3/25/2018

Weekly Update 3/25/2018

I had a great week! Marcia and Andy visited from Rochester. It was so good to see them both. I spent all day Monday cleaning the condo and getting ready for them, and then picked them up in the late afternoon. We didn’t do anything that evening except get caught up, and it had been a long travel day for them; we went to bed early. But the next few days were busy most of the time. We went to the Ships of the Sea Museum and DH, we drove though the Wildlife refuge, we sent out to Tybee to visit the lighthouse, Fort Screven, and walk out on the pier, we went to Old fort Jackson and to River Street in search of tugboats (not much luck, but we did see one assisting a container ship on it’s way to the ocean). And on Thursday we went on a tour of homes in the up-and -coming Thomas Park neighborhood. This isn’t the historic district, and I personally thought some of the homes on the tour needed a little more up-and-coming, but it was interesting. We also had a few really fun evenings inside watching reruns of the The Twilight Zone, or a great game of Savannah-opoly. As always, I hardly spent any time in my kitchen and I made them eat out.

at the Crystal Beer Parlor

Tybee Lighthouse

playing board games

looking for tugboats

on the house tour

They left on Friday, and Saturday was very busy for me. The annual Tour of Homes is a huge event here, and one of the tours that is offered each year is a tour of BC, with a few “residents” in the cemetery telling stories. This year we had Little Gracie’s mom, John Muir and Mrs Wheaton. As much as I’ve always wanted to be a storyteller, apparently my ability to move tourists around the cemetery is sought after, and I’m always assigned to being a tour guide. This year, I think I debunked some of my legend, as I nearly forgot to get my group to Johnny Mercer’s family plot, and had to circle back to see it, confusing all the other tours going on at the same time.

Mrs Watson, Gracie's mother

John Muir, naturalist

Admiral Wheaton's wife

As soon as that was over, I rushed downtown to join the March for Our Lives rally. I am very skeptical about what any of this will do; I’m skeptical about my vote making a difference. My voice is never heard, and I’m sure this will be more of the same. But children afraid to go to school, danger at music concerts, the whole way firearms are changing the way we live – this is too important to NOT become involved in. And I needed to support my friend, Connie, who will always mourn the death of Meadow Pollard at Parklands School in Florida.

Connie with the large green poster; Jane and I not far behind

Needing something a little happier after that, I sent to the Telfair In Bloom display at the Telfair Gallery. Local Florists create displays that correspond to some of the art work at the gallery. It is always so lovely. I was there on the last day, and some of the flowers were wilting, but they were still beautiful, and it was wonderful to see them. Just a few:

3/18/2018

Weekly Update 3/18/2018

Because it was St Patrick’s Day Week in Savannah, I avoided downtown whenever I could. I did have to venture there a couple of times – for DH on Friday, and two lectures. I was busy almost all day at BC on Saturday, but would not have gone downtown anyway. I avoid it on March 17 if I can. But I did eat a corned beef sandwich and have a Guinness for supper.

On Wednesday, I attended a lecture at City Hall about Savannah soldiers in WWI. A child who couldn’t have been more than 12 years old, had done extensive research on men who served in the Great War. There is a memorial in Daffin Park to the ones who died, and many of those perished when the Otranto, a British liner carrying almost 700 doughboys, mostly from Fort Screven on Tybee Island, went down in a storm in the Irish Sea on September 25, 1918. Half of the soldiers, who were being transported to the front, died when the ship went down.

On Thursday, I went to the Jepson for a panel discussion about slavery interpretation and how it is changing in museums. The panel included DH director Jamie Credle, and other museum and tour staff in Savannah. It was very interesting to see how this is changing in the 21^st century. All I knew about slavery was what I’d learned from Gone With The Wind, but that’s not nearly the story of what it was like in antebellum times, particularly in urban area.

On Wednesday, to show my support to the school walk out protests, I went across the street to stand with the students as they observed 17 minutes of silence. I was very pleased to find that Hannah had joined her classmates and walked out of her school, too. My sincere hope is that these young adults will be able to force the older people who make the decisions into action. As with everything, the answers are not simple, but clearly, when kids are afraid to be in school, something is very wrong.

Friday, because it was the evening before St Pat’s Day, and there were few places to park downtown, I suggested that Kay and I meet someplace other than The 90. I drove out to a wonderful Indian restaurant near her home in Pooler. Easy for you to say – what should have been a 35 minute drive took me more than an hour because, naturally I got lost. But we finally met up and had a tasty meal.

