Five Popular Postings from the Moon and the Willow Tree - plus more.

Well, so much for stopping this blog or combining it with another one.

I just can't bring myself to do that (yet anyway).

I notice that the Moon is almost full. I will have to get outside and take a peek at it tonight. I will also move the Current Moon Phase chart up near the top of this blog. It is fun to look at.

My news: I am coming closer to being able to get the Outdoor Journey site online. I still need some permissions to get everything on there I want. I will keep you posted, awesome readers.

This is really big news for me, because it will help with the problem of Girl Scout camps closing, hopefully, plus point to a better way for Girl Scout troops to get back into the outdoors.

Our Founder, Juliette Low, was big on the outdoors. I believe camping fits right in to the current leadership focus, because it promotes self-reliance. (AND the current leadership focus too...)

I have some popular postings listed next to help me decide what to write about next. I can update the most popular pages for sure.

Here they are:

#1.  The Top 16 Online Sales and Auction Sites - Rated

#2. Civil War Dresses for Sale

#3. Do you make a lot of money with your blog? (more recent)

#4. Free Clipart Sites (for Projects, Etc.)

and

#5. The Wightman Chapel at Scaritt-Bennett (Nashville)

Betsyanne

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Some photos from downtown Nashville and closeby

It's fun to see the tourists and beautiful old buildings on the way home from occasional Nashville journeys. It makes me want to go and spend a whole weekend sometime.

It would be fun to walk up and down the streets and take more photos.

Here are a few of the photos I took yesterday. I hope you like them!

Here's to color, music, and to Nashville. Later!

Betsyanne

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The Bookworm - a Nashville bookstore going out of business

Our visit to The Bookworm in Nashville

I was sorry to see that this bookstore was going out of business. We'd been there before, and bought a couple of books.

Now, since the store is going out of business, most books are $2.00, and some new ones are 1/2 off cover price.

So why are they going out of business? One of the owners thinks that e-readers are the reason.

I'm not so sure.

Parnassus Books has recently opened in Nashville too. They have many books on display, a special children's section, and events nearly every day. They are doing a good business.

And Barnes and Noble are selling their own e-reader, as well as books, games, and lattes.

But this store is not the only one I've heard of that is going out of business. I say, at least for older people, bookstores CAN still be a business that makes money. I like books AND ebooks. They both have their place with me.

I enjoy holding and arranging a "regular" book, but also find it fun to look at an e-book occasionally.

What do you think? Leave a comment.

Betsyanne

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Searching for the Bell Witch in Adams, Tennessee - the Bell Witch Cave signs

Rickey brought me by the Bell Witch Cave this last weekend.

Unfortunately, it was not open. It re-opens in May. But I definitely could feel some haunted vibes around the town, and it was kind of creepy to look down the road and have a closed, locked gate here. I think imagination makes things even scarier when you can't see them all the way.

The signs here were VERY interesting too.


















I think many people who live in Kentucky and in Tennessee have heard of the Bell Witch legend. I know I have heard of it. Legend has it that the Bell Witch has taken revenge on the Bell family for 3 generations.























 Some stories say that the Bell Witch ghost was taken advantage of in a land deal. I hope to read more about it before visiting again.

The third generation haunting or revenging should have happened too, but Rickey said he heard everyone was so busy with World War II about this time and that things just seemed to have stopped then. At least, the stories may have.

But not all... some of the links at the end of this posting mention moaning sounds coming from the cave.

















Rickey said that another story said that a person should not bring a rock out of the cave, because she would not like it.

I was surprised to see the canoe sign - - and Rickey was surprised to see that no video cameras were allowed. Plus NO profanity. I kind of like that rule though, but I almost NEVER see it on a sign. I am glad that people CAN take photos though.

Here are some photos from the Bell Witch Cave entrance and the road. I look forward to seeing the cave itself - - maybe next year.

Betsyanne

Find out more about the Bell Witch cave:

The Official Home of the Bell Witch / An American Haunting

The Bell Witch Cave - via Wikipedia

The Bell Witch Cave News

The Bell Witch Cave - The Moonlit Road - Strange Tales of the American South

Travels Beyond - the Bell Witch Cave. (a visit, some photos)

Haunting Experiences with the Bell Witch Cave - via Yahoo Voices

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The Frist Museum and the Carrie Mae Weems exhibit

 It is always an instructive trip to the Frist in Nashville. I love seeing new exhibits.

The latest visit to the Frist included the the Carrie Mae Weems art show. She interweaves the past and present into her presentation about slavery, meaning, reality, and shows how the past influences the present, not always in a good way.

