On the road through Florida, Georgia & SC

Before I forget which meal we had where, let me tell you about our trip to visit Harris in Hinesville, GA, at Fort Stewart.

On Thursday we flew from San Antonio, via Nashville, to Jacksonville, FL. (referred to as JAX) where we stayed the night and left early

On Friday to drive to Ft. Stewart. It was not a direct drive. We drove over to the ocean and up the coast to a lovely beach at a state park where we were the only visitors. The scenery was breathtaking and photographable, so we took some pictures and stuck our feet in the Atlantic. Laura did not remember being in the Atlantic in Delaware some 40+ years ago, so thought it was a first. We also looked at Amelia Island, not much to see, but the bottled water was a bargain.
Next stop, after missing the Georgia welcome station ... ask me about the e-mail that will address the whys of that one.

Found we were only a few miles from St. Simons Island, GA., so went right over. What a delightful place. First we found the crab cakes at Barbara Jeans cool restaurant to be worthy of the fame they have acquired. Then there is the Lighthouse and attendant facilities, park, views of water, birds and boats, and a fair number of charming shops. We'll go there again sometime.

Then we headed on up to Ft. Stewart, a large and impressive US Army base. It is, in fact, the largest in area of any US base in the eastern half of the US. The particular soldier we were looking for, who had been up all night on guard, had dozed off with his phone in the non-ring capacity, so we opted to head for Savannah and our hotel room. Checked in and said soldier woke up and headed to town for our beginning tour of Savannah. We had heard about the "squares" and SCAD, and had recommendations for several restaurants. Nothing had prepared us for the beauty of the town. The largest historic district in the US and it was preserved for lots of very good reasons. We truly enjoyed every minute spent visiting the more than 20 squares and their surroundings. Harris was especially pleased to learn about Savannah. The biggest thrill was undoubtedly going inside the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, easily one of the most beautiful churches in the US.

Supper on Friday was at the Pirate's House ... very old, very kitschy. Food was good as was the service. Our server, Elijah, grew up in Southeast San Antonio, not far from Wooldridges! We continued touring until every last bit of sunlight was gone from the squares and the drive along the river. A quick dessert and goodnight.

On Saturday Harris met us for a few more square moments and then we headed to Tybee Island, the nearest beach for Savannahians. Bad news, they were all there and there was only parking for a third of them. We on the big Texas coast are very spoiled in the parking department. There was nowhere to park ... an hour or more of driving around in circles might have resulted in one, but we (Laura and I) gave up and headed off the island. On the way we spotted the signs for "The Crab Shack" ... highly recommended, so we went there. It was wonderful. Great food, shrimp, crab and crab stew, and more atmosphere than can be described. It was funny old shacky, with lots of space, excellent service and top notch seafood. Laura says we alternated every day between shrimp and crabmeat. This was my turn for shrimp, but I had crab stew too. Oh, and key lime pie! Live alligators, tons of people, waterfront (bay) views. Good place to go. Then we went to Fort Pulaski. A pre Civil War fort of some considerable fame well preserved by the US Park Service. An excellent volunteer provided not only a wealth of information but he and four other vols demonstrated firing of muskets and two cannons. From the top of the fort you could see not only the Tybee Island lighthouse but another less known one. Hundreds more pictures!

A brief respite followed by another food adventure, also highly recommended, at Love's on the Ogeechee River, about halfway between Savannah and Ft. Stewart. My gosh, it was great too. I had Scored Flounder with Apricot preserves, preceded by a Amaretto Sour. Those other two ate shrimp. Scenery was lovely and service charming. Another worthy rec. Then we went to the mall !! You know who needed to go to "Build a You Know What". So she did.

Sunday morning we treated ourselves to breakfast on the river at "Huey's". Great view, great coffee and good food. Harris slept in at home. Then we drove to South Carolina, just to say we had, stopping at the SC Visitor Center and the Georgia Visitor Center, checked out of the room and went to see Harris' digs at Ft. Stewart. The military has come a long way in housing since I was a Navy wife in the dark ages. Big attractive barracks with individual sleeping rooms and shared kitchen and bath. Not spacious nor gracious, but certainly adequate. We bought some goodies at the PX and told our soldier goodby. He had duty on Sunday night.

So, we drove to JAX, checked in, went to the beach, swam and found shells, dried off and drove down the coast to St. Augustine for supper. That's another interesting little burg. Wildly Spanish in extreme architecture. Very hard to find parking and somewhat tourist trappy. But we managed to find another good spot for food! A1A, fusion grille featuring many specialties. Ours were delicious, Laura had lime shrimp over pasta and I had some shrimp, crab and tuna! Our fusion dessert was Fried Custard !!! It was excellent, came with Sweet Rum Sauce.

Early, 7 am, flight back through Nashville and home to San Antonio before lunch time on Monday and I drove home to Navasota before 3.

What an adventure. Came away with a whole new appreciate for the Southeast Coast and its beauty and food!

Water Lily at Martha's

Today I attended a fun seminar on photographing wildlife, primarily birds and flowers. The presenter was easy to listen to, down to earth, not a "pro" and had some great tips and stories. Additionally, she has a B&B not far from Navasota and has said come over anytime. I look forward to taking Kathy there to learn some of her ideas, and maybe get fired up about entering a contest. After the seminar I went out to Martha's lily ponds and took some pictures. I think this one is the best.

The "IN" Crowd

Three things that really bug me are INane, INept, and INebriated.
I am inept. I abhor inane and I do not handle the Inebriated well at all.

I wondered the other day about the entertainment, tv, comics, et al, that I do not find funny or clever. Finally Laura pointed it out to me: they feature the inane.
New sitcoms that people rave about and just don't get: The Office, New Adventures of Old Christine, Gary Unmarried ... all inane. Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel ... also inane. The is nothing clever about inane. Mutually exclusive traits.

