4/26/2015

Weekly Update 4/26/2015

I set out on Tuesday to do errands that needed to be accomplished. I got the oil changed on the car, and went out to the mall to get a dozen bagels. I visited Lisa and her really cute, and really sweet son, Keenan, who was in town for a few days. I finally took all the silk greenery I've been buying this winter to the clubhouse at the condo and tried to make the hanging baskets a little better. 

these don't look too bad

Wednesday, in addition to killing myself cleaning the condo (which hasn't been done in a long time because cleaning is something I just don't want to do any more; but Allen deserved a clean place to sit. And I actually did not kill myself - I did the minimum), I had to bake! there was a picnic at the clubhouse for the condo residents, and we were all to bring a salad or dessert. Well, cooking and baking are things I don't do any more either, but someone else had signed up to bring a bag of chips. The weather for the picnic was great, and the few who bothered to come out had a good time. 

OK - so I'm not the greatest baker, but I did something!

 

 

And then it was Thursday ALLEN'S HERE! I had most of the day to get a little more ready - a few more housekeeping things to do, and I went to the pool to swim. His flight was on time, and since he was coming in on Delta, I was stunned that would be the case. But he got here just fine, and I was thrilled to see him coming up the long airport terminal walkway. After getting his baggage, we went for something to eat since he hadn't had anything all day. We went to Tequila Town for burritos and enchiladas (and margaritas). Since we were downtown, and since I really wanted Allen to meet Lisa and Dave, and since it was Thursday, we walked over to The Rail and had a beer while visiting. That was great, and I'm so glad I got to meet Lisa's son, and she got to meet mine!

Friday, I thought it might be nice to go out to the Savannah Challenger tennis tournament that I've been to nearly every year since moving here. I really enjoy watching the professional tennis, although it's usually no-name players. The same was the case this year as we watched two matches - Donaldson vs Fratangelo and Elia vs Chung. I'll have to see if I can recognize any of these players in the early rounds of one of the majors this summer. After that, we went downtown again to eat at the Pirate House. Allen suggested that restaurant, as he'd never been there, but had read about it in all the travel guide books. For a tourist trap, the food is amazingly good, and we had a nice dinner. Then, since it was Friday, we went to 17 Hundred 90 for a drink. He got to meet my bartender friends, Brittany and Martha, and we were there late enough to see Connie. The restaurant was really busy, so Jim didn't get a chance to come out of the kitchen to meet us, and it would have been nice for Allen to meet a Savannah chef. Maybe next time. 

 

Allen watching a match at The Landings

Yo Ho Ho

 

Saturday did not work out as I'd planned, and you know how that would upset me. We were going to go out to Tybee Island for the Vintage Camper event, and we did start to drive out. But it began to rain heavily. Instead, we made a quick stop at Sylvia's house to introduce Allen to my good friends, and then just turned around and went back to the condo. Later, it seemed to clear up a little, so we tried it again. All the little Airstreams and Shastas from the 50s, 60s and later were so cool. The work that many did to refurbish and repair the trailers is amazing. It was fun to look inside and talk to the owners, and also to reminisce about Allen's first camping trip in a tent with no floor - since most of these campers now have microwaves, a/c and internet tv.

 

From there, we went to Forsyth Park because the SCAD sidewalk art exhibit was supposed to be held. When we got there, nothing was happening. I checked the internet, and the event had been canceled due to the stormy weather. I always liked that, but Allen will just have to come another year if he wants to see it (or wait until my blog next April, when I'll probably post photos). Not to waste a drive into the city, we took the water taxi across the river. That's something I always like to do - it's free, it's relaxing, and the views of River Street from Hutchinson Island are great. Then we went to Rocks on the Roof for a view of the Savannah River from the top of the Bohemian Hotel and a nice drink. Allen opted for sushi for dinner, and we went to éle. The wait was going to be long, so we elected to have the food to go. Eating as we relaxed in front of tv was a nice ending to the day.

