Springtime lunch walk around Nashville's Bicentennial Mall

This week reminded me what a delight it is to live in Middle Tennessee during the spring and to work downtown in such a beautiful city as Nashville.
















I took my camera along on a walk around the Bicentennial Mall during lunch the other day.













Looked at the granite plaques celebrating Tennessee's land shapes,
















Musical roots,
















nature,
















landscape,

















the first Tennesseans,
















trails,
















geology
















and rivers
















as well as a huge walking map of the state
















Walked by the amphitheater
















enjoyed the redbuds in flower
















and another tree whose buds are red,
















but turn white upon opening
















like this.
















I walked farther along the mall
















approaching the carillon
















that plays "The Tennessee Waltz" every hour on the hour
















which you can enjoy in 360-degree stereo
















got an interesting angle on one of the towers
















and another
















then started back the other direction toward the capitol (on the hill in the distance)
















got a little closer
















down the sidewalk





















then as I approached a stand of redbud trees
















stopped to admire some tiny red berries on a bush
















and got a closer look














and enjoyed a view of the redbuds against the blue sky
















then observed the state flags against the same blue sky






















before returning to work, where a large magnolia tree spreads its branches.

Busy weekend

It was a busy weekend.

Went to Senior Brunch at church Saturday morning,















Where we helped serve the old folks
and I took about 3oo pictures.
We took 15 our year-old niece with us; she helped a lot.

That evening we put niece on the plane home.










Whew!
After returning home,
we anxiously watched the flight status until her plane took off.







Then we got comfortable,
I fixed a fire in the fireplace,











we had a nice long, long talk
then caught up on some long-overdue loving.













Later heated up some leftover homemade lasagna.












Sunday I was a greeter for the 11:00 service.

















That day was our new minister's installation,
and I had been asked to take pictures.













Sunday morning I took about 300,
and that afternoon/evening I took another 400,
which made 1,000 in all.

And so after 9 hours on my feet taking pictures,
I was TIRED!
















































We finally left the church about 7:00,
looking forward to a relaxing evening at home.
But just 4 miles from our exit on I-65
we noticed flashing blue lights up ahead,
















and the traffic came to a complete standstill.














This traffic jam would be more interesting













But I digress.

After a little while we saw the Life Flight helicopter coming.










No one could tell what was going on,
although one man said he heard that a semi had flipped over on top of a car.
















After 45 minutes the traffic started moving,
and we were able to tell that the problem had been in the southbound lane.

So we got home about 8:15.
I lit a fire, and we watched a little TV.
Saw that my daughter's alma mater, George Mason,












had won its game,
and was now in the Final Four!










At 10 we shuffled off to bed
and promptly fell into a deep sleep,














interrupted only by my alarm going off at 6:00 this morning.