12/30/2013

weekly update 12/30/2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I had purchased a ticket a while ago for the Dickens Walk in the historic district, but Christmas Eve day had a forecast of rain all day long. It actually started out sunny and nice, but showers began in the afternoon, and that didn't bode well for a walking tour in the evening. I'd already spent the money, so I decided to chance it. And luckily, it did not rain at all. A group of about 15 were lead on a tour in the early evening and were told of some customs in Victorians times, some stories of the Yankee occupation during the Christmas season in 1864 (when General Sherman delivered the city of Savannah to President Lincoln as a Christmas gift), and the singing of some carols as we wandered the streets. We ended the tour with mincemeat pies and smoking bishop punch (sherry). It turned out to be a very nice evening for a walk along Jones street where many lovely older townhomes are decorated tastefully as the temps were in the low 70's. 

caroling with the group leaders

one of the wonderfully decorated homes on Jones Street

Suzy had invited me over to share a glass of wine after the tour was over. They have a tree in their condo, and since I don't, it was very nice to have some treats in the glow of their

decorations. Anne and Andrew Nedd also joined us, so we had a wonderful little holiday celebration.

Bob, Suzy, Andrew & Anne

 

Christmas Eve, I had planned to do nothing, and that's what I did. I put on my Rudolph pajamas, and watched Hallmark movies for most of the day. Suzy came over for a visit in the afternoon. Shortly after she left, there was another knock at my door. The little boys who live in the condo above me had come down to give me a plate of cookies! That was so sweet of them to do that! It made a huge difference in my attitude for the rest of the holiday. I had made blueberry bread pudding and a batch of grapefruits cosmopolitans to enjoy in the evening. That's just health food - all that fruit.

me, with my "tree", my blueberry bread pudding and my grapefruit cocktail

 

Audrey had no lights to get her into the holiday spirit, but I did put the packages under her for make a very special Christmas tree for myself. 

 

I switched with another volunteer at DH and gave tours on Thursday instead of Friday. It was surprisingly crowded and busy. Apparently there are more tourists in town during the Christmas/New Year's week that I thought there would be. Since I was already out, I went to the Super Walmart to look for post-holiday sales, but didn't find anything - they already had their Valentine stuff out!

Friday was a do-nothing day. Another problem with my phone. Remember when you would have an option of seeing phone calls you'd missed? It's gone now. I liked that because I could tell the time when someone had called, or I would have a record for a call back number. Now my “recent” folder has only the calls I’ve made, not any that came in. I don't like this, but I'm also old enough to remember when there was no answering machine, or caller ID. If you weren't home or weren't able to get to the phone, the caller would just have to try again later. And you would pick up every time it rang, even if it was a sales call, because there was no way to screen calls. I guess I'll pretend I'm still in the 1970's with my 2013 phone. When will my 2-year contract be up? And can I sue for breach of contract if features just disappear?

Saturday I was scheduled for desk duties at BC. It was awful. As with DH, it was crowded, and there seemed to be a lot of people coming to visit. As I was really busy handing out maps and answering questions, one lady demanded to know where the service for someone was being held at Forest Lawn (the cemetery that next to Bonaventure). I had no idea, and although I tried to help, she wanted to know why I didn't know what services were being held, why the City Cemetery Department doesn't operate on week-ends, and why no one would be there to assist her finding a service when she didn't have any details of it herself. Then, a car was broken into and a purse stolen in the parking lot. Again, as a volunteer with the historical society, I have no power to do anything about this. The police were called, a report was filed, and I sympathized, but that was the best I could offer. I cautioned every visitor to carefully lock cars and hide valuables, trying not to without alarm them. My 1 pm replacement couldn't come fast enough!

Sunday, the final loss of the year was not unexpected. Although the Bills games was on tv locally, I still went to Coach's for one last Sunday afternoon of all the games at once. I'm going to miss my Miller Lite and wings until I go back next September.

until next year...

 

I hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve, and a wonderful and happy 2014.

 

12/23/2013

weekly update 12/23//2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Not much doing this week. I did, however, spend a LOT of time in the post office. I'm so clever, I decided to send the few packages that I have on the busiest day of the year at the post office. I stood in line for more than 2 hours on Monday to get my meager things sent. And then on Tuesday, I had to spend almost an hour waiting in line to pick up a package. Well, I'm retired; what else do I have to do with my time?

