7/28/2014

weekly update 7/28/2014

The summer weather in Savannah is almost tropical - we get a lot of heat and humidity, and it builds up all day. In the late afternoon, there may be a storm with wind, thunder & lightning, but it it sweeps in and is gone in less than 30 minutes. On Monday this week, it began with a thunderstorm that woke me up. But that cleared up, and I went to the pool for a swim. In the afternoon, it stormed again, but then cleared. The rains became quite heavy again in the evening, and it was still pouring when I went to bed. When I got to the pool on Tuesday, the water level was really high (I didn't have my phone, so I wasn't able to get a picture) and it was almost overflowing. The numbers along the side where it marks how deep the water is were completely covered with water. The pool maintenance guys needed to drain some of the water because the skimmers weren't working. It was really strange. I hope the farmers liked the rain.

I had two events on Wednesday. The group of women that I meet with occasionally for lunch met at the Soho Cafe. I'd invited Anne Nedd to join us, thinking she might fit into this group. In the evening, Jan Vach and her husband gave a slide presentation of their cruise to Antarctica and along the Amazon River. It was very interesting. 

 

Thursday evening I drove out to Pin Point Museum for the annual meeting of the Coastal Heritage Society, a group I'm a member of that supports the Visitor Center, Old Fort Jackson, The Savannah Children's Museum, and the Railroad Museum, as well as Pin Point. I had the top down on the car, which is something I don't do when the temps are so high and I generally go only short distances. It was nice to drive like that, although it was hot. There was a nice breeze at the Museum, which is on Skidaway Island along Moon River, so there was a wonderful breeze as we enjoyed a cash bar and snacks (pimento cheese biscuits - how Southern! how delicious!)

 

I had a day off from DH on Friday because someone else wanted to have Friday afternoon this week. That worked fine, because DH was sponsoring a talk about what's being done a block away at the historic Berrien House. This has been an eyesore since I've moved here, but it's is currently being rehabbed into retail and residential space. It's very exciting because the developer is making a sincere effort to keep as much historic and architectural integrity as he can. His enthusiasm for the research that is being done, not only in the structural details, but also of the Berrien and Stephens families, was evident. Because there is much work to be done, and the efforts made to do it all well are time-consuming, it will take many years to complete. But it's exciting to see it brought back. It was originally built in 1791 for John Berrien, who was a general in the Revolutionary war. The house had a center entrance with a staircase similar to DH leading up to the second story entrance. I wonder if Isiah Davenport might have used this house for inspiration when he built DH in 1815.

 

And, following that, I met Beth for dinner at Tondee's Tavern. It's Restaurant week in Savannah, when many places offer special menus to encourage people to come in and dine. This restaurant is right on Bay Street, near City Hall, so I'd seen it often, but had never eaten there. It wasn't that good - my food was rather cold, the ribs were tough (I brought most of them back to the condo where I cooked them in my crock pot and ate them the next day. They were a lot better when they fell off the bone). The service during the meal was good, but they seemed to want us out of there as soon as we paid the bills, and we were wanting to talk for a while. I didn't like that. But it was certainly nice to see Beth.

Golf isn't really a sport that interests me, but I did watch the ESPN coverage of the Senior Championship. It's being played in Porthcawl, Wales. Lisa and Dave have a home there, and they are in Wales now. I wanted to see where they are, so I’ve been watching the golf tournament. It seems that they have a lovely area to live in when they're over seas. Lovely beaches, beautiful scenery, a charming lighthouse, a championship golf course (obviously), but very bad spelling - are there any vowels in the Welsh alphabet? Jeff Shuman is playing in this event. There's a link between Rochester, Savannah & Porthcawl - me. Who would have imagined? Allen also alerted me to the ESPN coverage of the Bills training camp at St John Fisher College, so I watched a few minutes of that. 

 

 

7/21/2014

weekly update 7/21/2014

After last time, I'd promised Sylvia that I would help substitute delivering MOW on Wilmington Island if the chance ever arose again. Well, subs were needed again this week, so on Wednesday, I was back to helping make sure seniors get a hot, nutritious meal. I still don't miss doing this on a regular basis.

On Thursday, I was out running errands. I went to the Post Office, then to the Publix that's not far from there on Wilmington Island, not my Publix that's right across the street. On the way back, the fresh seafood wagon was on the side of the road near the bridge. I'd always been curious and wanted to see if that shrimp was good, so I stopped and got some fresh shrimp. I spent more time in my kitchen than I had altogether total in the last month, and made scampi. It really tasted great! And, because I'd bought fresh Georgia peaches and vanilla ice cream at the Publix, I had a wonderful dessert to top this off.

 

 

On Friday, I had my normal DH tours. Earlier in the week, I'd noticed on fb a photo of the cast from The Addams Family posing on the steps at DH. I investigated online and found that there's a theatre troupe I'd never hear of, the Savannah Summer Theatre Institute. High school and college students from around the country (in the performance I saw, there were kids from NC, WI, FL, IL, and GA - one who I've seen before at the SCT) come for an intensive 3-week “camp”, at the end of which they host a performance of a musical. Although I have a morbid fear of driving to places I'd never been before and therefore don't know the route, I gathered up my courage and headed out to Savannah Country Day School to see this play. It was amazing! As always, I am stunned by the talent of young people! Driving out was all right; driving home again in the dark was something else again. As terror set in, and I needed to turn around once, I gripped the steering wheel and safely navigated back to Mercer Point. Daring, Wilma.

