Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 1/23/26

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

1. Robert MORE than enjoying his all-you-can-eat crab legs dinner at Tin Fin, a little seafood restaurant we discovered near where we are staying for a few weeks while our Savannah place is being renovated.

2. This old mailbox at our temporary country farmhouse.

See? Old can still be noteworthy and pretty, even with its age spots and creaky hinges.

3. Our amazing bodies, which are always trying to persuade us to appreciate them and to take care of them.

4. A Cute Coincidence …

But first a little background: HR and I agree on many things BUT NOT ABOUT COFFEE. He’s a Starbucks fellow while I love Dunkin Donuts. And here in Rincon GA, fairly close to the farmhouse, there is a Dunkin Donuts a few doors down from a Starbucks.

So here’s what we do when we go out for morning coffee: Pop in to Dunkin Donuts to get mine and then head to Starbucks for Robert’s — and to sit a spell with our iPads.

My blasphemous DD proudly (arrogantly?) holding his own inside a Starbucks.

Oh, and here’s the Cute Coincidence: My barista at DD is named Winter, while Robert’s at Starbucks is Autumn.

5. Yesterday HR and I took a day trip across the Savannah River (yes, we’re still close to the river, an hour away from our home, which is two blocks from the river!) over to the Webb Wildlife Management Area in South Carolina.

The Webb’s entrance … and Robert.
Majestic Pines 

And here’s a little recording of bird sounds at the Webb’s rookery. (LOTS of LOUD birdies but hidden from view in the thick brush.)

TIB (Truth in Blogging): I had to look up the definition of a “rookery.” I was getting it confused with a “bird blind.”

“A rookery is a crowded, communal nesting or breeding colony, most commonly referring to birds like herons, egrets, or rooks.”

Cypress “knees” in Lake Bluff.

May you hike into some joy this weekend.

Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 1/17/26

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

1. Outdoor winter lunch at the farmhouse.

Voila! Hambone Soup

And it’s just warm enough to eat outside. It = weather as well as soup.

2. Reading/skimming through this beautifully delightful book about flowers.

And then going outside the farmhouse to practice …

Okay, maybe I won’t win any floral awards. But it was fun.

3. Being able to stay warm in the cold of winter. What a blessing!

Brrr. Savannah!

4. This ceiling light at a local indoor—outdoor restaurant.

5. The neat coincidence of Grandson Gabriel re-entering his recent high school basketball game just as an advertisement for his parents’ medical company flashed on the screen behind him.

http://www.coastalcarepartners.com

May you have some neat coincidences this weekend!

Posted in Monday Moaning or Monday Marveling?

Monday Moaning or Monday Marveling? 1/12/26

I’ve been doing a bit of both this Monday.

I’m marveling as I remember the nostalgic fun and yumminess of our recent traditional New Year’s Day menu: Collard Greens and Black Eyed Peas.

Do you include these or similar items on your first-day-of-the-brand-new-year menu? Or is it just another quirky thing we do here in the Deep South?

Granny always encouraged/commanded me: “Nealie” (her nickname for me), “now eat your greens and peas. The greens will bring you lots of money in the form of bills, and the peas will bring you lots of change.”

Thanks, Granny, but I’m moaning a bit today as well … waiting, waiting for the cash jackpot.

Posted in Food Joy

Seafood Tuesday

Living in Savannah, with water all around, we love us Some Seafood!

Tonight Robert had leftover Low Country Boil (from our Christmas Day “New Traditional” Supper) …

While I was a bit more classy — Mussels with tomato, garlic and white wine sauce (ridiculously easy and quick to prepare) …

Beyond delicious!

It takes muscles to eat mussels!

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What a Joyful Meal.

And a few of Robert’s more artsy shell photos …

Interesting that HR will not eat them, but he has no problem taking photos of them.

Posted in My Saturday Evening Post

My Saturday Evening Post: 12/27/25  “Nativity on the Farm”

Recently Robert and I visited Southern Belle Farms in McDonough GA. Walking to the side of their fabulous country market, HR yelled, “Neal, look! Baby Jesus on a truck!”

And sure enough, as I got closer, I saw them—all the stars of the traditional crèche: Mary, Joseph and the Baby. The Three Wise Men. An Angel. A Shepherd and his Sheep.

All mounted on an old school farm truck!

Robert started pointing and giving a little impromptu lecture about the various Nativity personnel, as if I were a toddler new to Sunday School.

Mentally asleep for a while in his mansplaining words, I finally woke up and asked, “What do you think happened to Mary’s left arm?”

“Neal, you’re missing the whole point of the display!” he sputtered as he huffed off toward the Kettle Corn stand.

I stood there for a while, pondering about what was missing. Until I finally followed the buttery scent to the Kettle Corn and to Robert.

And that’s My Saturday Evening Post.

Screenshot
Posted in Monday Moaning or Monday Marveling?

Monday Moaning or Monday Marveling? 12/22/25 

Marveling!

So the other evening Robert and I drove over to daughter Amy‘s house on Skidaway Island (Savannah) to walk doggy Coastal while her fam was out of town.

Coastal was a tad impatiently ready.

When Coastal, HR and I started meandering toward the next-door neighbor’s house, we saw this …

Wait, you need it in color. So let’s send Robert closer.

Either very cute or terrifying! This Rudolph has to be the biggest reindeer in the history of the world.

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I was so startled that a few of my photos came out quirky because of my nervously, shaking hands …

Or did that Holiday Giant have special Holiday Powers?

We urged Coastal to finish her business quickly and hastened our way back to the safe house.

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We left Coastal and her brother-from-another-mother Little Kitty at peace and watching the chimney with care.

Posted in Countdown to Christmas

Countdown to Christmas 2025: “Thou Shalt LOVE, Not Hate” — Day Sixteen 12/16/25

From December 1-25, I’m sharing a quote and its truth from John Fugelsang’s Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists and Flock-Fleecing Frauds, the book Robert and I are currently and fascinatingly reading.

An odd Advent Calendar, of sorts.

I love this humorous point the author makes at the beginning of his preface:

“I’ve come to view Jesus the way I’ve come to view Elvis.

I love the guy, but some of the fan clubs terrify me.”