Somebody is either really happy to be entertaining her son, or really enjoying another drink

 

Sunday, we went to the pool for quite a while in the morning. My tan is looking good! Allen is getting browner than he would if he was in New York State, too. It got crowded, so we didn't stay too long, but it was nice to get in the refreshing water. In the afternoon, we drove out to Tybee Island. I think that's one of Allen's favorite places to visit when he comes to Georgia. We didn't go in the water, but walked out on the pier and along the beach for a while. Then we went to AJs. It's a favorite of most of the people of Tybee, although I can't understand why; I had hoped they would prove me wrong and that we would have a good meal with good service. Not quite. I think the views of the sunset would have been nice, but we were seated at a table indoors, although I'd asked to be seated on the deck. After waiting an hour for those seats, we decided not to complain. And then we waited nearly an hour to get off the island! The traffic was very bad, but I suppose it was to be expected since yesterday wasn't a good beach day and probably everyone wanted to get out there today. Whatever. It was nice to be with Allen, in the sunshine, and he did get to listen to the Yankee game in the car on s-l-o-w drive back. 

Allen at the pool

Allen on the pier at Tybee

the long long line of cars trying to get off the island

 

4/19/2015

Weekly Update 4/19/2015

This was a very busy week for me. In addition to my normal duties at DH and BC, I also had a special tour at BC, saved all my photos to a flash drive (that took almost the entire day Monday), went to the pool (OK - not so busy), joined friends from Rochester in Charleston, had a couple of lunches that I enjoyed, attended an Georgia Historical Society marker dedication, and went to a Philharmonic concert in the evening.

I had several things I needed to do on Monday and Tuesday, and I met my goals. I went to the tag office and renewed my Georgia license plates and auto registration for another year (the terror of renewing my drivers license is looming, as it's been 5 years since I first was issued the license. Since I'm very old, I need to renew with about 4 million pieces of ID and an eye test. I'm putting that off). I ordered a gift for the baby shower in Missouri for my niece Diane (a KC Royals infant set) and had that shipped. I bought a flash drive and transferred almost 5 years of photos, and then stored the drive in my fire box (no more Kodak gallery nonsense when I lost thousands photos, never to be recovered). I finished reading my book. (I actually read two books this week, neither of which was really very good). I sat by the pool for a while to go for a swim and work at my tan. It rained most of the rest of the week, so I was glad I was able to get there while I could.

Also on Tuesday, I had a text message from Mabel and Vicki, friends from Rochester. They were in Myrtle Beach, SC, and wanted to know if I'd be able to drive up to meet them in Charleston for a day. I can do that! So I set the alarm and got up very early Wednesday morning. They had a little car trouble, so I had some time to wander around the area near the Visitors Center to do a little lone sight-seeing before actually meeting up with them. (I often complain about the cell phone, but in this case, I was so glad that we each had a way to communicate. If I hadn't know that they were held up for an hour or so because of a bad tire, I would have panicked and imagined the worst. So I guess sometimes, phones are ok). We took a guided mini-van tour around the city, and then had a harbor tour on a boat past Fort Sumter and the Ravenel Bridge. It was cool and windy, but it was fine for touring. We ate at Hyman's Seafood, which is very famous, and I was lucky enough to sit at a table where Martin Sheen had been seated when he ate there years ago. Oh, Jed Bartlett - I miss you! It was really great to visit with Mabel and Vicki, and I'm so glad they contacted me. The drive home, of course, was terrorizing for me - it was dark and rainy, but I sucked it up and made it all the way back to the safety of my little home just fine. 

the choppy water of the Ashley River as the waves are blown along the Battery

Fort Sumter

 

Thursday was a Lunch Bunch outing. We had all been invited to the house of one of the “girls” in the group. Her house was only a block from where I lived when I first moved to Savannah. I was in a furnished carriage house house near Ardsley Park, and Caroline's house was very similar. She has remodeled, and everything is wonderful. The food and company was great too. 

