Five Friday Happy Bringers – Page 9

Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 12/27/24

Posted on December 27, 2024December 27, 2024 by Neal Saye

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

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.

Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 12/20/24

Posted on December 20, 2024 by Neal Saye

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

1.My fragrantly delicious holiday roasted rosemary nuts.

2. Granddaughter Isabelle, aka Santa’s Little Helper.

3. The gift of Appreciation.

4. Pink camellias saying hello from behind a downtown Savannah garden wall near us.

5. A couple of HR’s dangling Christmas pins.

May you have a Merry Weekend-Before-Christmas ahead!

Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 12/13/24

Posted on December 13, 2024 by Neal Saye

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

1. Enjoying an Awesome Anniversary Meal at Savannah’s The Grey restaurant.

2. This little happy bringer I saw in a restroom recently.

3. A wonderfully festive little day trip to Days of Creation Christmas Tree Farm over in Jesup GA.

4. Our annual Holiday Lunch with ex-wife Donna at the very touristy, but still loads of fun Pirates House restaurant across the street from HR and me.

5. Simple Christmas Pretty.

May you find some simple holiday joy this weekend.

Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 12/6/24

Posted on December 6, 2024 by Neal Saye

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

1. Taking a photo of a glorious ginkgo biloba tree.

2. HR in a somewhat … regal moment.

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.

Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 11/29/24

Posted on November 29, 2024 by Neal Saye

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

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 hosted

4. Moments in life when you feel JOY.

5. And finally, I’m happily thankful for HR.

May you have a BIG weekend ahead!

Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 11/22/24

Posted on November 22, 2024November 22, 2024 by Neal Saye

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

1. A young HR’s new photo frame I recently found.

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.

Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 11/15/24

Posted on November 15, 2024 by Neal Saye

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

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.

Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 11/8/24

Posted on November 8, 2024November 8, 2024 by Neal Saye

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

To be honest, after Tuesday’s foreboding election results, I have had sad difficulty finding happiness. Until I realized, once again, that true happiness is in the small things of life.

1. Colorful fall chrysanthemums.

2. The belief that, no matter how dark it gets, there are sources of light.

3. Grandson Daniel winning Best Actor (for two years in a row now!) for his portrayal of Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love at the high school regional one-act play competition in Vidalia, GA (yes, the Vidalia of onion fame).

4. Riding the Amtrak train yesterday from Savannah over to Charleston, South Carolina for a wonderful day trip with Robert and ex-wife Donna.

Incredible lunch at Magnolia’s, one of our favorite fancy spancy Charleston restaurants

Donna and HR, relaxing in the Charleston Place Hotel lobby, pretending to be guests, as a harpist serenades them.

I wonder if it’s too late for me to learn to play the harp.

5. My 24Kt gold-rimmed cocktail at the Charleston Place Thoroughbred Club after the harpist rudely took a break. (We had claimed squatter’s rights at the hotel by that time.)