So today, HR and I had lunch with our dear friends Don and Jim at the salad-ly delicious Urban Deli within walking distance of us here in historic district Savannah.
Beyond yummy food.
Especially their salads.
I opted for the brussels sprouts salad, along with a healthy helping of their red beet salad.
I consumed it far too quickly, never thinking about taking a photo remembrance.
Afterwards, as we were sitting, stuffed, Savannah fall conversing, I looked down on my plate …
2. An overflowing citrus tree near us here in downtown Savannah.
3. My Arthritis Pain. Okay, that needs explanation. I’m Happy that I have a body. A body including wrists, knees and a lower back, all with the ability to FEEl.
Does that make any sense at all?
4. A wonderful gathering at our church Wednesday evening to help process and manage anxiety that some of us are feeling concerning the election.
5. A bookish bench we saw recently along the Augusta GA Riverwalk.
May you find a place to sit joyfully this weekend.
1. Scrumptious beignets at Huey‘s, a New Orleans style restaurant on the Savannah River near us. (Well, not literally ON the river.)
And to be honest, they are SO much better than the beignets we have had in New Orleans. 
And here’s HR, tackling the steep stairs heading back home.
I’m not sure why he looks a little pouty in this photo. He just had beignets, for goodness sake. 
2. Finding, at a Little Library (do you have those where you are?) over in Hinesville, Georgia, a delightfully funny children’s book that I used to read to my daughters when they were little ones.
3. The ability—and privilege—of being able TO READ. What a blessing!
4. Grandson Daniel singing “Bring Him Home,”accompanied by the Savannah Country Day School Orchestra at their Veterans Day assembly on Monday.
Here’s a fifteen second Instagram post:
5. Robert, ex-wife Donna and me, heading to our yearly beginning-of-the-holidays traditional lunch at St. John Episcopal Church here in Historic District Savannah …
St. John’s Green-Meldrim House next door, where the luncheon is held …
… has a fascinating history. Here are a few tidbits:
May a few tidbits of fascination find their way to you this weekend.
To be honest, after Tuesday’s foreboding election results, I have had sad difficulty finding happiness. Until I realized, once again, that true happiness is in the small things of life.
1. Colorful fall chrysanthemums.
Herb Creek Landscaping, Savannah
2. The belief that, no matter how dark it gets, there are sources of light.
3. Grandson Daniel winning Best Actor (for two years in a row now!) for his portrayal of Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love at the high school regional one-act play competition in Vidalia, GA (yes, the Vidalia of onion fame).
D now towers over both Robert and me
4. Riding the Amtrak train yesterday from Savannah over to Charleston, South Carolina for a wonderful day trip with Robert and ex-wife Donna.
Incredible lunch at Magnolia’s, one of our favorite fancy spancy Charleston restaurantsDonna and HR, relaxing in the Charleston Place Hotel lobby, pretending to be guests, as a harpist serenades them.I wonder if it’s too late for me to learn to play the harp. 
5. My 24Kt gold-rimmed cocktail at the Charleston Place Thoroughbred Club after the harpist rudely took a break. (We had claimed squatter’s rights at the hotel by that time.)
What do you mean, you don’t believe me?!
May you find a spot of gold somewhere in your weekend ahead.
For some reason, which I don’t quite understand, this old post from over a decade ago about an enlightening trip to New Orleans has been one of my most popular posts which readers keep reading. So I am presenting it once again as a post from the past. And it sorta fits with Halloween.
(Please remember, when looking at the photos, this was from a decade ago!)
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Is there a botanical specimen you’re just WILD about? There certainly is for me! It’s the Elephant Ear (Colocasia esculenta in plant taxonomy). And not just because they make my big ears look smaller (though, of course, that’s part of it). Elephant Ears also exude a mysteriously mystical and magical quality.
Okay that sounded rather silly and new age-y. So I’d better explain. But when you hear the WHOLE story, DO NOT JUDGE ME! Or at least do not judge me too harshly. Deal?
Well, I have always simply adored the Elephant Ear family of luciously leafy plants. But my REAL love affair with EE’s heated up last October when I trekked to New Orleans to make an academic presentation at the Popular Culture Association in the South annual conference. Really, I’m telling the truth. Okay, fine, here’s proof: a blurb from the conference program:
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Saturday 11.8 Pedagogy
“A Presentation Software By Any Other Name: The Light and the Dark of Shakespearean Powerpoint Presentations in College English Classrooms” Mark King and David Janssen, Gordon College
“The Visual Essay: Thinking and Playing Outside the Paragraphs” Neal Saye, Georgia Southern University
“Teaching Students to Write for TV and Film: A Comprehensive Plan for the Undergraduate Dramatic Scripting Course” Michael Moeder
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So maybe mine doesn’t sound quite as smart as the other two. But I had lots of visuals, with continual streaming over two screens! And handouts! And samples of student work! And I gave out colored construction paper and had everyone do little projects! (My hypothesis is that a few bells and whistles, along with hands-on tinkering, can make up for intellectual depth. And besides, it was Saturday morning, for heaven’s sake.)
