Chattanooga Part II

Well, here is the color on that same mountain side I shared in the last photo.  2 weeks later.  Joann just sent me this as a comparison of color from our trip out to Chattanooga.  DARN!!!! Guess we’ll just have to go back another year.
 
We got to see some pretty color though… you can see the tree behind us (with the Civil War cannon) here at the visitor center for the Chickamauga Battle Ground.

The park is covered with miles of markers for different battles, remembrances from different states.

So beautiful & yet so sad!

Imagine marching days upon days to come to an area you are totally unfamiliar with.  To sneak around in woods like these never knowing who you will meet. 

Thousands of men dead.  Dying…. Wounded…. Brothers fighting brothers.  Family killing family.  Over ideas, over maintaining life as they knew it.   SAD!  Thank God we haven’t had that here in this country again.  Thank you Mike for sharing your vast knowledge of this subject.

Just a tiny bit of personal family history… My Grandmother’s Great Grandfather (on Daddy’s side) was a much decorated General in this battle & there was a lot of information we saw while there at the battle grounds.  His name was William Rosecrans (click HERE to learn a bit more about him).  When I go out to Manhattan Beach for one of Kim Caldwell’s events & stay at The Belamar Hotel, I always marvel at seeing Rosecrans AVE knowing it is named after someone in MY FAMILY!!!

Next on the agenda was a ride on that boat you see docked on the Tennessee River.  It is a jet speed boat (that hydro foils at 56 miles an hour) called the River Gorge Explorer.  It goes so fast that it planes up OFF the water when it is cruising.  Click the blue name/link above to go to the site to get more information.

Leaving port we saw the city views from the river.

Once we reached the Tennessee River Gorge we saw the multi million dollar homes off Signal Mountain.

Here’s a beautiful shot of some of the homes down on the water & if you look very closely at the top/middle of that largest mountain… that’s the signal point.  The Union soldiers would watch Lookout Mountain & signal to the troops on the ground the points of interest to help them win the battles taking place in that area.  The photo below is taken with a telephoto lens so it helps you see the “look out” better.

And the photo below is of “The SUCK”.  It is a fast moving stream coming out of the mountain & before they built the series of damns to help to control flooding on the river (& raised the level of the river over 30 feet), this place was the scene of some terrible river disasters.  In fact, a large paddleboat sits at the bottom here (about 130 feet below now).  It all looks so calm & harmless.   Modern technology is truly amazing.  But, just below this point in “Hell’s Kitchen” there have been 2 sinking’s recently (barges heavily loaded & unable to maneuver the twist & turns).

Hubby & I LOVED the house below.  We could see ourselves living there with our deck boat in the boat house.  Coffee in the morning on that deck… & a glass of wine watching the sun set.  What this Texas girl won’t do to escape the heat…

Speaking of houses…

A YACHT…The second little photo shows it coming up behind us.   WOW It’s name was Freedom.  Our captain said it had multiple luxury staterooms on board, a hot tub, & a full staff.  Now that’s the way to travel in luxury!  Where were they going?  The Tennessee/Alabama College football game that was to be played the following weekend.  Mike says that they don’t tailgate for this game they all come in on their boats & they cookout & party on the boats.  People mooring out in the river & crossing from/through one persons boat to the next to get to shore for the game.
 
Right behind him came a HOUSE BOAT flying the Alabama University flag.

You can see the shadows are starting to fall over the mountain & the homes along it’s bank so it’s time to head back to Chattanooga.

The lights on the pier are so pretty when we get back.

We drove down river to one of Mike & Joann’s favorite places to eat & had a wonderful table on the outside patio.  Thank you for two marvelous days.  So much history & so much natural beauty.  Tomorrow… we’re off to Lynchburg for a tour at Jack Daniels Distillery.    Hope you’ll come back in a few days to see a few shots of that.
HUGS!  Charlene

Fall Color in Tennessee

We just don’t get color like this in Texas! 

So, we headed out to see our friends Joann & Mike.  They used to live here in Texas but, got sick of the heat & moved back to Chattanooga, TN where they had lived years ago.  They built this darling house at the TOP of a mountain.  In a subdivision.  I can tell you that on an icy day they better be stocked up as they’ll never make it up!

With views  2 DIE 4!  Below is right out the front door.  Taken from their front yard.   How’s that for a view to wake up to?

The photo below shows the start down the hill.  You just go to the left of the photo & turn right onto the street & go DOWN!!!!!!!!

Off to the side of their driveway, the neighbor has these adorable cut out bears & poor Elle just couldn’t get over they weren't real.  Again, check out that view.

And on the back…  A screened porch HIGH up in the trees.  This is right off the kitchen/living room & I can tell you there were a number of cups of coffee & glasses of wine consumed here that week.

We did some shopping & sight seeing around town.

Loved this old Knitting Mill (yes, it really was one) that’s now turned into an Antique Shop.  There are some really cool old buildings in Chattanooga. Click HERE to see another post with lots of photos of Chattanooga from our trip out there in December.

In one store there was this amazing swing.  HUGE!!!!! I would so love this on a big porch in my Dream Home!  It was made to be bigger in size than a twin size bed.  Can you imagine laying on the porch swinging, reading, watching the leaves flutter through the trees????  The photo below shows hubby studying the construction (of course he can build it) but, better this show’s it’s size.

In the same shop they had an Antique Confessional which they used as their dressing room for the clothes that they sold.   The owners daughter in law said they found it in an Antique Store in Florida but, it came from Belgium originally.   BEAUTIFUL!  And what a great idea for it’s new use.

A drive after lunch up to Look Out Mountain.

WHAT VIEWS!

