9/29/2019

Weekly Update 9/29/2019

Back to boring.

I went to TLC for a book club, I went to the pool a couple of times to swim, I attended a lecture, I met for Rummikub, I did tours at DH and I did the visitor center at BC, I went to The 90, and I went to Coach’s for the Sunday NFL. Same old same old.

I also went out to dinner with Kay and to see a play – Driving Miss Daisy, it was wonderful! There’s not a lot of professional theater in Savannah, and I’m not just sure what this group was. But there’s no doubt this group was professional.

BUT – the post office really fucked up my mail. Instead of HOLDING it they returned all first class mail to sender, and tossed all other mail. I do not mourn the ads I’ve lost (or the Viking Cruise offers), but I spent a lot of time trying to recreate bills that I will not get. And trying to think of some bills that are not monthly that may have been send. Such as taxes. How delightful to think that my Chatham County tax bill may have been returned with “no longer at this address” stamped across it! I’ll have to continue to sort that out this week. Re-creating my ViSA statement was a nightmare because there was so much on there from both the Atlanta trip and UK. This isn’t rocket science, and these people are paid to to do this – it’s their job! I’m livid, but there’s not a thing I can do.

The Bills can hold their heads high. They played tough and would have won if it hadn’t been for that blocked punt (bad snap? missed block? lots of blame to pass around).

9/23/2019

 

warning: there are lots of spelling errors, but I just I'mtrying to hurry to get this post completed.

Weekly Update 9/23/2019

Two Wonderful week in UK!

Hurricane Dorian set us back a bit. Kay and I were scheduled to leave Savannah on Thursday Sept 5, but flights were canceled and we didn’t get out until very late on the 8th arriving on Monday. But I can’t imagine what else Lisa could have packed into the time we had! She was wonderful, with all the driving, the planning, the choosing of hotels and places to visit. Dave was great with his culinary expertise and whenever we ate in Porthcawl, it was a feast. It’s impossible to thank these great friends. Lisa’s driving skills are impeccible and I applaud her for driving so far and often in the two weeks I was there. Some of the obstacles she faced daily were:

animals in the roads

VERY narrow roads

strange warning signs

After an evening dining on one of Dave’s gourmet meals Monday evening, we started right in with sightseeing the following day. Lisa drove Kay and I to Hay on Wye, in Wales. It’s a marvelous little town that is full of book stores, clothing and antique shoppes. I bought a couple of books; they bought clothes. On the way home from there, we stopped at a cute canal town, Brecon. Very picturesque, and relaxing. Kay wants to buy a barge and live there.

Hay-on-Wye

Brecon canal

Wednesday, we went to St Fagan’s. Kay and I had both been there before, but loved it so much, we wanted to see it again. We visited churches, farms, the Manor, gardens, stores and shoppes, the wonderful little row houses that I’d loved so much before, a post-WWII prefab that was really amazing, and so many great things.

inside the kitchen at the manor

pre-fab housing for people who lost homes in the bombing of WWII

talking on my cell phonein a booth

Thursday we went to Cardiff. We went to the castle, which was actually built in the late 19^th century by the third Marquess of Bute, one of the world’s wealthiest men. And the castle proves that – it is amazingly opulent. The old Norman keep is still on the grounds, and I climbed to the top. There is evidence here of occupation from roman times. 

the Norman Keep

on a tour inside the castle

three best-ies with the dragon of Wales

Friday it was off to one of the eastern most parts of Wales to visit St David’s Cathedral and Pembroke Castle. The first church built at this site was probably made of wood and constructed about 550 AD. The church was destroyed many times and the present cathedral was begun around 1180 AD. Pembroke Castle, famous as the birthplace of Henry VII, was built in 1093, but underneath the castle, there are caves where there is evidence that cave dwellers found shelter on the site up to 12.000 years ago.  

the rose window at St David's Cathedral

Pembroke Castle

On Saturday, Kay left us to stay in London with family and Dave went to Bristol to a model railroad show for a few days, so Lisa and I had time to spend in Porthcawl, walking along the channel and eating at the oldest pub in Porthcawl.  

