figaro! figaro! figaro! figaro!

"Yo! What's up with all the Mozart shouting?"

Not shouting... singing!!! Four of the seventeen aria-lists total chose songs from that opera to highlight their voices! I'd like to say I recognized all four of those tunes, but I did not. It wasn't until Hunter Thompson stepped to the stage that I heard one I knew: "Non piu andrai". Marvelous! I wonder if Sherrill Milnes had his 90-year-old foot tapping, there in the front row? My feet and hands were keeping that beat!

"Did you just slip a pun in there? And did you make up that word 'aria-lists' based on the 'aerialists' in the SavChTh shows?"

It could also refer to the spring show at TyPostTh... but, hey, good for you! You were paying attention and not distracted by the photo! Yes, I did make up that word, but it was totally in keeping with this first concert of SVF13. Titled "Aria", rather than "Death By Aria" as it was formerly known, it consisted of songs our of context, songs the singers chose, much as I do at karaoke. Well, except they didn't have a cheat sheet of words to keep them on track. Still, these were favorite songs of theirs, much like the songs I choose to sing, so words really weren't needed. Still, it might have been nice to have had some translation available. Only one of the songs was in English... and that was from "Little Women"! I thought for sure that Ina Torres O'Ryan was singing to a guy named 'Joe', not the tomboyish sister, 'Jo'. Very nicely done!

"Wow, that sounds cool! I recall really liking the musical a few years back. I'm sure the opera version is very interesting."

That would be my guess. This year's Savannah Voice Festival has this theme: "Once Upon A Time" - and you know how much I love fairy tales! None of the songs tonight had anything to do with that theme, as far as I know, but I'll bee looking for it in the other shows this month. I'm so glad I can volunteer with this!!! Kim Owens was the other usher this evening, with Emily Gallagher riding herd on us. Marvelous!! And for this first concert ever at the Unitarian Universalist Church, this was a splendid outing! The house was packed!!!

"Most excellent! I do hope that will be the case tomorrow night, too. That show is at the same venue, isn't it?"

You are correct! Yes, I hope it will be packed, too. It's actually a rather small church, but the sanctuary makes for quite an intimate setting. Oh, sidebar: this is the church Evelina attends. I do hope it will become one of the regular venues. Even though it's downtown, the parking is free after 5 PM, so that's a nice break. This concert was at 6:30 PM, like the one tomorrow will be. Even with the volunteers arriving an hour early, the parking is still free.

"Oh, that is a nice touch. And the acoustics?"

Fabulous! Maria's voice will be showcased tomorrow, so that will be quite nice. Yes, quite nice, indeed! (smile!)

here he comes, walking down the street...

 

Hahahaha! 

I just had to riff on that Monkees song!

Not that the physicist looks like any of the four in that group.

It's just the song cued up onto my mental jukebox as I said the words to myself upon seeing him approach.

That's all!

(smile!)

Just how was it that we had this luncheon at The Original Pancake House?

Well, I'd sent him several text messages the last week or so and had no response...

so I called him last night to see if he'd lost his phone.

Nope!

He called me back and he set up this meal together, justthatfast.

How very sweet!

Those pancakes were, too.

Yes, they were an unusual side, but perfect!

And, as he ate his crepe sampler, and I ate the tuna salad half of my meal, we talked, as we do.

We were there, still talking, after the waitress left and while the staff was closing the place down, having been there for over two hours.

(smile!)

However, he did get to the important part: he has renewed his friendship with a woman he knew 37 years ago, in high school.

She's even the one who got married in a hot air balloon some few years ago, with him as the marriage officiant. 

That would have been 2017, the summer of the solar eclipse that was visible here.

He had been ending one relationship and starting another at that time. 

Anyway, while he was visiting his folks this summer, he and she met up and had a good visit!

I told him again about Christina and Anthony and how they got started.

I truly hope things will work out for the bfe and the woman in Ohio.

I'll say this... he has a smile in his eyes again.

That's been gone for several years.

I'm so glad it's back!

(smile!)

tina tuesday at skio!

 

It was a dark and stormy night - as Snoopy would have written! 

Still, I had braved the weather for this special presentation at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, as did a few other stalwart souls.

