12/25/2022

Weekly Update 12/25/2022

It has been cold all week, Very cold. Even when I’ve experienced low temperatures here in Savannah they generally do not last more than a day or two. This prolonged frigid weather is wearing me down. I don’t know which is stranger – to be shivering in the cold, or the “normal” Christmas in the South when it’s even too warn for a jacket.

This was a week for being at DH. On Tuesday, I subbed for another docent in the afternoon, doing the regular tours. Then, I stayed and did the Holly Jolly Trolley tours in the evening. It not only was freezing, but it was also raining. On Thursday, I did my normal morning tours. On Christmas Eve, I was back again for more HJT tours. It was really cold, still. Because the volunteers need to stand in the garden area to get the hot cider and cookies ready when they’re not in the house doing presentations, I dressed for the outdoors. I wore two pairs of pants, three sweaters, mittens, and a red fur Santa cap. I wasn’t too uncomfortable. Even the DH cat found the weather to be horrible.

On Wednesday, I went to City Hall for the Archives Christmas pot luck breakfast. It’s a very small department, so there were only five of us. We played some trivia games, and exchanged very small gifts. I plan to get back to volunteering there after the first of the year. They are very nice people and good friends.

Friday, Helen and I went to Jane’s house for a lunch. Denise had to work, so she wasn’t able to join us. This was the first we’d seen Jane since she broke her hip a week ago. She’s hobbling around, but doesn’t even take anything for the pain. I expected she’d be in rehab for a few weeks, but she seems to be fine. That’s good. Jane gave each of us a book she had read and enjoyed this year. That sounds like such a good idea! I hope to remember that next Christmas, and I can gift some of my books to my friends, instead of the Little Library.

Sarah sent me a photo of Adrian’s doll. But what was special about it was that it was dressed in one of the many clothes I made for Emily’s dollies so many years ago. I can’t believe they are getting a second life with Sarah’s children. It makes me smile to think that they can still be enjoyed. Thanks to Sharon for saving them.

On Christmas Day, I opened the packages that I’d received. I had a nice couple of gifts from Marcia, a small nutcracker from a neighbor, and a special gift from Sarah, Jack and Adrian. They sent a 2023 calendar with photos of Adrian for each month, and a nutcracker that Adrian had painted himself. After I sent a thank you text to Sarah, she sent a photo of Adrian creating the fabulous artwork. This is so special!

I went to Wesley Monumental Church in downtown Savannah for Christmas morning. It was a little disappointing. There was no choir, no Handel, only three children for the kiddie sermon, and the only familiar song was Joy to the World. On the way home, I stopped at Waffle House for a pecan waffle. That really hit the spot. I think a new tradition may be formed.

Another holiday tradition, as I was leaving DH at 9 pm on Christmas Eve, the low tire pressure light on my car came on. It seems that’s happened to me before on the holiday. Maybe I’m just a little more skeptical than I used to be, but I wasn’t alarmed. I walked around the car just to be sure there were no flat tires, and I watched my speed carefully as I drove downtown Sunday morning. I’ll have it taken care of Monday.

Christmas night, I was invited to have dinner with Kay and her family. There was so much food, and everything was wonderful. It was great to be a part of Kay’s family for the holiday.

The Bills has a win over Chicago on Saturday afternoon. It was to be expected. I mean, come on – it’s the Bears. But we are in the playoffs, and probably home field and a first round bye. Whoo-hoo.  

12/18/2022

 

Weekly Update 12/18/2022

This was a week for visiting friends. I went to June’s house for lunch and to play Rummikub. I met John for lunch. I visited with Sylvia and Charles. The cookies I’d baked seemed to be well received. The holiday season seems to be a good time to get together to friends.

There was a lot of interesting sports this week. The World Cup is now in the history books. I watched the matches early in week, but could only watch the first half of the final match before I had to go out Sunday morning. I recorded the match, but I knew how it ended, and who won, before I had to chance to watch. The Bills game Saturday night was horrible. I never know which team will show up. The turnovers and penalties should have cost them the game. The Dolphins played their little hearts out. But, the Bills were able to pull it out in the end. That clinched a playoff spot for the team, but if they don’t play better than that, they won’t be able to go all the way to the super bowl. The Lions and the Jaguars had very good wins on Sunday, and Houston very nearly pulled an upset on the Chiefs. Races are getting tight.

Saturday night, I had been offered a free Electric Cart tour of downtown Savannah. A friend of mine who does golf cart tours at Bonaventure has recently started to give tours in Savannah with small, golf cart sized electric cars. She invited members of BHS (and some former member as well) to accompany her as she drove around looking for classic holiday lights. That was an interesting way to see the sights without having to drive myself around.

