My Clean Living Life Part VIII

My Clean Living Life series  has been maintenance driven lately.  I stopped drinking wine back in 2020 at the onset of the Covid Pandemic so outside of an occasional mocktail, it’s strictly water, juice, black coffee and Snapple Zero Sugar Iced Tea for me…

 

 

 

I no longer smoke cigarettes nor have I ever done drugs so to address it now would be a moot point…

 

 

 

It’s getting coolish now that we are well into the month of October in Connecticut so instead of Grilled Chicken and veggie filled Summer salads for lunch, I’m digging into hearty soups with protein and crusty breads.  Also lots of  plant based foods which I have grown to love.

 

 

I still work out regularly at OrangeTheory Fitness Center in Hamden (5 mornings a week at 5am) so my energy levels are on point.

 

 

I’m reading fiction now and watching less TV, which helps keep my mind feeling whimsical and fancy free.

 

 

I attend church services every Sunday morning at 1030am online via YouTube (my church home is Christian Tabernacle Baptist Church in Hamden, CT where the pastor is Keith A. King).  This helps me stay centered, grounded and not take myself too seriously.

 

 

And lastly, with the recent onslaught of illnesses amongst people my age and older, I have been paying extra attention to my body and any signs coming from it so I don’t fall victim to medical emergencies.

 

 

Take good care of yourselves.

 

 

TVFL

 

My Night With Jimmy

I had the best time eva in Brooklyn, New York on Thursday September 30th, 2026!   I am a Media Sales Professional for local ABC TV affiliate WTNH News 8 in New Haven, CT.   All that to say it’s not uncommon to receive tickets/vouchers to a fancy restaurant, concert venue, live theater or show to treat our VIP advertising clients.  But this gift was HUGE!  Jimmy is the man!  However he normally tapes his shows from his studios in Los Angeles, California…But every now and then he comes back home to Brooklyn, NY to tape live shows for the week at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).  And my colleague Douglas Hall and I were the lucky ones on the sales team to be gifted Jimmy Kimmel LIVE in Brooklyn, NY tickets with round trip transportation (courtesy of Absolute Transportation) from WTNH TV News 8 to BAM – Brooklyn Academy of Music for ourselves and our respective clients.

I invited my VIP advertising client Elaine Sein, the Marketing Director of ACES (Area Cooperative Educational Services) who met me at News 8 at 1030am on Thursday morning in advance of our 11am pick-up.  Elaine and I walked around the tv station and then took selfies in the Promotions area before heading out to the parking lot to meet up with my Sales department colleague Douglas Hall and his VIP advertising client Michael Donkor, owner of Celebrity Homemakers & Companions LLC.

 

Taking selfies in the Promotions area of WTNH News 8

 

Fun selfie

 

The SUV car ride to Brooklyn, NY was painless.  Having our own driver (in our case Tariq from Absolute Transportation) really made our day that much more pleasant.  We could kick back and relax and enjoy conversation with each other while our driver had to deal with the crazy, unhinged drivers on the Connecticut and New York highways and byways.  Tariq took it all in stride though.  He navigated those roads like he had been doing it for a minute (smile).  Great personality too.  He made our trip memorable in the best way.

 

Our first planned stop was lunch at Cafe PAULETTE in Brooklyn, NY (only 7 minutes from the theater).  I chose Cafe PAULETTE (from the list of preferred vendors on BAM’s website) because first of all the french food sounded truly delish and secondly it was projected to be 70 degrees on Thursday and I have a thing for outdoor bistros.  We ordered our lunch and drinks at about 1pmish and waited outdoors at our table for a long while as there was only one waitress and one bartender on duty.  When the food finally arrived it was well worth the wait because it was delish!  I ordered a veggie burger with cheddar cheese, french fries and a side salad.  And I washed it all down with a ginger ale.

 

Michael, Doug, Elaine and me at Cafe PAULETTE

 

My delish veggie burger with tons of french fries and a side salad – muah!

