Tennesee......Dang!!

Hey y'all,

Here we are at the end of July....Chris is almost a tech SGT (starting tomorrow), he has been home for about a month and he leaves again in a month. I have been in a bit of a funk lately, not loving being here...probably comes from boredom, lack of brain use, and missing people and home. No worries.

This past weekend Chris and I headed off to Tennessee for a long weekend, visiting Kurt and Chantel. For those not in the know, Chantel was my flatmate at uni, then she was in Korea, and she met Kurt in Italy when she was there at the same time as us. It seems right that we are in the same country again...and a 5/6 hour car ride away.

Chantel already has her greencard so she is working super hard at her 2 jobs at the moment. They have recently bought a house in their awesome town, Murfreesboro (no need to pronounce the "r"). They are about 10 minutes walk from the town square which has some great little bars and restaurants. Right now it is a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, but they have plans (and materials left from previous owners), to finish the attic and add a lovely master bedroom, bathroom and office.

Oh and here is my plug....Chantel is a fantastic artist who does portraits. I have seen a bunch of her work and it's amazing...so anyone in need please let me know and I can hook you up. I will work on getting her website on a link on here.

Quick question before I carry on...what is the fascination with mayo over here?

Right, back to Tennessee....Chris and I went up Thursday afternoon, and met up with Chanty and Kurt in their local, Liquid Smoke, which is a cigar bar with a large selection of American and European beers. And comfy chairs...and it's dog friendly...we took Charlie along, and he explored..made some new friends. I text mum while we were there and she asked (I guess with a tone of horror) is Charlie was drinking...I assured her he was not! He was our driver!! hehehe.

On Friday after meeting Chantel for lunch, on her break from training at the bank, we decided to walk the Riverwalk. This is a paved trail basically through downtown Murfreesboro, which stretches through some parks and the old mock town of Canyonsberg (like a Shantytown). Thinking this would be a stroll with the dogs we wore jandals (flip flops), and boy was I mistaken!! After about 8 miles of "strolling", with regular swim stops for Charlie and Wally (our hosts lovely pup), I was done. Let's just say that I insisted on driving to the town square that evening...promising everyone that one glass of wine was plenty! hehehe.

On Saturday Chantel was at her other job at the Discovery Centre, so Kurt, Chris and I did some errands before taking her lunch. Murfreesboro has worked hard to protect the wetlands and recreation areas in their town, and it shows. After lunch we walked around the Discovery Centre (including the slide from 2nd floor to 1st -of which there is a picture of me landing that will NOT be on here!!!), and then the pathways around it.

In the afternoon the boys lowered the swing porch, while I supervised (ok, napped). Apparently the previous owner of the house who had put the swing up was well over 6 foot...while Chantel and Kurt are around my height (mid 5 footers), so they were having to take running jumps at it. And yes, that is as comical as it sounds. Luckily they were able to replace the chain and make it perfect!

Later that day Chris got out his birthday present, a petanque/bocce set. For those not in the know it's a bowls type game which is very fun. The boys played a round (after reading the rules of all things!), then the girls. For the championship couple against couple match the boys decided to make it more "interesting" and add some obstacles to the course....in the form of tree branches. Long story, much hilarity, and we won...woohooo!! hehehe....

We then went to dinner at one of the nicer restaurants in the square, where we had a couple of lovely bottles of wine, lots of fish and an amazing steak. Followed by a trip to Liquid Smoke for another couple of bevvies.....

Here's another question....is it an age thing, not wanting to pay cover charges to enter bars??

On Sunday, Chantel's one day off, we had a lovely brunch of french toast with bacon and banana...delisioso!! Then piled into one little car with both dogs and went to Kurt's parents place. They have a good sized section with a couple of horses, a handful of cows, a few dogs and two cats. I think that's it! hehe. We weren't sure how Charlie was going to react with the cows and the horses, after his actions when we had arrived Thursday night...

which I had forgotten to mention.....when he met Wally they were in the backyard and all the neighbours dogs were out on both sides (fenced, but barking). So Charlie decided aggression was the way to go and raced around barking and being a tough guy. About 20 minutes later when he had adjusted to Wally, Kurt's sister came over with her dog (a tiny little thing). She barked at him and he opened his mouth and tried to eat her. Didn't succeed, but still! He also wasn't sure about the cats and chased them in circles a lot, growled a few times....but by the end of the weekend they were all buds...I'm sure he thinks that cats are little dogs with better furniture privileges~!

So, cows and horses....he wasn't sure, because they were so much bigger than him. But so were the two waimeranas, and he barked at them. But he was really good. He rang out into the paddock...found a fresh pile of cow poo, check with his paw that it was fresh, then rolled in it!! Hilarious. We weren't sure if he was trying to blend in, or wanting to hunt them...either way, the cows ignored him. He had a great time.

We left the dogs there and went to meet Cliff, Kurt's brother, and head out on his boat on the lake. We zoomed around before stopping at the cliff jumping area. Chris had a couple of jumps (so brave)...then we zoomed off in the other direction, and had a wee float before going back to pick up Cliff's wife and sister in law.

We then decided to anchor up in "Party Cove"...where the people watching was priceless.....there were lines of boats tied up together, with loud music and some random dancing....very entertaining!

After a couple of hours floating around there we went back to Kurt's parents and had a BBQ....and an extreme bocce rematch! This time we lost....so sad! hehe

The next day Chris and I had a leisurely drive back. Chris navigating with his GPS, telling me the name of every overpass and stream...so informative! hehehe.

Over the past week or two we have been homebodies...had a few dinners, been swimming a few times and been to a party. Tomorrow we are off to Columbus to see Meg and Dave (definitely taking the bocce! hehehe), and on Thursday we are all going biking at Calloway Gardens. Probably followed by a swim in the lake there. I'll keep you posted! On Friday Chris's sister Christine and her husband Don are coming to visit. We are all going to a baseball game in Altanta on Saturday...my first one...should be exciting!!

I hope you are all well....Dad is having his ankle operated on today, and Wandy is having one of her eyes done tomorrow...Gosia has finished her MBA....and Hai is nearly ready to pop!! hehehe....my love to you all....Anna xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx