It’s Bristol Baby!! Visiting The Bristol Motor Speedway

Last week I had a three day meeting in Bristol, Virginia/Tennessee. Bristol Virginia and Bristol Tennessee actually share a main street called State Street, where you can stand in both states at one time.

I left out early on Monday morning. I was coming in from the Tennessee side. It was about a 3.5 hour drive for me. I was having a meeting with our tourism attractions organization, Southern Highlands. This is a group of tourism attractions and we meet about three times a year. We visit other attractions and learn the different ways they do things within their organizations. It is such a learning experience. We discuss point of sale systems, websites, ticketing and lots of other things.

I got into Bristol Virginia around 11:30 AM. Our first meeting started at noon with lunch. After a short lunch we had our meeting for about 2 hours. When our meeting ended we boarded a couple of vans and took off for The Bristol Motor Speedway.

I had been to the Speedway twice before. But I had never ridden on the track in a pace car. The last time we went out on the track it was in a Ford Bronco. So this time was very different. I was a little nervous. Three of us could ride at one time so having a couple of friends with me helped. They let me sit in the front seat.

The driver started out fast and got faster in the straightaways where we were up to 95 MPH. My hair was whipping straight back behind me. We went around the track several times. It was awesome!!!! After the ride I climbed out of the car and my legs were shaking.

After everyone had a chance to ride we did a tour of one of the private suites belonging to one of the drivers. It was probably as big as some houses. It was very nice with lots of seating and a private bar and kitchenette.

You can see why my legs were shaking when I got out of the car.

We were there for a couple of hours and then moved on to the next stop, The Birthplace Of Country Music Museum. I will share that with you in a different post. There is so much history there.

A few facts about The Bristol Motor Speedway:

The Speedway is a 0.533-mile oval short track. Billed as the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile and has been a site of many memorable NASCAR moments.
It is actually located in Bristol Tennessee.
Opened in 1961.
Capacity is 160,000 some of the turns are 24-48 degrees.
Featured in Toy Story, specifically in the scene where the characters race toy cars in the “Race Track” sequence.

I hope you enjoyed this short adventure to The Bristol Motor Speedway. Check out their website, www.bristolmotorspeedway.com

Always remember

Love your day your way!!! N

A Busy Week And An Earthquake

Hello and happy Monday. It is not often that we have earthquakes in our neck of the woods but we had one Saturday morning. Yep you heard that right. I was cleaning house upstairs and hubby was cleaning downstairs. He had his headphones on as he usually does when he vacuums. I was in the bedroom and suddenly everything started shaking. We have a large armoire with mirrors on the front. It started shaking like crazy. The windows were rattling. I yelled downstairs and by this time hubby noticed it too. He yelled for me to come downstairs. It seemed like it lasted forever. My sister who lives thirty minutes from me called and they had also experienced it.

Turns out it was a 4.1 earthquake centered just about 10 miles from us near Greenback Tennessee. It was felt from Atlanta Georgia to parts of North Carolina. Wow!! I am hoping for no aftershocks.

I spent most of last week in Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia with the attractions group that my work is a part of. I will give you a more in depth post on that visit tomorrow. Bristol is about a four hour drive for me. I left early last Monday because my first meeting didn’t start until noon. It was a full couple of days. I got back to my house Wednesday evening and I was so tired I collapsed on the couch and didn’t move.

Because I was gone most of last week for my attractions group meeting I was only at work on Thursday. I came in and caught up on a few things. On Friday I went with my sister for her appointment with her oncologist. We had to wait almost three hours but it was okay because she is in full remission. That news was well worth waiting for.

We did a little shopping after the doctor visit. I bought two planters at T.J. Maxx.

***I added a couple of succulents to this kitty planter.***

***And I put one of my smaller orchids in this sheep? ram?***

I spent most of the weekend at home. I made a yellow Bundt cake. It stuck really bad. Note to self, please use parchment paper, I just put it back together and slapped some chocolate icing on it and it was fine. And of course I knitted and crocheted the day away. AHHH a good weekend.

***This is a picture of the side of the cake that didn’t stick to the pan.***

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day. My mama has been gone for many years. And we lost my little mother in law last July. It’s always a bit sad when we think of them no longer being with us.

My orchids are still doing very well even my miniature orchid, Ingrid, is blooming. I just love this color.

That was my week last week. I barely had time to do anything at home or on the blog. I did post a Wordless Wednesday. It was made up of sunrises and sunsets over the years. If you missed it you can check it out here.

