5/27/2018

Weekly Update 5/27/2018

I did nothing all week until Friday, when I went to DH and The 90. Then I finally moved on Saturday. I began by driving out to Wormsloe Plantation for a remembrance of The War of Jenkins Ear. Fought between 1739 and 1748 between the English and Spanish, most of the fighting was done in Florida and Georgia. Each year, Wormsloe commemorates the war, and I’ve attended the program before. This year, it was a waste of time because as soon as I got my car into the parking lot, it began to pour. It really rained hard, and I left after sitting in my car waiting for it to stop for about 15 minutes. Oh, well – I can go again next year.

Wormsloe Avenue with big puddles and lots of mud

In the afternoon, I went to the SCT production of Beauty and the Beast. As always, it was delightful. I went to the matinee, so there were lots of little children there – many little girls dressed up in Belle costumes and tiaras. The actress who played Belle was kind and after the performance, she graciously stood for many little princesses to have their pictures taken with her.

Belle,chatting with a Princess

Gaston

In the evening, I drove out to Tybee for a live theater performance of Trailer Park the Musical. This was first performed off Broadway about 40 years ago, and I’d never heard of it. The story was really lame, but the performers were wonderful professional actors and actresses and the music and dialogue was a hoot. It was very entertaining.   

More rain is in the forecast for this week, due to a tropical storm. The hurricane season is coming, and it’s getting wet. I don’t know if I’ll be going out much next week, either.  

5/20/2018

Weekly Update 5/20/2018

There was rain forecast for every day this week, so I was not able to get to the pool. Not only was the weather not supposed to cooperate, but I was certain there would be no sunbathers, and I’m not allowed to be there on my own, so I didn’t go. It did not rain until Thursday, so it was a wasted week, one where I could have been doing some exercise and working at my tan, but there will be other opportunities.

Since it didn’t look much like rain on Tuesday, when I had to be downtown for a few things, I drove, but parked well away from the metered parking areas and walked. So, no swimming, but I did walk a bit (also went to the Y on Thursday – didn’t like it because it was hot and humid, but what are you gonna do?) I met Jane for lunch at Bella Napoli, a wonderful Italian place. That was great. Since I was not scheduled to be at City Hall for almost two hours, I decided to tackle something on my 2018 summer bucket list, and Jane and I both went to the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Museum. While I knew it had changed from a house museum to a more hands-on experience for visiting Girl Scouts quite a while ago, I hadn’t been there in so long, and I wanted to see how it was different. After that, I went to lecture at City Hall, one of the Hungry for History series. This was about Bonaventure, and was related to the exhibit at the Jepson. That was a busy day, but I enjoyed it very much.

I attended other lectures this week, too. At TLC, I attended at talk on teenage idols from the 1950s – I remember them all well! Ricky Nelson, Bobby Darin, Bobby Rydell, Paul Anka, Bobby Vee, and others. It sure brought back many memories, not only with the talk itself, but visiting with some of the other attendees, sharing stories of when we were young. I also went to the book discussion on Cathedral of the Wild by Boyd Varty, a biography of growing up on an African game reserve. And then the best of all – Stratton Leopold gave a history of the family’s ice cream business in Savannah. And there was free ice cream! What’s not to like?

Saturday was The Royal Wedding. Suzy had invited some neighbors to come watch at her condo, and since coverage began at 4 am, we were encouraged to wear our pj’s. Some of the ladies wore hats with their jamas, but the guys decided dress shirts and ties were more appropriate, although, they did wear shorts. As always, I was on the lookout for something that I might be able to wear to the family wedding I’ll go to next winter. Maybe the Oprah outfit (but, unlike her, I’d try to find it in my size, not two sizes too small), or Alma Clooney (only if I grow an additional 15 inches and drop down to 22 pounds). It also made me wonder: Why do Americans only get that dressy, with the hats and lovely dresses, for a horse race?

5/13/2018

Weekly Update 5/13/2018

After an exciting two weeks with visitors, this week was a let down. I did almost nothing except go to the pool. And I spent many hours there. My tan is finally on track!

Thanks to everyone for the nice cards and reminders that I’m really REALLY old now.

Barbara and I went out to brunch at a nice little place on Wilmington Island for Mother’s Day. Nothing special, but also it didn’t break the bank, and many places really overcharge for this holiday. And I had a tour at BC in the afternoon. A quiet, lovely day.

5/8/2018

Weekly Update 5/7/2018

ALLEN!