Donna left to drive to Baltimore and Maine early Tuesday morning, so Monday evening we met at her condo for pizza. since she'll be driving, she doesn't have a real plan on when to be back. It will be wonderful for her to be able to spend the holidays with her family and it looks as if she, all most other northerners, will have a white Christmas.

Friday was DH and Saturday was BC. It's been in the 70's here, so both times I was able to drive with the top down on the car. I think this will end, but I was pleased to be able to do that at the end of December! Even the cemetery has a festive look about it - some wonderful red poinsettias by a gleaming white marble tombstone.

Sunday I put on a new shirt that Allen had given me for Christmas and went to Coach's. Amazingly, the holiday came a few days early for me with a shutout of Miami. The game was at The Ralph, and I liked seeing the fans with ponchos on, the wind whipping the flags, and everyone bundled up against the winter weather. But there was no white stuff on the field. As Allen texted, maybe the red shirt is the lucky omen we needed, but even if I wear it again next week, my guess is it won't help against the Pats.

My wish is for you all to have a very wonderful Wednesday this week! Happy Holidays.

12/16/2013

weekly update 12/16//2013

I was determined to get all my shopping done on Wednesday. I have very little that I shop for, but I do have a couple of people that I send novelty items from Savannah to at the holidays. Before I even started out in the morning, I had problems with my phone. Between the phone, the car and comcast, I get no rest. So my first stop when I was out and about was to the Verizon store. I got no help there except to be told to spend more money and purchase a memory stick. That wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I put it aside and decided not to let it spoil the rest of the day. Like shopping isn't enough to spoil any day for me already. I got my errands done at Staples and Target and the Dollar Store, and it was almost time for the library to open. I stopped at Chik-Fil-A for a sandwich while I wasted 30 minutes and then went to the library. I generally will read a Christmas mystery novel for light reading in December, so I found one that looked promising. Last stop - the Walmart. I loaded up on the cheap wine I buy there to get me through the rest of the month. There - all done!

I spent most of Thursday at the club house deleting the almost 3,000 messages in my yahoo “sent” box. I was hoping to free up memory on the phone so that I would be able to view any photos I took, but I don't know if that will work. It took a long time to go through them all, and I probably deleted some I should have saved. I also tried in vain to watch the video of Hannah's orchestra concert. Her school district podcasts concerts, sports events, and graduations on the 'net. It's wonderful for a grannie in Savannah to be able to watch, but this time didn't work so well - I wasn't able to get it to stream. The whole day was wasted on trying to do things with my computer that I'm not smart enough to be able to do.

Friday was DH. We're into the very slow season now, but I had one or two tourists for each tour. In the evening, the annual Christmas Pops Concert at the Cathedral by the Savannah Philharmonic was scheduled. Donna had a ticket, too, and was going to drive, so I invited her to come over for a sandwich before the performance. The concert was delightful! For a city this size, with a volunteer orchestra, the music that the wonderful director gets from the musicians in nothing short of magical. After the concert, Donna, Helen & I went to a local restaurant and sat in the bar. The lady bartender was really nice to us and kept fixing our drinks with her own personal flair. She was really nice. I got to talking to a couple who was sitting next to us. The usual opening statement is “do you live here or are you a tourist?” so I offered that up. Long story short, I now have a new best friend, Connie. We exchanged email addresses and promised to meet for lunch after the holidays. Donna said I should write on this blog that I met someone in a bar, but I didn't think that would sound just right.

Saturday,I had to get up early because Donna and I had volunteered to go to the Savannah History Museum to stand by the Victorian Society's display of holiday table settings. There wasn't much to do, but someone needed to be there to answer questions in case anyone wanted to know about the celebrations and dinners served in a fine home in the late 19th century. It was a rainy yucky morning, so what were we going to do anyway? The wonderful china, sterling, furniture and candelabra were all loaned by the same member of the Society that hosted the party last Sunday. They are all family heirlooms that have been passed down for generations, going back to Andrew Low. Very wonderful. 

