10/25/2015

Weekly Update 10/25/2015

I haven't been in the pool in weeks. I bought new “running” shoes so I could begin a program of walking again; I haven't done that either. But this week, I got out there a couple of times. I went across the highway to the Y to walk on the trail there on Monday and Tuesday. Amazingly, I “forgot” to get out and do that the rest of the week.

There's a new Italian restaurant that opened on Wilmington Island last spring. I've waited for Donna to get back to Savannah before trying it out. Monday, we went with Lisa to try Little Italy. I was really wonderful, but quite expensive and classy, so (since I'm a Crystal Beer Parlor kinda girl), I don't know if I'll be back. I ordered the special, which is prepared table side. A inside of a huge wheel of Parmesan cheese is scraped out and resembles a bowl, and then they add pasta, an olive oil based sauce, and your choice of protein - I opted for veal. It was really tasty! 

 

my dinner

I don't know who these diners are, but this is how my pasta dinner was prepared

Tuesday, I met Dave and Lisa for a performance by John Cleese and Eric Idle at the Civic Center in Savannah. Tickets were costly, so we elected to have the cheap seats, which were pretty much in the next county. Amazingly, I could hear quite well. They are funny! (Why do Americans call it “foot”ball, when the leader gets the ball in his HANDS, he gives it to a runner or passes it to a receiver who catches it with his HANDS, and the ball has to be in the HANDS when it crosses the goal line. That's HANDball!) They sat in easy chairs and chatted about how they met and the beginning of Monty Python and about some of the other comedians in the group. They did a few old sketches (which Dave told me he'd seen before, but they were new to me). There was a screen on the stage and occasionally they had some clips from some of their movies or tv show. Eric Idle sang some of his songs, his most famous is Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. We laughed and laughed. 

Eric Idle and John Cleese on stage

 

I had two lectures on Wednesday at TLC. The first one, about Troupe Square, one of the famous Savannah Squares that is on the east side of the city and has an active neighborhood group, was at the Senior Center. Following that, I had about two hours to kill. I went to the mall and read in Barnes and Nobles until time to go back. Well, since I'm an idiot, I was at the wrong place - I was supposed to be at one of the downtown churches, Church of the Ascension, for a site visit. I had enough time to drive there. However, the first parking meter I pulled to did not record my quarter. Not wanting to risk a ticket, as I had a couple of weeks ago at DH, I moved the car to another parking space. But guess what? That meter wasn't working either! Every other car around that spot had time on their meters, so apparently I'm some sort of expert at finding meters that don’t work. I tried to call the number on the meter to report a malfunction, but the number “no longer exists or has been recently changed”. By this time, I was ten minutes late for the beginning of the tour, and pretty pissed off - as only I can get over simple things - so I went back to my condo and took a nap. And ate.

I did a few special tours this week, both at DH and BC. It's the busiest time of year in Savannah for tourists, and DH books many busloads of visitors, mostly seniors. When there's more than 3 groups going thru the house at the same time, it's confusing. I'm very much a creature of habit, and I say the same things in the same order on every tour I give there. But when I have to start in a different room, or with a different spiel, I get mixed up, and it's never good. Apparently, however, DH thinks I do ok, because they keep asking me to give these special tours. I gave tours there on Thursday and Saturday. At BC, again this week on Friday, I had a group of home-schooled students and their families. This group was easier because the children were not as young as last week. And, I was better prepared. I asked to be given the old 2014 and 2015 calendars that had not been sold by the Historical Society, and I was able to use the pictures there as a kind of “scavenger hunt” in the cemetery to try to keep the kids focused on looking at the statuary. It also helped that only about half of the expected 70 people showed up, and I had another guide to help.

waiting for my BC tour to begin

 

When I arrived back at my condo after a long Friday, with the tours and meeting friends at The 90, I was surprised to find a package at my front door. Anne, one of my neighbors, has recently found a job at the Ray Ellis Gallery in City Market. Ray Ellis was a local artist who worked mostly in water colors, and has created several wonderful works of area scenes. The one Anne chose for me is of Columbia Square, with DH in the background. It is wonderful. I will get it framed, and have it in my personal “gallery”. 

 

Saturday was not what I expected. I had planned to sleep late, join Dave and Lisa at the Isle of Hope art show, then go to the UGA Marine Open House on Skidaway Island that I've enjoyed in other years. But I was wakened about 7:30 am when a POD was deposited in the parking lot, right under my open bedroom window. That's ok, because I was awake anyway. Then, I went to a memorial service for the mother of a friend. The service was at a church and that was followed by graveside visitation at BC. While I was doing that, I'd received a phone message asking if I could possibly come to DH in the afternoon because there were more busloads of tourists coming in, and a guide who had been scheduled wasn't going to be able to make it. So, I did that next. It didn’t take long, but while I was doing that, I had a phone message that the person responsible for closing BC that he had forgotten his keys, and he asked if I'd be able to close up. Of course. Why not. So I drove there, only to find it was all locked up and I wasn't needed anyway. I just went home, had something to eat, and took a nap. Then (and this was on my original plan for the day), I went back downtown to attend two performances - Owens-Thomas House, another historic house museum, was presenting an after-hours walk through and talk about mourning rituals in regency America, while DH was giving their presentation of “Stranger Than Fiction”, a glimpse at what would be frightening for Savannahians in the 1820's. I saved a whopping big $2 by going to both events in the same evening. I liked them both, although they were very different. And it's amazing to see how different DH looks when it's lit by candlelight - with the exception of only a very few times, I’ve only seen if during the day time. 

the moon rising over the ktichen building at the Owens-Thomas House at dusk

an interesting view of the dining room at DH from the outside. No photos were allowed during the tour, but I don't usually get to see this angle, so I thought it was cool

 

I had to go to the Condo Clubhouse to watch the Bills game Sunday morning because it wasn't on tv; a new experiment to see how many people would watch a live streamed game from a foreign market. I was not going to be taken in, and to protest, I wasn't going to watch. I guess I compromised, because I did not load the Yahoo Sports app, I simply watched it on the iPad. I should have know better. How bad can both these teams be? The Bills gave the Jags 20 points from costly turnovers, and never recovered. And the Jags very nearly let that gift get away from them! But the Bills (gotta love 'em) made one final disastrous penalty with pass interference that set up the game-winning TD. IDIOTS! It may be interesting next week when the Lions play the Chiefs from London, another game that no one cares about or wants to watch (except maybe my family in KC and Ishy). That, of course, will be on tv. 

watching the game on my iPad with my Mind The Gap coffee mug that I'd bought when I visited London