Have a wonderful week and join me back here tomorrow for a new post on my time in Bristol, Virginia/Tennessee. I will give you a teaser. I got to ride on the Bristol Motor Speedway!!!! What????

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

April Showers Bring the Flowers

April showers have definitely delivered the flowers around here lately and it’s not even quite May yet. Well one more day, and I can’t even believe that April is gone. It only lasted about ten minutes.

I had a very quiet weekend. I worked on a crochet project most of the weekend. I can’t show it to you yet because it is a gift and a surprise. I also started another scarf. I just love making scarves. They are easy and soothing and I have probably made a hundred of them. One day when I retire I will set up a booth at one of the craft fairs and sell my scarves and things.

It seems as though everything is springing to life with a “look at me look at me” shout. There are about a million colors of green and so many flowers.

My roses are blooming, the azaleas just finished blooming and it just smells wonderful outside.

***My roses have been really pretty this year.***

***The Azaleas have almost lost all of their blooms. This was just a few days ago and they’re almost gone now***.

***These are some wild roses that bloom where I work. They smell so good.***

***The Irises bloomed quick and fast and were gone before I could turn around. I really need to thin them. I think they would grow much better.***

I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week. Enjoy your days and don’t forget to smell the flowers they are especially wonderful in this part of the country.

Don’t forget

Love your day your way!!!!!!!

Dogwood Winter, Orchids and Sourdough Bread

Hello friends, How was your weekend? Easter is always a special family time for us. We went to my sister’s house for a cook-out. I made baked beans and some cookie bars. How did you spend your Easter Sunday?

***My cookie bars just before baking them.***

I have been sitting in the early mornings listening to the whippoorwills while I drink my coffee. Whippoorwill winter will be here soon. All last week we were experiencing Dogwood winter. The Dogwood trees are now fully bloomed out and the temps have turned quite warm again. Dogwood winter was very nice while it lasted. Cool mornings and warm afternoons.

***I think the Dogwood is one of the most beautiful trees.***

I mentioned last week that I had visited Harmony Lane Farms in Smithville Tennessee. If you missed that post check it out Here. I took a sample of their sour doughbread starter. I didn’t have time to make the sourdough bread when I brought the starter home. I kept the starter in the refrigerator and took it out last Friday to feed it and get it to room temperature to get it ready to make bread. Just like my yeast bread it is a two day process. If you are unsure of making sourdough bread check out some of the YouTube or Instagram videos out there. There’s so many good ones. I think I’ve watched about a million trying to get different ideas of how people do theirs.

I fed the bread on Friday morning around 5:00 AM and marked my jar to be able to see if the starter was active and rising. I came home Friday night and ran to the kitchen to check the starter and it was rising. It had almost doubled in size. I fed it again that night and the next morning I started the bread.

There is a lot of stretching and folding when you are dealing with sourdough bread. It took most of the day, off and on. I finished it in the afternoon and decided to let the dough sit in the refrigerator overnight. I had read that this makes for a more flavorful bread. On a side note I made more bread a couple of days later and didn’t do all of the stretching and folding and I didn’t leave it in the fridge as long. I couldn’t tell a bit of difference. I did stretch and fold a few times and let it rest and rise for a few hours.

***This is the proofing basket. I used to put the dough in after I had folded it and seamed the bottom.***

I baked the bread on Sunday morning. I was very happy with the way it turned out. It is very different from my yeast bread and the artisan bread that I make.

***I love the color and the texture of this bread.***

I celebrated my birthday this week and my 35th wedding anniversary. I don’t know if I told you but I got married on my Birthday. So we have a double celebration. I asked for an ice cream maker for my Birthday. The electric kind not the one you churn by hand. No thank you on the hand crank job I remember those from my childhood. Hubs and I took the day and did a little shopping and went out to eat. Very low key.

***My morning view a couple of times last week.***

I had read that if your cat has a box to play and sleep in it makes them more sociably comfortable and happy. I fixed a box for the kitties. They were very interested. Gus was the first one in it.

And then Kitty Kitty got in after Gus had finished inspecting it.

As soon as Gus saw Kitty Kitty in “his” box he ran straight into it and pushed Kitty Kitty out. The fight was on. I went down to the basement and got a second box and fixed it up for them. And wouldn’t you know it, neither one would have anything to do with the second box. Now they have lost interest in both boxes. Oh well it was an experiment.

***Several of my orchids are blooming and I am just loving all the different colors.***

That is what has been going on around here how is your week going?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!