Monday, October 17, 2011

Catching up on columns, Cain and a cross-dressing correction

When we first started Brentwood Home Page, I wrote a column a day. And it about killed me.
“Susan, there’s not a columnist in the country that writes a column every day,” husband Larry said.
Smart man. So I vowed to write three columns a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. And for about a year, I did a pretty good job of hitting my goal.
In recent months, as BHP has grown along with the demands of running a business, it’s been more hit or miss. Some weeks there’s one, sometimes there are three.
I’m not happy about that. To read the rest of the article click here.

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

'Leadership' answers and a silver anniversary celebration...

Want to know what Leadership Brentwood class member was the target of a murder attempt, and what one let Reese Witherspoon have her role in “Man in the Moon”? I’m here to tell you.

If you missed last week’s column that shared “interesting facts” about LBW’s Class of 2012, you can click here for background. If you want to learn more about the class members below as well as the rest of the class, click here.

Who was offered a full scholarship to the Pittsburgh Institute of Art? Matt Boyd, who also has run the Chicago Marathon twice, in 2002 and 2004.

Who once headlined a concert at the Kennedy Center? Educator Deb Enright.

Who was once a target of an attempted murder? ...

To read the rest of the column click here.

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Target of attempted murder now in Leadership Brentwood, and more

My birthday isn’t for another month, but I felt old, really old, last week at the Class of 2012 Leadership Brentwood kickoff reception. If it wasn’t for the wine and beer bar, I would have sworn I had walked into a Youth Leadership Brentwood event.

I stood with my mouth open as class member after class member was introduced. Yes, a handful may have hit 40, even 50, but most looked like they were 17. What’s more, their resumes left me feeling like I had a great big L on my forehead – and I don’t think I was the only one who felt that way.

Read the bios for yourself in our Business section. But today I’d like to share “the rest of the story.” Each year the LBW application asks candidates to list an “interesting fact” about themselves. If I didn’t know a lot of these people myself, I would believe most of the facts were made up. But liars shouldn’t be leaders, right?

To read the rest of the article click here.

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com
Jingle Bell lives on in pictures; snake sighting
A Brentwood celebrity passed away recently just shy of her 17th birthday. Nearly blind and deaf, she “had few teeth left” and severe arthritis. “But she never lost her sweetness and love of affection,” wrote her mom, Brentwood Realtor Cheryl Ballesteros.

For years, Jingle Bell adorned the marketing postcards Cheryl sent to her clients almost every month. I’m pretty sure that dot had more outfits than the biggest clothes horse in Brentwood. And every time one arrived in the mail, I couldn’t help but smile.

To read the rest of the article click here.

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Monday, August 8, 2011

All's 'Fair' in line dancing competition, or is it?

It’s a conspiracy I say.

We all know Williamson County residents who don’t live in Brentwood are jealous of those of us who do. So after the Boot, Scoot and Boogey Line dancing competition that kicked off the Williamson County Fair on Friday was over, I wasn’t surprised to learn that Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson and Franklin Mayor Ken Moore had received the most applause -- which led to a tie for first place.

To read the rest of the article click here.

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

'Limo service' of the blue-light variety quite a ride

So that’s what riding in the back of a police car feels like. Not experienced it yourself? Be grateful.
There’s not much leg room and you can’t open the door. You can’t roll down the window either.
You do have a personal chauffeur that you talk to through a sliding window made from bullet-proof glass between the front and back seats. But there’s no champagne, no surround sound stereo system, no plush carpet. The black seats may have been leather but I wasn’t paying too much attention when I got my lift just after midnight on Monday morning.


So much for an uneventful re-entry into real life after a splendid week on the beach in Hilton Head.

To read the rest of the article click here.

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Monday, August 1, 2011

On beach reads, Borders and Brentwood's UFO sighting

It’s amazing what a week at the beach can do for the soul. The Leathers – the whole family plus mom-in-law Marge and “daughter” Samantha, our 13-year-old brown golden retriever – had our first real family vacation in almost three years.
Overdue? You can say that again.

The best thing about a beach vacation? Reading, of course. And I’m so happy to report that I didn’t see one Kindle or iPad or other e-reader in the hands of one person lounging on the shores at Sea Pines. At the beach where sand, sweat, suntan lotion and saltwater rule, only a good paperback will do.

To read the rest of the article click here.

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Monday, July 25, 2011

Brentwood's greatness didn't just happen by chance

Here’s the truth of the matter: We live in one of the best places in the country. I’ve lived in six states from Virginia to California and feel qualified to make that statement.

