2/24/2019

Weekly Update 2/24/2019

Something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time – visit BHS member Judy Maltenfort for lunch. After Lee died last fall, she moved into a facility on the southside, and I wanted to stay in touch with her. I finally was able to get out there. I ate in her dining room, and enjoyed a very nice lunch with our mutual friend, Lynn, and Judy’s sister-in-law (who also lives at Savannah Commons), Ann. And if that wasn’t enough eating for me, I met Kay for supper at CBP. We weren’t able to see each other for a couple of weeks at The 90, so we made up for that by meeting Tuesday.

Ann, Lynn & Judy at lunch in the dining room

I had one lecture this week. The Moveable Feast series that is sponsored by Armstrong University (now The Savannah Campus of Georgia Southern) met at the Beach Institute for a panel discussion of racism. It was interesting, but I was skeptical that this was the group that needed to attend a lecture such as this. My guess is that the ones in attendance already address their own issues of racism and try to overcome them, while others who might benefit from listening to thoughtful, intelligent people talk about what research has proven were missing.

I also went out to the wonderful Tybee Post Theater with Kathie, from MP, to see A Star is Born. We went for a nice light dinner first, and then out to the movies. I was a little nervous because the highway had been closed that morning due to high tides making the road impassable, but we had no problem in the evening. The movie was OK, but it wasn’t Judy Garland and James Mason, which for me always will be THE Star is Born movie, and no one will ever do it better. But I liked the acting, and the songs (and Bradley Cooper!)

As I’m always struggling to get my horrible eating habits under control, I’ve been knitting to see if that will limit my hand to mouth activity by keeping my hands busy with other projects. I’ve made a whole closet full of baby blankets, and I have no one to give those to. I decided to try to knit myself a sweater. It didn’t turn out well. Just as I used to be able to sew, but can’t seem to get those projects to work out any longer, the same seems to be true with knitting. I don’t know if I should keep this and wear it next year when I go for walks, or just drop it in the Goodwill box.

  

Sunday evening, the Lunch Bunch met at Boar’s Head restaurant for happy hour. It was well attended, and we needed to have three tables for all the people of our group who showed up.

2/17/2019

Weekly Update 2/17/2019

I began to volunteer at the archives of City Hall this past week. I hope to go for a few hours each week to help create a data base from old deeds and records books. There are six large books with hand written entries going back more than 100 years. In the three hours I was there on Monday, I was able to convert 3 pages. I know I’ll never live to see this project complete! It’s really quite interesting, however, and I think I’ll enjoy it, if I don’t go blind.

I went to two lectures: one at the Victorian Society about the Telfair sisters and travel abroad during the Grand Tours, the other at City Hall with Jamie giving a talk about Yellow Fever. I keep thinking that I’m learning new things by going to these lectures, but I’d seen the exhibit at the Telfair Academy with some of the items and paintings that Mary Telfair brought back to Savannah from her travels. And, of course, I was a part of the Yellow Fever program at DH last fall. Maybe my brain is full.

Jane and I were invited to Connie’s house for lunch on Thursday. It was very nice and I had a wonderful time with good friends. And good food.

On my last tour at DH on Friday, a newscaster from a local channel was interviewing Jamie. The cameraman also spent some time in the house, and I think he may have been filming a part of my tour. I watched the news that evening, and there was nothing there, but I’ll keep looking. If it airs, I’ll try to share the link, so you can see me in full docent mode – a wonder to behold.

2/10/2019

Weekly Update 2/10/2019

I spent a lot of time at DH this week. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, busloads of 7^th graders came to tour the house, do colonial crafts in the pharmacy and eat lunch in the gardens. I helped by giving 2 tours on Tuesday. I applaud the enthusiasm these kids show, but it’s difficult for me to do a guided tour that’s NOT like the tours I do all the time. The kids were not interested in listening to me lecture them. They had questions they wanted answered, and they just blurt their questions out; my normal rote talk goes right down the drain. Luckily, I was able to answer the questions, and I hope that I gave them a tour they enjoyed. I went back on Thursday to join a group of DH staff who were discussing how the museum will change when the buildings are renovated (the pharmacy will become the offices, admissions and gift shop areas, and the basement level of the house will revert to the kitchen, laundry and storage areas that were there in the 1820s). I’m not just sure why I was invited to this round table discussion, and I really had little to offer, but it was interesting. Friday, of course, I was there for my “normal” tours, and to fill the time before I go to The 90.

