Tag Archives: Savannah

Back in the USA — Southeast; May 5-15, 2017

Georgia

We flew in to Savannah on May 5, and the next day drove to Statesboro, GA to attend the cum laude graduation of Kristen Johnson, our granddaughter, from Georgia Southern University.  Saving seats for us in the football stadium were Danielle, Barb’s daughter and Kristen’s mother, and Abigail, Danielle’s other daughter.  Knowing that the restaurants in small-town Statesboro would be packed, we all returned to Savannah for lunch after the ceremony.    

On May 8 I kept an appointment with my Savannah dermatologist.  Last Fall she had removed a small basal cell carcinoma from a spot under a fold of my right ear.  By the time she called to say that the removed tissue was indeed skin cancer and that more needed to be excised, we were already back in Bonaire.  So the return visit on the 8th was to complete the removal.  This time, the tissue was examined as I waited, so I would leave knowing that “enough” had been removed.  But what to do about the cavity?  She fussed and fretted about trying to stitch it closed, but muttered that there wasn’t enough tissue in the awkward spot.  She fussed and fretted about a skin graft maybe being needed, but thought it would probably just eventually “fill in”, and finally settled on that plan after I told her I wouldn’t be in Savannah long enough to have a graft monitored and/or stitches removed.  She gave me a 24-day supply of antibiotic and a supply of “duoderm” thin skin patches to be placed over the incision site and replaced every three days.  After the second replacement (six days later) Barb noticed a hard white area in the middle of the site.  Oh oh.  Infection?

(Hang on to your hats, folks.  We are about to enter a fold in the time dimension and skip location and way ahead in time to “finish” the story of the ear.  Barb was able to sound sufficiently alarmed to get an almost-immediate appointment with a dermatologist in Bismarck, ND, who subsequently informed us that the white area was exposed cartilage.  Further, he opined that it was highly unlikely that the area would fill in by the neighboring skin growing over, and that if it did not, the cartilage would dry out and die, leaving an area vulnerable to infection.  He suggested that he monitor the site regularly and decide whether to attempt to find a plastic surgeon to do a skin graft.  Several days later, his office called to say he had made an appointment for me with a plastic surgeon.  Long story short:  the surgeon decided the best of several alternatives would be to remove the cartilage and replace it with skin harvested from my body elsewhere.  So there would be an area in my ear that would essentially consist of just two layers of skin:  one on the back of the ear facing toward my head, and the other the replacement skin facing in the other direction out from my ear.  

As I write this I have had the operation (under soft anesthesia similar to that used for colonoscopies) and am wearing an awkward contraption designed to protect the ear while the graft heals.

OK.  Back through the worm hole in the time dimension.  That is, back to our account of our activities in the Southeast.)

                                                                                                                                                                                                         

North Carolina

On May 11 we drove to Charlotte in a one-way rental car, where we changed to a round-trip rental and continued to Asheville to see Devi & Hunter, old cruising buddies formerly on Arctic Tern.  Hunter was in the hospital when we arrived.  He had a hip replacement some three years ago, and it did not go well.  Exploratory surgery revealed an infection, so the hip was removed and temporarily replaced with an antibiotic-saturated temporary replacement to occupy the space while he receives daily antibiotic shots over a period of months.  We visited briefly with Hunter and then accompanied Devi to a restaurant for dinner and then spent the evening with Devi in their home.  It was good to see them both; we just wish it had been in better circumstances.

Early on May 12 we drove to Boone, NC and had lunch with granddaughter Jessie.  We then went to a huge nearby Airnb home where we would spend the weekend in celebration of Jessie’s magna cum laude graduation and our mini-reunion, since we were joined by my daughter Nellie, her husband Michael, their two sons Michael and Connor, and Nellie’s other daughter, Katie.  Later that night Jessie’s girlfriend Deja joined us.  Staying at the house, as opposed to separate hotels or motels, turned out to be very good strategy.  It gave us much more time to socialize together as we prepared meals, cleaned up afterwards, watched TV, and so forth.  Great visit. 

The actual ceremony, held in the huge field house on the campus of Appalachian State University,  was on May 13.

On May 14 we drove back to Charlotte, where we eventually found a restaurant (Chris Ruth’s) not already fully booked for a Mother’s Day dinner.  We stayed in a motel that night, and early the next morning took a series of flights to Bismarck, ND.  But the details of that visit will have await the next exciting edition of our blog.

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.

Family & Friends in the Deep South — Sept. 3-12, 2013

On Sept. 3 we rented a car and drove down from Raleigh, NC to Savannah, GA.  Next day we took advantage of Iris’s generous offer and swapped the rental for one of hers.  We spent a lot of time in Savannah shopping for clothes and small marine items.  We needed the clothes, and we had waited on the marine items until arriving in the States since I had a large gift certificate for West Marine that was burning a hole in my pocket.  The certificate was a consequence of being a finalist in the last two photo contests sponsored by Kadey-Krogen Yachts.

Son Jeff was changing jobs and on the east coast, and daughter Danielle lives in Rincon, a small town north of Savannah, so we decided to all meet in Charleston for a weekend, where we did some touring in the downtown area and visited the Aquarium.   As the pictures below show, granddaughter Abbie was considerably less camera shy than granddaughter Kristen.

Back in Savannah, we had lunch with former Armstrong Atlantic State University Mathematics colleague Dick Munson and his wife Karen, and another lunch with former Computer Science colleague Joy Reed, and yet another lunch with a bunch of Barb’s former colleagues from Southern Company (Melissa Mallard, Chuck, Patrice Cole, Mike McAlister- who hosts our website, David Schiller, Paul Hudson, Barb and Anna nee Sparks).  Good friends Iris and Mike Dayoub had us over for dinner one night, and invited good friends Steve and Beth Ellis to join us.  And of course, we got together again with Danielle and her girls several more times before departing from the area.

On Sept. 12, I caught a flight to Bismarck, ND, and Barb caught a flight to Las Vegas.  To read about those visits, see our next posts.