Brentwood has a public library that I would put up against any city's of its size anywhere, and most larger cities. We have an exceptional parks system.

If you haven’t noticed, we pay property taxes that are far lower than most of our neighbors. Pair that with the state’s lack of an income tax and it’s hard to complain about the taxes you pay.

To read the rest of the article click here.

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com.

Monday, July 18, 2011

You go girl: County commissioner speaks up for library

County Commissioner Arlene Cooke doesn’t get her dander up very often but last Monday, near the end of the county governing board’s six-hour meeting during which it passed a $388 million budget, she couldn’t sit by and let one item go unchallenged.
After hours and hours of discussion and votes and more discussion and more votes, and after a vote to increase the county’s property tax rate for the first time in almost a decade, 4th District Commissioner Kathy Danner – who represents a small part of the city in addition to Cool Springs and the southeast portion of the county, made a request that the county discontinue its support of the Brentwood Library. That support is $71,000 for the 2011-2012 fiscal year budget.


To read the rest of the article click here.

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Friday, July 15, 2011

And it started out as a week with such promise...

As is too often the case these days, the road was paved with good intentions. But between the news, the business and family matters, BrentWord -- my favorite part of what I do -- has been woefully neglected...

To read the rest of the article
click here.

Susan Leathers is editor of
Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Monday, July 11, 2011

Chow Hound on the prowl for pizza, and maybe a beer

Hungry for pizza? A calzone? Pasta? Don't head to Joey's, he's gone. But Sal's taken his place. But if you want a beer, you'll have to wait until after tonight's Beer Board meeting before tonight's City Commission meeting. And after tonight's meeting, with two rezonings on the agenda, City Commissioners may be looking for a cold beer ... or maybe something a bit stronger after the public hearings are over.

To read the rest of the article
click here.

Susan Leathers is editor of
Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Musings on stereotypes, newspapers and lawsuits

The news last week that the ACLU and The Contributor had filed a lawsuit against the city for violating the freedom of speech left me conflicted. As a member of the press, in an age when real journalism seems under attack from both internal and external forces and when too many abuse the right to freedom of speech as a way to promote their own purposes, I take any real violations personally.
I buy The Contributor whenever I can, whenever I can purchase one safely. It consistently has some good stories and interesting features. As an admitted royal watcher, one of my favorite articles ever concerned Britain’s Prince William and why he is such a supporter of ventures like homeless publications that put people to work and give them hand up instead of a hand out.

To read the rest of the article at Brentwood Home Page click here.

This article also appears in the Tennessean to read it click here.

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Monday, June 27, 2011

Chow hound report: Restaurants coming and going

Hungry? Chow hounds like myself have much to celebrate in Brentwood these days, but we also have some sad news to report.

Anyone who’s been keeping an eye on the construction has probably noticed that First Watch, the new breakfast and lunch restaurant going in at the Harris Teeter-anchored Pear Tree Village shopping center is coming right along. Original estimates were for an August opening. Promise I’ll check with the powers that be to get the scoop this week.

I haven’t eaten there yet, but I did stop by and pick up a menu at the new Satay Thai Grill located in the Brentwood House shopping center on Franklin Road and can’t wait to go back and give it a try. Its owner will be in front of the city’s Beer Board, read that City Commission, tonight hoping to add to its beverage selection.

All in the name of research, I not only stopped by and bought a treat from Beignets Bakery and Cafe, the new little neighborhood spot located near the corner of Franklin Road and Moores Lane. I didn’t get one of its namesake beignets, one of the deep-fried pastries rolled in powdered sugar that many travel all the way to New Orleans to enjoy. Mixed online reviews, however, make me glad I tried a chocolate croissant instead. Delicious.

And then there’s Joey’s House of Pizza. The Italian restaurant that has been a Maryland Farms’ mainstay for almost a decade is moving to a new location on Elm Hill Pike in Nashville. Friends and fans are devastated but owner Joey Macca and his family who run the restaurant assure me it’s going to be a good move for them. He also says that those who need their Italian fix probably won’t have to wait too long before the space smells of oregano again. Details will be forthcoming as soon as I can confirm them.

Continuing our restaurant theme, McAllister’s Deli in Brentwood Place wants everyone’s help so that Brentwood can be named Tea Town USA. Turns out there’s a corporate contest going on that will end with a nonprofit of the winning store’s choice receiving up to $7,500. The Brentwood store is competing for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. The Greater Nashville Race for the Cure returns to Maryland Farms on Oct. 29.

