Saturday, July 15, 2017, Hattie B's Nashville Hot Chicken, Nashville, TN

I grew up in the Nashville, TN, area and do not remember ever hearing about Nashville Hot Chicken. That's why I was surprised to hear about it on some TV show while we were way out west somewhere. My brother, Doug, was pretty familiar with many of the Hot Chicken joints and agreed to introduce me to the famous cuisine. "Making grown men cry since 2012," told me we were going to get some authentic hot chicken at Hattie B's.

We arrived just after they opened and the line of customers out the door meant it was going to be about a 30-minute wait before I could sample the famous tasty treat (the line was even longer when we left). 

You had your choice of chicken heat - Mild, Hot, Damn Hot and finally, "Shut the Cluck Up". Doug cautioned me to avoid that last one, so I chose a couple Hot and a couple Damn Hot. That was some pretty impressive heat. I had a few beads of sweat break out as I was eating, but I have to say I was immediately a fan! Wow! I will be back for more and maybe even try some of that Shut the Cluck Up.

Tuesday, July 4, 2017, Colonial Village Gathering

In Mom's neighborhood, Colonial Village in Lebanon, TN, the residents are pretty active and get together regularly. They have a  nice clubhouse for gatherings. A large group meets on some mornings for coffee and on some afternoons they play games. Of course, holidays are a great reason for a gathering and they had more than 45 get together for a 4th of July barbeque.

A great group of people and lots of great food made for an extremely nice get-together. I should have taken more pictures but I forgot to bring a camera and totally forgot about the phone camera until things were winding down. Anyway, you get the idea and can probably imagine how much noise there was with all of the spirited conversations around the room. 

Sunday, July 2, 2017, Soggy Pool Party

Joani and I lived in Tennessee during our teen years, so we still have some high school friends that live in the area.

Good friends Joey and Susan held their annual Independence Day Pool Party (a few days early). All went well until a pretty violent storm decided to rage over our heads. Joey checked his radar app and found it was just a small storm. Unfortunately, it parked above us and dumped between 5 and 6 inches of rain on the party - it was easy to gauge by the water level in the pool. Everyone huddled under the cabana poolside but with the wind, we were all soaked eventually.

Several times the lightning struck so close the flash of light and crack of thunder appeared simultaneously. In fact, one lightning strike was close enough to the house that it fried their big flat screen TV and satellite dish receiver.

When the torrential downpour eased up a bit we made a dash to the house and gorged ourselves on delicious ham sandwiches and a wide array of sides and desserts. Even with the rain, it was a great afternoon and a nice start to our stay in Tennessee.