My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts
1. Sunset’s beauty. It never gets old.
2. Key Lime Pie.
3. Feeling good physically. What a blessing it is when it happens.
4. Benny insisting on resting atop a bunch of plastic grocery bags.
5. The necessity of flowers.
Joyful last weekend of August to you!
Sometime all you need is a change of scenery …
Robert and I are back down in Ponte Vedra, Florida at the oceanfront condo my daughter is renting for six months, as she contemplates expanding her medical business down here. So of course we find ways to finagle our way here as often as possible.
I swim 20 lamps each morn at 7:30 before the sun becomes a broiler.
This summer, I am attempting to write a memoir about the challenge of “marrying” my previous straight life (to Donna) and my current gay life (with Robert). And what a challenge!
Here’s my sunny study in the condo where I’m attempting to write …
As I sit in that wicker chair, some days I realize that we’re all writing our memoirs, day by day and year by year.
As I mentioned before, Robert and I are staying at an old farmhouse in Effingham County, Georgia while our Savannah apartment is being renovated.
Here are a few photos to give you a taste of the personality of the farmhouse.
… when you find articles like this, a “must read” …
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/03/health/toilet-time-hemorrhoid-risk-wellness
(It’s actually fascinating.)
We started off the day with coffee in Little Havana‘s iconic La Colada Gourmet “The House of Cuban Coffee”
Interestingly, enough, there are feral chickens running around the area.
Here’s what Google told me about that …
“The presence of numerous chickens in Little Havana, Miami, is largely due to the area’s cultural ties to Cuba and the historical practice of keeping chickens in backyards. Many Cuban immigrants brought chickens with them, and over time, some were released or escaped, establishing feral populations. The rooster, in particular, holds symbolic significance in Cuban culture, representing strength, virility, and heritage.”
Next, we ventured a short distance down the coast to Vizcaya Museum and Gardens.
On to my fav Cuban restaurant, Versailles.
For me: VACA FRITA DE POLLO: Grilled Shredded Chicken with Onions Served with White Rice and Sweet Plantains
For HR: THE CLASSIC CUBAN SAMPLER: White Rice, Black Beans, “Picadillo” Ground Beef, Roast Pork, Sweet Plantains, Ham Croquette, Cuban Tamale, and Cassava with Cuban Mojo
And back to the Airbnb for some needed relax time.
Our place has a little balcony that … sorta looks out over Biscayne Bay (if you dangerously stretch your neck).
May your weekend be filled with an array of Beautiful Views. Or at least one Beautiful View.
Goodnight!
So back in 1985 I started saving my yearly/monthly calendars.
I’m not sure why.
So that makes … what? Forty years in 2025.
I suppose it started out as just a way to remember birthdays, appointments, to do’s and other important (or unimportant) dates I was prone to forget. This was before the days of “Siri, remind me ….”
But it morphed into jottings of my hopes and dreams, my frustrations, my successes, my problems, my New Year’s Resolutions (difficult to look back over today), my very … non-Facebook life.
As I skim through the pages of years/years of pages, I see emerging themes: family, children, travel, career, wife, ex-wife, coming out, husband, grandchildren, parental deaths, medical issues, joy, sorrow … Life.
I’m not sure what to do with them. Leave them to my daughters? Burn them?
The National Enquirer? People Magazine? The highest bidder?
Here’s to my new calendar for 2025 and whatever it may bring.
May your 2025 calendar be filled with Good.
And that’s my Saturday Evening Post. 1/11/2025.
Robert and I live in an old 1800’s apartment building in Historic District Savannah, so we don’t have much garden space. But we do what we can. (Correction: HR manages most of the “doing.”)
Here’s our little Japanese maple as she decided to “seasonally change” her outerwear recently.
Isn’t she gorgeous?!
I told her, EXCITEDLY, that she was simply LOVELY in her shimmering gold, thinking she would receive the compliment graciously.
And she did. Sort of. The she smiled, as wise sentient beings often do and said with patience (which wise sentient beings often have): “Neal” (I was thrilled she knew my name), “seasonal change, as you call it, is a part of life. We all go through it.”
“And sometimes it strips you bare.”
My smile drooped a bit. I wasn’t really keen on that part of our convo.
“It’s a part of life,” she said with no trepidation in her voice.
Maple got me to thinking, and I know I have probably used this poem far too often in my blog, but it SO resonates with me, especially as I’m getting … older and “seasonally changing.”
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
— Robert Frost
Here are a few of Robert’s photos of Maple and her “seasonal change.”
May we all “seasonally change” so gracefully.
Happy Pride from Savannah’s Forsyth Park.
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.
My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.
1. Granddaughter Isabelle pumpkin-patching.
2. Fall!
3. I know I have mentioned this far too many times, but … the ability to BREATHE. In, Out. In, Out. In, Out.
4. Interesting trail names on a recent hike at nearby Whitemarsh Island Preserve Trail …
5. A cool artistic statue on the Augusta, Georgia river walk.
May you hurry to a wonderful weekend ahead!
NealEnJoy 