Sunday, I had been invited to have “lunch” at Anne and Andrew Nedd’s home. It wasn’t lunch; it was a full blown meal. But wonderful. I had not been to their home before, and I thought it was very nice. After our turkey dinner, Anne had Christmas crackers. We enjoyed popping those and seeing the treats inside. And, of course the crowns.

I no sooner finished stuffing myself at lunch when I met Denise for an early dinner. We had tickets for The Journey, a re-telling of the Christmas story that I’ve attended a few times in the past and really liked. Jane was supposed to go with us, but she fell and broke her hip on Wednesday, and she won’t be mobile for several weeks. Just Denise and I made our way to Bethlehem to pay our taxes and see the baby Jesus. It is still a very impressive production

Adrian, of course, is perfect. They are getting ready to spend Christmas with Jack’s family I Vermont, and Adrian will miss waking up to see what Santa left under his own tree. I doubt that he will go without!

12/11/2022

 

Weekly Update 12/11/2022

Well, the election is FINALLY over in Georgia. I was happy about the outcome. I’m even happier that I won’t have to see any more of the ads on tv, or drive past all the billboards, or hear any more commentary about the candidates. It will be only a very short time until we’ll be up to our necks with 2024 presidential propaganda.

I was delighted and honored to be asked to witness the adoption of Patsy Elizabeth Louise Lawrence on Wednesday. Patsy has been in foster care since she was born; she is now seven years old. Her foster parents, Vicki and Larry, have wanted to adopt her for many years. But Patsy’s mother, the mother’s lawyer, and the courts (who want to keep children with their biological parents at all costs) have made it impossible for years. Finally, one judge said This is Enough, and cleared the way for the adoption. I was with Jane and Denise at the courthouse as we witnessed the ceremony. One thing that I thought was wonderful was when the judge asked the social worker (this, I believe is a required part of the process) if it appeared to be in Patsy’s best interests to be adopted by the Lawrences. Without hesitation the social worker didn’t say yes, she Absolutely, without a doubt! We all then went out for lunch to celebrate. This couldn’t happen to a nicer family!

On Wednesday evening, I drove all the way out to Fort Pulaski in the dark. The CMA Christmas party was at the fort, and I wanted to be part of it. Everything was lit by candles and kerosene lamps, and it put us all in an old-fashioned Christmas Spirit. Food was excellent, too. It took me an hour each way to drive out to Tybee, and I was a little nervous about that, but it was all good.

At DH on Thursday, as I was leading one of my tours, I smiled to myself. I had just viewed a video of Adrian bowling on the Wii set up that Sarah and Jack have. And at DH, there’s a ten pin game set up in the boy’s bedroom. That might be the kind of games they would play. Two hundred years difference, but the games is still the same.

My creative process has been working overtime. I made cocoa cones for a few friends this year. Using Wilton pastry bags, I measured cocoa powder, marshmallows, and chocolate chips to make a little cocoa mix packet. I tied the top with a Christmas bow and they were ready to go. I made all my cookies this weekend, too. So I have a few plates to take to other friends this coming week. I do not like to get into gift exchanges, but just a small gift of food makes me feel as if I’ve expressed my holiday wishes, and no reciprocation is necessary.

Saturday, after I googled with Sarah and Adrian and read him a couple of books, I went downtown. I wanted to wander along River Street, look at the Christmas Market, and get a cup of mulled wine. I parked at Forsyth, and walked. And walked. And walked. It was more than three hours before I got back to my car, and my feet were protesting. I didn’t get any mulled wine because they had already sold out – and it was only mid-afternoon! Several families were decorating cookies in the J W Marriott by the huge dinosaur skeleton. Some were quite good, and they all looked delicious. I stopped to watch some Nutcracker dancers at the big tree on Broughton Street as I was heading back to the car. I took a lot of photos of the festive and tasteful Christmas greens and white lights decorating some of the historic town homes on Jones Street. I went by myself because the weather was cloudy and threatening to rain. I wasn’t sure if I would go until the very last minute, so I didn’t invite anyone to accompany me. It was a very pleasant way for me to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Some of the homes are indeed lovely!

I watched a lot of World Cup matches this week. For the most part, the matches were exciting, ending in shoot outs, or being won by only one score. I was disappointed that England lost. When I was downtown, there was a motorcade celebrating Morocco’s win over Portugal.