It’s easy to cast a vote for Brentwood. Just visit McAllister’s home page, click the link, and type in Brentwood, Tenn. As of Sunday, it only had 105 votes – far below leading Joplin, Mo. With 7959 (which honestly, deserves all the help it can get after its recent tornado.), Longview, Texas is in second with 5032 votes, and Charlotte, N.C. with 2197.

We have until July 28, which has been declared Free Tea Day. Let’s hope turnout doesn’t rival that of the last city commission election – when few voters cast votes than either Joplin or Longview have received for their iced tea.

And finally, on a non-food related topic, I hope we see a huge crowd Tuesday night at the Brentwood Library for our third BHP Night at the Library. I first became aware of Dr. Jim Wellborn when he spoke to the Parents of Teens Sunday School class I belonged to several years ago. I instantly became a fan. He’s an engaging and open speaker who “tells it like it is” when it comes to today’s teens, and more importantly, different parenting styles.

If you have teens or preteens, consider joining us. It starts at 7 and yes, refreshments will be served.

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

No barn yet but we still have six months until Christmas
Did you see the beautiful landscape of the Turner farm last week when the fresh hay bales dotted the fields surrounding the lonesome silo? It reminded me that I hadn’t checked in with George Crosthwait, the farm’s manager, to see if there is any new news about replacing the landmark barn that had to be torn down in March. A month earlier, the iconic structure had sustained too much damage to repair during a wind storm.

George tells me while nothing has been decided yet, he has met with the city’s planning staff who assured him they would do whatever they could to fast-track a plan if it meets all of the city’s regulations.

Whatever is ultimately decided by Cal Turner Jr. and his son, Cal III, George said the goal will be to design something that will remain there for the long haul. He believes whatever’s built will also serve some purpose beyond being a piece of eye candy to those who love to gaze at the farm while traveling down Franklin Road or as a base for the beautiful, hand-painted Christmas mural that Mr. Turner commissioned years ago to display during the holiday season.

That’s the scoop as I know it today. But George assures me we’ll be the first to know when a decision is made. So stay tuned. Let’s just hope something’s decided and built before Advent season comes around again.

Mission work right here at home
I had a surprise call from an old friend Monday night. She and her daughter are staying in a Maryland Farms hotel this week with 65 youth and chaperones from their church in Richmond, Va. It’s their home base for their summer mission trip. Yes, mission trip.

They are here to help those still in need of home repairs after last year’s floods. Yes, a lot of need remains.

Knowing that so many youth groups from Brentwood will travel hundreds, and even thousands of miles, this summer on to perform mission work elsewhere, got me thinking. Just think about how much work could be done right here in Middle Tennessee that would save hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on those long-distance mission trips -- money could be put to so much use close to home, or sent to help those in Joplin, Mo. or Tuscaloosa, Ala. or Glade Spring Va.

I am glad Emma and her daughter Diana are here. We’ll get a chance to visit and catch up. But still I can’t help but think about the gas and the hours lost traveling and such.

Maybe I’m just jealous because I’m not going on a mission trip this year. A trip to Biloxi a few years ago remains one of the most rewarding trips I’ve ever taken.

Anyone need a chaperone?

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Monday, June 20, 2011

Opining on bumps and lumps, WMC and so much more
Good morning Brentwood!

Please check back for a new BrentWord later today. In the meantime, check out all of our other great new columnists as well as the wonderful writers who have been with us from the start.

For instance, ladies, our new image and fashion columnist Mila Grigg has the scoop on how to keep all those lumps and bumps disguised in summer without sweltering in her first column today. And Bob McKinney, whose What I Know column is found right below BrentWord on the home page today, shares his take on the recent move to sell Williamson Medical Center.

You never know what you'll find in BHP. That's why you should never go a day -- or hours -- without checking in at www.brentwoodhomepage.com. You can also follow us via Facebook and Twitter too!

Now, it's back to the real task at hand -- a new BrentWord. Do you have a scoop to share? Email me at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Dear Chris: That would be the Brentwood YMCA

Ashley, Ashley, Ashley. Get over the loser Bentley. You’ve got all of those cute bachelors traveling the world with you and you’re stuck on Bentley the super-dud?

But enough with ABC’s The Bachelorette. If you were like me on Monday night, the long-running he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not show was just eye candy to get us to ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. Celebrity fitness guru Chris Powell worked with Williamson County’s own Dana Baker for a year to help the gentle man with a huge voice (and previously huge frame to match it) lose over 200 pounds.

