10/30/2022

Weekly Update 10/30/2022

I drove Kay to the eye doctor on Tuesday. She never asks me to do anything for her, but to drive to the eye doctor is something she really can’t (and shouldn’t) do, so I was happy to help. It was fine, until the ride home. We encountered an accident, a stalled car in the middle of the highway, a train crossing the road, and rush hour. It was the drive from hell. Plus, my gas tank was only about 1/8 full. But, we made it, eventually. And, like I say, I was really glad to be able to do something for Kay. In fact, I went out with her again on Saturday. We started out early (well, early for me, not her) and got the most important thing out of the way first: eating. We had breakfast at one of our favorite places nearby. Then we grocery shopped at both Aldi’s and Publix. We went in to TJMaxx briefly, but I was upset because there were THREE dogs in there. How can that be? I complained to the manager. I’m sure that will lead to nothing, and I rarely shop there anyway, so they haven’t lost any business. And we also went Costco. I am not a member, but Kay is, so I asked if we could go there so I could see what everyone raves about. I felt it was like Home Depot – a foreign country. Too much of everything – Christmas, electronics, automotive, groceries. I’m going to stay with Publix, thank you very much.

Continuing with my pumpkin spice fetish, I found pumpkin spice cider in Aldi’s when I was there a week ago. I tried to get more when I was there Saturday, but they were sold out. So, I had to settle for cranberry cider. It’s good, too.

There was a fascinating webinar on Thursday sponsored by the Mellon Institute. I have no idea how I got on their list, but they send me invitations all the time for the programs they sponsor. I signed up for this one about libraries. It was wonderful. They stayed away from politics, and didn’t get into book banning and censorship, but promoted services that libraries offer for free. Print materials, special programs for all ages, artistic loans, assistance with computer literacy, even just a place for people who need to connect socially have a place to go and sit, maybe in silence, but with other human beings. It was great. Libraries always have been, and continue to be, a great resource for everyone.





As I was driving to meet my friends in Green Square on Friday, I passed one of the other squares, and saw a long line of very young school children walking to the square all dressed in their Halloween costumes. I would have loved to stop and watched the parade, but I was already late to meet my friends. I will get no trick and treaters at my door, and I rather miss seeing the little ones so excited and dressed as a favorite character. I’ve had several pictures of Adrian in different get ups, and I’m anxious to see what he does for the holiday.

Today, I was back at Bonaventure. It’s the fifth Sunday of the month, and I was at the Visitor Center to answer questions and hand out maps. It was very much as I remembered it from long ago. After my shift was over, I went to John and Dessie’s plots. When I left the fall flowers there a week or so ago, I noticed that they headstones are very dirty; I could hardly read the inscriptions on them. So I packed a brush, some soft cloths, and some plain water. I scrubbed them, and I think it made a difference. I could get in a lot of trouble, because they are not my responsibility, and I should not do this. But, hey, they have no family or they wouldn’t be in this plot, and they’ve been dead for almost 100 years. Who’s going to challenge me?

Since Buffalo wasn’t playing until the night game, and I had little interest in the other games, I decided to go to Chippewa Square to attend a free Phil The Square concert. I was much too early, so I had a chance to get a - wait for it - pumpkin spice latte to sip as I listened to the string quartet play for an hour. It was so nice.

The Bills did good! Another win! Let’s go Buffalo!

10/30/2022

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Good win,  Bills!

10/23/2022

 

Weekly Update 10/23/2022

It’s that time of year again. Walking around downtown, I found these lovely displays:

And I also can see this lovely display any time I want because it’s on my own porch.

TLC had a book review on Thursday evening that I’s wanted to go to. It was The Kingdom of Savannah, by George Dawes Green. The novel is about a group of formerly enslaved Africans who established a settlement on one of the islands in the Savannah River just after the Revolutionary War. I would have purchased the book, but I assumed DH would have a copy in their gift shop, and I’d rather give my business to them. It was an interesting lecture, and in addition to the author, there were experts on independent African communities in the western hemisphere before 1800, an historian of slavery, marronage, and the eighteenth-century Atlantic world, and a regional archaeologist who is currently working to find remnants of the village at Bell Island.

On Friday, instead of meeting in Green Square or at Whole Foods, we met for dinner at E Tang restaurant and then walked to DH for the Yellow Fever presentation. I think we’d all seen it before, but it is always great for me to see the house when it’s dark outside. I know most of the actors, too, and I feel as if I belong there, among the tourists.

Sunday, Kay and I went to the cemetery. We left flowers at Liam’s grave (I usually don’t leave anything there, but because it has been four years since he died, I did place a yellow rose there along with the flowers Kay had) and a few fall flowers for John and Desi.

Adrian continues to get cuter and cuter. He attended a Halloween event, and I’m not sure that he quite got what was going on. But he was the cutest little butterfly! And Sarah made a wonderful Momma Bee, too.

10/16/2022

 

Weekly Update 10/16/2022

This was not the week I’d expected it to be. I had planned to drive to Alabama on Monday to spend a few days with Jan and Fred. But since I’d been sick earlier in the week, we all decided it was best to postpone the visit for a while. I’d canceled both City Hall and Davenport House, as well as my housekeeper, so my week was a little boring. And I had to clean my apartment myself. Yuck.

