Monthly Newsletter: May 2024 (No. 28)

Welcome to Our Technicolor Life Monthly Newsletter!

Welcome back to another exciting edition of Our Technicolor Life's monthly newsletter! We're thrilled to have you join us on our colorful journey through the many facets of our adventurous lives. As always, we're Jeff and Carrie Ketterman, a dynamic husband and wife duo who are passionate about embracing a vintage lifestyle in the most vibrant way possible.

A Glimpse into Our Lives

In case you're new here, let us introduce ourselves once again. Jeff spends his days immersed in the bustling world of rail transportation as the General Manager at Kasgro Rail Corporation Management Division. With a fleet of over 500 heavy-duty railcars, Jeff is at the forefront of providing innovative solutions for the ever-evolving rail industry.

Meanwhile, Carrie's days are filled with creativity and artistic expression. As a painter, illustrator, and author, she breathes life into murals and paintings that tell stories with every brushstroke. She is also owner and hostess with the mostest at her tea room, The Old Capitol Tea Room in historic downtown Corydon, IN. Being musically iclinded, Carrie and Jeff also have two vintage bands, The Tin Pan Alley Cats and Rosie & the Rockabillies. Follow along each channel of Our Technicolor Life: Tea, Travel, Entertainment, Art, & Lifestyle.

TEA

April saw the return of The Old Capitol Tea Room tea parties and we had a lot of them!

I Love Lucy Tribute Show & Tea Party

Our first tea event of the 2024 season, our I Love Lucy Tea, is in the books at The Old Capitol Tea Room. We weathered the storms and the sky began to clear about an hour before the tea.

This particular tea kicks our butts. There is a ton of prep work and the execution of the tea is pretty exhausting when you throw in a 45 minute show on top of a full tea but we love keeping the spirit of Lucy and Desi alive with this tribute show!

Be Our Guest Tea Party

There were so many Belles in the house at Be Our Guest Tea Party. It is one of the most popular teas at The Old Capitol Tea Room. Tickets sell out in minutes, and we even added a second one to accommodate more little Belles. We even had a cute little Gaston join us! The Beast isn’t all that beastly at this tea. He usually just collects hugs.

Tuesday Afternoon Tea Party

This is our 9th year hosting vintage tea parties at The Old Capitol Tea Room and we were finally able to host one of the events I’d originally intended to offer - a true vintage afternoon tea party and out in the tea garden no less. The rain stayed away and we were able to host our first ever Tuesday afternoon tea party. I believe we have come full circle from when we first started. My original intention was to host vintage afternoon tea parties for ladies to get together, socialize, and dress up for tea. When we first opened, no one in our area really knew what a tea room was so we started to theme the tea parties.

Now we have the best of both worlds, we still offer themed tea party events but new this year, are our true vintage afternoon tea parties. We have several more on the schedule and I look forward to more afternoons spent with ladies looking to enjoy a step back in time to the simple pleasures of enjoying afternoon tea with friends.

Harry Potter Tea Party

The wizard knowledge on hand for our Harry Potter Tea & Triva was outstanding. We had many students during our weekend Harry Potter events hosted by Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Trelawny, and Hagrid.

The Music That Helped Win the War Tribute Show & Tea Party

We also hosted our WWII tea, The Music That Helped Win the War. It features 24 songs from the WWII era. The best part of the evening was recognizing four gentlemen in attendance who served our country.

If not for the brave men and women of our military, we would not be blessed with the freedoms we have today.

Deadly Derby Murder Mystery

One of our fan favorite murder mysteries, the Deadly Derby Murder Mystery always takes place the week before Derby. Hosted by the Barnburner Family, we solved the mystery of the Deadly Derby thanks to our in house detectives.

‼️ Mark your calendars for Wednesday July 31st at 11am for the ticket sales for our September-December tea events! This will include our Halloween and Holiday tea events so save the date and be ready to grab your tickets. ‼️

TRAVEL

The Eclipse

Well, that was totally worth the drive! We found a quiet little spot to enjoy eclipse totality near Vallonia, IN. At one time, the Medora covered bridge was the longest restored covered bridge in Indiana at 431’ 10”. Being the quintessential planner, naturally we can’t just go watch the eclipse, it has to be an event, so I planned an Eclipse picnic complete with a few vintage touches.

The ViewMaster viewer is a 1959 model I got Jeff for his birthday a couple of years ago. (No, we did not watching the eclipse through that. We had the approved eclipse shades.) I also wore my Space Vixens dress for the occasion.

The eclipse was spectacular! We drove to an area where we could experience totality for just over three minutes, and it was SO very worth the extra effort. Just incredible. It was, to Jeff anyway, a little unsettling and eerie. I mean, when you have never experienced anything like that before and have no reference to how it affects your brain and emotions, it is truly other-worldly. It is a once-in-a-lifetime event that I am so very glad we got to experience first hand.

Words can’t really describe it. I can certainly see how in centuries past when people experienced it without knowing what was truly happening, would think the world might be ending.

Teacup even got in on the Eclipse fun!

Mayberry Lucy Festival in Granville, TN.

