What I did on my Summer Vacation

Hopefully this entry won't create the same social upheaval as Two Flower's book of the same name. I don't want to topple empires or play into the hands of a despotic maniac. So this will be pretty simple, maybe a highlight from each day. Since the major details have been covered by Mom and Ann the outline of the vacation has already been sketched.
Friday, 7/14. I already blogged about Friday. I do want to note The Lost Dogs again. I had just gotten their album "The Nazarene Crying Towel" and it's a good one. They were once a cool band of 4 friends each from different Christian bands who came together to make folk rock/country music together. One died tragically in 1999. As they sing on their album "Real Men Cry" released after his death, "He's a three legged dog but he's still pretty good." The three legged band (technically six, I suppose) still put out some good stuff.
Saturday, 7/15. I had a good time riding down to Nashville with Mom and Daddy.
Sunday, 7/16. I enjoyed our time at the Northgate Vineyard. It was a nice service and good to hear the pastor's determination to follow what he feels God is leading him to in planting the church there in Hendersonville. It helped me picture a little of what my church must have been like 6 years before I came when there were just a few people gathered in the faculty lounge at Mundelein High School. It was also good to pray for someone's healing and annoint them. I started Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner this afternoon. It was good to read after seeing her at ATLA. Too bad she's married.
Monday, 7/17. Mmmm. Cabbage curry and chapatis. They might not ought to be an art, but they sure were good. Ann and Daniel fed us well all week. As I recall this was also my first Chick-Fil-A experience. The chicken strips were okay but not thrilling. If I ever go again I'll try a sandwich.
Tuesday, 7/18. I think I liked best the Chineses acrobats at the Opryland Hotel. They were pretty amazing. The water show was nice also.
Wednesday, 7/19. We got to search for lamb across Madison and Hendersonville. No luck. We did also get to go to a nice little used bookstore in H'ville, Ms. B's. I didn't buy anything but there was some good stuff. It had one of the best philosophy sections of a store that size that I've seen. Also, Mom picked me up a copy of Artemis Fowl. We had Daddy's goulash. That's some good eatin'.
Thursday, 7/20. The highlight was definitely the Marty Stuart show at the Ryman. I'm not gonna be dissin' the Moong Dal and rice, tasty and filling. Nor am I down on Dosas with coconut chutney, not bad once you accept the coconut won't be sweet like in a mounds bar. I won't scoff at the art in the Parthenon, even if the replica chryselephantine Athena was kind of tacky the painting downstairs were nice. Jack-in-the-Box had a good patty melt and the Nugent girl who opened for Marty had some nice stuff. But it was Marty all the way with his mandolin pickin', bluesgrass, discograss, Rolling bluegrass Stone covering ways. That was a fun show. That Stubbs fella can fiddle, Cushman can banj, Cousin Kenny can pick some great bluesgrass guitar, and Leroy Troy can spin a banjo and a funny song with equal ease. The highlight of the show for me I think was listening to Marty and Kenny imitate dueling bluesmen on a couple of pieces. Maybe it was the gospel stuff. Maybe it was the 6 song encore set with Stubbs, Cushman, and Marty pickin' and fiddlin' in a huddle. I felt sorry for the banjo player that was playing with the band most of the night. He seemed to be outside all the fun. It was a good show.
Friday, 7/21. Good French Toast and fairwell to Dan and Anniel. Actually Daniel was gone when I woke up so he didn't get fairedwell. Hey Howdy to Lydia and Geron. I think today's highlight fell somewhere in between Geron's good grilled food, losing two games of Settlers of Cataan (I should probably rethink my strategy for playing with Sip and Geron, 4 games this trip, goose egg wins for me), and starting Artemis Fowl. That was a fun book
Saturday, 7/22. If we consider the Settlers games and Artemis holdovers from the day before, today's highlight was eating supper at Ichiban and having dinner cooked in front of me. Steak, chicken, and fried rice. There's virtually no way to go wrong with that, assuming you can cook. Add in some exciting Japanese cookery and good company and you've a got a meal. I'd eat there again. Breakfast at Lillie Mae's was also not to be sneezed at. Nobody should sneeze at a good slab of country ham. I can't get it here so it's always an important culinary part of going home.
Sunday, 7/23. The highlight might have been sleeping in a bed after a week of air matresses or the nice service at Sip and Geron's church but I think it was lunch with Lydia, Geron, Mom, Dad, Ann, and Daniel. Geron says his barbecue wasn't very good so I've got to get back down there sometime when he's on his game. Pity they'll probably be too busy for barbecuin' the next time I'm down. McKay's bookstore was also not without it's charms in a bludgeoning kind of way. That many used books puts me in a state of euphoria that makes it hard to register much. I did grab a copy of Good Omens by Pratchett (source of the opening allusion) and Gaiman. This way Jenn will know her nagging, though it seemeth barren, some fruit hath born. Unfortunately said fruit was born into a long q, what with the Winners, Fowls, Dekker Circles, and all else begging to be read. As I mentioned a week earlier in this post I like riding with Mom and Dad and we had a good trip home.
Monday, 7/24. The vacational highlight here was listening to about half of The Hobbit on cd as I made good time back to the land of Lincoln and not getting caught in any traffic jams except for the inevitable 80-94 bottle neck. Even that was only merely slow for about 10 minutes, or Thorin and company getting chased up trees by the Wargs. The real highlight of today was probably LifeGroup but since that was post vacational it'll get mentioned later.

As a final point I'll note that nobody submitted a potential post so we'll go back to our regular randomly scheduled mixture of long winded, abrupt, and Monday sabbatarian.