I think I remember having hair like that.
[The Elephant Ear connection is coming, I promise–just give me a minute or two.]
Let’s back up. When I got to the Hotel InterContinental on St. Charles to check in, I used the Winning Strategy a friend taught me years ago: ALWAYS ask if an upgrade is “possibly available.” But BEFORE you ask, set the stage: say something either Pitiful with a Touch of Humor (“I’m SO glad to FINALLY get here to your BEAUTIFUL hotel. My flight was SO turbulent! I prayed more in those two hours than I have in the past two decades! But what a peaceful aura both in this gorgeous lobby AND coming from you! Thank you so much!” or something excitedly exuberant, again with an attempt at a tad of humor (“New-Party-Orleans! I’m HERE! And you’re my INCREDIBLE host/hostess! Can you show me around when you get off work? THANK YOU for having me! You RULE this city!). Then smile like you’re high on beignets and plead for the upgrade. IT WORKS. SO VERY OFTEN. Try it.
I did. And Bam! I was given a Club Level upgrade with full food and drink privileges and a nifty elevator key card that whisked me up to the exclusive Executive Floor. (Another thing, always buy a thank you card and give it to your benefactor during your stay. It’s good karma.)
Swinging from chandelier in “the club”:
So the second night in Nawlins, after Wandering around Bourbon Street and Wondering, both quietly to myself and out loud to my fellow conference attendee friends, “Do those people on that balcony KNOW they are sorta naked?” and “Why am I catching all these beads? I have forty strands now” and “That’s a real alligator that monkey is holding, isn’t it?!” I left the decibels and the adult circus, and meandered over, first to sweet Cafe Du Monde, and then to Jackson Square.
With powdered lips I walked the square’s perimeter, taking in the colorful display of late night street performers, vendors and musicians.
My watch yawned midnight, but my heart gave me the injunction: walk around the square again, and if I make “comfortable, knowing” eye contact with a spiritual reader, I will stop and, uh, be read or whatever.
I walked slowly, my footfalls methodical and audible.
Two-thirds around, I saw her.
A tiny, wisp of a woman from the islands wearing a bandana and clenching a shawl in the sticky October heat. She sat at a card table. Breaking eye contact first, I walked on, feeling silly. So we made eye contact–but “comfortable and knowing”? I don’t think so. Looking back confirmed my foolishness. Her gaze had dropped. Nothing but a bird-like woman beginning to close up shop.
Until she turned her body toward me and smiled. A caramel Mona Lisa. An inviting mystery.
Thirty minutes later I walked away from Ms. Michelle with 1) a small elephant ear plant wrapped in wet paper towels and 2) ears resounding with what I had heard.
“You live near moving water, a river, an ocean, which is good. Go embrace it often. You need the movement of water. You’re too rigid.”
Many other words and images left me, not shocked or awed by their relevancy and accuracy, but at peace with the connectedness of us all, the encouragement of strangers who are not strange after all. Oneness.
“What do you want to ask?
I had two queries. The first concerned the number four (my favorite number). I loved her mathematics. They confirmed what I knew–that all is well.
The second, as I took in the sight and smell of her small display of Mason-jarred summer leftover blossoms and greenery: “May I have that elephant ear?” The green beauty had caught my eye from the start, small but holding its own, even without vibrant yellow or red.
“Of course. It’s for you. Take it. Plant elephant ears, pick them. Put them under your pillow. They are health and good to you.”
Maybe I gave Michelle all the answers by coming to her, by asking questions. Maybe I heard what I knew already. Maybe I embraced the sugary night too tightly. But I walked away buoyed by knowing. Knowing that encouragement takes a myriad of forms.
Unexpectedly I saw Michelle the next day in the sunlight. We hugged and smiled, amped up in the brightness, having taken care of deep talk the night before.
And look! More elephant ears in the daytime.
Later in that final day of my New Orleans stay, I stumbled across the Jean Lefitte National Historic Site and Preserve.
But what was REALLY cool is what I found there:
Water. And Elephant Ears. Across the street from the mighty Mississippi River.
Back home in Savannah, one day I strolled the campus of Armstrong Atlantic State University, and here’s what I found:
Huge Elephant ears.
Oh, I planted my own Elephant Ears. This summer they grew beautifully:
(Excuse me for looking a bit like Captain Kangaroo in the above pic. Google him, kids.)
Moral of story (at least for me): Listen.
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NOW: Today Robert and I live two blocks from the Savannah River. And every time I walk along that powerful river (hosting one of the busiest ports in the country), I think of Ms. Michelle.
TIB: Truth in Blogging. Back when I first did this blog post, I was not out as a gay man. But Robert was with me on this trip. He did most of the pictures. I feel terrible today that I didn’t recognize him then, but what was, was—and what is, is.
And over the years, I have discoveredelephant ears and their cousins everywhere …
Yes, I know. Pride is traditionally celebrated in the month of June. But it’s SO warm down here in south Georgia that we opt to have it in October. But today was a VERY warm October day.
NealEnJoy 