You can see the leaves are just starting to turn.  Don’t you love the ONE red tree there in the middle of photo below?


I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of some of Tennessee’s beauty.  Come back as I’ll be posting some more soon.  Have a great weekend.
HUGS! Charlene

My Whirlwind Life In Progress

How has it been that I have yet another week go by & not a post?  BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!!  Last week my sweet friend Cindy had her BIG FIVE ZERO birthday & we went to lunch.   We met up with Jan & another friend of Cindy’s (from High School). We took her to Cheesecake Factory.

Cindy had Cheesecake but, Jan & I couldn’t pass up the strawberry shortcake!  YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cindy & Julie.  Isn’t it wonderful that friendships from High School are still important on your 50th Birthday?  I LOVE THAT!

Then on Tuesday hubby & I went with friends to the Texas State Fair.  Above you can see the band called Killdare playing on the moving circular stage.  We really liked their music…. Celtic ROCK(click the blue to go to their website & you can hear their music).  What fun that was & WOW we were really BAD as we bought not one but, TWO expensive items.   A massage chair & a hot tub.  Hubby has a broken foot (old injury) & he has a lot of pain there & in his shoulders/neck.  Both these things will help him (& me) alot.  The chair gets delivered Sunday & the hot tub comes toward the end of the month.  Also, remember the bathroom remodel I told you about?  Well, other than the plantation shudder being ordered that is all complete & I wanted to show you a few photos…

I didn’t take a “BEFORE” photo of the wall paper or other tile on the floor.  The shower was a simple fiberglass builder supplied shower.  Anyone who knows me (& Hubby) knows we aren’t small people… so a bigger shower would be a plus.  The shower tiles had small cracks so it was time to demo the whole shower.

EVERYTHING  had to come out of the closet… Every piece of clothing, jewelry, shoes, purses… you get the picture.  A LOT OF STUFF was all over the house.  And then we had to empty everything out of the bathroom.  Again, every bottle, jar, tube… A HUGE MESS!  And a LOT of work.

This is the guest room bed.   TRY to get dressed & find what you want to wear in this mess.  FOR 3 WEEKS!!!

In our bedroom all the furniture was wrapped in plastic.  And at night we had to uncover the bed as there wasn’t another bed to sleep in.

In the living room everything was under plastic too because they were chipping old tile off the fireplace & putting on new stone. In the bedroom too, as we have a fireplace in the master bedroom.  I LOVE how both fireplaces turned out.  Below is the one in the bedroom the day they finished (sorry I hadn’t cleaned the floor yet as the grout was still wet).

Well, after 3 LONG weeks of being torn up… Come on in let’s have a tour.

The wall paper WAS a faux white moiré fabric look with a floral border.  NOW… a heavy textured “Tuscan” style look on the walls.  The old tile was a blue/green mix & the old shower was small white tiles with small fiberglass base.

I love the new shower which is much larger & has a seat & fabulous shelves to hold all the “must haves” like different bath gels & shampoo’s.

We took the huge ugly builder mirror off this wall above the vanity.  And we added the two separate mirrors & changed out the light fixture (with a shell/pearl type finish on the shades).  The jetted jacuzi tub & the white cabinets are the only thing that is original to the room.  I simply put on new knobs & we put a new granite top on it with under mount sinks.  I LOVE IT!

Last spring at Round Top Antique Fair I bought those 3 beautiful bottles from my friend Agnes (Wild Weeds is the name of her space at Marburger Farms Show) of mine & knew I would find just the right place to display them.  The other 2 blingy shells are from Vignettes, in San Diego CA (met her when we went to the shop during on of Kim’s Events).Everyone who knows me knows I am CRAZY for all things shells, beach, ocean, & mermaid. 

Here’s a view of the little shelf above my tub.  So many of my Sea Treasures are there.  Do you LOVE the rock we put around the tub(& it goes down the front too) as much as I do?  This is the same stones, only larger in size, we used for the fireplaces.  Up on the shelf you see the vintage aquarium mermaid I bought in Round Top laying in her “Ocean Inspired” nest.  And a beautiful vintage shell plate (again… Round Top).  And the book was a creation my talented friend Sandy made for me last Christmas.

Some more treasures…  The star fish again a present from Sandy.  The tall candle holder I found while out “junking” with Joy & Natalie this summer in Lodi (see HERE for that post).  I LOVE it too don’t you?  Such a simple but, fun thing & I want to create some more.

As I said before, the lace curtains are simply until I can get the plantation shutter made for that window.  Also, the little white shelf below the window (not the one the pretties are setting on as it’s the new travertine) will be the same black granite (with gold & bronze specks) like the counter top.  I will order that & have it installed after the holidays.

There’s a tall shelf above the closet & I’ve added some more ocean goodies & a little light that has a vintage French Lampshade on it.  With the help of a timer that comes on & becomes the night light about 7 PM every evening.  And last but, not least, my bathing maiden…  She’s framed & hangs over the tub.  I have had this picture for at least 25 years & I love her today as much as I did when I first saw her.

I hope you enjoyed the little “Catch Up” of my life.  And did you enjoyed the tour of the bathroom remodel? A lot of work & money but, we love it!  Now, it’s getting ready for “the chair” to arrive which means moving a bunch of furniture, a doctor appointment with the cardiologist to check out hubby’s heart (2 years ago he had open heart surgery for valve replacement) & an anniversary trip (42 years…. WOW were did time go) to Chattanooga. TN to visit friends & do the fall foliage river boat ride on the Tennessee River.  So it looks like my world will keep twirling at break neck speed but, hey… it keeps me busy & not bored.  Stop back soon. 

HUGS! Charlene