Caroline's House on East 40th Street

the delicious lunch Caroline made for us

 

I met Lisa and Dave at The Rail that evening. I was supposed to go to a Girls Night Out Benefit for DH, but Lisa & Dave will be going to UK soon, and I'm running out of opportunities to meet them on Thursdays at The Rail.

Friday, there was a dedication of the Catholic Diocese Pastoral Center, and also an unveiling of the Georgia Historical Society marker at the building. Because I belong to the Society, I had an invitation. This is a huge building on Victory Drive that I've driven past many many times since I've moved here, and it's always been closed and the driveways have been blocked off. I was interested to see what has been done. It originally had been a Catholic orphanage for girls, but it closed in 2010. It was renovated and now holds offices, conference rooms, and a library for the Church as well as the renovated chapel from the orphanage. I was able to get inside, and along with seeing the lovely chapel, there were some old photographs in one of the conference rooms. Some of the people attending the dedication ceremonies had been Sisters of Mercy, working at the orphanage and school, or orphans or students themselves. There was a lot of reminiscing going on around me as I waited for the program to begin. It was very interesting. 

The Pastoral Center

the GHS historical marker at the site

the windows all told pictures of children. I liked this one because it reminded me very much of the window that was donated to the Church of the Master in honor of my Grandmother in 1956 - Jesus with the little children

 

Saturday, I had to open BC, and then be at the visitor center in the afternoon. But first I FINALLY met Beth for lunch. I've been trying to get together with her for a long time. Since Chuck, her husband, had a major stroke last fall, it's been difficult. He was back in the hospital this week, and Memorial is a lot closer to me than their home in Springfield. After several missed texts and slow emails and voice mails, I was finally able to see her for lunch. She's had a difficult few months, and it was good to see her and connect again. And in the evening, I went downtown to a Philharmonic concert at the fabulous Lucas Theatre. The musicians played music from famous movies - My Fair Lady, The James bond series, Dreamed a Dream from Les Miz, and (my favorite) an encore of Don't Cry for Me Argentina. I don't like to drive after dark, I don't like to go to concerts alone, but I really enjoy the Savannah Orchestra, so it’s often worth it to me to put some fears aside and just enjoy the performance.

Sunday started off well. I got up and went to unlock BC, then back home to relax and read until it was time to go back to lock up again at 4. But, I had a phone call, which I missed because I was in the other room and I can't hear the phone ring, telling me that both of the afternoon people who were to be at the Visitor Center had not shown up, and requesting my help. I didn't get the message for an hour, and by the time I actually showed up at the Visitor Center, one of the afternoon volunteers was there. He was quite frazzled, however, as the center was full of people wanting maps and asking questions. One lady was demanding that he help her locate her auntie's grave site. I was able to help her, although the only info she could give me was that there were camellia bushes on the plot (probably 5,000 plots have camellias on them, so that wasn't a lot of help). But with the grave site locator software, we were able to find the plot, and she was grateful. Then I stayed to help until the 4 pm closing. When I opened the donation box, there was so much money in there, it took me a while to drag everything that was caught in the box out. While there's usually about $200-$300 collected each week; today there was over $800 - all in small bills and coins! It took almost an hour to count and total it all up. It began to storm while I was counting the money, and when I locked up and left, it was pouring. The gate to the parking lot where I'd left the car was locked, but the main gates were still open. I had to walk all the way around, in the pouring rain, to get to my car, and I just made it out before the crew came to lock the main gates. At least when I got home, there was a nice bottle of cheap wine waiting!

