“Stuck”
One-Word Wednesday: 1/24/24
Tag: Atlanta
Five Friday Happy Bringers 12/15/23
My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.
1. A truly wonderful anniversary trip to Atlanta last week. Year 7.
2. Marveling at the AMAZING outdoor lights display at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, Garden Lights, Holiday Nights.
And Atlanta won the National Championship of outdoor holiday light displays!
3. The Amazing Ability to see!
4. This tree outside our Airbnb in Atlanta.
5. My anniversary cards from HR. (You may recall that Robert has this wacky habit of giving multiple cards on special occasions. Which at first I thought was sort of weird but now love it.)
May you have a colorful weekend ahead!
Monday Moaning or Monday Marveling? 12/11/23 “Seven”
Definitely marveling today.
Robert and I are up in Atlanta for a week celebrating our Seventh Wedding Anniversary.
We’re staying at a very cool Airbnb with a terrific view of the Atlanta skyline from our balcony.
Other than sitting on the balcony, we’ve seen a beautifully moving performance of A Christmas Carol at The Alliance Theatre …
God blessed us everyone!
And The Nutcracker at The Cobb Energy Center …
(Do you think at 71 I’m a bit too old to become a world-famous male ballet dancer?)
For our anniversary dinner, we went to the beautiful Atlanta Fish Market.
Afterwards, I went to the market section of the restaurant and bought HR a good-sized fish for our anniversary—and then had our picture taken in front of it before it was iced and wrapped to be taken home.
Tonight we head to The Atlanta Botanical Garden for their FABULOUS Garden Lights, Holiday Nights outdoor lights display.
Come and go with us! Help us celebrate 7.
Five Friday Happy Bringers 6/23/23
My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.
1. Getting all cultured, attending the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s 2023 Season Finale with incredible first-year-in-Atlanta conductor Nathalie Stutzmann.
“Bolero” was stunningly, movingly beautiful.
2. Fresh farm peaches from Ellijay, GA. Sweet and juicy (sorta like “Bolero”)!
3. Being thankful for my eyesight.
4. Seeing the world premiere of circus-based musical “Water for Elephants” at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. I loved the novel and was uber excited to hear that it was coming out as a play.
5. Celebrating Robert’s birthday (the young upstart) at Truva, a terrific little Turkish restaurant in the hip Virginia Highland neighborhood near Midtown Atlanta.
We chose the Mixed Kebabs for two: Chargrilled Adana | Chicken Kebab | Beef Kebab | Shaved Doner | Turkish Style Rice | Grilled Tomatoes.
May you have a delicious weekend ahead!
Happy Pride Month 2023!
“Pride Month commemorates years of struggle for civil rights and the ongoing pursuit of equal justice under the law for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community, as well as the accomplishments of LGBTQ individuals. “ Brittanica
But why in June?
“Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month (LGBT Pride Month) is celebrated annually in June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots, and works to achieve equal justice and equal opportunity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) Americans. In June of 1969, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City staged an uprising to resist the police harassment and persecution to which LGBT Americans were commonly subjected. This uprising marks the beginning of a movement to outlaw discriminatory laws and practices against LGBT Americans.” youth.gov
Our new Pride Boots …
May we celebrate and defend “liberty and Justice for all.”
This month and every month.
2023 Escape from St. Patrick’s Day #5
My daily snapshot of Robert’s and my 2023 trip to get away from Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day parade and celebrations.
This Post-St. Patrick’s Day morn, after Robert and I finished our coffee in our little Airbnb, we embarked on a short day trip up to Toccoa, Georgia to take a gander at Traveler’s Rest State Historic Site. We have now visited all 48 of Georgia’s state parks, and all but three of the state historic sites.
“This stagecoach inn and plantation home was built around 1815 by James R. Wyly. He strategically located it along the newly constructed Unicoi Turnpike, a busy highway over the Appalachian Mountains. Wyly operated the inn until 1833 when he sold it to his neighbor Devereaux Jarrett, the “richest man in the Tugaloo Valley.” Jarrett continued to operate the inn, but doubled its size to make it the home place of his 14,400 acre plantation along the Tugaloo River. Three generations of Jarretts inhabited the site until the state of Georgia purchased the remaining few acres of the once-vast plantation for $8,000 in 1955.”georgiastateparks.org
Dynamic docent Billy showed us around and even gave us a suggestion for a local lunch, which we took him up on.