After meeting Kay for breakfast Sunday morning, I finally had a chance to go to the Boston Pizza sports bar. That place recently opened not far from my apartment, and I’ve wanted to try it. Today was my chance. It was ok, but not great, and I don’t think I’ll be back again this season. The game had me worried in the first half, but the whole team came through by the end.

12/4/2022

 

Weekly Update 12/4/2022

Lisa and Dave were still with me at the start of the seek. We did a few more things: Bonaventure (Lisa and Dave helped me put the winter flowers on John and Dessies’s sites), the Mighty Eighth, drinks at Rocks on the Roof, Leopold’s, and meeting Kay for supper at a new Mexican restaurant not far from me. I dropped them at the airport on Tuesday, and missed them immediately. I missed all my company: Allen, Lisa and Dave, and I doubt that I’ll even be seeing Kay so much. It was an amazing visit, and I’m so glad they all made that happen for me.

And then, back to my normal life. I did tours at DH, and attended book club at TLC. There was a lecture, but I didn’t go out that evening. I watched TNF because Dave and Lisa were kind enough to add me to their Prime membership while they were here. It was nice to watch the Bills, and nice to be able to sit in my recliner to do that. I also watched quite a bit of the World Cup.

This was the weekend of TLC tour to Milledgeville. It didn’t start well on Friday, as I got my times mixed up, and I was one hour late for the bus. Everyone else was waiting for me to show up. Luckily, the construction of I16 wasn’t bad, and we breezed right through that congestion and were able to make up time.

Our first stop after lunch was to the Old Governor’s Mansion. Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia from 1804 until 1868. The mansion was build in the 1830s and served as the residence for Georgia’s chief executives for over thirty years. When we visited, it was decorated for Christmas, and it was wonderful. The tree in the rotunda was so tall that I couldn’t even get a photo of the whole tree.

Following that guided tour, we walked to the Sally Ellis Davis House. Sally Davis was born in Baldwin County in the 1877 to an African American woman and a native Irishman. While she could easily have chosen to live her life as a daughter of privilege, Davis was responsible for educating hundreds of African American children despite the odds in a segregated South. Her home is preserved, and one room is set up to look like a school room where she would have taught.

We then checked into the hotel and had a little free time to rest up and get settled. We took our bus back into the city in the evening for dinner and to enjoy the First Friday festivities. The town Christmas tree was lit, we were offered cookies as we wandered the streets, and we had a chance to do a bit of shopping. The wait for a table at the Velvet Elvis restaurant was so long, we didn’t really have a lot of time to look around the town. That’s ok. - I don’t have much Christmas shopping I have to do anyway.

After a restful night at the Holiday Inn, we were up early and back on the bus for a ride to Andalusia Historic Site. Andalusia served as the home of famed American author Flannery O’Connor from 1951-1964, when she died at age 39 from Lupus. Today, the farm serves as a museum whose mission is to care for, collect, interpret, and exhibit items that illustrate the history of the site when it served as her residence. Many of the furniture and other items in the museum originally belonged to Flannery O’Connor and her mother when they lived there. To learn more about her writing, we toured the special collections library at the Georgia College, which is located in the town. They house her papers and first editions of her books. We also were able to join a discussion with two experts on the author and her works.

Before leaving the center of the town, we enjoyed a group lunch at a restaurant. I had a chance to get to know some of the other members of the tour (I really did not know any of them except Roger, our leader, and John, my former neighbor). Then we were back on the bus for a guided talking tour of the Central State Hospital. Founded in 1842, The Central State Hospital Campus has been one of Milledgevilles’s most well know and complex sites. It gained national recognition during the 1960s as the United States largest mental institution. Times change, and institutionalizing citizens with mental health issues is no longer the preferred treatment plan.  Now, many of the buildings are boarded up.

Our drive back to Savannah on Saturday was uneventful. We arrived more than an hour ahead of schedule. I was glad to be able to enjoy this get away, and learn more about a historic city in Georgia.

One rather unnerving thing happened. As I was racing to get to the bus on Friday morning, a diagnostic light appeared on my car dashboard. I was late, so I really didn’t have time to think much about it. But I made an appointment online from the hotel room Friday night to have the car checked first thing Sunday morning. I thought it might have something to do with brake fluid, but when I had it checked, it seemed that a light bulb on one of my taillights had died. So, they replaced that, and I was safe to drive again. What I had expected to be an expensive brake job was a simple fix. Getting a light bulb changed is only $50.

Sunday night was the Davenport House Christmas party. I prepared my dates and bacon (the simplest dish to pass I could think of) and joined they people after the early games finished. I had my phone handy to watch Miami and KC, but I was home again before those games ended.