1. My Hambone Soup last night, made from the leftover Easter ham.
And for some reason, out of the blue, when I was making the cornbread, I remembered that my mother used to put a heaping teaspoon of mayonnaise into the batter. Makes it creamier.
I also now add chopped jalapeños.
2. Grandson Daniel opening tonight in a three-week run of Les Mis here in Savannah. He plays the role of Marius.
3. The wonderful ability to Remember.
4. Incredibly aromatic jasmine blossoming all over Savannah.
5. Fun lunch today with Robert’s daughter Stennesha.
1. Finishing with Robert perhaps one of the top three novels we’ve read together in the last ten years …
Oh my goodness, it’s hilarious, heartwarming, heartbreaking, a mystery, a treatise on our economy and banking system, a love story/love stories, an examination of the inevitably difficult dynamics of family. And a book FULL of surprises. I did not want it to end. I miss the characters. I highly recommend it!
What a joy to read a good book.
2. The 2023 Savannah Music Festival.
What a treat! Last night Robert and I went to a bluegrass event with incredible banjoes, fiddles and guitars.
(Just so you know, I played trombone in high school. Okay, I was 3rd chair. And I really never managed to march on the football field and play my instrument at the same time. But still.)
3. Air. Oxygen. Breath.
4. HR finally learning how to photograph me now that I’m 71.
5. This morning walking past my favorite old Savannah mansion which faces Forsyth Park.
May your weekend’s peace and joy be of mansion proportions.
So as some of you know, if you follow my blog, HR’s (Husband Robert’s) older cat Boopers passed away recently.
It was a tough transition for Robert.
Robert and Boopers
Boopers’ “brother” Benny has also had a difficult time adjusting to life without Boopers. Especially at night. They often slept together.
Robert and Benny
So Robert recently ordered a HuggieKitty … “companion” for Benny.
DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THESE THINGS?!
HuggieKitty has a heartbeat!
HuggieKitty can purr!
HuggieKitty even has an insertable heat pack to simulate body warmth!
My first thought when HuggieKitty arrived:
“Robert, do you really think Benny is stupid enough to think that is a real cat?! He is much smarter than that. He will have NOTHING to do with … HuggieKitty“
OKAY
P.S. I have ordered a HuggieKitty for myself in case Robert gets a job as a night watchman, or something.
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.
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.
Along with sweet potato soufflé, and collard greens with pot liquor.
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!
1. A beautiful spring (almost) morning walk yesterday around Savannah’s Forsyth Park. Here’s Robert trying to steal the show. But I think the azaleas won.
The azaleas are actually breathtaking for this early in March.
2. The beauty of pine cones.
3. Reaching one thousand (!) meditation sessions this week.
4. Attending the coolest outdoor workshop yesterday evening over on Skidaway Island at the University of Georgia’s Skidaway Institute of Oceanography.
For two hours approaching sunset, we hiked among the old growth live oaks and the marsh, ending up at the boardwalk on Wilmington River.
The workshop was for photographers (which HR is, as many of you know). I went along for the ride, walking around and pointing my iPhone camera here and there in what I hoped conveyed a confident “Just look at the depth of field I can evoke from that angle, not to mention the aspect ratio and exposure compensation” sensibility.
Like here …
Don’t I look like I’m doing all those words I said above?Now that’s a tree trunk. HR and some Spanish Moss
And here he is worrying me by getting too close to the muddy marsh and the lurking alligators that are abundant in the area.
NealEnJoy 