Tag: Tennessee

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The Day I Met Loretta Lynn

The recent passing of Nashville Country Music Star Loretta Lynn naturally reminded me of the day I met her and we chatted briefly.

It was some time during the 1990-93 first three years after my divorce and I had graduated from a student in the Divorce Recovery Class to the teacher of the new recovery group that included the bass player for Loretta’s Band. He asked me if I would like to watch the taping of a TV show from backstage and of course I said, “Yes!”

First he took me on one of their tour buses and I met band members and 3 of Loretta’s spoiled kids (as young adults at the time), then when we got backstage Loretta showed up and I was introduced to her and we had a very brief chat. It was like meeting family and she was so quiet yet very friendly and courteous to me. I later told my friend that she reminded me of my Mother (even though Mom did not sing). And if someone reminds me of my Mom, that is a compliment! 🙂

I have met several other “famous” people in my lifetime, but this brief encounter was one of the more special ones because she reminded me of my mother! 🙂

I had no camera with me at the time (before cellphones), so no photos of the encounter, but several years later in 2007 I visited Hurricane Mills where she and her family lived, so here’s three photos from Hurricane Mills, Tennessee:

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WALKING PATHS of My Adult Life

Had I not married, hiking would have been my avocation or how I spent all my time when not working to pay the bills. 🙂 But that’s not the way my life worked out. So I squeezed in as much as I could, though mostly before marriage and after the divorce with some during marriage, and the memories of all those times among nature are some of the greatest treasures I have. Most of my photography on backpacking trips and day hikes were of the scenery and nature, but I have a few of me on the hiking trails I will show below on the post-email section of the blog, plus even more of hiking groups I either led (most of them) or participated in group hikes. These will be galleries and you can click an image to see its larger full-frame pix and/or a manual slideshow if you wish.

For the 10 years I lived in downtown Nashville I walked nearly every day in Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park.

The feature photo at top is of my Vasque Hiking Shoes, the best hiking shoes I ever had!

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STREET ART: Nashville

My last post in this Street Art series will be from my last hometown in the states before moving to Costa Rica: Nashville, Tennessee USA (where I lived from 1977-2014 less 3 of those years in The Gambia). As in other places, Street Art was not my focus as a nature photographer, but this is a sampling with some commissioned art I’m sure.

There is so much “purposed” Street Art in Nashville that it leaves not much demand for “graffiti-style” art as you can see in my gallery: Pre-Costa Rica NASHVILLE Photos 1977-2014 within which you can find statues and architectural art along with art projects like the 2010 Bike Rack Sculptures, 2005 Guitars, and 2003 Catfish art objects found all over Nashville! Those are really a type of “Planned Street Art” as are some beautiful special installations like at Music Circle and Riverfront Park included in another gallery Public Art & Statues. Nashville is worth exploring by the art lover! Not to mention some great art museums & galleries! 🙂

Nashville Street Art
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My Nashville Zoo Photos Posted

As noted earlier, one of the things I’m doing more of during the “lock-down” time is trying get all of my old photos culled through and posted in one place.

One of the biggest collections is from my 10 years of volunteer work at Nashville Zoo and my Nashville Zoo Gallery is now completed. It includes one of my biggest collections of bird photos along with so many other animals and a really large number of people photos which was what the Zoo PR Dept. wanted a lot of. It was a nice re-living of many great memories at Nashville Zoo. And as I go through other photo files I expect to find more of Nashville Zoo, like when friends and family visited, I often took them to the zoo but haven’t gotten to those photos yet!   🙂

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Organized in 6 super-galleries with many sub-galleries under each.

 

And check out the current Nashville Zoo Website – A wonderful zoo!

¡Pura Vida!

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WILDFLOWERS – Tennessee & Costa Rica

Okay, yesterday I compared waterfalls so today as I finished my last gallery in the Pre-Costa Rica TENNESSEE Photos gallery, I must do the same with wildflowers. The last gallery for the state of Tennessee is simply Tennessee WILDFLOWERS and again I tried to pick just one photo from each of about 150 species of wildflowers for this gallery with more variety or multiple images in the location galleries where they first appear. The wildflowers were another of the many elements of nature that I enjoyed during my 37 years in Tennessee with an amazing variety!

Shot with Velvia Film
Tennessee Coneflower  —  Growing across from my Nashville row house in the Bicentennial Capital Mall State Park where I spent many hours with nature.

And the featured photo at top is on a huge Magnolia tree in the same park near my house. The beauty of nature is everywhere!

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Similarly I have enjoyed the beautiful tropical wildflowers (most of my garden is wildflowers). See my Costa Rica through regional flower galleries in my big gallery of flowers I call FLORA & FOREST Costa Rica. Click and enjoy! I’ve only been here 5 and a half years, but spend most of my time with nature now! Just one of the many reasons I love being Retired in Costa Rica!

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Growing in a ditch along my street uphill from my house. Pura vida!

 

“Do you know why wildflowers are the most beautiful blossoms of all, my son?”

Dain shook his little head.

