8/15/2021

 

Weekly Update 8/15/2021

When I got home from City Hall on Tuesday, I had a visitor. Well, not really. A turtle had somehow become lost and was in the hallway outside my front door. When I approached him, he pulled his head and legs into his shell. I wasn’t sure if this was a snapping turtle, and I’m not a real fan of wildlife anyway. But I wanted to help. I carefully picked him up and took him to the edge of the pond. I left him in the grass there, and when I checked about a half hour later, he was gone. I don’t know if he made his way to the water, or if he had wandered back inside another building. But I feel I did my part to help him out.

The second of four Hamilton lectures was this past Tuesday. I found it less interesting that the first one, mostly because it was a military critique of the Revolutionary War. Battle strategy is not a huge interest for me. But, driving home, there was the most incredible sunset. It looked as if the sun was a huge red beach ball on the horizon. As I was stopped at a red light, I was able to snap a photo, but this really doesn’t do justice to how magnification it was.

I attended a TLC lecture on Thursday (it was actually on Wednesday, but I had access to it on youtube on Thursday) about the Byrd Cookie Company. That was pretty interesting. The last time I was on an airplane, and that’s been a very long time, the “snack” was Byrd Cookies. I was surprised that any one outside of Savannah knew about these cookies, although they are very well known locally.  There are Byrd's cookie stores everywhere, they are sold in very gift shop, and the bakery is in Savannah.  It is almost 100 years old, and the fifth generation of the family are the owners and operators.  And the cookies are good.  

I had been asked to give a tour at Bonaventure on Friday, but since it was Friday the 13^th, and I’m triskaidekaphobic, I declined. But the chairperson contacted me again because they were desperate, and I decided to suck up my fears and help out. It was a great tour with an interested group who asked intelligent questions. It was very hot, and I was dressed in long pants and sock and shoes because of the gnats, and I was uncomfortable. But the knowledge must be so much a part of me now that I had no trouble at all remembering what I needed to tell them, and I was able to answer the questions they had. I hope I don’t have to do it again, but it’s nice to know that I’m still capable. I haven’t given a tour there in almost two years. The BHS was extremely grateful to me for stepping up, and it’s always nice to be acknowledged and thanked.

In the evening Friday, I had a text from Allen to remind me to watch the pre-season Bills game. I would have not remembered (like I didn’t remember the Spurs game on Sunday afternoon), and I’m not really into pre-season games that are meaningless. But it was really wonderful to have the tv tuned to an NFL game. I hope the whole season isn’t ruined for me. with politics. Just play the game!

Saturday evening, I drove all the way out to Tybee for a Harry O’Donoghue concert. It used to be quite easy to get there, but it’s a long drive now. The concert was somewhat disappointing because he sang maybe three or four songs, then shared the stage with three other musicians. They were talented and entertaining. But, I would have preferred to listen to Irish folk songs and the pleasant banter and jokes that I’ve come to expect from Harry O’D.

Adrian was on vacation all week. He met his Venuti relatives when they visited Jack’ s family in eastern NYS and Vermont. There were pictures of him hiking (well, strapped to Jack in a sling) and swimming in the lake (well, Sarah was dipping his feet in, and he was not happy about that).