1. The Terrific Tomato Tart Robert and I made this week with tomatoes from nearby Davis Produce.
2. Watching the Braves beat the Cardinals 8-5 at Truist Park last night.
3. The ability to laugh at ourselves and not take ourselves so seriously.
4. Grandson Daniel “being all shy” singing The National Anthem at the yearly kickoff celebration of the United Way of the Coastal Empire at the Savannah Convention Center.
Practicing the day before …
The event …
You can hear him here …
I asked his mom, Amy, if Daniel gets nervous at large events such as this.
“He’s not the slightest bit nervous. But I am a wreck until it’s over.”
5. Living in a world with so many wonderful books to read. Here is the current novel HR and I are reading together. Robert does most of the driving, so I read aloud. This is our 178th book together.
(May the book banners be banned.)
And may your weekend ahead be a personal anthem of joy and freedom.
So the other day, HR and I were spending far more time than is socially acceptable walking around and looking at all the fresh veggies and fruits at our favorite local market, Davis Produce, near us here in Savannah on the way out to the ocean.
When all of a sudden, I saw her …
An incredible beauty of a tomato.
A work of natural art.
Striped glory.
So of course, I rescued her from retail and brought her home.
What a Standout she is among her brothers and sisters!
This time a turkey, cheddar, lettuce, tomato and onion pita.
2. Truth …
3. Discovering Senior Citizens Inc. here in Savannah and attending a fascinating lecture, “The Rosenwald Schools: Challenge and Triumph.”
I bought the book!
4. Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.
5. My chair in our study! It has a personality of its own. It’s alive. It (he? she? they?) is a place of refuge for me. It’s where I read. And mediate. It’s where I sit in peace.
And where I often sit in not-so-peace when my anxiety, Truffles, comes a’knockin. (My anxiety protocol sheet is at the ready nearby in the magazine rack.)
And the checkered pillow?
I bought it for my father when he was in assisted living and early dementia.
Last night, in the midst of some uninvited anxiety (Hello, Truffles!), I told Robert that I was thinking about not doing my weekly Five Friday Happy Bringers today. That there’s just too much Sadness and Horror in the world to post about Happiness. After giving me a lengthy and incredulous stare … something like this …
… HR helped me see that my rationale made NO sense. “Everything is not negative. And doesn’t positive help to counteract negative?”
He’s right. Happiness continues to come our way, if we see and embrace it.
1. Curly haired courage. Florida high school class president Zander Moricz, speaking at his graduation, brilliantly referencing his being gay (and Florida’s new restrictive anti-gay laws) without ever using the word (as he was told not to do so).
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If you haven’t read about or seen videos of Zander’s speech, here are a few excerpts.
“I must discuss a very public part of my identity…As you know, I have curly hair,” he continued while taking off his graduation cap.
He went on to discuss the challenges faced by curly-haired people. “While having curly hair in Florida is difficult — due to the humidity — I decided to be proud of who I was and started coming to school as my authentic self,” after unsuccessful attempts at straightening, he said. And he found support from teachers who discussed the topic and discovered others with curly hair.
“It’s because of the love I’d drawn from this community that I came out to my family,” he said. “Now I’m happy. Now I’m happy. And that is what is at stake. There are going to be so many kids with curly hair who need a community like Pine View, and they won’t have one. They too will try to straighten that part of themselves.” (The Advocate)
Malay Mail
2. HR prepping for his spectacular Baked Ziti Thursday night.
4. Grandson Gabriel receiving a year-long honor roll award at his school’s ceremony.
With his big brother Daniel and his cousins, twins Matthew and Madison.
Fresh veggie plate — corn on the cob, beefsteak tomato with fresh dill from out little herb garden and shishito peppers with sesame seeds and soy sauce.
NealEnJoy 