I forgot Monday was a holiday, and I ventured out to Walmart anyway. I wanted to get a flu shot, and I was afraid if I put it off while I was thinking about it, it would slip my mind completely and I’d never get it done. So Monday I did that. Now I’ve got my booster and my flu shot. I should be good.

I had a chance to put all my Buffalo Bills stuff back into storage and get out my Halloween décor. It is just the same as I’ve had for many years now, so there’s no photos to post. I found both pumpkin spice oatmeal and pumpkin flavored Cheerios in the store, so I’ve been enjoying those. And, of course, I can’t seem to get enough of pumpkin spice lattes whenever I go out for coffee.

I have needed new shoes for walking for a long time. My old New Balance shoes were getting quite ragged, but were still comfortable. I hesitated for too long to replace them just because I never can find the shoes I want. I searched online, and couldn’t find the exact same shoe anyplace. Go figure! But I did find some Reeboks at Penney’s that I thought would work. I ordered it online because , naturally, they weren’t available in any store close to me. They came Saturday, and I wore them for my Sunday morning walk. They seemed fine.

I read books to Adrian on Saturday morning with google meet. He’s pretty bored with Great Grannie, but I just love to see him and his sweet smile. I talked to Sarah for a few minutes, and things there are going well. Sarah shared a great photo of him playing in the leaves in their yard. He is such a little angel.

I did a lot of knitting this week. Because I didn’t have DH on Wednesday, I went to “adult craft time” at the library. It wasn’t just knitting, but the ladies there were working on many different projects. One was doing counted cross stitch, and another was doing embroidery. Both were lovely. It was a little sad inasmuch as I used to be able to do those things too, but because my eyesight isn’t what it used to be, I mostly have to stick to knitting. Even that is not going so well. I went to the Sitting and Knitting group at the coffee shop on Saturday. The projects that they are working on now are baby blankets for the hospital. That’s one thing I can still do quite easily. They also had a lot of donated yarn available, so I picked up some to make another blanket when I finish the one I’m currently working on.

Because there were some very exciting games this weekend, I got a lot of knitting done when I was on the edge of my seat. The Alabama loss to Tennessee was so unexpected, but so good. And, of course, the Bills. Go, Buffalo!

10/9/2022

 

Weekly Update 10/9/2022

The week didn’t start off too well. I was very sick. It was either something I ate, or perhaps a stomach bug. But I was miserable. After a visit to the doctor, I began to feel better. But I canceled some things that I wanted to do. To cheer me up, the little azalea outside my front porch produced one little bloom.

Because I was feeling a lot better on Friday, I went to Whole Foods to meet Helen and Jane for a coffee and some chatting. It was a really nice autumn day, so on the way home I went someplace I haven’t been in a long time -Daffin Park. I walked around the park and just enjoyed feeling well.

On Saturday, I went to Forsyth Park twice. In the morning, Kay and I went to shop at the Farmer’s Market. There wasn’t anything I wanted – I rarely want fresh fruits and vegies, but I thought I might buy some fall flowers or some mums. I was out of luck with those, too. We walked around the park and had a nice iced coffee. In the evening, I went back to attend the Party in Park. It used to be an annual event, but has been canceled for the past couple of years because of the pandemic. It was nice to be back, sitting outside with a pinot noir, listening to the philharmonic play.

I left downtown in the dark on Saturday night, and I drove back downtown in the dark on Sunday morning. October 9 is the day that the American patriots failed in their attempt to reclaim the city of Savannah from the British in 1779. In other years, I’ve placed a wreath during the ceremony for the Bonaventure Historical Society. Since I’m no longer working with that organization, there was no wreath this year. As a history person, I like going to this event, but it seems to be getting smaller and smaller each year. The politicians greatly outnumbered the other participants.

I had planned to go to the new pizza sports bar that opened near me to watch the Bills game, but when it didn’t even seem to be a challenge, I just stayed home. Josh sure looked good.

10/2/2022

 

Weekly Update 10/2/2022

The hurricane that wasn’t.

We started getting dire warnings about Hurricane Ian on Monday. On Tuesday, I didn’t go to ity Hall because they were preparing in case there would be an evacuation, so The archivist emailed me and said I wouldn’t have to be there. That was fine, but I didn’t do anything else all day. Wednesday, I brought everything from my porch in to my living room. It looked really strange out there, and really strange in the living room. But I didn’t want my plants or chairs flying around and maybe making holes in the screens. I felt it would be better to be safe. I also went to meet my Happy Hour friends on Wednesday evening because by that time I was a little bored. Thursday, the schools closed (or went to remote learning), businesses closed, City offices closed, trash pick up was rescheduled, and museums closed. DH was going to close at noon, and I was giving tours in the morning. I had little problem driving into the city, as there was no one on the roads. I only had tourists for two of my three tours, and then I headed back to the apartment. Again, no trouble driving. When I went to bed, I expected the storm to hit sometime while I was asleep. Because my hearing is so bad, I wasn’t surprised that big winds didn’t wake me up. But I was surprised the next morning when I went on to my porch, and it was not raining, and there was no wind. And it didn’t change all day. I’ve had afternoon summer thunderstorms that were worse than this hurricane. I’m not complaining, and I realize that not all places were as fortunate as Savannah.

But waiting for the storm that never came was just about all that I did all week.

I didn’t go to the R Bar for this week’s game. After the first fumble, I was glad I didn’t! But it all worked out in the end, and Buffalo had a win – not a pretty one, but a win.