 

After lunch Tariq drove us to BAM where we got registered for the VIP line – registration included checking our names with staff and receiving the blue JKL bands on our wrist.  We were early – it was about 330pm at this point and the doors to the theater were not opening until after 5pm so we made small talk and people watched.  Did I mention that Brooklyn is the bomb!  I love the vibe – it’s lit and the people all look to be going somewhere important.  What a fun town – definitely coming back with my boo.  Brooklyn is the ‘new Manhattan’ in my view and I absolutely loved Fort Greene and those beautiful brownstones, what a wonderful and quaint neighborhood.

 

VIP access bracelet

 

VIP line

 

Elaine repping for ACES

 

The BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) building where Jimmy Kimmel LIVE in Brooklyn is taped is in the Peter Sharp Building and it features the historic 2,109 seat Howard Gilman Opera House, the Lepercq Space and the BAMcafe.  The BAMcafe was our next stop.  This large, colorful, flamboyant room immediately reminded me of the play Moulin Rouge because everything was Red, Red, and Red (smile).  There was plenty of  finger food stations, dessert stations and drink stations.  There were also 2 service bars.  I don’t drink anymore so I had Saratoga water and Bigelow Tea (smile).  I was still full from lunch so I did not have any of the appetizers or the desserts.  The place was jam packed. We were lucky to find a high table with 4 chairs when we walked in.  There was an old school DJ playing classic hits from back in the day.   Like us, there were plenty of other VIPs enjoying Jimmy Kimmel’s hospitality including his own parents, his former neighbors, people from Brooklyn, NY and even a dear old friend he knew from Kindergarten (smile).

 

The BAMcafe is groovy for sure (smile)

 

The gang’s all here!

Elaine checking out the delish finger foods

 

Finally showtime!

Since were already upstairs in BAMcafe we did not have to travel far to our seats which were in the Mezzanine section of the theater.  Being high up allowed us to view the big screens (one on each side) as well as look down on Jimmy Kimmel and his guests.  Taping was from 530pm to 7pm.  It felt late but in reality it was dinnertime for most folks (smile).

 

The interior of the theater (former Opera House) is stunningly beautiful!

 

Big screen TV and Jimmy Kimmel’s excellent house band

 

Elaine and I in our seats watching the process unfold

 

As expected once she show started we could not take pictures but we were delighted by the guests that evening – first of all Jimmy Kimmel’s sidekick Guillermo who made it back to New York from Los Angeles where he has been appearing as a guest dancer on Monday and Tuesday nights on Dancing with the Stars – Guillermo’s a hoot in person (smile).  The legendary actor Robert DeNiro, who played a baseball bat carrying crooked head of the FCC.  The always phenomenal Billy Crystal, who spoke about his poignant new play which centers on the loss of his and his neighbors homes in the horrific Pacific Palisades fires on January 7, 2025.  Acting great and charismatic Mahershala Ali who I remembered from his two Oscar winning performances in Moonlight and Green Book and who was promoting his new movie, a thriller called Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.  The musical act was supposed to De La Soul but for some reason or another they canceled and were replaced at the last minute by singer songwriter Audrey Hobert.  Between the set changes, the guest interviews, the pictures that Jimmy Kimmel took with the guests and the house band selections, the taping took 90 minutes.  After the taping we went back to BAMcafe for more appetizers and drinks and then I texted Tariq to come and pick us up as we were ready to go.  Jimmy did not appear in the BAMCafe, I pulled his friend from Kindergarten who told me Jimmy Kimmel had another engagement but that he was a genuine person who really cared about people.

 

My night with Jimmy was a memorable evening indeed.  One that I will hold high in my memory bank.

 

P,S.  If you check on Jimmy Kimmel’s website for the 9-30-2026 show, you will catch me, Elaine, Douglas and Michael on TV (smile).

 

Sincerely,

 

TVFL

 

My Current Situation Part XV

I did not plan on writing in My Current Situation series so soon because I wanted to wait until I had my hearing test and the results had come back and I wanted to wait for the appointment with my APRN to review the results of my 30 day’s worth of blood pressure pills (to see if I truly had a blood pressure problem).  However, 3 days ago I had an eye emergency which changed everything.

