It's pronounced Loo-uh-vulle y'all

In certain parts of the Southern US, I've found that "nice to meet you" is replaced by "nice to see you"...
The road from Lexington, Kentucky to Louisville (pronounced Loo-uh-vulle by those in the know) is dotted with patches of snow. I'm driving Route 60, loosely paralleling interstate 64, but instead of semi trucks and commuters, I'm surrounded by gently rolling green hills organically broken up by the neat clean lines of horse fences in white and brown. Large horse ranch mansions can be seen on distant hills, with tiny side roads leading off towards more rolling hills, shaded creeks and ranches.
I've never been through Kentucky before, although I've traveled extensively through Ohio, Illinois and Indiana to the north, and Tennessee to the south. I'm finding Kentucky to be an interesting mix of these regions - from the wonderful Persian restaurant I find in Louisville to the ever so hip 2c museum gallery and Proof on Main restaurant (-the best Grits I've ever had in my life next door to an amazing art gallery where a fashion show is currently happening), to the local weekly paper in Lexington (a quintessential college town whose population practically doubles during school sessions) where I find an ad for southern "etiquette" classes - "melting pot" works quite nicely here.
My class is going well- the groups are small- Feldenkrais teachers are few and far between here, and the orthopedic physical therapy clinics are overwhelmingly of the large chain variety, but I have a nice mix of private practitioners, pediatric therapists and as usual therapists who work in Skilled Nursing Facilities looking for more ways to help their patients.
I developed my course with the orthopedic clinician in mind- that's my setting, my clients and I'm constantly amazed at the benefits of adding this approach for any orthopedic condition. I had a realization though about the SNF setting and the huge potential to introduce these ideas to those clinicians- from the very beginning of this course two years ago until now, I've met many wonderful SNF based therapists who are at the end of the line and are looking for any new tool or approach that can help people with more severe limitations and chronic diseases gain strength, mobility and function.
The wheels are turning...
Next trip will be in May, back to Ohio for another three city tour. Until then, nice to see you again.
Burke