Posted in Holiday Joy, Holidays and Seasonal Changes

Sunday Evening Shenanigans

It’s St. Patrick’s Day eve, and as Robert and I have done the last five or six years, we hightail it out of Dodge (well, Savannah).

“Why,” you may be asking. “Doesn’t Savannah have one of the nation’s largest and most celebrated St. Patrick’s Day bashes/parades?”

Yes, it does. And we have enjoyed them in the past.

But here comes the rub. I moved to Savannah back in 2009, as I was semi-retiring from Georgia Southern University (about an hour north of SAV). I have lived in two Savannah locations , and (incredibly) BOTH were directly on the parade route, which initially sounded great. And I suppose initially it was.

But as the years went by, I began to see aspects of the parade’s insanity. Don’t get me wrong, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations can be so much fun and meaningful: the Greening of the Fountains, the Celtic Cross Ceremony in Emmet Park, the Jasper Green Ceremony in Madison Square, etc.

Savannah’s population is around 150.000, and the parade usually draws at least that many more visitors. And living on the parade route, we have witnessed disappointing human behavior outside our door. Our potted plants being trampled, thrown and broken on the pavement, even urinated upon. (TMI?). Partiers loudly camping outside our door all night the night before the parade.

So anyway, we drove an hour or so south of us to St. Simons Island to a quaint little retro motel (not hotel). Queen’s Court Inn:

We are currently high-energetically super-celebrating St. Patty Eve.

My helpers:

And Robert’s:

It’s deliciously quiet here. And raining softly outside.

celebrate (with a small “c”).

Posted in Holidays and Seasonal Changes

Why My Face Is Dirtier Than Usual Today

Robert and I, along with my ex-wife Donna and good friend Margaret, went to our church’s Ash Wednesday service at noon today.

I LOVE the Season of Spring and all the Warm Days, Holidays/Holy days it debuts.

Here’s National Day Calendar’s brief explanation:

“Ash Wednesday signals the beginning of the Lenten season for Christians. It takes place 46 days before Easter and the day after Shrove Tuesday.

Those who celebrate Ash Wednesday may reflect, fast, repent and celebrate. The ashes represent death and repentance and Ash Wednesday services focus on both. In many churches, the ashes are made from the palm branches that are burned from the previous Palm Sunday service.”

I am a Christian (belonging to a very liberal, inclusive, and justice-oriented congregation), but I love this secular rendering of Ash Wednesday:

Google Overview

Here’s a beautifully somber yet encouraging meditation on the meaning of Ash Wednesday:

May you see a Reflection of Good this season.

Posted in Holidays and Seasonal Changes

Happiest of Thanksgivings 2024!

A Few Things for which I Give Thanks:

1. My breath. In. Out. In. Out.

2. This trash I saw yesterday morning in our alley.

Couldn’t that be in an art gallery? The browns, grays, beige, white.

Or is my old age catching up with me?

3. Yummy lunch at Cracker Barrel with Robert’s daughter and son.

4. Grandson Gabriel starting AS A FRESHMAN on his high school VARSITY basketball team.

They won their first game of the season yesterday.

5. Always, ALWAYS, having enough food to eat. (Everybody doesn’t.)

6. Shoes.

7. Living so close to the ocean.

Tybee Island (Savannah Beach), twenty minutes from us.

8. The privilege of voting (even when it doesn’t go our way).

9. The ability to WALK. What a blessing!

Granddaughter Isabelle and Ex-wife Donna. Walking.

10. Indoor plants.

Our bamboo baby in a corner of our living room.

11. All of you fellow bloggers.

Tell me, what are you thankful for on this beautiful day?

Posted in Holidays and Seasonal Changes

In Flanders Fields

From 1914 to 1918, Flanders Fields was a major battle theatre on the Western Front during the First World War. A million soldiers from more than 50 different countries were wounded, missing or killed in action here. visitflanders.com

The poem, ‘In Flanders Fields’, by John McCrae, went on to inspire the use of the poppy, which once grew on the battlefields of Flanders Fields, to become an enduring symbol of remembrance across the world. 

HAVE A BLESSED MEMORIAL DAY 2024

Posted in Holidays and Seasonal Changes, Uncategorized

The Other Side of Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving!

I always have. It is so wonderful for our nation to have a special day set aside for GRATITUDE.

Except …

What we often forget (or at least try to forget) (or refuse to even believe) is that the traditional First Thanksgiving Day taught in grade school and fixed in our individual and national consciousness is a Disney-fied mythology.

Here’s a terrifically sobering post from a wonderful blog, “Esperational.” The You Tube video is eye- (and heart-) opening. Please take a moment to read the short post and watch the short video.

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It has been my tradition on Thanksgiving to honor the other side of the story. For members of the first nations of this country this is a day of …

The Other Side of Thanksgiving

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Difficult truths …

Why is Truth so often Difficult?!

I don’t think this means I can’t celebrate Thanksgiving Day, as long as I recognize that the mythologized beginning is historically inaccurate.

Maybe I should celebrate … Happy THANKS-giving.