So today I took down (a tad sadly) our Travel Tree.
If you have followed my little blog for a while (and why on earth would you not?), you may remember that Robert and I have a second, smaller Christmas Tree which we call our Travel Tree. All the ornaments are ones we have purchased on our various travels.
As I cleared the little white tree, my eyes kept resting on a couple of simple ornaments.
And I didn’t want to hurriedly take them off. So I let them hang around a while longer.
HR and I have visited Plains, GA, hometown of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, a couple of times, appreciating the small town that birthed such a tremendously kind and humanitarian couple.
May President Carter, as he is being laid to rest this evening next to his beloved Rosalynn, finally Rest in Eternal Peace, after a long life well lived.
On our drive back from Baltimore the other day, Robert and I stopped off at DC for a couple of hours to go to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. We had never been before and were eager to do so.
“The National Museum of African American History and Culture has accomplished what once seemed like an impossible dream: opening a museum dedicated to a people’s journey and our nation’s complete, unvarnished truth.” (museum website)
We only had time to explore the lower floor, which curated the horrific exploitation of slaves from West Africa. Fascinating. Disturbing. Meticulously documented.
“Slavery and Freedom uses first-person accounts and striking historical artifacts to tell an incredibly complicated tale. The exhibit traces slavery from 15th century Africa and Europe to the Civil War and Reconstruction in the United States. This vital history emphasizes that American slavery and freedom are deeply intertwined, and that the story of slavery is in fact a shared one that resides at the core of American politics, economics and daily life to this very day.” (washington.org)
The wonderful fellow who introduced us to the museum at the entrance suggested that after we explore for a while, we go to the Contemplative Court to “wind down and reset” after the museum’s lower floor trauma.
1. Discovering Buc-ee’s (that people seem to rave about) on our recent drive to Baltimore.
Robert and I have never been to one before.
This is a gas station?!
2. Athletic Grandson Gabriel, along with teammate Peyton, earning the All Tournament Team award AS FRESHMEN after Savannah Country Day School won their Holiday Basketball Tournament.
3. The wonderful ability to HEAR. What do you hear right now?
4. These World Famous (or so the menu said) Diner Chips at a little diner I found in Raleigh, North Carolina on our way back from Baltimore yesterday.
5. HR in front of this cool mural near the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.
1. Morning coffee with Robert at Flora and Fauna, the coolest little coffee bar/supper club here in Savannah.
2. Youngest granddaughter Isabelle, one on one with Santa.
3. Mindfully recognizing and appreciating that I Feel Good whenever I Feel Good.
4. Christmas Day Supper with just HR and me. (We do a bigger Thanksgiving with family, but fam is scattered across the state, so now everyone does their own thing for Christmas.)
This year I told HR uber-enthusiastically that “I am making OYSTER DRESSING for the first time!”
He looked at me as I had just told him there is no Santa. (He still believes. See recent blog for proof.)
I got quickly to work, convinced that I could win him over. Even though he doesn’t accompany me when I have a hankering for …
… at one of Savannah’s fabulous oyster houses. “Neal, what must have been wrong with the first person in history who somehow—probably by freak accident—cracked open an oyster and said, ‘I’m gonna eat that slimy thing right now.’”
But I got him to like Susan Boyle, so how hard could a little mollusk shellfish be?
I opened up my two pints of oysters …
Prepped my other ingredients …
Fancy HR tells me this part of kitchen work is called “mise en place” (everything in its place).
All ready for the oven …
Forty-five deliciously anticipatory minutes later …
(I managed to place NOE—Neal’s Oyster Extravaganza—in the center of our little buffet in an attempt to make it the star.)
And guess what? (I’m sure you’re a nervous wreck by now wondering if he liked it.)
He did! He did! The joy bells rang triumphantly through Historic District Savannah!
(Although I have to confess that he took most of his dressing from around the edges … to avoid the possibility of slimy you know what. And covered it with his yummy mushroom gravy. But still, I declare Victory!)
5. The Seasonal Pause of Quiet and Calm that seems to occur each year between Christmas and the New Year (at least in my mind).
May you find some Quiet and Calm this final weekend of 2024.
