11/27/2022

 

Weekly Update 11/27/2022

The USA played Wales in a World Cup match on Monday. We all went to Coach’s for the match. I think we were the only Welsh fans in the bar. I haven’t been to Coach’s in a very long time, and the wings were just as tasty as I remember them. The match ended in a draw, but we had a great time.

Tuesday morning I drove everyone to the airport. Allen had to catch his flight back to his home, and Dave & Lisa picked up a rental car to drive to Tennessee to spend Thanksgiving with her sister.  It was a huge letdown for me to be alone, particularly because it will be quite a while until I see Allen again.  I kept busy with laundry and replenishing my cupboards.

Thanksgiving day, I’d been invited to Jan and Greg Vach’s lovely home to enjoy the meal with a few friends. They didn’t serve the turkey until evening, so I could watch the Bills defeat the Lions earlier in the day. Not that I expected the Bills to lose, but I really never expected it to be that close. A win is a win, even an ugly one.

I put away my turnkeys and orange leaf stuff and got out Christmas crap before Dave & Lisa returned on Friday evening. I was delighted that not only did they get to have a nice visit with her family, but also they spent time with her son, Keenan. After having had such a great visit with Allen, I’m glad they could see Keenan, too. 

On Saturday, Dave, Lisa and I went to the Mighty Eighth museum. Its Dave’s favorite museum in Savannah, and they hadn’t been in a couple of years. I always enjoy visiting there. The Boat Parade on the Savannah River was held that evening, so I dropped them both near Bay Street while I went to DH. I was scheduled to give the Holly Jolly tours, and there were six trolleys coming that evening. My feet hurt by the time I was finished, but I was glad to help out. We met again at The 90 after I was finished, and had a drink before returning to the apartment.

On Sunday, we watched a lot of sports. Of course, there were more World Cup matches to view, and I introduced them to the wonders of the Red Zone channel. I wasn’t that interested in any of the games, since Buffalo had already played. Kay came over for supper that evening. Because she works, we haven't seen as much of her as we would want to, but it was good to have her join us.

My first Christmas Card arrived. It was a photo card from Sarah, Jack and Adrian. My holidays are officially grand! 

11/20/2022

Weekly Update 11/20/2022

A wonderful week! But not too many pictures. I was too busy doing other things.

We’ve spent a lot of time eating, drinking and walking. Whenever Kay is able to join us, we include her, because she’s very much a part of the group. For eating, we’ve been to the places that Dave and Lisa used to like to go to, and places that Allen has been before and enjoyed: Jim and Nick’s, The Rail, Churchill’s, Sandfly Barbecue (I think this was new to Allen, but the rest of us enjoyed a re-visit), and others.

Dave and Lisa stayed at a hotel in downtown Savannah from Tuesday until Sunday, They needed some time alone to walk around the city and remember when they lived here. I had some time to myself, but that filled up quickly.

Tuesday was a mix up. Things that I should have been able to take care of before anyone arrived were all pushed to this day. I had to go to the IRS to straighten out an error on my 2022 tax return that I believed had been done with an amendment to my original filing. And I had to go to the Beltone office to have one of my hearing aids fixed because they were closed all last week. Wednesday, too, I had to leave Dave and Lisa alone while I had lunch and a very nice visit with Mark and Vicki Remein from Rochester.

Wednesday evening, Dave, Lisa and I drove to Bluffton to an Irish bar to listen to Harry O’Donoghe sing. He used to appear occasionally in Savannah, but Since Kevin Barry’s closed a few years ago, he hasn’t been singing as much, and never locally. When I found that he was in Bluffton, I made reservations so we could go. That was great.

Allen arrived Thursday morning. We visited for a while, then went to meet Dave and Lisa at The Rail Bar in Savannah, followed by Mexican at Tequila Town. It was wonderful to see Allen coming down that long hallway at the airport, and I could spy him immediately with his Syracuse sweatshirt.





Friday, I gave everyone a tour at DH. No one else was on the tour with us, so I told them everything I knew about the Davenports and the House, and I was there for about an hour. We also met Jaime and Jeff. That afternoon we drove to Sandfly for the barbecue there, because the restaurant they had downtown had closed, and Dave and Lisa wanted some of that great pulled pork. It did not disappoint. Poor Allen! We were back to the apartment early, so I made him watch Planes, Trains and Automobiles, my very favorite Thanksgiving video. I suppose it was less boring than listening to me drone on and on, but still it must have been boring.

Saturday, Allen and I zoomed with Adrian. Ade was not impressed, but we didn’t do that for long. We had a few errand to run in Pooler, so we got those done, then picked up Kay and met Dave and Lisa at Churchill’s for drinks and dinner. We just sat there, laughing, talking, enjoying one another. Churchill’s is great for that, and now we have another memory of that restaurant.

Sunday, I bought steaks and Allen grilled them out for me, Dave, Lisa and Kay. They were really good and it was great meal shared with great friends. But then the highlight was after dinner, we made gingerbread houses! I’d found a kit that was “village”, including five little buildings. Of course, it was a lot of great memories for me, as I’ve made gingerbread houses for many, many years. This is the first year where wine was involved, and we really laughed.