Tonight we’re getting all cultured as we melodically make our way to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Here’s a little something I put together about it:
We’re going to … let the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra transport us into Nature’s realm with the rugged Symphony No. 2 by Jean Sibelius alongside the Overture to Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber. In between, catch the U.S. premiere of a new saxophone concerto, For Wadada Leo Smith (2022), by jazz and classical multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey.
Okay, I lied. I copied all that from the program. And understood very little. But I do plan to be “transported” by it. I’ll tell you if I was in tomorrow’s post. That will give you something to look forward to.
Five Friday Happy Bringers 3/17/23
1. Being able to say “Happy St. Patrick’s Day!” away from Savannah’s craziness today.
2. One of our local colleges, SCAD—the Savannah College of Art and Design—making the big time in Hollywood.
I taught international students at SCAD as an adjunct after retiring from full time college teaching.
3. The unexpected joy when I find a little nook and cranny in Savannah’s historic district which I had never seen before.
4. Our sense of touch. It is raining where we are in Atlanta at the moment, and I’m so thankful to be able to feel the drops on my face and hands as we dash out of our car running around the city.
5. Grilled peaches.
May you have a peachy weekend ahead.
“The Artful Dodger“ #17
A blog category about finding “art” in unexpected places and situations.
A little while ago, Robert and I were leaving our favorite little Atlanta breakfast place, Homegrown.
Walking toward the car, I heard them before I saw them. Detective-like, I quickly turned around.
They were casually (and somewhat seductively) leaning against the back shed of the little hole-in-the- wall jewel of a restaurant, singing, belting their hearts and souls out.
The Seven Sisters singing their way through The Great American Songbook.
I could’ve stayed there all day, reveling in the joy, the pathos, the excitement, the disappointment, the yearning fullness of their song.
They were us all—EveryWoman, EveryMan—leaning back and leaning into life. Our days, months, and years filled with living the truth of their diverse songs.
But HR finally made me get in the car.
“Neal, other people need to park.”
“And hear,” I thought.
So we made our way back to our midtown Airbnb, but not without the Sisters’ melodies still ringing in my ears and heart.
As we pulled up to our Airbnb, the most amazing thing REALLY HAPPENED, raising goosebumps on my skin. A young lady in a pick-up parked near us. When she opened her door, Robert and I heard her before we saw her—-singing joyfully. She made her way into the other half of the duplex that makes up our Airbnb. She continued to sing as she turned on the vacuum cleaner. Vocal joy. It actually felt a little quietly empty when she got in her truck and drove away.
2023 Escape from St. Patrick’s Day #3
My daily snapshot of Robert’s and my 2023 trip to get away from Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day parade and celebrations.
This morning, after checking out of our cabin at Red Top Mountain State Park in north Georgia, we headed to Atlanta and Emory University to see a couple of exhibits at the Michael Marcos Museum of Art. We visited it before, loved it and have wanted to return.
We never try to go through an entire museum in a single visit, instead spending a bit of time in only one or two areas that peek our interest.
I was especially fascinated by this Chicago street photographer’s black and white paired photos of Chicago’s poorer districts.
Next, Robert seemed to spend an eternity in the Egyptian afterlife exhibit. It really was fascinating. With real mummies!
And here’s HR in the current life interrupting a museum tour on the level below. See him?
I was eavesdropping on a docent-led tour below, and pretended not to know him.
Whew. The things I put up with.
The Egyptians made us hungry, so we headed to Mary Mac’s Tea Room for their southern fried chicken.
To burn off some of the calories and to get outside, we rushed over to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens to see the tulips and their new Trolls (!) installation.
I’ll tell you more about the Trolls in other posts.
What a fun third day on our Savannah Saint Patrick’s day escape trip!
NealEnJoy 