Good for us!

There were four researchers who participated in the "Open Lab Night", though I only had time to visit three of them.

I might have been able to see all four, as well as tour the Research Vessel Savannah, but I took the time to ask questions about the science going on out there.

It's amazing!!!

Remember, I once thought I would go to college for marine science?

Well, I had no idea fifty years ago of the many different aspects of that field!

As per the advice of Jackson when I arrived, I started in Building 2, which had two Open Labs.

The first was the Bio-Optics and Satellite Oceanography Lab of Dr. Sara Rivero-Calle, right inside the building entrance.

How very fortunate for me!!!

See that device she's holding?

That's the Cubesat known as SeaHawk-1, which was in a low-Earth orbit from 2018 until 2023, gathering eighteen images a day as it swept around the planet taking color photos of 200 km x 700 km swaths of the oceans.

WOW.

But here's the fascinating part of all that.

She's building a spectral data bank of the types of phytoplankton out there, much as organic chemists have for identifying proteins, lipids, and carbohydrate molecules.

WOW.

Right now, they're in the data analysis mode for all the images SeaHawk-1 sent back during its five years in orbit.

That will certainly occupy her crew for quite a while!

Then I was down the hall and around the corners to the office of the newest member there, Dr. Nicholas Foukal.

His work is more physics-based, concentrating on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, aka AMOC.

Basically, he's studying the effect of ice melt off Greenland on the salinity and density of the water mixing with the Gulf Stream as it loops back down toward northern Europe.

WOW. 

The only things in his office are pictures of Greenland, where he will be going at the end of the month, to spend September doing measurements and calculations, as physicists do.

Basically, he's trying to sort out whether the British Isles are headed for an ice age, given the decreases in sea temperature caused by climate change.

WOW.

By the way, he liked my little flip phone.

(smile!)

So far, I'd spent over an hour in this one building.

That left me about 30 minutes to speak with one other, so over to Building 17.

Dr. Marc Frischer does the kind of research I always think of with marine science: the study of microbial activity on actual marine animals in the ocean.

Namely, his work is with shrimp and the Black Gill disease they get from a ciliate fungus called Fusurium solani, one similar to the ciliate that causes ich in aquariums, as I discovered when I asked him about it.

WOW.

Just like with that disease, there is a treatment that can be used to rid small batches of shrimp of the fungi, to allow them to have a 'control' group for their studies.

That's the only way to get shrimp without Black Gill, as 70-100% have the disease at this time of year.

WOW.

The disease is not harmful to humans, except in as much as it affects the livelihood of local shrimpers, which is serious, considering that Black Gill causes the shrimp to die of suffocation, essentially.

He mentioned that shrimp have a similar ciliate that attaches to their gills, but it doesn't eat its way down into their circulatory system.

I asked if there was a way to saturate the water with that ciliate, as it goes for the same 'receptor' site, so to speak, but he said those two ciliates are often both found on the same shrimp, as they are not competitive.

Drats... but that certainly was a lively conversation!

I'm glad I got the chance to pull out some biochemistry.

(smile!) 

Plus, I was there almost 40 minutes.

Those of us still there actually got kicked out, as we were past the designated time limit for the Open Lab Night.

What a great place to get kicked out of!

(smile!) 

leader of the pack?

Without a doubt, that would be Trey Wilner!

 

"What's going on? Who did what?"

 

I'm talking about that much-needed musical today and the young man who played the lead role at the Enrico Fermi High School, that's what!

 

"Enrico Fermi? That's the physicist behind the first artificial nuclear reactor, right?"

 

Funny you should mention that device. 'Jonny' rides his motorcycle into the nuclear power plant near the school after 'Toffee' dumps him. Her parents didn't approve of the orphaned newcomer and of his dropping the 'h' from his name. That kind of rebel was not who they wanted their one-and-only daughter hanging out with.

 

"I see. And he, of course, rode a motorcycle and wore a black leather jacket, I bet. He probably talked back to the principal, too, didn't he?"

 

You got it, sister! The chemistry nerds - 'Joey', 'Josh', and 'Jake' - took his side after he was kicked out of school, but 'Miss Delilah Strict' refused to let him finish out the school year and graduate, all because of the missing 'h'. Then 'Toffee' dumped him, and that was all too much for the teen. So he committed suicide. Pretty dark for a rom-com.

