Yesterday in my Five Friday Happy Bringers, I mentioned the delicious joy that can be found in simple food.
And these days, with the turmoil going on in our nation, I need bits of joy wherever they can be found.
Easy breakfast. Costco Apple Danish.
Okay, maybe HR sliced some fresh strawberries on top of the apples.
Thick-cut bacon with freshly ground black pepper and a dash of cayenne.
LOVE-ly morning.
Robert and I drove down to Jacksonville, Florida recently to pick up our new Series 10 Apple Watches. We were long overdue for upgrades. I had the old Series 4 watch, while Robert had the 6.
I’m still not sure I’m smart enough to understand “smart” watches. I remember a watch being this little device you put on your wrist to tell you the time of day. But, oh no, how yesteryear foolish that belief is! The current time is at the very bottom of the hierarchy of smart watch “capabilities.”
Wait. I can ovulate? I didn’t know that!
After we got our little computers attached to our wrists, HR and I headed over to The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens near Jacksonville’s Five Points neighborhood to sit a while in the sunshine by the St. John’s River and look cool and … timely.
Frustrated that no one was commenting on my coolness, I started walking around the gardens.
When, lo and behold, I suddenly came face to face with … Mercury!
Do you remember Mercury from your little bit of mythology in school? If not, here’s a brief review.
“Mercury was the Roman god of commerce, messengers, eloquence, travelers, and trickery. In the Roman polytheistic religion of many deities, Mercury was one of the most important. He even earned a rank amongst the Dii Consentes, the 12 most important gods and goddesses in Rome.” Study.com
I was pretty impressed with his resume, BUTT …
…he made no comment about my Apple Watch coolness, so I wasted no time and moved on.
So tonight, I made Espresso Martinis for Robert and me.
I settled on the couch, and kitty cat Benny jumped into my lap.
Okay, “Rest little one.”
But then, lo and behold, a FOX jumped into my (beautiful) martini glass …
We talked a while.
Then somehow, he disappeared.
And that’s my Saturday Evening Post.
A colorfully lovely new exhibit at our favorite art museum here in Savannah, The Jepsen Center.
Continually changing colors and configurations.
(As we all are.)
So back in 1985 I started saving my yearly/monthly calendars.
I’m not sure why.
So that makes … what? Forty years in 2025.
I suppose it started out as just a way to remember birthdays, appointments, to do’s and other important (or unimportant) dates I was prone to forget. This was before the days of “Siri, remind me ….”
But it morphed into jottings of my hopes and dreams, my frustrations, my successes, my problems, my New Year’s Resolutions (difficult to look back over today), my very … non-Facebook life.
As I skim through the pages of years/years of pages, I see emerging themes: family, children, travel, career, wife, ex-wife, coming out, husband, grandchildren, parental deaths, medical issues, joy, sorrow … Life.
I’m not sure what to do with them. Leave them to my daughters? Burn them?
The National Enquirer? People Magazine? The highest bidder?
Here’s to my new calendar for 2025 and whatever it may bring.
May your 2025 calendar be filled with Good.
And that’s my Saturday Evening Post. 1/11/2025.
On our drive back from Baltimore the other day, Robert and I stopped off at DC for a couple of hours to go to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. We had never been before and were eager to do so.
“The National Museum of African American History and Culture has accomplished what once seemed like an impossible dream: opening a museum dedicated to a people’s journey and our nation’s complete, unvarnished truth.” (museum website)
We only had time to explore the lower floor, which curated the horrific exploitation of slaves from West Africa. Fascinating. Disturbing. Meticulously documented.
“Slavery and Freedom uses first-person accounts and striking historical artifacts to tell an incredibly complicated tale. The exhibit traces slavery from 15th century Africa and Europe to the Civil War and Reconstruction in the United States. This vital history emphasizes that American slavery and freedom are deeply intertwined, and that the story of slavery is in fact a shared one that resides at the core of American politics, economics and daily life to this very day.” (washington.org)
The wonderful fellow who introduced us to the museum at the entrance suggested that after we explore for a while, we go to the Contemplative Court to “wind down and reset” after the museum’s lower floor trauma.
So we did.
We are determined.
As I walked through Warren Square here in Savannah this morning, these striking yellow blooms stopped me with their glorious December beauty.
“Farfugium japonicum is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteracee, also known as leopard plant, green leopard plant or tractor seat plant.” Wikipedia
Their big green leaves actually do look a bit like tractor seats!
Sitting in Greene Square, one of my very favorite Savannah squares near us, reading.
It’s dusk; the sun has said goodnight.
And behind me is the church where Martin Luther King Jr. practiced his “I Have A Dream” speech before perfecting it in DC.
I’m still having difficulty processing Tuesday’s election.
But may America’s dream of “liberty and justice for ALL” somehow continue.
… a few Christmas ornaments for the tree.
At Herb Creek Landscape Supply, here in Savannah, our go-to for all things plant-related.
May you pick up a Tad of Joy this beautiful Saturday evening.
NealEnJoy 