




May today be a joyful Veterans Day to all our courageous veterans.
And a special Thank You with Hugs to my very own Veteran HR — Robert John Smith Jr. Retired Army.




1. HR and I having a low-key Day of the Dead (Dia De Los Muertos) dinner on Nov. 2 in honor of our parents.





2. Our little beautiful, pink flower, (I’m not sure what it is), just outside our door, which just keeps blooming, even now into November.


3. The ability to talk, to express, to communicate.
4. Grandchildren trick-or-treating …


5. Wreathing Autumn in Savannah.



May your weekend be wreathed in Joy!
With grandtwin Matthew a decade ago …




Matthew today with his sisters …

This weekend is Savannah Pride. (It’s too hot to have it in June, the traditional month for Pride.)








Happy YOU!

1. Grand twins Matthew and Madison, along with little sister Isabelle and all their cool socks, on Crazy Sock Day at school.

2. Politically CORRECT Halloween decorations near us here in Historic District Savannah.


As in 2020, our Southern state is again paramount in keeping our U.S. democracy alive.

3. Celebrating the wonder of a smile.

4. Fall doors in Savannah.


5. The setting sun. And knowing that it will rise again in the morn.


Wishing you a joyful day from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same.
A fantastic ACORN I recently found.



She is simply fantastically beautiful. Don’t you think?


Last night Robert and I returned home late from dinner, got out of our car, looked up and saw this …

HR’s true partner/cat Benny perched in our second story study window, gazing out. Looking down, his head slowly followed our steps as we walked to the door.

Benny prophesied our return home.
One of the unexpected joys of living in Savannah’s Historic District, just a couple of blocks from the mighty Savannah River, has been regularly seeing (and hearing) the massive cargo and container ships making their way into our busy port.
The Port of Savannah, the nation’s third largest seaport, is special because the ships leave the Atlantic Ocean, navigate their way inland about 15 miles to downtown Savannah, and pass directly in front of our busiest tourist strip on River Street …

It’s always fun to be on a walk along the river when a huge ship comes into view and watch the shell-shocked tourists gaping at the ships’ sizes.

Here’s a short video from last year when the largest container ship EVER came to Savannah.
And here are a few random shots of ships Robert and I have enjoyed seeing as we walked along the river.
Just the other night …



Others …





But, perhaps somewhat weirdly, the greatest Ship Joy of all to me is SOUND.
Robert and I will be in bed (most commonly with HR peacefully asleep and me slowly, slowly heading in that direction). But all of a sudden I will hear it. And perk up. Sometimes even sit up.
From a few blocks away, down on the river. The night ships. The sonorous, plaintive, somehow both exuberant and unexplainably sad horn, sounding from the ship, finally, finally making its way, exhausted, from who knows where into our little city … and past the sleepy little dwelling of Neal and HR.
Listen …
And somehow, that sound, time and time again, makes me realize that we can get from Where We Are … to Where We Need to Be. To a port of rest, to a place of quiet. To a place of, at least temporarily, no more movement.
And I sleep.