But what was anticipated to be a huge moment for the Brentwood Family YMCA where Dana began and finished his journey, was a downer when Chris looked into the camera and said they were at the Franklin Y.

Sigh. Our time to shine and Franklin goes and gets the glory again.

Truthfully, though, it was an inspiring and aspiring hour of television, especially for someone like me who has a little problem with food herself. And good for Dana for coming out and coming to terms with who he really is.

If you missed it on TV, you can watch the video online. Click here for the link.

Ordinance 2011: Going once, going twice

It’s been fun, relatively speaking, attending the most recent City Commission meetings to observe how new Mayor Paul Webb runs things. I’m convinced he was a professional auctioneer in a past life though he emphatically denies it.

I’m telling you, that man can get through a meeting in record time. If you’re lucky, you might catch half of the fine print he must by law read aloud at the meetings. Then again, some would say we’re luckier still if we don’t.

See ya on Saturday

There’s good news for everyone coming to Town Center Saturday this weekend. The forecast is for a high of 91 degrees – a far cry from the high of 60something reached at the first one in April. So there are a few isolated thunderstorms forecast; let’s just not go there.

Come find us at the BHP tent to say hi, pick up a new BHP bumper sticker and sign up to get our daily newsletters.

The street fair/farmers market is the best thing to happen in Brentwood in a long time. Come check it out for yourself!

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Gas prices continue to cause slow burn
Maybe when it comes to Brentwood’s gas prices, a little perspective might help. The average price for a gallon of gas nationally Sunday was $3.71. So that's the good news.

The bad is that there’s no need to average the cost here since it seems every station within a half mile radius of the Franklin Road and Old Hickory Boulevard intersections always charges the same thing. On Sunday, that price was $3.65.

I know this isn’t breaking news to anyone who lives here, or who routinely makes the trek to Costco to pay about 15 cents less per gallon. I know people who now buy everything they possibly can at Kroger in order to take advantage of its partnership with Shell, which offers a discount IF enough Kroger points have been earned. I never seem to reach that point.

Nope, this is about a road trip I took this weekend to South Carolina. Since I was (as always) running late to hit the road Saturday afternoon, I pulled into one of our fine stations and filled up at $3.67. That tank got me all the way to Greenville.
Almost exactly 24 hours later, I pulled into a Greenville station and filled up the tank at $3.35 a gallon. If I had paid with cash, it would have been $3.08. I saw a few $3.36 and $3.37 a gallon stations too.

That tank got me home, but I couldn’t help but notice gas prices on billboards across S.C., North Carolina and Tennessee. They were all lower than here at home.

Unfortunately now I have to fill up again. Costco here I come.

Did you see the story on scooters in the big paper on Sunday? I think that’s the answer for me. It makes perfect sense, since almost everything I do is within a two-mile radius of the former home office. Or maybe I’ll get one of those cut new Nissan Leafs. Or I guess I could … walk.

Let’s not go there. At least not until October.

More new columns on the way
Have you been reading our new columns? Today be sure to check out Bob McKinney's What I Know column on the front page and Arnelle Adcock's Business Matters in Business. Did you know you can take home an opened bottle of wine you’ve purchased in a restaurant? I didn’t realize that until Friday’s Saucy Sister’s Lift Your Spirits column in Food & Drink. And Jodi Rall is hitting her stride “In the Bubble” in Lifestyle.

Later this week we’ll introduce two more columnists to the mix. We’re pretty sure you’re going to be as excited about them as we are. Stay tuned for details.

Susan Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read previous columns. Email her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Preaching the word, pepper spraying police don't mix

I shouldn't admit this, but I smiled when I learned Sunday that Glynis Bethel had been arrested in downtown Nashville, charged with two counts of assault and one count of resisting an officer. Bethel, you may recall, is half of the "fire and brimstone preaching" couple who with their three teenage children have held Brentwood and now Metro Nashville hostage in recent weeks.

For the record, I'm one of many – and I mean many – people here who have been listed in lawsuits the Bethels have tried to file with the U.S. District Attorney's office. Judge Todd Campbell (proclaimed a "wicked bastard" by Glynis on her Twitter site) has denied their petition of poverty which would allow the suits to be filed without paying a mandated $300 fee.

What put Glynis in jail? She allegedly pepper sprayed two people, a young woman and a Metro Nashville police officer. Her bond was set at $10,000. According to MNPD spokesman Don Aaron Wednesday morning, she has posted bond and been released.