 

 

To play it back, in 2024  (2 years ago) I called my eye doctor’s office to schedule an eye exam for the first time since the Covid Pandemic of 2020.  I made this eye appointment because I was seeing floaters in my right eye, “small specks, dots, circles, lines, or cobwebs in your field of vision – although floaters appear to be in front of the eye, they are actually floating in the vitreous fluid inside the eye.”  The eye care doctor’s  office front desk receptionist asked what took me so long to schedule an eye appointment and I told her in all transparency that no one in their office had pinged me since the onset of the 2020 Pandemic and I hadn’t honestly really thought about my eye health.  My bad…

 

 

As it turned out the eye appointment I had in 2024 for the floaters in my right eye was not at all that serious because after my eye was dilated, the eye doctor was able to see that all I needed for these floaters were prescription eye drops.

 

 

Now 2 years later in this scenario the floaters (a long black curly string) were in my left eye and more of a nuisance than anything else.  On the second day this piece of curly black string had turned into tiny black dots which appeared one at a time but were forming a starry sky.  My inner voice urged me to call the eye doctor.  I originally wasn’t going to call because I thought this is what happened before and the remedy was eye drops but something said, Call.  So I called and told the eye care doctor’s office front desk receptionist what happened and she said she needed to speak with the clinician because they may ask you to come in today and I said why can’t it wait until Monday and she said if its a retina tear, which it sounds like it could be, we would be condoning you not coming in which could lead to a bigger problem.  Sure enough the clinician called me back within 5 minutes and said I needed to come in as soon as possible.  They scheduled my appointment on that same day for 1245p.  I reluctantly cancelled an upcoming client lunch at Solun Restaurant in Woodbridge with one of my favs and went to the eye doctor’s office in Hamden, CT.

 

 

After getting and A-cing an initial eye test my left eye was then dilated so the eye doctor could examine it.  What he discovered unfortunately were 2 retinal tears in my left eye!  He told me and the technician that this was a very serious case and it would need to be dealt with today.  He asked the technician to have the front office girls call around to see which eye surgeon could get me in on a Friday.  The only office that had an opening (or was even open on a Friday) was in Trumbull, CT which is only 25 minutes away (with no traffic) from Hamden but it was a Friday…so traffic central…

 

 

 

I drove myself home to North Haven so that James, my partner in love could drive me to the eye surgeon’s Trumbull office.  It was crowded there with mostly middle-aged and elderly people.  I filled out the necessary paperwork and was seen by a technician within a half hour.  My left eye was dilated and afterwards another technician examined me then sent me back to the waiting room.  The longest wait was getting in to see the eye surgeon who had multiple eye surgeries stacked up in front of mine.

 

 

 

I tried to read and send text messages to kill time but my vision was too blurry from the recent dilation and my eye felt heavy.

 

 

This is how much time we still had, James was able to go eat lunch and make it back before I even got into see the eye surgeon (smile).

 

Ignorance is bliss though because I can honestly say had I known what was coming up, I probably would have bolted from the waiting room.  Not for nothing, the eye surgeon did explain what he was going to do to numb the left eye but I don’t think I grasped the severity of it even when I saw him in front of me with a long needle in his hand.  I will not share pictures of this scene because they are not pleasant to look at.  I will say that having had a literal needle in my eye caused me to feel nauseous and limp with pain. Even though the poking seemed to go on forever, the next process, which was the my left eye literally being exposed over and over and over again to a blinding light, made me feel like I was going to vomit for sure.  My head was splitting from this light and at one point, as the doctor promised, I could only see black where my left eye was situated which was real scary.  But even with only seeing black out of the left eye, I could still feel the pain from the constant exposure to the blinding light.  The surgeon told me the only way he could fix these retinal tears were to “solder” them together.  He also told me I may down the road wind up with the same issue in my right eye…

 

Hoping this is an OTO experience for sure!

 

That’s not anything I want to even think about right now.  I’m just taking it one day at a time.

 

 

It’s post-surgery now.  I’m home with a splitting headache and a left eye ache.  I can do things around the house and I will work from home on my laptop a day or two but thankfully I’m not too too bad off.   My eye surgeon said I will still experience floaters for the first 2 weeks and then 2 weeks after that I should be all healed.  I should take Tylenol for pain and not lift anything over 10 pounds.  I will go back and see him in his Hamden office at that point.