 

"Yikes! Holy shiite!!! What was the name of this???"

 

"Zombie Prom: Atomic Edition". There's even a Director's Note that was both humorous and factual. "While Jonny driving his motorcycle into the nuclear plant is a silly idea for a musical, it's a colossally bad idea in real life. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you can call or text 988 to reach the National suicide & Crisis hotline, or you can chat with a professional at 988lifeline.org 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, free of charge. No reason is too big or too small." 

 

"Wow. That sounds like the Director, Jenn Doubleday, took this very seriously as a 'teachable moment'."

 

Well, it is a Savannah Children's Theatre production, and it was performed on school grounds at the Kennedy Building at Savannah State University. I thought it was to their favor that they stepped in at took it so seriously, rather than laughing it off. Teen romances are just as egocentric and intense as adult romances. All the same chemicals are involved, but the persons lack the experience and knowledge to deal with them rationally. Not that adults do that good a job of it, but...

 

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

 

The musical itself was fabulous! It also dealt with teen pregnancy, baby abandonment to the foster system, the media's sensationalism of stories in all forms, and xenophobia. That's quite a lot packed into a two-act that the students had two weeks to learn!

 

"Two weeks?!? That's all the rehearsal they had?!?"

 

Yep! This was one of the Summer Camp shows! The players had to submerge themselves into the material, then perform it three times. Just amazing!!! And Jada Banks was there, too, as one of the cheerleaders! Maya Kendrick, as 'Toffee', was the head cheerer, and the squad was filled out with Megan Borges and Elle Gibson. Great fun they all were! As was Braidyn Riggsbee as the principal and Carmen Titus as 'Eddie Flagrante', head reporter of 'Exposed'. But it was Trey Wilner who was front and center in every scene 'Jonny' had!

 

"That name sounds familiar to me. What else has he been in?"

 

Well, he was the assistant to 'Mrs. Lovett' in her pie-making venture. But that's not where I remember him best. That would be from his role as 'Jesse' in "Tuck Everlasting" last fall. When he came out into the lobby after that show, he made a beeline for me and gave me a big hug for being so responsive in the audience. That was wonderful!!!

 

"Do you think he might have recognized you from then?"

 

Actually, I think he did! I was sitting right there in the front row, as I like to do, so the actors can see my reactions for their lines and characters. I know very well that he saw me, and that he kept looking at me, as did some of the others. I tried to telepath that I knew who he was, too. And I think he might have hugged me again, had I hung around a bit longer. I did stay for a few minutes, lurking in the lobby, but there were so many parents waiting for their stars to come out... so I left.

 

"Oh! You should have been more patient! I am sure he would have loved to talk to you and get your perspective on this play!"

 

Well, then, I will be sure to stay and see him the next time I go to one of the SavChTh productions. I will, no matter the crowd.

touch of telluride for hinesville!

Believe it or not, we've had our tickets for this since May 20th!

That's because I have seen the audience for the Telluride MountainFilm on Tour Savannah grow since it's beginnings in 2009.

 

Today was the Summer screening for families, and it was free.

As in, no cost to anyone, thanks to the City of Savannah.

So, I had forwarded the email to my nieces and nephews, encouraging them to register for their own free tickets... and Christina did so right then!

 

This evening, Christina was there, rain and all, in a minivan that she bought a month ago, packed with Miyah and Chloe and Anthony!

Hooray!!!

Anthony even saved us seats in the front row, there at the lovely theater in the Savannah Arts Academy, while the girls got ice cream.

Hooray!!!

I sat in the next row, right behind the girls, which worked well.

 

That's because not all of the films were in English, but had subtitles, though those were beyond the ability of our 8-year-old and 6-year-old girls.

The second film was spoken in Swedish, and was directed by the daughter of the elderly couple who had lived and worked at the weather observatory at Falsterbo.

Once I noticed the girls getting restless, I started reading the subtitles for them, sometimes paraphrasing for words they would know.

That worked out great for the 24-minute film!

Miyah and Chloe were even commenting to me along the way as they learned about bird banding and how this couple met over 36 years ago.