Sunday, I walked in Daffin Park. I didn’t walk much this week, and felt I needed to try to get back into it. I was surprised when the Budweiser Clydesdales were still in their tents at the park. They march in the parade each year, and are so-o-o big! I was able to see a couple of them close up, but not being an animal person, I didn't get THAT close.  

3/11/2018

Weekly Update 3/11/2018

The azaleas are stunning. I think peak will be next week, but they are very grand indeed this week. Because BC has so many lovely azaleas, I thought that there might be many tourists who would take advantage of the free BHS tours on the second weekend of the month, and I went there Saturday to see if I could help out. It’s a good thing I did, because it was so crowded, they split the group into 3. I was one of the guides. Sunday is the day when I’m supposed to be there anyway, so I was back again to stun visitors with my knowledge and expertise.

at Adams Park on one of my walks this week

a lovely Sunday afternoon in BC

even the little shrub by my condo is blooming!

I went to two movies this week and attended two lectures. I went to the theater to see Darkest Hour. It was OK, but particularly interesting because I had visited the London war rooms when I was there last September. June downloaded The Shape of Water and thought it was the best movie she’s seen in a long time, so she invited me over to watch with her one evening. It was OK, too, but I would not claim it to be one of the best I’ve seen. It was a little far fetched for my tastes. I saw five of the Academy Award nominated films this year – I think that’s a new record for me.

One lecture, at TLC, was a slide show of photos taken in Savannah by one of the members’ fathers in the 50s and 60s. She returned to some of the places to take updated photos of the same locations. That was really interesting. The other talk was at Massie School, and it was titled “What Would Tomochichi Do”. While I knew it was about planning for the future cityscape of Savannah, I was surprise that it focused only on the Tomochichi Federal Court House and the plans to enlarge and update it. The group attending were disappointed cause the plans do not seem to fit with the overall historic sense that Savannah has become noted for. We were encouraged to contact politicians, both at the federal and state levels to protest the plans. I feel that since I can get neither my HOA Board nor the management people here at MP to respond to inquires and questions, I doubt that anyone higher up would be at all interested in what I think about anything. That was a waste of an evening for me.

St Patrick’s Day is rapidly approaching. The whole city celebrates, and one thing that they do is to turn the water in all the fountains in all the squares to green. When I went to DH on

Friday, it was as it always it; when I left after my tours, the water was green in the fountain in Columbia Square.

Sunday evening, I found myself driving out to Tybee again to the Post Theater - this is getting to be a habit. The Savannah Music Fest is coming in a few weeks, and I used to really enjoy that. But I used to be able to go to a mid-afternoon classical concert for $10, but now everything is $30 or more, and I can’t justify spending that kind of money on a one-hour show. So, I’m drawn more and more to the Post. One of the original Celtic Women sang Irish songs and ballads, some which were familiar from the Celtic Women shows. I enjoyed that. 

3/4/2018

Weekly Update 3/4/2018

I went to a great talk about John Muir in Bonaventure Cemetery at the Victorian Society on Tuesday evening. I’d heard Steve Willis talk about this before, and I’m trying to incorporate the story in my tours at the cemetery, so I was glad to hear it again and have some stories reinforced.

I went to a lecture on Etiquette at TLC on Wednesday. I am constantly amazed at how little of this applies any longer. Etiquette is simply respect, acting civilized and applying the Golden Rule. Yet, it is mostly ignored everywhere today. Ah, the good old days!

Thursday there was a talk about Art at Bonaventure at the Jepson Center. Amazingly, I think I knew half the people who attended, and the place was packed. I guess people who volunteer at BC wanted to go to this lecture. Although I think I know everything, I was surprised at how much I didn’t know.  

Friday was Kay’s birthday, so Adam and Anthony took her out for for dinner, and she would prefer that to drinks with me at The 90 – go figure! But it gave me an opportunity to attend the Tea With Mrs. Davenport performance at DH. I had been before a few years ago, but since its been a while (and also docents were invited to this showing for free – what’s not to like?) I went. Of course it was good. 

I have been to the Tybee Post Theater twice lately. Last Saturday night, I went out to see the movie Three Billboards outside of Ebbing Missouri. It was interesting, and Frances McDormand is always great. (a I also binge watched a new Netflix series, Seven Seconds, and I liked that very much. But between watching both these programs, my speech is even more fillled with f bombs). This Saturday, I went to a live performance by John Denver – well not really because he died in 1997. I’ve always liked his music, so when an entertainer was going to be at Tybee to sing his music, I went. Far Out