Lord only knows what will happen this week with the CMA Music Fest happening downtown.

With the exception of their first appearances in Brentwood when they repeated a scenario they had played out in public schools across several states – trying to enroll their children under the guise of being homeless – and a subsequent altercation with a Brentwood High parent at one of the demonstrations the Bethels held outside of the school in April, BHP along with most local media outfits have not covered the family's antics because they are not news. They instead are a self-made spectacle that thrives on attention.

But the family has cost local governments, school districts and now every citizen in Brentwood a lot, in the way of money, time, manpower and added regulations not to mention aggravation.

The recent additions to the Brentwood Library's conduct policy? You can call it the Bethel Code. The family from Loxley, Ala. forced the Brentwood Library Board and City Commission to take action that had not been considered or needed here earlier, though other libraries, such as the Downtown Nashville one have had to implement similar policies in recent years.

The Bethels are bullies. Until the recent arrest, they've been trying to play everyone like pawns and they are good at it. They've had years of practice.

I've been proud to observe how Brentwood and Williamson County have responded to them publicly – with stiff backs and quiet reserve. But as every Brentwood school child who has completed bullying training knows, it takes someone to finally stand up to a bully to stop the abuse.

Nashville Police did, and it appears they had true cause.

On June 4, shortly before 1:20 a.m., Kiara Cannon was walking with friends on Broadway near Second Avenue in downtown Nashville when they saw a group of people arguing. A few of her friends began to debate with "a group of people who were wearing bright yellow shirts that stated 'GOD HATES GAYS' and 'GOD HATES WHORES,'" Cannon stated in a police report. She stepped in to separate a friend from the argument. "When I turned back around, Ms Bethel sprayed me in the face with pepper spray. Sgt Blackburn was nearby in plainclothes and caught the incident on tape," she reported.

Since the Bethels often record their own interactions with people to use as evidence against those they feel are persecuting them, it seems fitting that someone else did the same to them.

After a disorderly person call was put out, Officer Bob Haught was among the Metro officers who responded. He reported that as officers were gathering information on the incident, Glynis tried to leave. "As I was walking toward her to stop her, she sprayed me in the face with pepper spray," the police report states.

It wasn't the first time in recent weeks one of the Bethels has allegedly pepper sprayed someone downtown. It was the first time charges were pressed.

I love our country and our constitutional rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion, even when at times those freedoms cause me to cringe when I see how some choose to use them.

This time the issue wasn't constitutional, it was criminal. I'll be surprised if Glynis can chant her way out of this one.

I do hope, but don't expect, it will quiet her.

Originally posted in the Brentwood Home Page.
A lesson about filling life's basket with too much stuff

It hit me first as I was trying to decide between the 24-roll package of Kirkland-brand toilet tissue and the super-soft and new-and- improved Charmin while shopping Saturday at Brentwood’s Costco. It hit again when I put three 44-ounce bottles of catsup in my basket.

Who was I shopping for? Not a growing family of four that includes two teenage boys, for sure.

With one son now a college graduate and another working at a camp in Arkansas for the summer, we’re bona fide empty nesters. In fact, since it seems like my husband and I are rarely home at the same time these days, and Lord knows I seldom cook, do I really need to buy six boxes of pasta or five pounds of ground beef or a huge bag of salad greens at one time?

For years I could not understand why my now 79-year-old mother continues to keep the side-by-side refrigerator freezer in her kitchen, the big freezer in the utility room and the “extra” refrigerator in the garage packed with food. Now I get it: She never got used to her family of six becoming a family of two.

That woman could eat out of her freezer for two years and never have to go to the grocery store. She says she needs and uses it all. My siblings and I pray for the power to go off at least once a year so she is forced to clean it out occasionally and start over.

I think I'm following in her footsteps and I don't know if I like it.

The above all came back to mind in a very weird way Saturday night while watching one of the many TV news crews who had gathered at the home of Trace and Rhonda Adkins after a huge fire destroyed most of their belongings.

“It’s just stuff,” Rhonda Adkins told one of reporters on the scene in Brentwood’s BonBrook neighborhood.

She wasn’t being disrespectful of her family’s belongings, she was just putting them into the proper perspective. Her children escaped unharmed. Her nanny and the daughter of a neighbor were OK.

Stuff can be replaced. Loved ones can’t.

We all have too much stuff, and sometimes toilet paper. Do we have enough loved ones? I hope so.

