sparklers to usher in the new year!

Last night at midnight, this was the scene at Muse Arts Warehouse!
That's Patrick Young and his gal,Sara, out in front!
I'm wearing my glittery "yes, I'm a wench" red holiday top, behind Patrick!
The peace Guy is standing in front of the door!
(Thanks, Joe Roger Rogue, you peace Guy, for coming to town and escorting me to this shindig!)
Behind us are Shari and Marshall Frey, Lynita Spivey, Axelle the French artist and Jordan, Danielle Houston, Trick and Tara Kelly, playwrght Amanda Mack, John Dorsey, and Jason Arons.

As promised, there were sparklers!!!
That's Danielle and Jason in the foreground, while I'm in the back left, sparking light with my glittery top as well as from my hands! That's right, I was double-dipping!

Here we have most of the Odd Lot crew!
Taken before the madness truly began (the playing of Jason's card game, "I Drank What?", for instance) and while everyone was still all cleaned up.
So, there's Megan, in the gorgeous red dress...
flanked by Justin Kent and Jason Arons...
the tallest man there, in back center, is Chris Soucy...
looking from the left, we have Trick, Lynita, and John Dorsey...
and going from Soucy to the right are Marshall Frey and Thomas Houston.
Some stayed until midnight, some left to be home in bed for that time.
Poor Thomas left early to go to work.

Then we have the grandest couple of all!
The one-and-only JinHi, and her ever-loving man, Mark!
The Rands took off before the witching hour, too, but they left the building open for our revelry!
Many thanks, y'all!

post scriptFuture posts will be appearing over here...
I'm trying to get more activity into my life.
(smile)

toast to the year's end

As 2016
ticks ever closer
to an end,
I will gladly
lift my glass
and pray
for a
better 2017,
with bright lights,
with warm nights,
and with greener days.

(Thanks, Marjorie, for the superb photograph.)

two and two and two and...

Sounds like dance steps, doesn't it?
Not this time!
When I checked in to my meeting this morning, I was down by 0.2 pounds.
That was rather amazing, truly.
If you could see my tracking journal, you'd laugh out loud!
To my credit, though... at least I kept at it, even when I knew I was doing wrong. Several of the pages, especially for this past month, have run out of lines before I ran out of entries.
But I continued to hold myself accountable for every bite...
and now my poundage is all in two's!
(You can figure it out, I'm sure.)
(smile)
I've been part of the "Beyond The Scale" program since early September. My logic was this: if there were less of me to finagle, that would make for an easier recovery.
I had initially joined because I wanted to lose a bit of my mass prior to my hand surgery.
I'm now more than 13.62 kilograms lighter and still faithfully attending weekly meetings...
that start at 9:00 AM...
on Saturday mornings.
It is all about incorporating new habits.
That was the focus of this morning's session.
New habits to replace old ones.
The new habit I have chosen is more mindful portion control.
Toward the achievement of that goal, I purchased measuring bowls and measuring cups.
Very colorful, of course!
And guess what?
On this last day of the last month of this year, I received a twenty-dollar bonus with my purchase!

Now I'll have a sturdy lunchbox for this upcoming school session!
Also, a mini-whiteboard with marker, some cool Post-Its, a bright cloth to clean my glasses, a glittery headband, perfect pink for my lips, and a few other cool gifts.
Sweet!
And I was going to buy those measuring tools anyway...
definite bonus!

poly-fishy-puns!

As I tell my students, "poly-" is given to us by the Greeks and refers to "many", which, in some cases, simply means "more than one".
So, here are "more than one" fish-related puns, in honor of my mahi mahi dinner with the peace Guy!
These were gleaned from yesterday's newspaper's crossword puzzle.

A fishy shout from a frustrated couple?
We've haddock!

A fishy plea for mercy?
Spare the cod!

A fishy shout to a wallflower?
Don't be so koi!

What the fishy cryptologist enjoys doing?
Kraken codes!

{LOL! I especially liked that last one!
Remember: I was a spook in the Navy.}
(smile)

Now, I know you're wondering about the Jumble.
Right?
Sure you are!
And so here it is.

The cartoon drawing has two cyclists riding along a path by the beach.
One says, "I don't see any joggers. Let's take it easy."
The other replies, "I'm not pedaling."
The Jumble to solve says:
"They were headed downhill and decided to stop pedaling now that the coast was clear.

Nice - but no fish.
(smile)

bonefishing with the rogue!

He had called me yesterday to say he was coming to town. Did I have any plans for NYE?
I did not, I told him.
I was trying to limit my driving, as I have been doing far too much of it... especially as I was to not do any for at least for weeks.
I didn't tell him, but I went to Bluffton on Wednesday and I've been downtown for three of the past four days.
That's entirely too much driving.
Tonight, he called to touch base, after a miserable day holed up indoors.
We both needed something more... so he rode to my rescue, scooping me up and escorting me out to dinner.
Yes, indeed! We both needed something special and at Bonefish, Kasey gave it to us!
I had a giftcard, so we decided to splurge and have a cocktail while we waited to be seated. Crazy, right?
I saw on the menu a drink I hadn't sipped for quite a while: Moscow Mule. Joe decided to have the same! Trust me, that beverage was quite appropriate to ride on this blustery chill evening.
Most definitely!
Then we dined most lavishly!
Yes, we did!
And we stepped into the easy relationship of old friends, allowing time to flow around us as we dined and talked and sipped our Russian treats.
By the time we were done with our last bites, we had both relaxed into our cheery selves again...
i thank You, God.

I do so miss having him around more often.

singing in the rain, to the stars and beyond

Daughter...
Mother...
together still.

The cartoon, drawn by Ricky Lachance (image cpopyright) was posted by Todd Fisher, who wrote that it was a depiction of his mother and sister together, reprising their most famous roles, alongside the caption: "This is a beautiful love story to witness in my 58 years. I miss them both so much. Love is everlasting."

a tale of two nutcrackers

The Lucas Theatre has graced me with usher duty for both of "The Nutcracker" performances this month!
Both were matinees, so there were lots of children!
Very nice!

The first, on December 3rd, was the local production from the Savannah Dance Theatre. As you may recall, their "The Nutcracker in Savannah" creation has several nods to local businesses and people.

The above was my favorite shot, as the curtain was closing, allowing the focus to totally be on young Clara and her nutcracker made real. How romantic, не так ли?

The one today featured the Moscow Ballet! Yes, that renowned Russian dance troupe! Their performance is titled the "Great Russian Nutcracker" and it most certainly was!

Such a plethora (that word's for you, Christina Ann!) of elaborate scrims! Such a wealth of rich fabrics in the costumes! Wow!
I must say, though, that I liked having the children as part of the dance.
That doesn't mean I won't turn down the chance to see this fancier production again. I will gladly see it! But it's been very nice to see the Savannah touches in the one performed by Savannah's families.
(smile)