 

 

A word to the wise:  If you are middle-aged and happen to see floaters or flashes which they say are common as we age, please do get yourself checked out immediately.   Let the professionals tell you whether or not these black lines or cobwebs or flashes or dots are serious.  I for one am fortunate that I listened to my inner voice on that fateful Friday afternoon or I might not be writing this blog post as we speak…

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

TVFL

 

Saturday in the (Central) Park

In Connecticut this week it’s hotter than July, the weekend is always right around the corner and there’s no sign of rain so What to do, What to do, What to do.   New York City seemed like a good option and it is quite literally a Metro North train ride away.  So me and my partner in crime hopped on the New Haven train on that Saturday with the idea of exploring Central Park – a park that I personally had not been back to visit in over 25 years (gasp!) and literally gave no thought about.  It was his idea, I was thinking South Street Seaport so it took him a minute to convince me to change my mind (smile).

 

Metro North train ride to NYC

 

Here are some fun facts I discovered about Central Park during my quick online research while on the Metro North train ride:

1)  Central Park is bigger than some countries.  There are 843 acres in the plot starting on the Upper West Side of NYC, measuring 2.5 miles long and 0.5 miles broad.

2)  Central Park is the oldest public park in the United States – the plans for the park were approved in the year 1853.

3)  Central Park is one of the most popular filming locations in the world – some of these films include Home Alone 2, Enchanted, Elf, The Avengers, Stuart Little and John Wick 2.

4) There are 58 miles of pedestrian routes in Central Park.  Because it is so large, my recommendation would be to focus on the famous sights such as Strawberry Fields, Cherry Hill and Bethesda Fountain.

5)  Central Park has only one single straight line – this park was purposely designed to have a natural flow of nature in it so the only straight line in the park can be found at The Mall.

6)  It is the United States most visited park with 42 million visitors annually and only 14 % of those are first time visitors – the rest are mostly local New Yorkers or visitors coming back!

7)  And last but not least,  you will be shocked to learn that Central Park is entirely artificial – looks can be deceiving but all of the parks natural features are man made.  All of the lakes, forested areas and hills in the park were all artificially created.

We caught the NYC Subway from Grand Central Station to Central Park – it is not so easy to navigate the Subway – nothing is as clear as it could be including the simple purchase of a MetroCard from the vending machine.  The vending machine never once mentions the price of it,  just that you can buy one card to use on an unlimited basis or a single card to be used once.  At any rate we finally figured it out – it costs $9.00 for the unlimited MetroCard and $1.00 for the processing fee.  We shared the MetroCard which did not last us too long because a single Subway ride is $2.90 (smile).

 

Standing in front of the Subway stop to our way back to Grand Central Station

 

We both wanted to make the most of our day trip to NYC (time wise) so we had already decided on renting Electric bikes – all the rage now as everybody and their grandmother seemed to have the same idea on that Saturday (smile).

We ordered the 2 E bikes online while on the 1 hour and 45 minute train ride from a store called Bike Rental Central Park which appealed to us as it was located just across the street from the W57th entrance to Central Park.  The 2 E bikes cost us $180 and included a helmet (which we both refused – too hot!) and a map of Central Park.  Locks were not included because as one of the store associates told us, these E bikes are expensive and they would rather us not let them leave our sight then park them and leave them locked up somewhere where they would become easy prey…

 

The bike rental store we found online and which saved us $50 dollars for pre-purchasing the E bikes

 

The hardest part of the day was deciding which way to go.  There were pedestrians everywhere, pedicabs with couples inside, horse and buggies with families, bikers, walkers, strollers, rollerbladers, scooters and again, E Bikers.  We did follow the map they supplied because as with the E bikes you are limited to riding on the streets, you must stay off the sidewalks and pathways and you always, always give pedestrians the right of way.  Not everyone was following the rules…

 

My E bike – I can’t lie, it took a little getting used to, I’m used to pedal power so this was an exercise in patience

 

As I mentioned before, Central Park is huuuuge so in our 4-hour E bike rental time, we wound up seeing the following, in no particular order:

Conservatory Garden  – the only formal garden in Central Park  – it is 6 acres long and divided into 3 separate parks.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir – this reservoir holds a billion gallons of water and is one of the park’s most scenic landscapes.