11/13/2022

 

Weekly Update 11/13/2022

I think I may have bored you enough on last week’s blog with all the lectures I went to. I did go to a few more this week, and one that I’d planned on was canceled because we “might” get a hurricane. (we didn’t).

Tuesday was election day. To say that I’m pleased is an understatement. While I expected a massive Red Wave, it didn’t happen. I voted in person. I walked right in and was out again in less than 15 minutes. As I left, I said to the helpers “see you December 6“ and that is what’s going to happen. But even that no longer has the importance it did just yesterday, before Nevada. I’m not a fan of Biden, but I am a Democrat. I think it’s true that voters preferred Trump in 2016 because he wasn’t Hillary, and voters preferred Joe in 2020 because he wasn’t Trump. I’m hoping that both parties will be able to come up with a candidate in 2024 who has a platform and policy ideas that are strong enough that personalities will not be a factor. Enough of the hate. We’re all better than that.

The less said about the Bills game, the better.

But, just as the game ended, I had better things to do. Dave and Lisa arrived at the airport at 5:30. I picked Kay up and we went to meet them. It was all I could do to keep from running to gate 13 to greet then, but since I’m not allowed to go to the gate, I had to wait until they came into the main terminal. It was so wonderful to see them! We came back to my apartment and had some light supper. They had been awake for more than 24 hours, so they called it a night and went to bed. I’m going to really enjoy the next few weeks!

Adrian is still a wonder! He seems to get cuter, and learns more, every week.

11/6/2022

 

Weekly Update 11/6/2022

Savannah is back from the pandemic! The fall lectures are every where, and I attended a lot this week. The HSF annual meeting was on Tuesday, and although I’m not a member of the Historic Savannah Foundation, I am associated with it through my work at DH. The speakers at the meeting were from Rochester! They work with groups who are filling in the Inner Loop. I was a bit disappointed because the talk was more about how to get neighborhood groups engaged in the decisions that affect them, and not as much about the project itself. But It was a small bit of Rochester, and I don’t get much of that here. Wednesday, I attended a CMA luncheon meeting. I haven’t been able to do that because I’ve been giving tours at DH on Wednesdays. But I asked to change to Thursdays, just so I could participate in this group again. The speaker after the lunch talked about social media platforms, and how groups can use them to promote their programs. As an individual member, I have no program to promote, so it was mostly lost on me. That same afternoon, I went to TLC for a lecture about Harry Hervey, a local Savannah author who wrote in the early 20^th century. I’ve read one of his books, and he’s buried at Bonaventure, so I wanted to learn more. And then, in the evening, I went back to the Juliet Gordon Low Birthplace museum for an interesting lecture about Mamie Williams. She was a local Savannahian who was active in the Republican party in the first half of the 20^th century. She was African American, and worked with registering Black voters and women's suffrage. She became disenchanted with politics later in her life, and re-focused her efforts on organizing Girl Scout Troops for young Black girls in the area. The Bonaventure Historical Society Annual business meeting was Thursday evening, and they had a speaker. But I can’t tell you what that was about. The dinner and meeting were at the History Museum, and the acoustics were so bad, I couldn’t hear anything that was said. Saturday night, I went with Jane to a talk at the Jepson about Slave Dwelling Project. There is man who is goes about the south and sleeps in slaves quarters that he finds, whether in museums, or just on the side of a roadway. He uses that as a way to connect to his ancestors and get an honest feeling of what life may have been like for them. That was fascinating.  So I’ve used a lot of gas this week, going here and there, but I’ve learned a lot and that’s what I like to do.

I also went to two knitting groups. Wednesday, between all the lectures, I went to the Pooler Library and worked there for a short time. On Saturday, I met with the Lions Club group at a new coffee house that’s only slightly closer to my apartment. I took one baby blanket that I’d finished, and worked on another while I was there.

Saturday morning, I joined other members of the Bonaventure Historical Society to clean up the Carl Brandt plot. Carl Brandt is important to Savannah because he was the long time art collector for the Telfair Academy, and really formed it into an important collection. But the site has become overgrown and the marker was so dirty it couldn’t be read. With permission of out-of-state distant relatives, the BHS took it upon themselves to return it to the condition that it deserves.  The marble had been cleaned by professionals before we started, but we took out overgrown shrubs, raked debris and reset garden tiles. It only took a couple of hours. We  have a sense of satisfaction that it now looks so good. Of course, I’m not really good at that working outside, and I did get some dirt under my fingernails which drove me crazy, but I took a shower as soon as I got home again, and was none the worse for my participation.

In my continuing quest to eat as much pumpkin flavored everything while it’s available, I went to Leopold’s after DH and got a Pumpkin Spice ice cream. That was so-o-o good.

Former neighbors at MP, Bob and Suzy, are moving to a house in upstate New York to be closer to family. On Sunday, there was a farewell gathering for them. We all wish them the best, and we look forward to the times they will return to Savannah for a visit.

The Bills were a terrible disappointment this week. They needed this game, but I have to say they didn’t deserve to win. They did not play well. I didn’t like the outcomes of most of the games this week. I hope Josh Allen can step up and play better next week.