I was impressed with how varied her exhibit was, and how she had found so many different photos and videos and woven them together into a meaningful whole. I felt as if she wished she could change the most hurtful parts of history, but since she couldn't, she would show shadows of what could have been.

Some of the exhibit pieces that were most meaningful to me were the portraits of famous black singers and entertainers - shown intensely blurred for their unfair regression into unimportance as time goes by.

Her travel pictures were very good, but the pictures that stay in my mind most are the dehumanizing ones and the ones of a sad African princess. How could people be so terrible to their brothers and sisters? I felt helpless and sad seeing some of the photos and paintings at this exhibit.

The scenes and memories here were of things that could not be changed, empty places, and echoes of a world full of insane people that seemed to enjoy the destruction of people, places, and futures.

The Carrie Mae Weems exhibit started a conversation afterwards about injustice and memory. I would call this exhibit instructive. I would not call it cheery, but I think that is exactly what the artist had in mind.

Find out more: The Frist Museum.

This poster shows part of Weems' Black Fashion Show video.

The font of the Frist Museum - Rickey is walking to the left.

I thought this grate in front of the museum interesting.

Betsyanne

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Some more photos from Cheekwood - Scarecrows, Trains, Gardens, and more.

We had a lot of fun last weekend looking at the Scarecrows, the trains, and lots of people at Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art.

Many people helped create some great Scarecrow masterpieces. I have picked out a few of them here.

The Bell Witch.

Midnight? A Scarecrow and Friends.

The Mad Hatter.

Mothwoman? Beautiful and scary.

A Wild Thing!

You can see a lot more fun scarecrows here on Facebook:
A Fun Trip to Cheekwood - Scarecrows, Trains, and more.

PS Here is Cheekwood's website:
Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art.
And Facebook page: Cheekwood on Facebook.

I also have a Squidoo page with lots of photos from Cheekwood here:
Glass Artist Chihuly at Cheekwood.

My blog - Betsyanne's.

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Phillips Toy Mart in Nashville Tennessee - some photos too

How fun to see these toys! I (again!) saw things I really liked at Phillips'.

Well, we went to Phillip's Toy Mart again, getting ready for Christmas and just generally seeing what was there.

There are still some neat erasers there (in different shapes) but not so many as last year. Maybe they will make a purchase of more later.

The train set is still up, and getting lots of interest from the younger set (and me!)

This is a great store. I saw some mirrored pens from India, a great doll selection, some magnetic paper dolls, lots of trains, and the best little "stocking stuffers" imaginable up front. I also liked some of the new style stuffed animals and the Babushka doll from Russia. I used to have one of those!

Here are some pictures that may take you back to childhood or just make you want to be a kid again! Personally, I think lots of these toys are great for all ages.

Here is the front door - and those so-cute monsters.

The aisles are just crammed with neat stuff.

See the little face across the table? :-)

You can see all the photos I took here on my my Fan Page on Facebook . See you there!

Betsyanne

Our recent trip to Phillips Toy Mart in Nashville.

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Organizing, Nashville, storms and tornadoes, Bodacious Books, and Cheekwood

Hi everyone!

I am catching up and organizing today, as usual. I get inspiration from reading others' postings on Facebook and checking my mail and sites today.

Our Latest Nashville trip
Yesterday, Rickey and I visited Nashville and went to Cheekwood for a beautiful Wild West exhibit called Visions of the American West. Though I could not take pictures of the paintings and exhibits, I did get some shots of the outside activities and flowers.

Here is one of those:

And here are more photos.

Bodacious Books is Moving
Also, we visited Bodacious Books in Nashville, which is having a sale to get ready to move down the street to a new location soon.

A great lunch
Lunch was outside at the Pineapple Room at Cheekwood, which was really fun, because the weather was great, and the food delicious.

The Weather
We here in Kentucky have had some tornadoes all around the state. We here in Bowling Green missed having much damage, luckily, but the news is carrying pictures and stories from Kentucky and other states now. My heart goes out to the victims and their families.

This is only the beginning of the Spring storm season here. I have my fingers crossed.

Here are some more photo and news links of these and other places and events that I posted on Facebook:

A train exhibit at Phillips Toy Mart, Nashville
A fun day at Cheekwood
A neat chair at Bodacious Books

Betsyanne

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Construction photos from Green Hills, Nashville, Tennessee November 2011

I took these photos of some interesting junk piles in a construction site near the Donut Den in Nashville, and across from LeQuire Gallery.