seaside in Porthcawl

The Jolly Sailor,oldest Pub in Porthcawl

There’s a Victorian Village in Blist’s Hill that we drove to on Sunday. In spite of the fact that I was wearing coffee down the front of new sweater that I’d bought for this trip, it was a wonderful day. Most of the buildings here have been moved from other sites and re-constructed as they were originally intended. However, the foundry, brick factory and machine shop are still where they were built in the 1870. The candlemaker was the best – he is exactly what I want to be as a docent! He took a lot of time with Lisa and me, explaining his job, and his enthusiasm was evident. The women at the bakery were good, too, but we had no questions for them other than if we could buy gingerbread cookies. There was even an old fair, with some rides and games, reminiscent of the one that the staff at Downton Abbey went to one summer evening.   

Lisa at the bank

horses on the path in front of the original brick and tile factory

some of the buildings along one of the streets

at the fair

We also made a quick drive through Ironbirdge (parking was a problem as museums in this town were free this weekend, and we weren’t the only ones wanting to take advantage). This is often described as the”birthplace of the Industrial Revolution” because its production of iron was perfected using a smelting method.  

the Iron Bridge

Monday was spent in the fascinating city of Chester, not far from Wales in England. It is a vibrant city, with a rich history. We could see Roman, Norman, Medieval, Elizabethan and Victorian influences. But not only was there a lot of wonderful architecture and history to be seen, Chester is also where Robert, Sarah and Jasmine live. What a delight to see NanaLease playing with 10-month-old granddaughter Jaz! (also a WONDERFUL cupcakery).

lots of tudor-style buildings

Chester Castle

King Charles Tower

inside the cathedral

Eastgate clock

We spent the night in the seaside town of Llandudno, a seaside resort on the Irish Sea in Wales. In Victorian times, it was a popular area for people to escape to the seaside from the cities, which were dirty and filled with smog. We walked out on the boardwalk in the evening and enjoyed all the lights along the coast. The next day we went back to England and to the city of Totnes, an important Medieval town dating back to 907. There was a quaint museum that we toured that had eclectic displays, from inventions by people from Totnes to rooms filed with antiques to the original turret clock from 1741. The next day, we drove through the lovely country side of north Wales, where the shale mountains are high and the roads wind precariously. The scenery was magnificent, and we even stopped along one road to eat our treats. Then we went to Conwy Castle, begun in 1283 by Edward I during his conquest of Wales. It is considered to be one of the finest examples of late 13^th century and early 14^th century military architecture in Europe.

Llandudno (this is a postard, my attempts at photographs were awful)

lovely scenery in North Wales

Conwy Castle

The next was the team ride train and boat tour at Dartmouth. We boarded a steam train in Paignton and rode to where the Dart River empties into the English Channel (Dartmouth – makes sense). We then had a guided boat tour on the river and saw such things as Agatha Christie's hilltop home, The Royal Naval Academy, and Dartmouth Castle. After the train ride back to the car, we drove to Brixham, an important fishing town, and also the site of the mooring of a replica of Sir Francis Drakes’ Golden Hind. 

not the actual train engine, but close enough

the Royal Naval Acedemy

Lisa, with the castle and the English Channel in the distance

Brixham

the Golden Hind

Lisa had seen a tv documentary, Edwardian Farm (on YouTube, if you want to look at it) that was filmed in a small museum in Morwellham. Morwellham is another open air museum, and there’s where we traveled to next. Situated along the Tamar River, it was once the industrial site and the busiest copper port in Queen Victoria's Empire. We were lucky enough to be able to see demonstrations of rope making, school teaching, and chocolate making (guess which was my favorite?), as well as taking a tram ride through the copper mine. That afternoon, Lisa drove us through the moors and back to Porthcrawl.

the mining town of Morwellham

candy making, what's not to like?

Miners above the tramcar I was in

cows and sheep along the drive through the moors

  

Our final full day was another wonderful experience planned by Lisa. I bid goodbye to Dave, and Lisa and drove to Bletchley. I wish I could remember more of the movie, The Imitation Game, or the tv series, The Bletchley Circle. This is the cite where during WWII the scientists and mathematicians broke the enigma code and enabled the invasion on D-Day. It was fascinating.