Wollman Rink – we lucked out on this place out because 300 tons of sand were dropped onto this rink for the first professional beach volleyball APV event ever held inside this park!  We could barely see from our picnic table as the crowd was massive but  nevertheless enjoyed our soul food lunch courtesy of Melba’s😋

 

AVP tour event – first time ever at this location!

 

Excited about eating our lunch at Melba’s – heard great things about it

 

Yummy lunch from Melba’s – catfish sandwich with chipotle mayo – I had previously eaten a ton of fruit from 2 different stands in the park due to the heat so I wasn’t as hungry as I thought but that sandwich was gooooood!

 

Melba herself touting her wares

 

Conservatory Water – Popular with families with children because of the famous climbing sculptures and the sight in the children’s classic and movie: Stuart Little.

 

Trying to hide my hiked up pant leg for E bike riding (smile)

 

Bethesda Fountain & Terrace – Bethesda Terrace is considered the “heart of Central Park” and rising from the terrace is Bethesda Fountain with the famous Angel of the Waters statue stop.

 

Lots of people wanted to take a picture in front of the statue so it took a minute before I could get my turn (smile)

 

That was basically it.  We plan on heading back on another Saturday this Summer to catch the other Central Park sights because again time and the unexpected precipitation (forgot to mention it started to rain lightly in the late afternoon from all of the humidity) worked against us.  Plus we were looking to drop off our E bikes so we could head to Times Square for some nighttime activity but all in all it was a good day and definitely worth the trip.

 

Sincerely,

 

TVFL

 

 

Re-Discovering Savannah

Life sure is funny.  Not Ha Ha funny, but peculiar funny…The first time I found myself in Savannah Georgia was wayyyy back in June of 2011.  It was the same year that I was  diagnosed with colon cancer.   I had planned a memory making trip down to Hilton Head, South Carolina with my niece Keedah and all four of my sister Dana’s grandchildren:   Rashidah (9), Ahmad (8), Kenyon (7) and Rasoul (5).  The goal was to give my oldest sister Dana a well deserved and much needed break.  I  rented a 4 bedroom condominium from this couple in Cheshire, CT (this is before Air BnB was invented), a Dodge mini-van with extra car insurance and brought movie videos, board games and lots of snacks.  As you might guess, I was receiving a ton of negative feedback on taking a long road trip after being diagnosed with colon cancer so before I was to go I consulted with my Colorectal Surgeon and I’ll never forget what he told me.  He said, Go, but when you return, we head straight to surgery’  Lucky 7.

 

I knew then that life was truly for living (smile).

 

All that to say, we spent 1 day out of our 10 day vacation in Savannah, Georgia –  just an hour’s drive away from Hilton Head, South Carolina.  That 1 day was so memorable that I promised myself that I would go back, but this time I would stay in Savannah.

 

This is that time (smile).  14 years later.  Life sure is funny…

 

Fast track to now.  It’s June of 2025 and the world has gone batshit crazy.  Fast paced and full of not so good surprises.  The goal this time was for me and my man to get the heck out of Dodge (Connecticut) to truly relax and unwind from everything.  I remembered the quaint city of Savannah with the cobblestoned streets that I had visited over a decade ago so that’s where we headed.  My weather app showed sunny days with plenty of sunshine for the entire week.  I was super psyched!  The reality was that when we arrived on Sunday June 8th the rain was coming down in buckets playing match games with thunder and the sky, dark and foreboding.  This scene played itself out so many times throughout the week that we decided to just rough it and try to enjoy ourselves.   Oops, I lied. There was one day of the week (Wednesday, June 11th) where the weather played nice and actually remained sunny and dry the entire day but the remainder of the weekdays and nights were unpredictable.

 

We stayed in the historic district of Downtown Savannah at a cute-as-a-button boutique hotel named The DeSoto Savannah.  I chose this hotel because it was convenient to everything – retail, restaurants, parks, and sightseeing.  The DeSoto had an outdoor pool on the second floor, as well as a small gym and a day spa.  We never did make it to the hotel restaurant, 1540, because we were too busy exploring other parts of the City but from what I heard the breakfasts and dinners were delish.