I could not resist. Luckily, Rickey just read in the car while I clicked away. I hope you like these too. They are a few from the whole set now on Flickr in 600x800 dpi.

A junk bridge.

Junk Bike

Junk stairs...

You can see all the photos here at the Flickr set.

Thanks for coming by! You rock, readers!

Leave a comment. Do you have a blog too? What would you like to see here next?
Or just let me know how you are doing today. Later!

-Betsyanne

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Photos from the Elves' Faire at the Linden Waldorf School

Photos from the Elves' Faire

These are photos from the recent Elves' Faire at the Linden Waldorf School in Nashville, Tennessee.

I posted these on my Facebook page, but wanted to share some of the best ones here too.
Background: I have been wanting to check out this yearly event ever since the first time I saw it on the way to visit my Mom, who lives in Nashville now.

It is a celebration with great crafts, costumes, and fun for kids and adults. They also had food there, plus activities you could buy with tickets.

I liked what I learned about Waldorf schools. There are not many of them, but I hope they grow in number, because they seem to allow students to be more creative and help design their own learning experiences.

Here are some of my favorite pictures, and a link to more. I know I will be back to this Faire again next year. It was fun, and I found some great little gifts here too.

There were some really cute dolls and figures.

I liked these necklaces too.

Here is the line waiting to get in.

A neat costume, and a booth too.

A beautiful decoration.

Getting ready for jousting.

 

Here are all of the photos posted at Facebook.

They include some photos of the school, other booths and crafts, more people on the grounds, and the surrounding grounds.

There are some fun costumes in there too.


Betsyanne
The Garden Spot
Kentucky

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More selected photos from Cheekwood

Hi, all! I hope all my readers are well and happy today.

I recently posted some train photos of the current outside train exhibit at Cheekwood in Nashville, Tennessee.

The same day, I took some more photos. I have posted them at Facebook here.

Here are just a few more selected photos (3):

Looking out the window gate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of my favorite places at Cheekwood. It is by the old pickup entrance.

A beautiful meandering stream on the way up to the museum and gallery.

You can also see the first photos I took the same day: Photos from the Train Exhibit at Cheekwood.

Keep dry and cool, people.




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Bar-B-Cutie - what a neat place!

Not Bar-B-Cutie - but interesting!*

Bar-B-Cutie - I like it!

Love Bar-B-Que? I do.

Next time you are in Nashville, Tennessee, and you want to try something different, check out Bar-B-Cutie barbeque restaurant. We ordered a pork barbeque plate. It came with two sides, which were also good!

We tried this restaurant on Saturday, after wondering about it for a long time.

Just saying! You get to spice up your barbeque with a choice of several sauces too. They have several locations, and have been in business since 1950. Oh - and they have booths to sit in, which I love.

Later!

 
Here are some more Bar-B-Cutie links:
Bar-B-Cutie locations
The Bar-B-Cutie store

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The neat barbeque photo is by Robert Scoble on Flickr.

The Tamarind Indian Bistro in Nashville, Tennessee

What a great buffet the Tamarind Indian Bistro had on Friday.

They had vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, samosas, a good selection of curries, papadums, nan bread cut into little triangles, and two kinds of desserts right next to the regular buffet. We really enjoyed it.

The Tamarind changes their buffet menu every day. I liked the nice white napkins folded into a hat at each place, and fun Indian music playing too. I saw people from all over eating there. Note to new customers: when you get the buffet, you just walk over to the little counter when you are through and pay.

I took a few other photos the same day. One is of Rickey and a big rooster. Notice the chain on the big rooster's leg. This statue is right down the street from the Tamarind.

We also went into two other stores here, Flavour Women and Men are both really the same store, but men's clothing and hats are on one side, and women's clothing and accessories are on the other. I saw some interesting things.

The women's jewelry featured the new bracelet style, which is are more like big long armbands. They had several kinds of these. To me they seem like many bracelets glued together. But it was a fun store, with friendly shopkeepers.

I tried to get Rickey to try on a hat. Maybe next time!

So... this lunch was definitely a great success. I think we will for sure be going back there! I think I would like to try some of the items on the regular menu also someday. I enjoyed the Chicken Tikka, one of my Mom's favorites, along with Sag and the Gulab Jamun dessert (yummy honey sweet dessert balls sometimes made with rosewater).

Here is the Tamarind Bistro website. They have coupons there for $1.00 off the buffet and one for dinner and  carry-out orders too. They also have a PDF file of their menu.

Betsyanne

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