The Bombe, the decoding maching

Alan Turing's office

Lisa and I spend our last evening outside London in an Inn. We had dinner there, and then breakfast the next morning. And then it was back to London and to Heathrow airport to meet Kay and fly home.

I can’t thank Lisa and Dave enough for all the hospitality. As you can tell by all the photos, the weather was perfect every day. Every experience that I had was a “surprise” planned by Lisa for places and museums and castles and cities that she thought I might enjoy. And I truly did! Each day I woke wondering what magical mystery would unfold for me today. Dave created absolutely wonderful, gourmet meals each time we were at their home in Porthcawl. All the driving, all parking (and finding parking spaces – not always an easy task), all the navigating, was done by Lisa, while I sat in the passenger seat and enjoyed the ride, or slept. What wonderful friends to do all that for two full weeks! Thank you thank you thank you.

And the Bills won THREE times while I was traveling! I hope I haven’t jinxed that by being home.

  

9/1/2019

Weekly Update 9/1/2019

On Saturday, I was awake at 7, so I got up. I showered, got dressed, read my news apps, and started toward Atlanta, stopping first at McD's for a large coffee. Swine Google maps - I wanted the route 20 directions, but it took me all the way on 16 to 75. I made it almost to the end before missing my turn, but then was able to follow quite well to Peachy Parking. Allen's flight was early, so I had only a little over an hour to wait. Allen and I found each other easily and took a taxi to the hotel. We walked around a bit and got our City Passes, but didn't really have time to get inside any museums. We went to the hotel happy hour, then out to Der Biergarten for dinner. When we returned to the hotel, we looked at the pool. It's pretty nice - outdoors on the rooftop. But we were both tired and saved that for another day.

Sunday, we walked around the area a bit, then returned to the hotel and sat in the bar to watch the Spurs game. It was not a fun game, because the Spurs seemed to control the ball for most of the time, but couldn't get a goal and lost 1-0. Then we got on the MARTA trolley and rode to Ebeneezer Baptist Church which was the stop for Oakland Cemetery. It was a pretty good hike - I'd say probably a mile - to get to the cemetery front gate. We'd just missed the 2 pm tour, so we wandered around a bit and I took a lot (really, a LOT) of photos. We went on the 4 pm tour, which was a 90 minutes and it was very good. I’m something of an expert on cemetery tours, and I know a good one! I also am quite proud of BC, as I think we're lovelier. When the tour was over, we had to hike back to the trolley stop. We got to the hotel about 6 pm, and went right for the snacks and drinks of the reception. We went to the pool and sat in the hot tub to soak our aching feet.

On Monday, we began to do some serious tourist activities. Most of the museums that were included in the City Pass were within walking distance of the hotel. We began at World of Coca Cola. I really liked the museum - the vault, the history, all the memorabilia, the tastings. The only thing I didn't really like was the 3D experience, which really was OK, just not my favorite. We went to a sports bar that was close by for burgers for lunch and to watch some tennis between our museum visits. And then we went to the Georgia Aquarium. That was grand. We wandered through the exhibits, saw a seal lion and dolphin show, and looked for the sea turtle (unsuccessfully). My favorite was Allen in the penguin exhibit. There is an acrylic tube under the exhibit, with a view places to stand up and view the penguins at their level. It’s mostly for little kids, but Allen IS my little kid, so I made him crawl in there.  We stayed at the aquarium for a long time.

We began Tuesday at the CNN tour. It was pretty good, but no one offered either of us anchor jobs. Go figure. That really didn’t last too long, and then we went to the Civil rights Museum. The museum was wonderful. Although they allowed photos, there was so much to see and read, I didn't know where to start to take pictures. The African American movement was thoroughly documented, and it was a lot to take in. We decided we would still have time to go to the college football HOF.  When we entered, we had to designate a favorite team - I choose Syracuse University. We saw the evolution of equipment and uniforms, the replay of Flutie’s BC pass to win the Orange Bowl, lots of UGA the mascot pictures, trophies and awards, and interesting trivia. We could have tried to catch a pass or kick a field goal, but didn’t want to embarrass ourselves. Then we went back to the hotel, and Allen suggested we might like to try a nearby rooftop bar. That was really nice. We sat there with a glass of wine and a beer and watched the sun set. When we ended there, we went to the ferris wheel. It was totally dark out by then, and we could see all the lights in Centennial Park. Great views!