 

 

I spent the afternoon getting the few gifts I had wrapped up and packaged to be ready to send. I wasn’t going to wait in line at the post office on a Saturday (are they even open in the afternoon, anyway?), but I've got everything ready to go on Monday. In the evening, I went to the SCT performance of Godspell. Alex Nedd had a role in the musical, and I really wanted to see it. It was not particularly festive for the Christmas season, but it did not disappoint. The children's theater never does.

On Sunday, The ladies dining out group met at the Westin Hotel on Hutchinson Island, across the Savannah River from River Street, for brunch. It was very, very good. There was a lot of food, including a pasta station, many cold selections, and a dessert table (made to order bananas foster!) that I didn't even get to try. I was full after the Belgian waffles with warm maple syrup, made to order omelets, cheese blintzes with fresh fruit compote, sliced turkey and roast beef, and mimosas. Also at the Westin each year, is a competition for gingerbread houses. These are amazing, and I try to see them every year.

Finally, the Bills won a game. I thought they might blow their early lead, but they hung on to move their record to 5 - 9. Two more games this year, and if they win either of them, it will be a miracle. So, I'm happy they were at least able to get a victory this week.

(What a joy to try to print Christmas cards with a printer that doesn't work. How pleasant to have to keep turning it off, canceling the print job, and starting it all over again, time after time. ho ho ho. There aren't enough bottles of $3 wine in all the Walmarts in Georgia to get me in the spirit).

12/9/2013

weekly update 12/9//2013

After seeing Allen off at the airport on Tuesday, I tried to get back into my boring routine. It was difficult, as I missed him terribly. But in no time, I was back to doing almost nothing. I did get back into my walking routine. Since I really don't enjoy that, I knew that if I didn't get right back into it after the hiatus when Allen visited, I would give it up completely, so I went back to the Y Wednesday morning. I took a picture of some of the scenery I can see as I hike across the street. Between the green pines and the red other trees, it looked like Christmas. 

pretty red leaves and green pine trees

I also dragged out the rest of my Christmas decorations. I've got the nutcrackers all set on the countertop, a few stuffed Santas in chairs and on the spare bed, and I put candles in the windows. I decided not to buy more lights for Audrey, so no lighted tree indoors for me. That's ok - I hung some balls on the fake tree in the dining room, and that's good enough. 

nutcrackers

candles in the window of my condo

Wednesday was Donna's birthday. I had no time last week to shop for a gift, but I did make a card. I took it over to her condo in the late afternoon, and then convinced her to allow me to take her to a popular diner near the condos. I hope she forgets this by the time it's my birthday.

Thursday morning, as I was walking to the Y, I passed Donna and Anthony decorating the clubhouse for the holidays. Anthony, the maintenance man here but also my friend, had put up some lights and wreathes, but apparently one of the wonderful residents here complained because they didn't think they were good enough. Funny thing - they “didn't have time” to assist with the tasteful display, but wanted Anthony to know that what he had done didn't meet their high expectations. So, Donna spend the day purchasing new lights, stringing new garland, adding greenery to the wreathes, and trying to make it look “better”. Since I'd been walking by, they coerced me into helping, too. I have little that I like about both the paid management company and the HOA board, and I've been rather vocal about it. So, I really don't care if they have holiday lights or not, but Donna and Anthony are my friends, so I did what I could.

 

Donna hanging garland at the clubhouse porch

Friday evening, Donna & I went to the historic district because both the Wright Square merchants and City Market were holding their annual Open House events. The shops are open later than usual, and they serve wine and snacks, while trying to convince shoppers to spend money. I saw Elizabeth, the librarian who used to lead our book club meetings, and it was great to re-connect with her. We had very nice hot (ok, warm) buttered rum in City Market as we watched the people. I didn't go to the open houses last year, so it's been a while since I did this. I liked it. 

City Market lights

  

Saturday, I seemed to be very tired. I don't know what it is, but I slept well in the night, and I napped in the afternoon. I was awake to watch the Auburn / Mizzou game, but the DH volunteers party was scheduled for early evening, so at the last minute I decided to attend and drove to the historic district. It was also the evening of the parade on Bay street, so parking was not easy. I only stayed long enough to wish my friends a happy holiday, and then went back to the condo for the rest of the game.

