1. Discovering Buc-ee’s (that people seem to rave about) on our recent drive to Baltimore.
Robert and I have never been to one before.
This is a gas station?!
2. Athletic Grandson Gabriel, along with teammate Peyton, earning the All Tournament Team award AS FRESHMEN after Savannah Country Day School won their Holiday Basketball Tournament.
3. The wonderful ability to HEAR. What do you hear right now?
4. These World Famous (or so the menu said) Diner Chips at a little diner I found in Raleigh, North Carolina on our way back from Baltimore yesterday.
5. HR in front of this cool mural near the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.
1. Morning coffee with Robert at Flora and Fauna, the coolest little coffee bar/supper club here in Savannah.
2. Youngest granddaughter Isabelle, one on one with Santa.
3. Mindfully recognizing and appreciating that I Feel Good whenever I Feel Good.
4. Christmas Day Supper with just HR and me. (We do a bigger Thanksgiving with family, but fam is scattered across the state, so now everyone does their own thing for Christmas.)
This year I told HR uber-enthusiastically that “I am making OYSTER DRESSING for the first time!”
He looked at me as I had just told him there is no Santa. (He still believes. See recent blog for proof.)
I got quickly to work, convinced that I could win him over. Even though he doesn’t accompany me when I have a hankering for …
… at one of Savannah’s fabulous oyster houses. “Neal, what must have been wrong with the first person in history who somehow—probably by freak accident—cracked open an oyster and said, ‘I’m gonna eat that slimy thing right now.’”
But I got him to like Susan Boyle, so how hard could a little mollusk shellfish be?
I opened up my two pints of oysters …
Prepped my other ingredients …
Fancy HR tells me this part of kitchen work is called “mise en place” (everything in its place).
All ready for the oven …
Forty-five deliciously anticipatory minutes later …
(I managed to place NOE—Neal’s Oyster Extravaganza—in the center of our little buffet in an attempt to make it the star.)
And guess what? (I’m sure you’re a nervous wreck by now wondering if he liked it.)
He did! He did! The joy bells rang triumphantly through Historic District Savannah!
(Although I have to confess that he took most of his dressing from around the edges … to avoid the possibility of slimy you know what. And covered it with his yummy mushroom gravy. But still, I declare Victory!)
5. The Seasonal Pause of Quiet and Calm that seems to occur each year between Christmas and the New Year (at least in my mind).
May you find some Quiet and Calm this final weekend of 2024.
1. Taking a photo of a glorious ginkgo biloba tree.
2. HR in a somewhat … regal moment.
Gainesville GA Botanical Garden
3. Always having enough food to eat.
4. Grandson Daniel on a weekend trip to New York, accompanying his Catholic girlfriend Amelie to mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, and out of the blue being asked to help take up the offering!
Here’s what his mother texted me:
5. A quiet moment with Benny.
May you have some quiet moments of joy this weekend.
1. This old tree we saw near us on a Thanksgiving morning walk in Savannah’s Colonial Park Cemetery.
Do you see what I see on his trunk?
In the lower half, there’s a Big Bunny with gigantic upward ears!
And if you forget the bunny and look again at the entire trunk, there’s a Brown Monster with a three-pronged crown, green tongue and menacingly raised arms! Watch out!
2. On the other hand, here’s a quartet of happily handsome fellows: son-in-law Scott and three grandsons Jack, Gabriel and Daniel searching for the perfect Christmas tree.
3. A bountiful Thanksgiving Feast yesterday.
Robert, Me, Son-in-law Scott and Daughter Amy who hostedOh, and Coastal, ready to play.
2. An overflowing citrus tree near us here in downtown Savannah.
3. My Arthritis Pain. Okay, that needs explanation. I’m Happy that I have a body. A body including wrists, knees and a lower back, all with the ability to FEEl.
Does that make any sense at all?
4. A wonderful gathering at our church Wednesday evening to help process and manage anxiety that some of us are feeling concerning the election.
5. A bookish bench we saw recently along the Augusta GA Riverwalk.
May you find a place to sit joyfully this weekend.
1. Scrumptious beignets at Huey‘s, a New Orleans style restaurant on the Savannah River near us. (Well, not literally ON the river.)
And to be honest, they are SO much better than the beignets we have had in New Orleans. 
And here’s HR, tackling the steep stairs heading back home.
I’m not sure why he looks a little pouty in this photo. He just had beignets, for goodness sake. 
2. Finding, at a Little Library (do you have those where you are?) over in Hinesville, Georgia, a delightfully funny children’s book that I used to read to my daughters when they were little ones.
3. The ability—and privilege—of being able TO READ. What a blessing!
4. Grandson Daniel singing “Bring Him Home,”accompanied by the Savannah Country Day School Orchestra at their Veterans Day assembly on Monday.
Here’s a fifteen second Instagram post:
5. Robert, ex-wife Donna and me, heading to our yearly beginning-of-the-holidays traditional lunch at St. John Episcopal Church here in Historic District Savannah …
St. John’s Green-Meldrim House next door, where the luncheon is held …
… has a fascinating history. Here are a few tidbits:
May a few tidbits of fascination find their way to you this weekend.
NealEnJoy 