4/12/2015

Weekly Update 4/12/2015

This was the week of the Biltmore motor coach tour. I had to get up very early on Tuesday to be at the bus and ready to begin the journey at 8 am. That's not an easy thing for me to do. After a long ride and two stops, we arrived at the Albemarle Inn in Asheville for high tea. The Inn is a restored 1909 Greek Revival mansion, now a B&B. It was lovely, and the tea was good. There were also a couple of actors in costumes who pretended to be cousins of Cora's mother, Mrs. Levinson, on Downton Abbey. They asked or answered trivia questions about DA, since everyone on this tour was a fan of the show. Following that, the bus drove around Asheville a little bit while a local guide told us some of the stories behind some of the buildings and sites we were shown. It was ok, but I'm from Savannah, and we have better stories here. After checking into the Comfort Inn, we had dinner at a pub in the downtown area. It was really quite good and we all got to know a little more about the people we were traveling with. One lady at our table had recently moved to a new home, and she ripped out all the plumbing and wiring and redid it all herself because she felt she could do a better job than the professionals (she's probably right). Another had danced with the NYC ballet as a child. Another has lived all over the world, and was orginally from Germany. Finally one turned to me and asked what I do. “Do you knit?” she asked. WHAT??? - I must have looked as if I'm ready to be put in a home where knitting and basket weaving are the best options I could hope for! 

dessert at the high tea

The next morning, after the breakfast buffet at the hotel (yuck!), we boarded the bus again for Biltmore. It was foggy when we arrived at the estate, but by afternoon it cleared up and we could see the mountains. The mansion is fabulous! It was build by George W. Vanderbilt, grandson of the commodore, in 1895. He was a bachelor when it was completed, but soon married Edith and they had a daughter Cornelia, who was born at Biltmore. Today, the estate is still owned by the fifth generation of Mr. Vanderbilt's descendants, but is open to the public as a way to support itself. The Downton Abbey costumes were wonderful! There were probably more than 30 of them on mannequins throughout the house, and each had a sign telling who wore the outfit and in which season and episode. I remembered almost all of them. What struck me the most was the brilliant colors and bead work on the gowns, which is not apparent on the tv program. They were truly lovely. And, how small the dresses are - Michelle Dockery and Laura Carmichael are pencil thin. I didn't have time to walk around the gardens (I barely had time to visit all of the mansion), and I'm sorry I wasn't able to do that. But I did get to the gift shop and the ice cream parlor. 

 Biltmore estate coming into view as we approach on the long driveway

no photos were allowed inside the mansion, but this dress was in the gift shop.  it's the only photo I got of the lovely costumes from Downton Abbey

 

Then it was a short trip to the Biltmore Estates Winery. I didn't take the tour, but I did enjoy a wine tasting. I bought three bottles and some other things at that shop. There were some gardens there and the flowers were lovely. I can only imagine what I missed by not seeing the main gardens at the mansion. Back on the bus again for the long drive home, with a short stop for a fast food dinner. I was home by 10 that evening. 

even flowers inside the winery were colorful and beautiful

 

At about 10:30, as I was trying to watch some of the tv shows I'd recorded while I was away, I happened to notice that there was a strange shadow on the ceiling over my breakfast bar. I got up to get a closer look, and it was WATER - there was a leak coming through my ceiling from the unit above me! I went up there to knock on the door, but no one was home. Suzy came over to help because I hoped that since she's on the HOA board, she might know what I should do. It was no use trying to get our management company on the phone, as the office were closed and the “emergency” number that we both had was connected only to the office. There was no water dripping into my space, and it even seemed to be drying up a bit, so I left a message and decided that there was nothing that I could do that night. Mercer Point called me the next morning and gave me contact info for the owner of the unit upstairs (the family who lives there are renters), and I contacted them. They sent a repair person out to assess the damage, not only at my unit, but also where the leak was originating (the condenser on the a/c unit had malfunctioned and overflowed is the story they gave me). They told me that once the source of the water had been repaired, someone would contact me about fixing my damage. OK. Good. Until Friday evening, when everyone has left for the weekend, when the water stain started to come through again. The saga continues. 

the water stained ceiling - it seemed to run along the rafters until it found a weak spot to pool in

 

Sunday, I had an unusal tour at BC. A Masters Program student at Georgia Southern University had scripted a narrative of several of the people who are buried at BC, and four costumed friends were at the cemetery to tell the stories. I still did my tour, but I had others to tell the tales of four of the more famous “residents”. That was very interesting.