Happy Birthday, Snooty! He's 65 today! I know someone only a little older than that. He lives at the Parker Manatee Aquarium In Bradenton, FL. I had (briefly) toyed with the idea of driving down to visit and share in the birthday celebration,, but since I have trouble getting to Southside Savannah, Bradenton is out of the question. Maybe next year. 

 

7/14/2014

weekly update 7/14/2014

On Sunday, the Dining Out group met, or the ones that are in Savannah through the hot summer (we missed those who are elsewhere). It was decided at the last event that we would like to tour Bonaventure Cemetery on one of my tours, and then go out to Johnny Harris' Restaurant. So that's what we did. Johnny Harris is long-time standing restaurant in Savannah, but I've not been there until now. Some in our group who have lived in Savannah for years, remembered when it was a dance hall. Trying to see it through their eyes, I was reminded of Bristol. When I was a lot younger than I am now, it was a ski resort in the winter, and a music venue in the summer. When 18-year-olds were allowed to drink legally, it was THE place to go to listen to the music and dance. Remember the Invictas?

I was fascinated by the Super Moon, so I drove out as far as Fort Pulaski to try to get a photo on Saturday night. My camera takes some pretty awful pictures, expecially in the dark, and from a distance - you get what you pay for. But I tried. I'll have another chance in August and again in September, so perhaps I can do better then. 

 

Other than that, I have returned to my normal, boring routine. Pool, eat, books, eat, tv, naps, eat some more. I did have a book club meeting at the library on Monday, and Suzy was in town briefly and it was good to see her. But that's about it.

7/7/2014

weekly update 7/7/2014

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

This week was all about the tennis for me. The women's final was so disappointing - it was over before it started, and Eugenie was never in the match. The men's, on the other hand, was exciting and displayed some phenomenal shot making. I really enjoyed that. It didn't matter to me much who won, but I was rather happy the Djokovic finally was able to get to the final and take the trophy. It seems as if he's been runner-up too often. Due to Wimbledon tv coverage, and an abbreviated week because of the holiday, I hardly got to the pool at all this week. Oh well, next week.

Tuesday, after a long morning of watching tennis, I was settling in to watch along afternoon of World Cup soccer. Anne Nedd called from the clubhouse to see if I wanted to watch with her there, so I wandered up. There were two other people also interested in seeing if the USA team could pull off a win against Belgium. B-O-R-I-N-G. Ninety minutes of watching grown men run up one side of a large grass field, and down the other, and not one score. Ninety minutes! It was hard for me to get excited about watching this inactivity. (To be fair, I imagine that watching a tennis match could be equally as boring to someone who doesn’t love tennis). The USA lost in OT, 2-1. Whatever.

That same evening, Mark Kay Andrews, the author of the book I'd had signed a week or so ago and just finished reading, Save the Date, was going to speak at the SCAD (Savannah college of Art & Design) Museum. I thought it would be interesting, so I drove downtown, parked in a very bad part of the city (not being quite sure exactly where the museum was), and joined other women and students to listen to her speak. She was joined by Patti Callihan Henry, another author. Interestingly, I had just borrowed her new book from the library, The Stories We Tell, and it was next on my list of “to read”. I was surprised to see her there, and also surprised that I was going to read the book she was promoting. The talk was interesting.

On Thursday, The Coastal Heritage Society, which has the stewardship of Old Fort Jackson in Savannah, was breaking ground for a new (badly needed) visitor center. I thought it would be interesting to attend, so I set the recording for the second set of the Bouchard / Hasep match, and drove to OFJ. Lots of politicians, but also a nice day to get out and do something that was at least a little patriotic.

shovels at the ready

but this was a more traditional way of marking the celebration

 

Most museums in Savannah were closed on Friday for the holiday, and DH was scheduled to shut down as well. But if the other venues close their doors, does that make for more opportunities for admission fees for the few that are open? DH sent out a plea for volunteers to give tours on the holiday. It's my normal day to be there, and I had nothing better to do, so I answered the call. In the morning, there was a ceremony at Colonial Park Cemetery. Each year, the Savannah Chapter or the DAR holds a small speech and presentation at the grave site of Button Gwinnett (one of 3 Georgians who signed the Declaration of Independence). I went last year and thought it was OK, so I went again this year. Each year, I see more and more faces that I recognize - from book club (one of the members' granddaughters sang the national anthem), Coastal Heritage Society, DH, BC, or just some other people I know from other places. In the afternoon, DH was very busy, and the tours were large. In the evening, Anne Nedd called and wanted to go see the fireworks at Tybee Island, and asked if I'd like to come along. Well, I would have, but we were 24 hours too late, because Tybee had their celebration on July 3rd, so they wouldn't compete with River Street. Anne and I walked around the development a little to see some of the fireworks that were going off nearby, and that was our contribution to the revelry of the day. 

The Button Gwinnett monument at Colonial Park Cemetery

palm trees, the moon, and fireworks in the far distance (the view from Bldg 4)

 

Sunday, there was a community picnic for the residents of Mercer Point at the pool. I went, but only for a short time as it was my turn to close up BC at 4 pm. I meant to take a few pictures, but forgot. It was a better turn out than I'd expected, and I did get to meet some new people. Since I have no interest in spending time in my kitchen, my contribution to the gala was a bag of chips and a carton of dip. Very classy, Wilma!

What am I going to do next week, with no Wimbledon to occupy all my time?