Ooh Baby, Baby

Jeff and I went for bike ride and saw this baby gator near the nature trail. At first I thought it was a snake, but it didn't move and was perfectly camouflaged amid the algae and fallen leaves.

Blackbird

This is a double crested cormorant, but the Beatles song says, "Spread Your Wings and Fly..." This bird hangs around the lagoon near the pickleball courts. On land it dries it wings and look at those beautiful blue eyes.

Happy Halloween!

We got costumed to attend an eerie organ concert by Count Farley. The church on HHI had a dinner first and then they dimmed the lights and we enjoyed a virtuoso performance of scary music to celebrate Halloween.

Food, Glorious Food

Here we are at Shalom Y'all, the Savannah Jewish Food Festival sponsored by Temple Mikveh Israel. Lots of delicious tasting treats to raise your cholesterol. They had hummus, chopped liver, cholent, latkes, kugel, knishes, brisket, corned beef, pastrami, hot dogs, chow mein, challah, ice cream and Dr. Brown's to wash it all down. A klezmer band and other musical groups rounded out the entertainment.

The gals are (l-r) Carol Rosenberg, Lynn Mooney, me and Susie Rosenzweig. The guys are Ken Rosenberg, Jeff, Neal Mooney and Art Rosenzweig. We're all smiling as we are pleasantly stuffed with all the good food. The beautiful fountain is located in Forsythe Park in Savannah.

I Am A Woman

Today I am a Woman. Friday night I finally celebrated my Bat Mitzvah. One more thing to check off on my "bucket list" and many more to go. Top photo shows me with the wonderful Moreh Rav Bob, my teacher, rabbi and dear friend. I shared the occasion with eight other women and it was a very special night after a year of studying. Brian flew in from Tokyo to be with us and Carol came in and let me wear her new tallit which is beautiful.

Next morning I played with the "Mountain Strings" at the Sun City Club Fair. That's me on the far right in the white blouse. A goal of retirement was to play the piano and violin again and I am doing it. Our group is mostly dulcimers with a few "fiddles" and other string instruments. I've only played three times now, but getting back into the swing of things and having lots of fun.

Bottom photo is Brian and Jeff at 5 am on the way to the airport.

Fly Me To The Moon

More photos from the engagement party: Sharon & Jon, Jeff with diet coke.

Sunday was a gorgeous day and Jeff and I drove up to New Hampshire to look at the fall colors. We stopped at a seafood place for lunch and had a pleasant afternoon. That evening Carol took us to a good Italian restaurant and we had a great meal and time to talk.

Monday morning we drove to the airport and boarded our plane home. We were to stop in Atlanta and transfer to a Savannah flight. 15 minutes from D.C. we were told that we were landing at Dulles because of an electrical emergency. The seat belt lights had been blinking and dinging and that was not a good thing. As we landed four fire trucks raced up, but we were fine and got off onto a people mover thingie and rode to the terminal. We lucked out as they put us on a direct flight to Savannah where we arrived about an hour after schedule, but with no luggage. Our bags were delivered about 3 am this morning and now our trip is complete.

Autumn Leaves

Jeff and I spent a delightful weekend in Boston with my sister Carol. The main event was an engagement party for my nephew Larry and his fiancee Laura who will marry in September 2010. We flew up on Friday and Carol made a Shabbat dinner for the family and Laura's parents. We had our special family recipe chicken soup, which was delicious.

On Saturday we toured the Lexington Green, Hancock-Clarke House and Concord Bridge. The weather is pretty chilly up north and the leaves are at their peak colors. Lots of bus tours with "leaf peepers." Saturday night was the party and it was lovely. Carol had it at a facility in Lexington catered with appetizers and desserts - all tres chic and good tasting too.

Top photo is me with my niece Sharon in Lexington, then Larry & Laura, and Carol & me. Bottom photo is Carol, me, and some friends at the party.

Pack Up Your Troubles

Tonight we went to the Savannah Folk Song Society with Sue and Bob Wiener and had a fabulous time listening and singing along to a group named, "Midlife Crisis." Before that we had dinner at a cute restaurant called, Toucan Cafe, where the food and service were terrific. I can't wait to eat my leftovers.

Well it's been a busy time here at Sun City. I'm playing in the pickleball league on Monday and Wednesday afternoons and a few practice sessions in between. Mah Jongg is twice a week and also we schedule doctor visits and had flu shots. Last week our neighborhood had a ladies' luncheon and card party at Charley's Crab and that was fun. This week we had a dinner at Mrs. Wilkes in Savannah and a ghost trolley tour which I chaired with my friend Laura Marks. Jeff and I are working with the neighborhood social committee to produce "color wars" in November and we are in charge of the games.

We went to the volunteer fair and signed up to be on Sun City committees, so far nothing has happened, but I am adult education chair for our temple and that keeps me busy with registration and classes beginning this month. Jeff edits the temple newsletter and it is great looking and gets him lots of compliments. There was a huge parking lot sale in Sun City last weekend and and Jeff parked cars all morning as part of his volunteer service in the safety department. He also volunteers at the front gate on a regular basis. Jeff joined the barbershop chorus and is enjoying singing with them. He is also getting busy with his computer consulting business, so very little free time.

This past week I joined a new group called the Mountain Strings and I am playing my violin. They started out with dulcimers and have added other string instruments. I was able to sight read the music and had a wonderful time. Can't wait for Tuesday to go again.

Believe it or not there are more activities that we do along with house cleaning, gardening and walking Ziggy, and a favorite thing is to relax on our lanai and watch the lagoon and wildlife. So our days and nights are full and we are so happy here.