Sunday, I did a tour at BC in the afternoon. It was cool - only in the mid-50's - but I'd watched a little of the Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia games before I needed to go to the cemetery, and I loved seeing the snow flying and the misty breath of the players. Suddenly, mid-50's 

doesn't seem too bad. Sunday was also the annual holiday party for the Savannah Victorian Society. It was held at a member’s house in the Victorian district. His place is amazing - loaded with antiques and memorabilia. It was wonderful. The invitation had read “holiday attire”, and since I am rarely out of jeans and t-shirt, I was stumped as to what to dress up as. I tried my best. It was uncomfortable, but it was what I had to do to go to this party. 

Savannah Victorian Society Christmas gathering

does this look like holiday attire to you?

 

I refuse to say anything about the awful games in the NFL. I'm beginning to have doubts about next year with the Bills. I had hoped for a strong end to this season with a rather easy few games at the end, but they are disappointing me over and over again. Perhaps it's time to change my allegiance to college football.

12/3/2013

weekly update 12/2//2013

It took me all day long on Monday, but I cleaned the condo. I was getting ready for Allen's visit, and I didn't want him to be put off by the dust and dirt around here, so I really worked hard. I won't have to do that again for a while.

Because the weather in New York was bad on Tuesday, Allen got a late start from Albany. His plane was delayed for about 2 hours before it took off, which meant, of course, that he missed his connection in Atlanta. It still wasn't too bad, as he arrived only a couple hours off schedule. It was raining in Savannah when he touched down, so the welcome to the sunny south was delayed, too. It was cold by Savannah standards for most of his visit, but I think he believed it was positively tropical compared to reports of what was going on in New York. We didn't do much on Tuesday - a late lunch at my favorite hamburg place and then visiting and getting caught up at my condo.

Wednesday we spent in Savannah. We had wanted to visit Temple Mickve, but since Chanukah had just begun, there were no tours. We did get to the Mercer Williams House, and we had a good tour there. That was amazing because I've never had a good tour there, but this docent was very good. We then toured Massie school because there's a lot of info there about historic Savannah. As we were going back toward the car, I thought the line at Mrs Wilke's Boarding House didn't look too bad (the line is almost always to the corner of the street), so we joined the crowd and waited for ONLY 90 minutes to get in. As always, it was worth the wait. This is southern comfort food at it's finest, and I'm glad I had a chance to get Allen in there. With very full bellies and ready for naps, we walked to the Telfair Museum to try to rejuvenate a little. Allen liked the art gallery at the Telfair, so we also went to the Jepson, which is right next to the Telfair. We were there within an hour of closing, so we didn't get to linger; we saw everything there was to see, however. We had parked the car near Forsyth Park, because I'm too cheap to feed meters and it's free that far south, so we had a chance to get a couple of photos by the fountain. Then back to the condo for and evening of visiting and tv. 

Mercer Williams House

at the fountain in Forsyth Park

 

Thursday was turkey day, and I had planned to do nothing except sit in front of the tv and watch the NFL games. And that's what we did. We did have to go out in the morning to pickup the turkey dinners that I had ordered from the gourmet take out place not far from the condo. They were excellent! There was way too much food: both white and dark meat turkey, cornbread and herb stuffings, whole cranberry sauce, corn, green bean casserole, real whipped potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, and two kinds of pie. The only thing missing was the aroma of a turkey roasting. The Lions and the Ravens games had outcomes I liked, but I wish the 'Boys could have lost. I was most thankful to be spending the holiday with Allen. Additionally, I'm thankful that the Bills season is almost over and that they're a young team, so the hopes for next year are high. 

turkey dinners at the condo

 

 

We got up on Friday and drove to Beaufort, SC. Beaufort is a historic city just across the Savannah River from Georgia, and although it wasn't going to be warm (by southern standards anyway), the day was promised to be sunny. We took a horse carriage tour, then walked around a little. There is some wonderful antebellum architecture because before the Civil War, Beaufort was a very wealthy town. It was occupied by Northern soldiers for nearly all of the war, and was a strategic blockade port. After a nice lunch at a restaurant that used to be a hardware store and had a lot of interesting flags and pennants on the walls (Colgate? Hamilton? these aren't southern universities, are they?) we took a boat tour in the inter-coastal waterway. We saw a few dolphins, so that was cool. We spent the whole day there, so there was nothing else to do but return to the condo and eat leftovers in the evening.

