Tag Archives: Richmond Hill

Visit to our old stomping grounds — Savannah, GA; Oct. 22 – Nov. 1, 2015

We flew out from Bismarck, ND on October 22, but the flight certainly wasn’t direct.  First to Minneapolis, then to New York, and finally to Savannah, GA.  Why Savannah?  For our annual visit to relatives, friends and doctors.  Initially we focused on daughter Danielle and grandkids Abbie and Kristen, using a rental car to move back and forth from Savannah to Rincon, GA.  Later, we succumbed to Iris Dayoub’s offer and used her auto, and yet later caved to her insistence that we stay with her and Mike out at their lovely home on Modena Island, just north of the famous Landings development on Skidaway Island.

We had lunch one day with Chuck’s former colleague Joy Reed, who had just retired from the Department of Computer Science at Armstrong Atlantic State University.  And on another day lunch with Dick Munson (and his wife Karen) who retired from the Mathematics department a few years before I retired from the CS department in 2005.

Savannah College of Art & Design was hosting another of it’s annual film festivals during our visit.  Some of our doctor appointments got in the way, but we still managed to see five different films.  SCAD’s presence in Savannah has been a tremendous boon for the city; the downtown is now vital and bustling.

With our doctor visits out of the way, we had a second round of socializing with Danielle and the girls, who suggested that we spend some time poking around our former neighborhood south of Savannah near Richmond Hill.  We drove by our old home and were pleased to see that it looked in better shape than on former quick visits.  So we stopped and asked for permission to visit the back yard where our dock gave deepwater access to the Ogeechee River.  The couple we had sold our house to had never moved in; a divorce and the collapse of the real estate market which prevented them from selling their other homes was the cause.  So the house was sometimes rented, and a subsequent lack of TLC now had us visiting with some apprehension.  We learned from the current tenants that the house was recently sold, but the current owners live elsewhere and plan on moving in later upon retirement.  Meanwhile the combination of new owners and enthusiastic renters has spiffed the place up a bit.

We also revisited historic Fort McAllister, situated just a mile and a half from our former home.  The earthen fort held for almost all of the Civil War but finally fell to Sherman’s forces attacking from the land side.

We have been using a storage facility for all of the ten years since selling the house.  Long ago we could have already re-purchased its entire contents for less than the storage rental has cummulatively cost.  So we have finally resolved to stop the madness.  I sold my “like new” road bike.  We gave lingering lawn furniture to friends, and gave Danielle and Kristen the china, bunches of kitchen stuff and many prints and paintings.  But we ran out of time after this modest beginning.  Maybe next year we can free ourselves from this silly expense.  (Implicit in this discussion is the fact that neither Barb nor I have any intention of ceasing to cruise in the Caribbean any time soon.  Sorry Mom.)

 

 

Georgia on My Mind, Part One — Savannah & Rincon; September 22-30, 2014

As usual, our visit to the Savannah area was a mixture of fun, friends, family and fall visits to doctors.  Barb and I saw our skin doctor and our optometrist, where we conceded that our ten-year old Lasik surgeries had finally expired:  we both needed and got eyeglasses.  Barb had her annual mammogram.  (I decided I didn’t need one.)  We updated our wills.  I got a haircut, an operation that would not normally warrant any comment.  Barb usually cuts my hair, since we are normally on our boat.  So I have no “usual” barber in the Savannah area.  Barb had an errand to run, so I thought I would drop into the next barber shop we saw and get it cut while she ran off to do her thing.  We found one in Pooler called “Beauty & Barber”.  I walked in, and found that the two barbers were African American, as was the female waiting patiently for a “beauty” customer.  The chief barber invited me to sit down, and said he would get to me next.   Both barbers were busy cutting the hair of African American customers.  Their hair was being close-cut.  Very close-cut.  Patterns were being cut into their hair:  curly lines completely shorn of any covering.

When it was my turn, the chief barber introduced himself as “Pop”, and asked how I wanted my haircut.   I said I only wanted the sides and back shortened a little, with very little taken off the top.  (I have migrated away from the buzz cut that I sported in earlier years, and rather like the longer look.)  Pop asked if I wanted the sides tapered. I responded in the affirmative, visualizing the alternative as a style that would look as if a bowl had been placed on my head and only the hair below the rim of the bowl had been shortened.  When Pop made his first cut, I knew I had made a mistake, but that it was too late.  He started in front of my ear and made a cut that extended all the way down to my skin in depth, and extended all the way up the side of my head in length.   And then for 20 agonizing minutes he worked on the sides and back, pushing down firmly and repeatedly, until the areas were every bit as short as that of his former customer.  And then, mindful of at least of a bit of my initial request, he  took only a little too much off the top.  The total cost:  only $10 dollars.  When I exited the shop, I found Barb waiting for me in the car.  She found my appearance and the broad smile on my face to be more than a little contradictory, but hey, if one cannot laugh at oneself …

We drove out to our old stomping grounds near Richmond Hill, and were relieved to see that our former home was in much better shape than the last time we checked up on it.  A mile further down the road is Ft. McAlister Marina, where the new owners have further enhanced the docks and the associated restaurant.

We had lunch with Dick & Karen Munson.  We had lunch with Steve & Beth Ellis.  We had lunch with Joy Reed.  We had dinner with Mike & Iris Dayoub.  We spent a lot of time with our daughter Danielle and her two girls Abbie & Kristen, including a multi-day trip to extreme southern Georgia to spend some time at Cumberland Island – a trip that deserves its own blog.  (See the next post.)

All of these activities left us with a sense of accomplishment and a sense of satisfaction – it is good to take care of life’s responsibilities and great to see friends and family.