Originally posted in the Brentwood Home Page.
Lovin' our B: Serving up news, and maybe a little chicken

Have you seen our new signage outside of our new office at the Town Center Roundabout? Our signature B is definitely eye-catching, which is why we paid the big bucks for it. But the first time Kelly and I saw it, driving back to the office from a meeting, we both burst out laughing.

“It’s terrible!” Kelly said.

“It looks like a Broaster Chicken store!” I responded.

What took us by surprise was the white background on our B that definitely made it “pop” as our sign guy said it would. Can’t blame him, we gave him the green light. And as time has passed, and reader after reader tells us they’ve “seen your B!” or “Now I know where your new office is,” we’ve grown to love it. Plus, neither one of us was looking forward to getting up on a ladder with an X-Acto knife and trying to trim the white away.

I continued to use the Broaster Chicken line anytime I gave directions to our new digs. “Just look for the building that looks like you could pick up two legs and a thigh of broasted chicken,” I’d say.

Imagine my surprise a few Saturdays ago when I was screaming down Franklin Road, late to cover the opening of the city’s first dog park. Just before getting to Concord Road, a bright red and blue sign caught my eye outside the Brentwood Market.

“Genuine Broaster Chicken” it read.

Making the world even smaller, after all of the hoopla had died down at the dog park that morning, a couple came in with one of the biggest dogs I’d ever seen. Tiberius, a young Saint Bernard, dwarfed all of her fellow canines. Of course I had to take her picture and get her story for BHP.

Turns out her owners are Archie and Deonna Miller – who just recently bought the Brentwood Market. When he told me that, I laughed out loud again, then shared the story of our B.

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

It took me a while, but on Wednesday I made a special trip to the market to try out the “Genuine Broaster Chicken.”

Folks, despite my love of food, I have not eaten chicken or turkey skin in years. Guess that’s my way of being “healthy.” Well, I’m here to tell you that I not only ate the skin, I think I would have eaten the bones if that had been possible.

You’ll find my review in our Food & Drinks section today, along with our new wine & spirits column, being penned for us by the Saucy Sisters, Barbara Nowak and Beverly Wichman. Look for more food coverage in the weeks and months ahead. And if you know of a great food story we could consider, let me know.

Originally posted in the Brentwood Home Page.
Town Center Saturdays has noisy competition, and a few love notes

So, are you over the cicadas yet?

I’ve got big news if you just can’t get enough of the noisy winged things. An official Nashville Cicada Festival 2024 is already in the works! It’s set for May 18, 2024 from noon to 11:30 p.m. Organizer Jeff Bradford has already gotten 60 affirmative RSVPs on the Nashville Cicada Festival 2024 Facebook page. The citywide festival will feature a cicada art show, cicada cook-off, cicada beauty contest, cicada-inspired music, cicada fashion and “much more,” says Jeff, an old newspaper guy who now owns a very successful Nashville PR firm.

I’m not positive, but I think I am on the official steering committee. Jeff must have heard about my years of work to establish the Brentwood Mole Fest, which was thankfully overshadowed by Town Center Saturdays.

A location for the 2024 Cicada Fest is still being sought. One steering committee member has suggested “a field with lots of mature trees and plenty of cold, frosty 'Bugweiser.'” Good thing we have 13 more years to work out the details.

Luckily for us, all the details have been worked out for the next Town Center Saturday, planned for June 18. Let’s see: The cicada invasion lasts four to six weeks depending upon what source you check. They started hatching – and buzzing – in mid May. Here's hoping we have a cicada-free TCS festival, farm market and overall great time.

I have some romance news to share: First, happy 24th anniversary to the best business partner anyone can have, Kelly Gilfillan and her husband Dave. They must have gotten married when they were teenagers because Larry and I are celebrating our silver anniversary in August and we’re a LOT older than they are.

Also, a big congratulations to City Commissioner Anne Dunn and her husband John. Their daughter Amy was married Sunday. How did I know? I saw Anne in the recently reopened Brentwood Shoney’s just hours before the ceremony.

Now that’s what I call one laid back mother of the bride.

Speaking of weddings and anniversaries, we’re ramping up our coverage of special events like these. If you have a wedding in your future, Brentwood Home Page would love to post an engagement announcement. A wedding? One of those landmark anniversaries?

We’re working on new forms that will be super-easy to fill out, but until we have those ready to roll, we invite our readers celebrating special passages in their lives to send us announcements and a picture to share with friends and family via BHP in our Lifestyles section. Send your announcement to brea@brentwoodhomepage.com, along with the name and a daytime telephone number of a contact person.

Originally posted in the Brentwood Home Page.