June 13, 2020
by jenniferpuryear
Beth Alexander stops in at Bacon today with a radiant essay on a favorite children’s book. She makes me want to stay in bed and read – to ignore the glorious summer morning and the flowers that need watering and the laundry that needs doing and the bills that need paying. (Perhaps I shall read in bed, for just a little while, perhaps a book …
May 24, 2020
by jenniferpuryear
In January of this year, Caroline Hawkins was teaching in Uganda. Her younger sister Eliza was studying in Sydney. Middle brother Charlie was working in Dallas. The kids found their way home to Nashville as the virus spread, and the girls are staying for a while. Caroline, Eliza, and their mom Elizabeth stop in at Bacon today to reflect on the unexpected…
May 21, 2020
by jenniferpuryear
Sometimes a girlfriend knows you better than you know yourself. Sometimes a girlfriend likes you better than you like yourself. Sometimes a girlfriend laughs with you and helps you laugh at yourself. Agenia Clark and Marlee Mitchell make each other laugh, and they’ll make you smile too! Agenia Clark is the charismatic CEO of Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee; Marlee Mitchell is a badass, National-Park-loving …
May 7, 2020
by jenniferpuryear
You can’t miss Giancarlo and Shirley Guerrero in a crowd. They are gorgeous, warm, and effusive. They have embraced Nashville – and Nashville loves them right back. Giancarlo, a six-time Grammy-Award-winning conductor, is now in his 11th season as Music Director of the Nashville Symphony. (He also serves as Music Director of the Wrocław Philharmonic in Poland and Principal Guest Conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra …
April 19, 2020
by jenniferpuryear
This week, I spotted 4 vultures in a tree in our yard, a wandering turkey two houses down, two ducks enjoying a conjugal visit in a local pond, and cardinals and mockingbirds, in particular, establishing territory. I also spotted two couples from our neighborhood who came over for an outdoor, socially distant cocktail (on different afternoons). I was kind-of worried about the vultures, but a …
April 2, 2020
by jenniferpuryear
It was announced yesterday that Governor Bill Lee has suspended all alcohol sales in Tennessee beginning Friday. Jaws dropped. Hearts raced. A wave of unrest swept social media. Total sobriety in the Time of Corona? And then…
March 31, 2020
by jenniferpuryear
Today my friend Beth Alexander reflects on her trip to Israel a few weeks ago, before the world changed. “Parents permeate the lives of their children,” she writes…
October 1, 2019
by jenniferpuryear
The grass in my yard crunches underfoot, yellow as straw in some places. Pepper rouses small tornadoes of dust as she chases the squirrels. Yet the trees remain mostly green heading into October – a dry green, a stubborn green – full of vitality even though some few leaves brown early and fall in the heat. Today’s poem by Mary Oliver says exactly what I …
August 26, 2018
by jenniferpuryear
Book Title: Ordinary Grace
I asked today’s guest writer, Beth Alexander, for a photo to run with her post. “Don’t you think people have seen enough of me lately?” she asked – laughing, half serious. (She and Patti Smallwood have been hard to miss, it’s true, as Swan Ball co-chairs). Maybe you can send a few historical photos, I suggested… The truth is: We can never get enough …
August 20, 2018
by jenniferpuryear
“What kind of dog is she?” asked the friendly woman at the kennel where I take Pepper for Doggy Daycare. She was picking up her dog too. I’ve only been asked about a thousand times, and I never have just the right answer. “She is – a black dog. We tell her all the time that she won the genetic lottery,” I said, smiling, as …