4/28/2019

Weekly Update 4/28/2019

This week wasn’t as boring as the past few weeks. I did quite a bit, including going to the pool – twice! The water is still brisk, but I did get in to swim a few laps.

I also attended a few lectures, and all different, all interesting. I went to a TLC book club review of The Echo Killings by Christi Daugherty, a mystery set in Savannah. It was not the best thriller I’ve ever read, but the whole group agreed that it was interesting, and we liked the setting. At the library across the street from me, there was a talk by Weihua Zhang, a professor at SCAD, who spoke about the Chinese railroad workers who constructed the first Transcontinental Railroad. It was less about the history than it was about her recent travels out west and photos she had taken of some of the railroad and monuments along the way. Back at TLC again the next day, I learned about the Savannah Theater with highlights of the history by the official historian of the theater, as well as insights by one of the current performers about the production efforts of some of the live shows that are currently being performed there. And, finally, on Friday, Jane and I went to Temple Mickve Israel to hear the granddaughter of a Nazi war criminal who was hung following World War II for crimes against humanity, and how his actions, and the execution, have affected her family to this day.

I also had a chance to see Charles Snyder act in a play with the Wilmington Island Players. The play was Twigs, a play by George Furth, which originally was performed on Broadway in 1971. It was an amusing comedy, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Charles was very good, and I was surprised a that another friend of mine, Vic, from both book clubs that I go to, was also an actor.

Friday, between DH, The 90 and the lecture at the Temple, The Georgia Historical Society unveiled a historic marker in one of the squares downtown. So I went to that. This was for Mary Musgrove, who is kinda Savannah’s Mary Jemison, although she was never a captive.

The plaque reads:

Mary Musgrove was the daughter of an English trader and a Creek

Indian mother. In 1717 she and her husband, John, established

Cowpens trading post near the Savannah River which became a

center of 18^th century English-Indian trade for deer hides. After the

colony’s founding in 1733, Musgrove became principal interpreter

between Yamacraw Chieftain Tomochichi and Gen. Oglethorpe.

Serving as Oglethorpe's interpreter for ten years, she helped foster

peace between the British and the Creeks. For her assistance she

received financial compensation, political prestige, and lands from

the Creeks making her the wealthiest Georgia landowner in the 1700s.

The Georgia colony refused to grant Musgrove’s property rights to the

Creek lands of St. Catherines, Sapelo, and Ossabaw Islands. After

much dispute, Musgrove received the English title to St. Catherines

Island in 1760, where she died c. 1765.

Saturday, the BHS conducted a “walkabout” to identify and prioritize plots in the cemetery that could use some attention.  We did not get information on EVERY plot, but only on those that were noticed to have a problem, e.g., broken or dirty stones, overgrown big plantings that negatively impact the plot, etc. Twelve volunteers were able to look at over 500 plots and 64 of those were identified as “problems”. Most issues involved headstones that needed cleaning, plots that had intrusive plants that covered markers, headstones that had broken or had fallen, and few plots that were missing parts of the cast iron fences that originally surrounded them. Whether or not the BHS can do anything about these issues remains to be seen, as these are FAMILY plots and are still owned by the families, who should be responsible for the upkeep. But some families have died out or moved away, and if we can identify those, we may be able to help with the beautification and/or fund the restoration. It will be a long process, and this is the first step. It was a perfect day, and a fun project.

Because I didn’t get to meet Kay on Friday at The 90, being too busy going from DH to an unveiling and then a lecture, we met Sunday. We tried a new restaurant near Ellis Square, the Duck Diner. It was wonderfully tasty. Kay had the duck tacos and I had the grilled cheese and duck sandwich. As we were leaving, we ordered the champagne with duckie popsicles to go, and sat in City Market to enjoy that nice treat.  

4/20/2019

Weekly Update 4/20/2019

HAPPY EASTER!!!

The more I don’t do, the easier it is not to do anything. And I didn’t do much again this week.

I did attend two lectures: one on Conrad Aiken (I know very little about him and I have to talk about him on every tour I give at BC, so I need to get myself better informed; this lecture didn’t help a lot) and one on marine archaeology (which, in spite of the topic, was very interesting).