Lisa and Dave came over later on Sunday. I've enjoyed many wonderful “pickie” dinners at their home, and I wanted to have them to my condo. I also needed help with my computer. For quite a while, I've wanted to save all the photos on my laptop to computer discs and I sat down to do that this week. But the memories of all the pictures I'd lost on Kodak archive discs was nagging at me, and I wondered if discs might not be the best way to save things. I decided that a memory stick might be a safer way to keep the photos I don't want to lose. I went to Walmart on my own to try to find one to buy last week, but got too confused by all the selection. Dave kindly agreed to come over and help me by testing how much memory I would need and which type of stick or temporary drive would be the best for what I wanted to do. After his tutorial, I need to go buy a 32KB stick this week and try to save my files. I think I can do it, now that I have some idea of what I'm supposed to be doing. After we ate, we played a little Pictionary Man; I'm not any better at drawing than I am at Trivia. We all missed having Donna with us, but she left for Maine on Friday. I think she may be back before the end of the summer, but she needs to do something with her house there, so I don't really know when I'll see her again. Lisa and Dave go to Wales at the beginning of May, so I'll be quite lonely .

I did get to the pool a couple of times this week, and I even got in the water once. I still don't like to spend too much time there, as I'm afraid I will get a bad sunburn. Later in the year, when I've got a pretty good base tan, I can sit out longer, but I try to be careful now. It certainly is a pleasure to be there again, though. I also turned on the a/c this week (and apparently, so did the family upstairs). It's not been sweltering - yet - but the hot afternoon sun coming through my west-facing windows in the afternoon can make it pretty warm inside the condo. It's time.

4/5/2015

Weekly Update 4/5/2015

My dragon tree plant has been dropping leaves lately. At first, I thought it might be just her cycle, and she was getting ready for new growth. But when June came over for Rummikub last Sunday and I asked her about it (she KNOWS plants - you should see hers!), she suggested that it probably needed re-potting. So, that was my chore for Tuesday. Now, the dragon tree rivals Audrey for size. 

the dragon before...

...and after, in her new pot, with Audrey looking on

 

The Spring Series at the Learning Center began on Wednesday. I haven't signed up for much, but I did go to this week's noon lecture. It was on Five Important Buildings in America and the speaker was the WONDERFUL Dr Christopher Hendricks. Whenever I see that he will be speaking, I try to attend. Not only am I interested in his topics - historical architecture - but he is and engaging and easy to listen to. The five buildings he chose were: Monticello, the US Capital Building, Falling Waters, the Empire State Building and Disney Art Museum.

I had been invited to attend at Passover Seder at Sylvia and Charles' home. I would have thought that in a city like Savannah, where there is a rich history of Jewish settlement and a large Jewish population today, it would not be hard to find Passover wine. But I was wrong. In my third liquor store, I found a small selection. Since I'm a Gentile, I've heard that Mogen David and Manischewitz are not really good wines, so I opted for the only other bottle I saw. I guess it was ok. The dinner was traditional, with matzos, maror, charoset, parsley, a lamb shankbone, and a roasted egg. We read the story, and opened the door for Elijah, and ended with “next year in Jerusalem”. It was very interesting, and I enjoyed it. It's also the first time I've ever eaten gefilte fish or matzo ball soup. On Easter Sunday, I was invited to June and Jim's condo to have Easter dinner with them and Donna. June is an excellent cook, so it was not difficult for me to agree to join them. We had a wonderful meal, and it was nice to have good friends to be with on the holiday. 

this isn't Sylvia's Seder selection (I didn't take my camera with me) but it was similar to this

 

Saturday, I went downtown to the First Saturday Craft Fair that is held each month on River Street. I wasn't able to find a particular item I'm looking for, but I didn't have high hopes that I would. There were tents set up with artwork, jewelry, some pottery, photography, etc. It was interesting. Old Fort Jackson was hosting special cannon firings on the weekend, so I stopped there on my way back home. The “sailors” engaged the children to have them participate in the cannon firings, so it probably was more fun for the youngsters than it was for me. 

interesting demonstrations of the cannon, and after only 3 tries, they got it!