A new blog category of what I find … pretty.
Sunflowers from last Saturday’s Forsyth Farmers Market here in Savannah.
Just Because It’s Pretty
Tag: Beauty
Shhh … Silent Sunday. 7/6/25
HR and a hidden garden in Savannah’s Historic District near us.
Shhh … Silent Sunday. 6/29/25
Miami Day Four: South Beach-ing
Breakfast on our little balcony.
With pastries from the Bakery at Versailles (from yesterday).
Left to right: Millefeuille au Caramel, Pistachio Cannoli and Tarta Santiago.
Oops, I smudged the Tarta Santiago. Here’s what it looked like before:
“Tarta de Santiago, or St. James Cake, is an almond cake from Galicia with its origins in the Middle Ages. The cake is a simple base of almonds, sugar and eggs, usually flavored with cinnamon and lemon zest.
It’s easy to identify it as it’s almost always adorned with powdered sugar with an imprint of the Cross of St. James, also known as the Cruz de Santiago.” sundaybaker.com
Now you know.
Stuffed, we made our way over to Miami Beach, South Beach to be specific, for a little morning “swim.”
Sun-tired, we trekked across Ocean Boulevard to one of my favorite restaurants from yesteryear, News Cafe.
Goodbye News Cafe. We had a great time.
Before heading back to downtown Miami, we Ubered over to the Lincoln Road Pedestrian Mall. Why? Because in my memory (from academic conference trips to the University of Miami a couple of decades ago) Lincoln Road was filled with all these quirky shops, bars and restaurants. No more. Big name stores everywhere.
But we did see this:
A terrific day at the beach.
Always Leave Room
This is a fairly long post, so you might want to put on some comfortable shoes and grab a snack.
Yesterday Robert and I visited the most SPECTACULAR garden center hideaway here in the greater Savannah area: Savannah’s Secret Garden.
But wait. Let me back up a second.
On Monday, we went over to the backyard of our friends and fellow church members Pat and Mary Prokop.
“Hmm, why their back yard?” you are surely asking. “Won’t they let you inside their house?”
Well, because they (primarily Pat) are incredible gardeners of flowers and vegetables (and friends).
Now I’m going to plagiarize a bit from HR‘s recent blog post about the same garden party.
But first he is forcing me to include the link to HIS blog post about the garden party.
SKIP OVER IT VERY QUICKLY SO YOU WON’T READ HIS BEFORE MINE!
Whew!
The plagiarism: Pat and Mary open up their garden each Memorial Day weekend to be enjoyed by all: gardeners, garden lovers, photographers, solar panel enthusiasts, astronomers (all Prokop hobbies). Sit a spell under a cool patio with fans and cold drinks, pet the garden cat “Grizabella” who roams freely (yes, from the “Cats” Broadway play).
A few of my photos from the garden party:
While we were sitting in the shade, chatting with Pat, Mary and guests, for some reason HR (Husband Robert for any newbie readers) brought up the pitiful fact (pitiful since we were sitting in a glorious backyard garden) that he and I only have some potted plants and a tiny tree lawn in front of our place in downtown Savannah. But that we are looking to plant some milkweed to draw the butterflies!
“Then you HAVE to go to Savannah’s Secret Garden!” one of the guests immediately exclaimed!
“Wow,” a secret garden,” I thought. “Then I wonder how you ever find the place.”
Next my mind wondered a while back to when young actor/singer/grandson Daniel played the part of Colin in the Savannah Children’s Theater production of The Secret Garden and I presented him with an “Academy Award” …
“Neal!” Robert (rudely) interrupted my yesteryear thoughts, “Let’s remember to go to Savannah‘s Secret Garden to look for milkweed.”
Fast-forward (backward?) to yesterday, which indeed found us at the delightfully hidden-away secret garden nursery.
We spent about an hour meandering around the lovely place …
… until we finally came across this secluded little corner … filled with the cutest Faires!
HR was mesmerized!
Moral of the story:
Oh, and here’s our marvelous milkweed …
Always leave room!
Monday Moaning or Monday Marveling? 5/26/25
I’m marveling this morn, remembering our supper last night.
I prepared Neal’s Sunday Night Chicken, using a variation of Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Chicken.
Prep the six-pound chicken …
Impatiently wait an hour and a half, as incredible aroma fills our humble abode.
In the meantime, make vegetable broth with parts of the veggies I did not use.
And take a little rest with Benny on the couch …
Voila!
Delicious Food Joy!
One-Word Wednesday 5/14/25
“Alluring”
Five Friday Happy Bringers 4/9/25
My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.
1. HR’s cute Star Wars excitement.
2. Finding Benny and best buddy Huggy Kitty still fast asleep when I walked into the living room at about 6 am the other morning.
Just in case you want to know more about Huggy Kitty, here’s a previous post that explains, in far too much detail …
3. Being able to go to the grocery store and buy food. What a blessing.
4. Our new buddy Greenie, who has taken up residence in our Potted Plant Garden in front of our apartment.
No, no, that’s not part of Greenies‘s body. Here he is, truthfully exposed.
5. Continuing today’s animal theme, this friendly blackbird (grackle?) I had a little conversation with the other day.
One-Word Wednesday 4/30/25
“Scrumptious”
NealEnJoy 