On the other hand, inept is me. Multitasking is not for the inept. My daughters walk away when it is time for me to find my car keys somewhere in my purse, or my pockets or my house. My dwelling requires that I park my car, unload bags, walk to the locked downstairs door and put some, or every, thing down to fit the tricky key into the equally tricky keyhole, turn it and pull the door open without knocking over any of the bags I have put down in order to begin. Then pick it all up and truck up a high flight of stairs, down a hall, around a corner to my own door and repeat the process, often in the gloomy underlitness of the hall. No wonder I'm muttering inept words by the time the bags get carried to the counter! Those same keys are always dropped from my fingers at least once a day. I am inept. I do not sew, nor will I ever. I am no ept.

Then there is inebriated. Many of my good friends love to drink stuff; beer, margaritas, every verietal wine from every continent, as a regular part of the day, night or social occasion. Frankly, as I have gotten older, fewer and fewer of them do it to extreme. Lord knows, that used to be the norm. I am always reminded of a funny acquaintance of mine who was fairly intelligent but really drank a lot and often. It appeared to be an "ism". One day she was hounding me to "just have one drink, Miss Sally." I replied, "Oh, no thanks, I'm already dumb enough." She said, "Oh Miss Sally, you're not dumb at all." Get my point? The worst part about the inebriated is that they think they're cool and fun and smart and funny. And they're just drunk. Now, a table full of sober people may not be much fun, and some of them certainly are not. However, I'll stick to my belief that everyone ought to be able to have two alcoholic beverages every day and no one should be allowed any more than that!

Its turning into a rant !!!

There are certain things I should not be allowed to do:
1. Send rants by e-mail without first putting them in "draft" mode and waiting at least three days for the mood to fade.
2. Wander outside with chip firmly planted on shoulder.
3. Criticize my successful friends. Not their fault.
4. Blame others for my poor choices.
5. Forget to thank my family for putting up with me ... apparently I am not mellowing with age ... so much for the cheese comparisons.

The plain friend.

I've always had a theory, or noticed, or bitterly thought, that the very good looking and proud of it often have friends or acquaintances who don't measure up in the looks department. You know, gorgeous stacked pretty girl with skinny plain friend. Or, I suppose, hunky chunky dude accompanied by skinny nerd. Maybe it even works with the non-physical folks. A smart and successful business person who is tagged along with by a far less "made it" old pal. A professor who spends time with a "drop out" friend.

Now I think I am one of those also-rans.

I belong to a group of successful accomplished women ... they meet for lunch or something every month that one of us has a birthday. Most often, because of distance and financial restraints, I don't participate. I even try to get out of "membership" on similar grounds. But they want me to stay.

I think I know why!

Fairy Tales Do Not Come True

Only the names have been changed to protect everybody.

I had been a "woman alone" for more than twenty years, not a single date, romance, significant anything, and I was okay with it.

But, I did have a weak moment where I said "God, would it be possible to just have one last try at romance, sex, the pretty pictures?"

Then, I went to a series of sort-of church related events, weddings, funerals, etc., and at each I encountered an old friend, recently widowed, always charming. After one such encounter I actually had a dream about him. It should be noted, I almost never have a dream peopled with anyone I know, or have known. So, I was intriqued.

This is where I got stupid, or imaginative, or really stupid. I wrote him a note. I said "its always a treat to visit with you, so if you're ever in my small town, do drop in."

And I forgot about it. Until, one day my phone rang. It was he. He was asking for the local phone number of mutual friends. In the conversation he brought up some other mutual friends in the neighborhood and suggested that sometime we might go have dinner with them.

A week or so later there was a message on my phone. Him again, asking if I'd like to go to dinner on Friday night. I screamed bloody murder for several minutes. I called him back, at a college basketball game, and yelled "heck, yes". And so he picked me up in a downpour on Friday night and we went out for Mexican food. He even called me from the highway after dropping me off.

After that he invited me to meet him halfway (joke, there) for dinner and a movie. We met. It was an ill-advised movie choice, "The Bucket List" about dying. After the movie we sat in his truck and talked about "us" and how there wouldn't be an "us". He was not at all ready for a relationship, didn't expect to ever be. Was in no way prepared to share his life with anyone. Certainly didn't want his family to think he was "seeing someone" or any such foolishness as that.

I promptly explained to him that I was not about to sign on to any such deal. After all, I had my standards! We parted. Within about ten minutes I called him back to say I'd give the "no relationship" deal a try. What did I have to lose? Probably should be noted that I had always suspected that he hung the moon.

Here it is a year and a half later. Guess what? I was right the first time. I couldn't do it his way. Dreams are for people who are asleep. Fairy tales are just that.

My question to me is: can I go back to life all alone? Guess so.

Just because its June, June, June

So, now it is summertime in Texas, but still in the high sixties in the morning. So a pleasant walk to work.

Work, that's where the noise monsters are; radios, fans, squeaking chairs and crashes and crunches. I wonder why I am such a fan of quiet. Could it be all those years of working at radio stations where they played loudly in every room in the building? Or am I just becoming curmudgeonly?

Glasses. Went to Dr. Amy to see if it was time for having the other lens replaced. She said to try glasses for at least a year. On the way from my house to the optician in College Station I lost the prescription! Another vote for technology, the doctor's office faxed the prescription to the optician... get rid of the ineffective middleperson. Get two new pairs of glasses tomorrow. For reasons I don't understand two pair now cost the same as one.

Travel Plans. On Thursday I am going to Houston to have dinner with "the old radio ladies" really called Les Femmes (who knows why). Then next Thursday we are going to Savannah !!
That will improve my attitude.