There was some excitement for a couple of days, too. Because it seems that more and more, problem solving and coping with disappointment seems to involve guns, there was a shooting incident in the development between the Publix and the YMCA on Tuesday morning. The schools are all right there, as well, so they were all put in lock down. The gunman injured, but did not kill, two people. He ran, and it was not known where he was hiding until he turned himself in to the police that night. On Friday, just as I was arriving at DH, a horse and carriage overturned on the next square north of Columbia Square. I could see all the blue police car lights as I parked at DH. Apparently the horse had been spooked, and a concerned citizen tried to stop the horse from running away by driving his car at the horse – not so smart. That caused even more panic, and the carriage went up on the curb at a speed that caused it to overturn. There were seven people in the carriage, five of whom went to the hospital for minor injuries. There will now be an uproar in Savannah about cruelty to animals and a call for the abolition of horse carriages.

Saturday was the annual Colonial Muster at Wormsloe Plantation. Unlike every other year that I’ve been here, it did not rain. Jane and I went to see the demonstrations, and especially liked the Colonial life area. This year, they added laundry and wool dying to the chores that the interpreters were showcasing, in addition to the cooking, baking, smithing, tanning, woodworking and other essential duties of the colonists. And, of course, demonstrations of the militia training, musket and canon firings. James Oglethorpe and Tomochichi were also there.

It was Super Museum Sunday this week, when museums across the state open their doors and don’t charge admission. Sounds like a good deal, but most do not give the normal tours (some give no tours at all, but allow people in with docents to answer questions, but not entire tours) and most do not open all of the areas on SMS (DH, for example, only allows people on the living level, not on the bedroom level). And all the museums are crowded. It’s a great opportunity to go to a museum that you might want to see, but just like Restaurant Week, you’re not getting the whole experience. The cemetery was very crowded. We needed to add an extra tour, and the first tour at 2 pm had about 60 people, Normally, we don’t want more than 30 on a tour.

2/3/2019

Weekly Update 2/3/2019

Good game, huh? YAWN

It’s continued to be unseasonable cold (although I have no right to complain when I know what other parts of the country are experiencing), so I hardly went out, even to walk.

I did get out on Monday to a Lunch Bunch gathering for happy hour at a Mexican restaurant not far from MP, Coyote. That was interesting and fun.

And it’s back to DH for me. I rather enjoyed the time off during the month of January, but I’ve got to get my brain working again. It’s like riding a bike – you don’t forget. I was back in “welcome to the historic Davenport House” mode right away. Last Friday, instead of going to The 90, I met Kay, Beverly & Beth at Ruth’s Chris for restaurant week. Everything about the meal was fantastic, especially the company. And Kay and I are almost twins dressed in green shirts and jewelry. I should be so lucky as to be a twin of the lovely Kay!

I drove to Mitchelville, SC on Saturday. Mitchelville was established in 1862 on Hilton Head Island, where Africans, just out of slavery and not yet citizens, first began to govern themselves and formed the first such community in American. I had intended to get up early Saturday morning for this Freedom Day event (Freedom Day is actually on Friday), but was too lazy, and I got a late start. I almost decided to skip it, but I’m so glad I didn’t. The speakers were Charlotte Forten, Susie King Taylor, Clara Barton, Harriet Tubman, and a Free Woman. Following that, there was a panel discussion with two women who are descendants of the original founders of Mitchelville.  

Also in honor of Black History Month (I know, I’m not Black, but I do love history), several theaters across the country are showing The Black Panther for free. Free? I’m in. I downloaded a ticket the night before, and went to a performance. I didn’t get it, but I’m not really much for scifi and fantasy. But it was interesting, and since it’s up for an Oscar, I was glad to see it.

I saw this, and it’s just wrong. If you have the state approve a special license so that you can park within steps of the door of a store, having stickers for half and full marathons is just wrong! I know I shouldn’t judge, that perhaps the car belongs to a care giver who is a runner, or the owner has stickers from someone who runs. But It’s just not right to advertise that you can’t walk from the middle of a parking lot and need a special tag to allow you to park near to the door in all public places, and then brag about running for 26.2 miles. If someone without  sticker parks in a handicap slot, people are quick to think that's not right, so neither is this!