all you’ve accomplished. You didn’t get into those things other kids do like drugs and sex…”

What was funny was the way she said sex. She lowered her voice, to almost a whisper, and had a little smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. She said it like it was the most taboo word (and I was shocked to hear her say it, so maybe it was).

Then we both just giggled like a couple of schoolgirls, and I said, “Thank you Granny” as I gave her a hug.

I’m not sure why that is the one memory, out of all my memories of her, that overpowers them all. But I did like seeing that little twinkle in her eye — she’d get it everytime she’d make a sly remark that she shouldn’t and that was so atypical of her.

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Dreams, Observances, Reminiscences by Courtney

Bear on a Harley

My first day back in Tennessee and we went to the oldest town, Jonesborough, to a Hog Rally. This ain’t my grandmother’s Jonesborough, either.

Jonesborough now allows the sale of beer and wine, unheard of even 10 years ago. We stumbled into a cafe serving town-famous beer, which I at first laughed at, but it was pretty good. I think they could bump up their status and say regionally-famous microbrew.

About 2 minutes after arriving at the rally, the rain started to pour from the sky. So we made our way under an awning, hoping it would blow over. When it didn’t, we stepped into a gallery, enjoying some of Sherry Jo’s paintings, drawings, and sculptures.

Since the rain didn’t subside, we made our way to the Main Street Cafe, where we enjoyed the famous beer and a Chess bar. The gods must have just wanted us to have a beer, because after we finished, the rain quit falling, and we continued enjoying the bikes.

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Miscellany by Courtney