Whew! That was one fun full weekend! We attended and performed at our 4th Mayberry - I Love Lucy Days in Historic Granville, TN. Our Saturday was full of “Lucy love”, spending time with old friends, making new friends, plus performances and emceeing. Our only regret is that we never get to spend much time with our friends, the “Mayberry” tribute artists. They are always so welcoming and kind to us “I Love Lucy” tribute artists.

We got to spend some time with Keith Thibodeaux (Little Ricky on “I Love Lucy”) and his beautiful wife, Kathy. AND, we made a new friend in Dennis Rush! Dennis, like, Keith, was one of the great child actors from the 1950s-1960s, and he and Keith actually worked together on The Andy Griffith Show as the characters Johnny Paul (Keith) and Howie Pruitt (Dennis). We were able to work with both of these charming and delightful gentlemen on three Q&A sessions on Saturday evening and truly were enthralled by their stories and experiences as child actors. Dennis was first discovered by James Cagney, for the movie Man of a Thousand Faces (1957). He and Keith were such joys to works with and to just be around during our busy Saturday.

As always, we thank the wonderful town and volunteers of Historic Granville, TN. They are truly salt-of-the-earth people and always so warm and welcoming to us. We thank Randall Clemens, who spearheads the annual festival. Without him, this festival would likely not exist and continue. THANK YOU!

We were also so surprised and humbled by the town of Granville, TN honoring us with a plaque and proclamation for our participation in their annual Mayberry - I Love Lucy Days!

If you would like to see these wonderful “Mayberry” tribute artists at work, many and most will be in Scottsburg, IN June 21-23 at “Mayberry Comes to Scottsburg”! Lucy and Ricky may just have to travel up I-65 and say hello to our friends that weekend as well as they will only be an hour’s drive away from our home in Corydon!

Until next year, Granville!! ❤️❤️

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

I have read Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” many times over the years and I love the idea of what she calls an artist’s date. It’s a weekly activity and you just have to do a fun activity for at least an hour. So try for yourself, do at least one “fun” thing each week that requires little thought - just being present in the moment. Kite flying falls perfectly under that category so we got out our kites and hit the park.

We also walked around my old school stomping grounds at Sacred Heart Model School.

We flew pretty close to the moon. Or, so it seemed.

ENTERTAINMENT

Corydon Extravaganza

The Tin Pan Alley Cats stopped by the Spring Corydon Extravaganza at the Harrison County Fairgrounds in April! We hit the stage for a couple of hours in the main building, providing some tunes for those shopping! Be sure to follow the Corydon Extravaganza on social media for their future events! It’s a fantastic place to find unique antiques, second-hand items, crafts, yard art, PLUS lots of great food and music!

Rosie & the Rockabillies in New Albany - May 25th

We’ve got a couple of Rosie gigs on the books for May both private and public bookings. Our next public performance is Saturday May 25th from 8-11 at The Enchanted Forest in downtown New Albany, In. Make plans to join us for an evening of great live music. Grab a bite to eat and lots of lovely drinks at the Enchanted Forest featuring Rosie & the Rockabillies!

ART

Derby Art

The yard is all decked out for the big 150th!!! I finally got all the pieces cut out & painted that I wanted to add. Talk about coming down to the wire!

Mural at the Dugout

April seemed like a lot of crazy stormy weather so it was nice to catch a few days to work on this mural property. And since it decided to be 87 at the end of painting, I felt a trip to Polly’s Freeze was in order!

Sneak Peek at Only in Louisville

Coming out in June, my latest book, a project that I’ve been working on for the past 6 months will be released - “Only in Lousiville.”

It’s part history, part fun facts, part local lore, part tourist guide, and a whole lot of only in Lousiville fun with accompanying illustrations.

Since Kentucky Derby week is upon us, here’s a sneak peek at some of the pages in my Derby chapter!

This concludes our April as we move into May! Thank you for stopping by and exploring Our Technicolor Life! Please check out all the features of the website from our Tea, Travel, Entertainment, Art, and Podcast Channels. This is our one stop shop website for all events and information. Don't forget to subscribe so you stay in the loop and check out our upcoming events section right on the home page.

Yours truly,

Carrie & Jeff

Upcoming Events - At A Glance

Friday May 2nd - Oaks Day

Saturday May 4th - 150th Kentucky Derby

Friday May 10th - Sense and SensibilTEA Tea Party - Sold Out

Corydon, IN.

Sunday May 12th - Mother’s Day Tea Party - Sold Out

Corydon, IN.

Friday May 17th - Jolly Holiday Tea Party - Sold Out

Corydon, IN.

Saturday May 18th - Private Gig Rosie & the Rockabillies

Kentucky Derby Museum

Friday May 24th - Breakfast at Teaffany’s Tea Party - Sold Out

Corydon, IN.

Saturday May 25th - Rosie & the Rockabillies at the Enchanted Forest 8-11

New Albany, IN.

$5 cover

Wednesday May 29th - Billy & Elton Gazebo Concert - Sold Out

Corydon, IN.

Friday May 31st - Under the Sea Tea Party - Sold Out

Corydon, IN.