Chattanooga Diary: 7-14-2013
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| Market Street Bridge and Chattanooga Skyline by Brad Snoke |
I have made the decision to write an online diary about my boring, mundane life
in Chattanooga. This strange idea was the outcome of two articles in the
Chattanooga newspaper, the Times Free
Press. One was an announcement of an upcoming project sponsored by the
Times Free Press titled “Help
us film a day of life in Chattanooga”. The Times Free Press was asking
their readers to film one minute of their lives and upload it to YouTube. They
will take the films and create a larger one about life in Chattanooga. The
other article was “Vast
war letter collection shows sacrifice”. This article by Gillian Flaccus
announced the opening of a new center in Orange, California that will house
over 90,000 wartime letters written by Americans participating in a variety of
wars from the American Revolution to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both
of these articles highlighted the idea that the details of everyday life can be
interesting and of some importance. So as you can see, it is not that I am narcissistic
and so self-absorbed that I think people today care about what I do or how I
spend my time. I do think that it will
tell people what life in this town is like (both now and in the future) and
just might help them decide that Chattanooga is a great place to live, work and
play.
I determined to take advantage of the warm July weather this weekend and hit the yard sales that were about town. My original list consisted of
sales in Ooltewah, East Brainerd, Cleveland and Ringgold. My husband and I
started early with the East Brainerd sales and we purchased something at the
first three sales we stopped by. When our stomachs started growling, we hit the
Gunbarrel Chick-fil-a,
which was wonderful as usual. One stop that was of particular interest was an
estate sale at the old Brainerd
Hills swimming pool across the street from Brown Acres Golf Course. I had
seen this worn-out, empty building and swimming pool many times and was so
interested in getting a closer look. For some reason, it always makes me think
of the resort from “Dirty
Dancing”. Strange, I know. We walked up the hill and made our way into the
side area where the pool could still be seen. The lady hosting the sale had a
large number of items that had been used by the swim club during its heyday. I
purchased four wooden-looking salad bowls for a quarter-a-piece. I would have
loved to see this place when it was being used.
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| Glass Bridge in Downtown Chattanooga by Brad Snoke |
We decided to hit the sales in Ringgold, but after the first stop
we decided it was time to call it a day. Since I had been looking for an old
sheet (for my dog to lie on) and had not found one, we went to the Goodwill Store in East Ridge. I found
exactly what I needed and of course we had to make reference to “popping tags”
to the sales clerk. I am sure he rolled his eyes because you know that every
other customer must say something about it. For those of you who do not know “popping
tags” is a line from the hit song “Thrift Shop” by Maclkemore & Ryan Lewis.
The other highlight of the weekend was a movie marathon that
included “Identity Thief”, “The Call” and “A Good Day to Die Hard”. We
rented the movies from the RedBox at the Walgreens located on the corner of
Gunbarrel and Shallowford Road, near Hamilton Place Mall. It was busy as usual
but it did not take too long to get the movies. “Identity Theft” starring Jason
Bateman and Melissa McCarthy was not as funny as I thought it would be but it
was alright. I absolutely loved the scene where the Chattanooga skyline morphs
into St. Louis’ skyline. “The Call” (Halle Berry) was fabulous. It has been a
long time since I have been that frightened and the ending knocked me off my
feet. It was perfect. “A Good Day to Die Hard” (Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney) was
actually pretty good for an action adventure movie.
I finished up the weekend being a typical grownup doing chores and
grocery shopping. I am hoping that next weekend will include a hike at the
Nature Park at Enterprise South. We shall see what the weather and life brings.
Thank you for stopping by and visiting “Things to do in
Chattanooga”. This blog is where you can read up on all the fun and
interesting things to do in Chattanooga. Feel free to comment or tell
your story about Chattanooga.