our horse carriage ride

just an artsy-fartsy photo taken from the boat ride

Saturday was a day of Nothing Working Right, from the ceiling light in the kitchen, to the computer. So I was my usual pissy self - poor Allen. But we cheered up in the afternoon when we went to Coach's to watch some of the college games. There were some good games with the SEC that we were interested in. When we got there, a booth was open (that never happens on NFL Sundays), so we sat there and asked if they could change the channel of our tv to the Syracuse game. We watched that, while Auburn and UGA were on the big monitors over the bar. What amazing finishes for all those games! And the crowd went wild when UGA and Auburn won. Lisa joined us so she got to meet Allen. It was after 7 by the time the games were over, so I decided that trying to drive downtown, finding a place to park and then walking to the Riverfront to see the lighted boat parade wasn't going to happen. We just went back to the condo. (I guess I didn't get any pictures at Coach's - too busy watching the great games and eating wings).

Sunday we got up and went to church. I never go to church, but on the few occasions when I have been, I've gone to Wesley Monumental Church. Savannah has a history of Methodism, and this is a historic church, plus the architecture is grand. As my luck would have it, not only was it a baptism Sunday (the baby's name was Matilda! who names their baby that?), but it was also communion. It was a nice quiet way to spend time with Allen, however, so I'm glad we went. Since it was almost kickoff time when we got out of church, we went over to City Market. We'd already done Coach's, so we went to watch at Wild Wings, a sports bar in CM. We sat out on the porch and watched the games on the monitors and also listened to some live music that was playing. Since we were at CM, we went into some souvenir shops so Allen could find some things to buy for friends up north. Both the Bills and the Chiefs were playing in the 4 pm games, and they were both going to be televised on network stations (and I still had leftovers to try to foist off on Allen), so we watched the late games at the condo. Both teams let early leads evaporate, and that was disheartening. After the excitement of the college games on Saturday, the NFL was a let down. 

at

  at Wild Wings at City Market

 

Monday was to be our last full day together. We began by driving out to Tybee Island. We'd done a lot of that the last time Allen visited - the Lighthouse, the Crab Shack, the beach - but we went out anyway. We walked out on the pier where a dolphin was entertaining the few people who were watching by swimming around close to the dock. We went into a few more souvenir shops. We drove around to look at some of the homes and cottages on the island. Then we went to the Historic Savannah district again. It was nice enough to put the top down on the convertible, and Allen doesn't get any chances to do that in New York in December, so that was a treat. We went to the Civil Rights museum, which is closed on Mondays. When that didn't work out, we went down to River Street to sip suds along the river and people watch. It's not tourist season any longer, so the people watching wasn't that good. We met a friend from Bonaventure Cemetery who has just been licensed to give tours at Laurel Grove Cemetery late in the afternoon, and he gave us a nice walk around the historic cemetery on the west side of the the City. Donna joined us for that, and I was glad because I was afraid that she might not get a chance to meet Allen while he was here. The three of us went to a German Restaurant that I hadn't even know about until Allen mentioned it. Then back to the condo for an evening of MNF and packing to get ready to return to the reality of Albany for Allen. 

 people watching on river Street

 

the memorable statue of Silence, who guards the Confederate Soldiers' plot at Laurel Grove North

I had hoped that Allen and I might decorate my condo for Christmas while he was here, but when the string of lights didn't work, that didn't happen. He brought me two new Bills' t-shirts from New York (I needed those, as you can't find Bills apparel in Georgia) and a calendar with photos of historic Rochester (which I like very much, as I'm up to my eyeballs in historic Savannah photos, but not so much of Rochester). Lisa also left a package with me before she left to spend December in Wales. I have all those things (except the new shirt that I wore on Sunday) scattered beneath Audrey. If I get to Walmart for a new string of lights, I may deocrate her for the holidays. Audrey could become my Christmas Tree.

We didn't have much time on Tuesday before we had to leave for the airport. We sat there with some coffees while realizing that we would miss each other greatly. It was so great to have Allen visit. He's very easy to entertain and doesn't seem to mind that I cook nothing. I watched him go through the security checks, and when I could no longer see his red UGA cap, I turned to leave the airport. It was lonely in my little car for the ride back to the condo.

And now - let the laundry begin!