Wednesday was to be our last full day in Atlanta. Allen figured out how to do the underground MARTA, and we took that to the Arts District to go to the High Museum. I enjoyed the decorative arts, the impressionist paintings, and the special exhibit of children's book author/illustrator, Maira Kalman. After that we wandered around a bit, but it was hot. We found a Starbucks for iced coffee. Then took the subway back to the hotel. Then it all hit the fan. The room key wouldn't work. I checked my reservation and found that we only had the room until AUGUST 28 - THAT'S TODAY, and we needed to be checked out before 11 am, and it was already late afternoon! I quickly went to the desk, and luckily I could get the same room for one more night. When I finally got everything straightened out, we went back to the football HOF and spent another couple of hours there. We each bought a t-shirt. And then went to Chic Fil A for sandwiches. A few minutes of tennis, and then to our last happy hour. And finally, back to Der Biergarten for another big beer, a glass of Riesling  and a shared an apple strudel. A very nice ending to a great get away.

Thursday, we were up pretty early to eat our last large breakfast at the Embassy Suites. We checked out (on time, as I was keenly aware that this needed to be done TODAY) and had no problem taking the MARTA to the airport and finding the Peachy Parking Lot shuttle. This time, when I wanted the swine GPS to take us on the highways so we could make good time, it took us on all the back roads - past cotton fields, through small towns, past signs indicating that we were near I16, but not taking us to the highway. We needed to get to the Savannah airport to pick Ishy up, and we didn’t have time to go to the condo first, but we were on time to meet her. None of us had eaten anything since morning, so we stopped downtown at Treylor Park to enjoy suds and food on the outdoor patio. Then, finally, we went to MP, where I immediately started to do laundry, and we relaxed and visited a bit. 


We decided that Friday would be a good day to go to the pool, since it might be crowded on the weekend. Ishy had packed 3 pounds of Zweigles white hots dogs in her suitcase, so after a nice swim, Allen grilled those for us. We invited Debra, Barbara and Anthony to share our picnic, and that was nice. We went home, watched a little tennis, and then went downtown for the Morons tour. I thought the tour was just as great as before, when Kay, Lisa and Dave took the trolley last May. I think Ishy and Allen liked it, too; at least they seemed to laugh a lot. After that, we went to Rocks for drinks, and to Leopold's for ice cream. Then home. We played a few board games, and just watched more tennis.

When I got up Saturday, I turned on the tv to watch The Weather Channel and see what's going on with Hurricane Dorian. At first, it was predicted that it would make landfall Sunday in central Florida and Savannah might be on the edge of the storm. But it's moving slowly, and will probably impact weather later in the week, and the path is unknown. That's good news for Ishy and Allen flying out, but not so good for going to Wales. We'll just have to wait and see. We mostly just sat around all morning because it was raining. We did play a few games of Rummikub. The rain continued, but we drove out to Tybee anyway. Just as we got there, the rain stopped. It was still cloudy, but we were able to walk out on the pier, and then had drinks and snacks at a bar. We were back at the condo for a short time and then decided to go to Coach's to get a good seat before all the UGA fans showed up. We had a table on the patio and requested that they change the channel to the US Open. We ordered some food and watched the Gauff / Osaka match, which wasn't even competitive, and the first part of the Dawgs game, which also wasn't much of a contest.  We’d been drinking all day, so it was time to go home and finish watching the sporting events in the comfort of my condo.

Sunday, we played a few games and watched more of The Weather Channel before packing up and heading to the airport. Ishy’s flight was first, so we dropped her off, gave hugs, told each other how much we had enjoyed the time together, and then she was gone. Allen had a couple more hours until his flight, but that’s not really time enough to go back to the condo. We went to Wild Wings, sat at the bar (are you seeing the theme here?) and watched some tennis. And then it was time to take him to the departure drop off. More hugs, and then I was alone. This is going to take some getting used to.