On Saturday, I went to Daffin Park for the Earth Day event. Several organizations set up tables and booths to promote their particular project, and since I’m a fan of Save The Earth, I liked it all. There were several teenage girls dressed in gowns and clothing made from paper, aluminum foil, pop can tops, bumper stickers, etc. - very creative and fun. I also saw Joe, who was the leader on Wassaw Island all those years ago when I went to Turtle Camp. I talked to him for a few minutes, and amazingly, he seemed to remember me! I even bought a canvas bag that I’m going to use to bag my groceries, perhaps to eliminate the plastic bags, and also save myself from having to purchase the shoddy Publix bags that last maybe a month.

Barbara invited friends over to her condo on Sunday to share a wonderful meal. There was way too much food, but I dug right in. I made quiche. I have been hungry for a quiche lately, so this was a great opportunity for me to indulge my craving. I also tried to make a key lime pound cake, but that was rather a disaster. I should stick to my Cadbury eggs!

4/14/2019

Weekly Update 4/14/2019

Not much was going on this week. Wednesday, I went to Love’s Seafood Restaurant with Jane and June. Neither Jane nor I had ever been, but it’s a long time favorite of June, so she graciously went with us to enjoy the food. I had to-die-for shrimp and grits, and the other meals were great also.

Love's Seafood on the Ogeechee River

On Saturday, Jane I went out to Fort Pulaski for a demonstration. We’d seen canon and musket firings before, so were more interested in the Mail Call talk, and the baseball game. It was a nice day, and you can tell spring is coming sometime soon.

the Mail Call person

a photo of an actual game at Fort Pulaski with Union soldiers c. 1863

It is getting warmer, but I haven’t been to the pool yet. I’m not that anxious yet, as I know what a hassle it will be, and I’m not sure I’m up for the fight. I’ll get up there and get in the water when it’s really too hot to walk, but all the enthusiasm I’ve had for it in past years has been beaten out of me. Good work, HOA.

4/7/2019

Weekly Update 4/7/2019

When I was at the archives, doing my volunteer work this week, I took a picture of the deeds book, so I could show what it is I’m doing. The handwriting on this sample is wonderful; it is not always the case and some is quite hard to decipher. But from the written records, I’m creating a database. I’ll be doing this for a few hours on Mondays until I die. Or go blind.

Monday was Library Book Club. This month we read The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. It was about spousal abuse, so I didn’t like it much. But she is a very popular author, and that’s what we do at this book club. The discussion was also quite interesting because most of the ladies are my age, and we have memories about Vietnam, and how it changed some of the people we knew who fought there.

I had a couple of interesting, but difficult tours this week. One was at BC. I’ve done this group before. They are seniors from a local nursing home, and they come on a van that’s small enough to navigate through much of the cemetery. That’s a good thing, as they would not be able to walk around, some are in wheelchairs (those would be the ones who slept the whole time). One insisted on informing the van driver every time she saw another car anywhere in the cemetery (and there were lots as this is a busy time of the year) to be careful not to hit them. One kept asking me when would the tour be over so they could go home. And one wanted to know if I golf (where did that come from?) But I wasn’t doing anything else that afternoon, why not? The other difficult one was the first tour on Friday afternoon at DH. A grandma, adult daughter and 3 kids (maybe 3, 6 and 7 years old). The kids were out of control, and the adults did nothing. Perhaps that was because grandma’s phone kept ringing and she would have to dig through her purse to find it. The littlest one kept hiding behind doors, where we keep our fire extinguishers. I finally told her to stay out of the corners of the rooms and away from the historic – and expensive – wallpaper. The middle child kept asking questions that had nothing to do with the tour (how do you make a quill pen, or ink? Where did they grocery shop?) I finally told him that this was a tour about the house and the Davenport family, and while his questions were interesting, I didn’t know the answers and I had only a short amount of time to talk about what I did know. The adults should have been more in control, but I guess they didn’t see the need to rein the little darlings since they’d paid for a tour and expected to get one. Some of the other tourists complimented me and said I had done a good job with what I was given. But not being a teacher, or having any education background, I don’t really know how to handle this; I expect parents to understand about the historic nature of museums, and play in role in protecting the collections. I did the best I could.

Saturday, I went to a Tea House that Lunch Bunch had been to several months ago, and enjoyed it again. Because we were there in the cold winter months when we were last here, sitting on the porch was more pleasant this time. Because it was National Tartan Day, Dave and John wore their kilts.

Sunday, it was a lovely day. So I joined friends at City Market to listen to some rock music. I didn’t need to wear my hearing aids, as it was plenty loud, but this is something I rarely do, and it was fun.