 

In my opinion, the best and easiest way to explore Savannah is to do what we did on our first day out.  Buy tickets to a Hop on Hop off trolley tour.  By the way, we purposely did not rent a car at the airport because The DeSoto only offers valet parking due to the congested parking situation and the historic downtown district, where we stayed, is walkable.

 

James purchasing our All Day Trolley tickets

 

We chose Old Town Trolley Tours because they were highly visible and very convenient.  No matter what neighborhood you were in, an Old Town Trolley  arrives every 20 minutes.  The cost was $45 per person and that got you unlimited trolley rides between 9am and 5pm to 15 different Savannah destinations.  If you rode the trolley from the 1st stop to the 15th stop without getting off, it would take you an hour and a half but if you, like us, hopped on and off to the neighborhoods where you wanted to take a deeper dive, then you might not get to all of them in the 8 hour time frame.  It’s worth it though because each trolley ride comes with a narrated tour so you are being educated about Savannah and her dark past.

 

Old Town Trolley tour bus

 

Our very first trolley stop was to The Savannah Visitors Center and History Museum where we totally enjoyed visiting the SCAD (Savannah College of Art) Museum –  a place where all the artwork is created by faculty, students and alumni!

 

SCAD’s explosive enrollment growth over the years includes international students from 20 different countries!

 

All of the artwork seen here at SCAD is done by students, alumni and art instructors alike!

 

Love all of the color schemes

 

One of the quilts on this  wall reminds me of one of my sister Casandra’s quilts (smile)

 

One of our most memorable hop offs was to City Market which is chock full of Artists, local merchants, candy shops, coffee shops and restaurants with bars.  We liked this neighborhood because it felt lively and energetic.  The cobblestone streets, the horse and buggys rides, all felt very authentic.

 

Love Love Love the horse and buggy rides

 

After our time in City Market, we caught a new trolley and headed for The Lucas Theater neighborhood.  Here we enjoyed a sushi lunch at Sushi Hana, an ice cream from the famous Leopold’s Ice Cream Shop and an almost dinner at The Olde Pink House…it was a Monday so The Olde Pink House, which was highly recommended by my girlfriend Kristie, is closed on Mondays…

 

Our last trolley ride was to Forsyth Park which is Savannah’s largest and beautiful green park and it covers many City blocks.  At the park we discovered the Forsyth Fountain which I realized made for a perfect photo op (smile).

 

Forsyth Fountain

 

The next day (Tuesday June 10th) we decided to spend on River Street since that was the very street that lured me back to Savannah.  When I was in Savannah back in the day with my two nieces (my other niece Dimitrica had driven up from North Carolina to stay with us at the condominium for a few days) and 3 great nephews and 1 great niece, we landed on River Street and I fell in love.  Back in the day there was a free riverboat ferry ride to the 4 squares of the City of Savannah,  This free riverboat ferry would drop you off in a neighborhood (square) where you would spend a certain amount of time before getting back on the ferry to be transported to the next square – we had a blast on all 4 squares.  Incidentally that riverboat ferry no longer exists, I suppose it was replaced by the Hop On Hop Off paid Trolley rides because there are no longer just 4 squares to visit, now there are 22!

 

River Street today is a whole vibe.  From the JW Marriott Art Gallery which features breathtakingly beautiful artwork, to the slow leisurely walks by the river, to the restaurants – from fast food to casual food to fancy food,  the gourmet chocolate and candy shops with free samples and many different types of popcorn, gourmet coffee shops, colorful bars, boutiques, and tour trolleys careening up and down the cobblestone street, River Street still has my heart (thump, thump).

 

JW Marriott – the art gallery is must visit!

 

The art gallery was magnificent!

 

 

 

 

 

Had a nice conversation with the Regional StoreManager of Byrd’s Cookies, one of the fastest cookie franchises in the South

 

Uber Day was Wednesday as we had plans to visit a real soul food restaurant called Geneva’s located about 20 miles east of downtown Savannah.  We lucked out because it was sunny, hot and dry all day.   When we asked the locals which restaurants they recommended for soul food, Genevas Famous Chicken and Cornbread Company kept coming up.  And it was worth the Uber ride – yum!