Soft waxen curls blew forward in the breeze as she lifted her storm-gray eyes to gaze out over the sea of petals. “Wildflowers are the loveliest of all because they grow in uncultivated soil, in those hard, rugged places where no one expects them to flourish. They are resilient in ways a garden bloom could never be. People are the same, son—the most exquisite souls are those who survive where others cannot. They root themselves, along with their companions, wherever they are, and they thrive.”

― Micheline Ryckman, The Maiden Ship

 

¡Pura vida!

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Tale of Two Waterfall States

Virgin Falls with Photography Club May 8,. 2004
Virgin Falls, Tennessee

One of my nature loves in both Tennessee and Costa Rica is waterfalls (somewhere just after birds and butterflies!)    🙂    And as I have been updating my photo galleries with a new “Pre-Costa Rica TENNESSEE Photos” gallery I have loaded my photos of all 54 Tennessee state parks plus state natural areas and a few separate independent waterfalls with multiple shots of each waterfall. To bring them all together I created a Tennessee WATERFALLS gallery with just one shot of each of 36 waterfalls I photographed in that state with more shots of each falls in the place galleries.

 

 

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Nauyaca Falls, Costa Rica

And you may already be aware of my Costa Rica WATERFALLS gallery with shots of 38 waterfalls I’ve photographed here over the first five+ years. In some ways tropical waterfalls are different but in even more ways they are similar, being in the mountains with usually uphill trails to the falls and then downhill trails to the plunge pools. I guess the type of plants and animals around the falls are the biggest differences. I love waterfalls everywhere and when back to traveling again, Walter is going to take me north of Atenas to some places where I can photograph about 5 more waterfalls. So the gallery will continue to grow! Enjoy! ¡Disfruta!

And oh yes, the featured image is Greeter Falls in the South Cumberland State Park, Tennessee.

“Adopt the pace of nature.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson.

¡Pura Vida!

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Praying for Nashville

This morning I prayed for Nashville, Tennessee which was devastated last night with a major overnight tornado.

For those who don’t know, I lived in Nashville for about 37 years (1977-2014, minus 3 in The Gambia) and lived in two of the neighborhoods hit by the tornado last night, Germantown and Hermitage, thus the destruction is very real to me plus I knew people in other areas hit bad, like East Nashville.

But I also know Nashvillians and that they will work together to get through this and be a stronger community because of it. Yet still, I send my sympathies to the many families who lost loved ones last night (19 at last report seen).  Washington Post Article on Storm.

bible verses to get through hard times Beautiful Some inspirational quotes to you through the tough

To Nashville

Love & Pura Vida from your friend in Costa Rica.

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I’m Back at Nashville Zoo!

196_9603-WEBMy first 12 years of retirement in Nashville (2003-2014) found me at The Nashville Zoo almost weekly as the volunteer photographer for awhile and as an Educational Docent for the last 9 years! Well . . . I’m not really back as a person, just in name only, found on one of the bricks on the sidewalk leading up to the new Veterinary Clinic. Check it out! You can actually watch some surgeries through the big plate glass window! Cool!

And on my static web pages under About–Doing Good is a Nashville Zoo Docent page for just a glimpse at what I did for years at my favorite zoo. Or for more of my published photos there see one of my photography pages. Later I will be adding a Nashville Zoo Photo Gallery with some of the hundreds of photos I made there. Another special place in my retirement life!   🙂

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Retirement can be fun and colorful wherever you live! But I still think the best is being:

Retired in Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

🙂

 

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Nature as Art!

“Nature as Art” is what I called my little retirement hobby photo business from around 2004 to 2008, selling art photos out of 3 galleries in Nashville and in Arts & Crafts Fairs all over Tennessee and thrice out-of-state. It was fun at first but soon became hard work with back aches from lifting boxes and tent set-up, etc. and bottom line was my “hobby” was costing me more money than I was making! +Back aches! So I quit in 2008 and had no more back aches! Here’s a slideshow of some of my shows in 2006-2007, my peak year:

Nature as Art: Charlie Doggett Photography 2007

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One of my current efforts is to get all my old favored photos preserved in my online gallery as my only backup in the “cloud.” I have added the old sales photos from my computer organized by the sizes I printed them for sale back then. You can look at them and/or order prints from the SmugMug connected quality vendors, just like you can with any of my Costa Rica photos.   🙂

When you click “BUY” at the bottom right of an opened photo you choose first “Paper Prints” or “Wall Art.” The latter menu includes metal images, my new favorite and they have my old favorite of canvas. Check it out on an image you like from these old Tennessee photos with the most options appearing on the popular sizes back then of 8×10, 8.5×11, and 11×14:

Pre-Costa Rica ART PHOTOS   (New gallery)

Or always my Costa Rica photos at:
Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA

I’m not reviving this memory for money with only a $1 markup on an order credited to me. But as a service for anyone who likes to decorate with photo art, especially Nature as Art!  🙂  Their print options are high-quality and cheaper than I could sell them in my business back then!   🙂

¡Pura Vida!