The day after Lisa left, Allen came to visit. It was an eventful arrival. His plane landed at 11 am, and the plane crash near the airport was 20 minutes later. We were in the car heading to the condo, when we noticed a huge plume of black smoke. Many emergency vehicles went racing past us, and we got caught in huge traffic jams every where we tried to go. We knew a little of what was going on because we both had our phones and could find info on the news apps, but didn’t have a clue to how bad it was until we learned more later in the day. Had there been a plane crash 20 minutes BEFORE Allen landed, I would have been a wreck, but having him safely with me put my mind at ease. From there, we went to Treylor Park to have a cold brew and some lunch while relaxing a little on their patio. And in the evening, since it was Wednesday, we both played Rummikub.

watching the smoke from our car window

at Treylor Park

Thursday, we went to the Landings to watch the Savannah Challenger Tennis Tournament. We watched some uninspired singles, and I wandered to the doubles for only one set of that. It was amazing how hard and how deep they hit the ball. None of the players were familiar to me, and all the matches only went to two sets. It was very nice to be there, however, and I loved watching the matches we saw. We stopped at the Publix on the way home, and picked up some steaks, mushrooms, baked potatoes and salad. I made Allen grill out at the pool. He did a wonderful job – I haven’t tasted anything that good in a long time.

Federico Coria (he lost)

Reilly Opelka (he won) - he's 6'11"

My personal chef

I had hoped to take a helicopter ride with Allen while he was here, but when I tried to contact the company that offers the rides, I had no response to my email or phone call messages. I don’t know if that had anything to do with the crash, but the helicopter didn’t work out for us. So, instead, we drove out to Tybee Island where we had a lunch at the outside patio at North Beach Grill. Then, we went to the pier to walk out over the water and also got our feet in tthe water briefly. Allen had suggested that we might like to try to tour the Green Meldrim House because he had not been there on any of his other visits. We hurried downtown to catch the last tour at 3:30 only to find the doors locked – no tours today (that has happened to me at that house many times before). We got a couple of Guinness beers to go and did some people watching in Chippewa Square. And then, since it was Friday, we went to The 90.

Allen at the beach

Kay, me Allen, Connie at The 90

Saturday, instead of going to the annual Lunch Bunch Derby Day gathering (didn’t really think Allen would be interested in hanging out with all us old ladies), we went to the Scottish Games. This is a festival that is held every year but it’s been a few years since I’ve been able to go. I enjoyed it: the athletic events (man, some of those women who toss the caber are large ladies!), the clan booths for families (I saw a Matheson family tent), the dancers, the bagpipes, the things for sale. And especially I enjoyed watching the sheep dogs as they worked to herd the sheep. The weather was perfect. Again, I didn’t plan well, and I thought that the Derby Race started at 5. Since I wanted us to be downtown in some sports bar to watch the Run for the Roses, we were two hours too early. Finally we went to Tequila Town since it was Cinco de Mayo as well as Derby Day, and we ate some wonderful Mexican food, and we could watch the race while we were there.

bagpipes on parade

good puppy!

Allen at Teuila Town, watching the race on the tv at the bar

On Sunday, I finally got to go to Auspicious Bakery, and I was disappointed. When I had been there before, there were several counters set up with all sorts of bread, cookies, croissants, etc. This time, there was only one small counter, only a few cookies, no good bread, but lots and lots of all kinds of croissants. I was able to find something to buy, and it was very good, but I had been expecting something really grand and it just didn’t measure up. We continued on the Wormsloe Plantation, which isn’t a plantation at all, but just the ruins of a small house that was built by one of the men who arrived with General Oglethorp in 1733. There was a new hiking trail that I had not known about before, so we wandered there. After that, we went to Coach’s to catch the end of the Yankees game (which had a pretty exciting finish), and some European football. I coerced Allen into cooking for me again, and we stopped at Publix for chicken kabaobs, couscous, and macaroni salad. We had a nice swim first, and Barbara joined us for dinner, bringing some salmon and vegies.  

Allen at Wormsloe

more work for Allen

relaxing in the pool

On our last day together, I was a little worried about how long it would take to get to the airport (there are still detours around the crash site, and I wasn’t sure how that would affect the traffic on other roads), and since Allen wasn’t scheduled to get home until almost midnight, I didn’t want him to miss his flight. We were much too early, and I wish I could have spent a little more time with him. But before going to the airport, we did have time to visit a new Classic Car Museum in Savannah, go to Rocks for a drink and something quick to eat, and then to Leopold’s for ice cream.  

Allen at Rocks, watching a container ship leave the port

And then I took him to the airport – and he was gone. It was so grand to have him here! Thanks Lisa and Allen for a wonderful wonderful two weeks!

5/7/2018

yeah well, I always try to update on Sunday evenings, with "news" of the past week, but i'm going to delay it for a day this week.  I'll post on Monday evening.