 

Our young waitress at Geneva’s was lovely and very accommodating.

Made it a point to meet Geneva, the owner of this establishment who worked alongside her staff, very down to earth, no airs whatsoever

 

After our meal at Geneva’s we called a new Uber and were headed back to our hotel when our driver convinced us to take a detour and go to Tybee Island.  My niece Mona, who lives in Nashville, Tennessee and visited Savannah with her son Harlem, highly recommended that we visit this island.  Mona was not wrong (smile).  And spontaneity ruled the day because here we were, our belliesfull from lunch, headed to the beach with no gear (smile).  I’m so glad we made the trip – it was a fun time – my kind of island – beach vibes and all!

 

Beautiful beach day

 

Nice time on the boardwalk but wishing I brought my bathing suit

 

Perfect weather for a Frozen Blueberry Icee

 

On Wednesday evening,  still in the spirit of spontaneity, we bought tickets to an Old Town Trolley Ghosts and Gravestones tour.  Ghost tours seem to be all the rage so I read up on why Savannah is considered one of America’s most haunted cities.  It comes down to these 5 reasons:  1)  Bloody Battles; 2) Deadly Diseases; 3) Fearsome Fires; 4) Mysterious Murders and 5) Savage Slavery.  I won’t go into it in this blog post but it’s an interesting read.

 

Our host of the ghost tour was perfect for this role – captivating, believable, even had an English accent (smile)

 

I preferred this 2 hour nighttime tour because we actually visited 2 different mansions (The Andrew Low House and Perkins and Sons Ship Chandlery) where the ghosts allegedly still reside (unlike some of the other tours where you visit the actual graveyards which is little too creepy for my tastes).  The Ghost tour and trolley price was $55 for Adults (children under 13 were not allowed).

 

I felt like I was entering a house with no exits when I spotted these three (smile).

 

The house slaves pictured here interestingly enough outlived everyone in the house

 

The very next day Thursday June 12th  we headed to Franklin Square to visit  Broughton Street and eat and shop.  We had some time to kill before our next tour:  Savannah is for Morons so this close-by-us neighborhood was perfect for killing time.

 

We ate appetizers at B Common Restaurant – one of our super friendly Uber drivers recommended it as a great place to go if you are looking for somewhere to eat downtown

 

The 2 dozen oysters we devoured were delish 😋

 

Who knew that sausages wrapped in glazed donuts was a thing?!?

 

After eating we arrived to an air conditioned trolley tour called Savannah is for Morons.  It was 2 hours of non-stop craziness and laughter.  These 2 zany female comedians, both named Dani, took us on a wild hilarious ride throughout the City of Savannah and gave us a drunkard’s view of its history.  We even (in the middle of the tour) stopped at an irish bar called McDonough’s for drinks which was ironic because on this very day I was quietly celebrating my 5th year anniversary of being sober (smile).  Consequently I ordered a cranberry juice with lime (double smile).

 

The 2 Dani’s in cute matching rompers were a hoot!! And well worth the $55 dollars apiece for this comedy tour!

 

On Friday we had a plane to catch at 4 in the afternoon (by the way, Delta Airlines is by far one of the best airlines I have ever flown on – from beginning to end, it seems like they truly take pride in customer service.  I’m so glad my girlfriend Jeani has built her career there).   End of commercial (smile).

 

We walked back to the City Market neighborhood for more shopping (I found a fab boutique called Whispers that I didn’t want to part with) and we lunched at the Cafe at City Market.  We also spent a ton of time in a small art gallery which featured various artisans and their wares.  I met this dynamic artist by the name of Jery Taylor –  her work spoke for itself – simply beautiful!

 

Mrs. Jery Taylor, Quilt Artist, Basket Weaver, Painter, shall I go on?!?

 

These 2 women ran my fav boutique called Whispers and offered impeccable service!

 

So that’s my Savannah story.   Fun Fact – Forrest Gump’s iconic bus bench scenes were filmed in Savannah, Georgia.  I’m sure you can imagine why the actual bus bench has long since been moved to a Georgia museum for safekeeping (smile).

 

 

Sincerely,

 

TVFL