"The Last Observers" truly was a love story to this life they'd lived.

 

"Near The River", the fifth film, was the only other movie with subtitles.

Filmed in Zambia, this one concentrated on three porters who worked on the Zambezi River, where tourists came to kayak, among other activities.

Although the official language in Zambia is English, only one of the porters spoke it; the other two spoke one of the many dialects there.

Christina had moved next to Miyah, so she took over the reading of subtitles.

Still, I think it was good that the documentary was just 11 minutes long.

There was no love story to keep the girls interested.

(smile!)

I think my favorite was "Unseen Peaks"!

The documentary had Addie Hugan at its center, a blind athlete fearlessly granting her trust to others so she could rock climb and snow ski.

Wow!

The other movie shorts in this 7-film festival were: "Sisterhood of Skiing", about women skiers; "The Wintering Grounds", about a group of trick kayakers that travel to Georgia to the Chattahoochee River every year; "Ascend", featuring three Afghani women rock climbing in Yosemite National Park; and "One Inch From Flying", a followup to the 2014 short about highline walking in the North Cascades National Park.

Plus, we were treated to a bonus!

Angelina Plowe graduated in May from SavArtsAcad, but we were there for the screening of her film, "Low Country Fishin' ", about the local scene here, including Captain Judy's Charters. I already saw other films from her in May, but not this one.

How wonderful to see it here, in the company of family!

(smile!)

After two hours of movies, and after Christina had investigated the changes at the school she graduated from almost a quarter century ago, we were off to dinner!

Carey the H on Waters was our destination.

Slow service, wrong orders, and a nearly invisible waitress named Destiny.

Guess she was our destiny to give us more time together!

Yes, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

(smile!)

military luncheon at a cinema?

That's partly what it was.

The promise of a free meal is always a draw, 'alays kadhalika?

Or perhaps I should have said "intor nist?" for part of the event?

Whether in Arabic or Persian, the meaning is the same: n'est-ce pas?

If I'm being honest, I came for the luncheon, the movie, and the promise of a blank journal.

Even though I blog, I keep an old-fashioned paper diary, too.

I liked the idea of getting one from the Gary Sinise Foundation, especially as I'd just seen (parts of) "Forrest Gump" recently.

(smile!)

"Brothers After War" was a follow-up to Jake Rademacher's 2009 documentary, "Brothers At War", and both had the director interacting with his two brothers, Isaac and Joe, during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to the information disbursed, the 4-hour film and workshop "offers a safe, engaging environment where participants explore themes of service, sacrifice, moral injury, and resilience through guided conversations, interactive sessions, and community support", all in the comfort of the NCG Cinema.

From my front-row seat, I found all of that to be very true.

Chase Millsap, a ten-year veteran of the Marines, was there to help field questions and and lend support during the 2-hour workshop following the film.

Yes, that's correct: a 2-hour workshop, using a workbook with some tough questions for us - the active duty military, the veterans, the first responders, and any of their family members who came - to answer, honestly.

I was surprised how many veteran women were there!

Some of them even spoke up and shared their answers during the discussion.

I was not one of those.

Still, I want to share the answers I wrote for the four questions - out of 13 in the workbook -that were selected for this session.

"What part of the film did you most relate to? Why?"

The woman who had served with them & been "one of the guys". I was a CTM in the Navy and was "one of the guys," too. I related to her getting ticked off when the new guy focused on her being female instead of her job capabilities. Totally related to that.

"Have you ever had a friend think about suicide? Have you thought about suicide? How did you navigate it?"

My cousin David committed suicide after the death of Gwen. She had breast cancer that returned & he stayed right beside her during all her treatments the first time around, then again 4 years later. That second time was especially hard for him. He had called me while I was on vacation with family to talk about it & trying to get her to eat. He knew I had tried to help my mother-in-law, his Aunt, when she had stage 4 cancer and was dying. I talked with him for about an hour, under the stars in TN, and he definitely felt some relief from our talk. Still, she died 2 months later. He was dead by his own hand withing 6 months. He had tried to set up a friend to find his gunshot body, but his son did instead. It's still heart-breaking.

"What's it like to live with a veteran? If you are a veteran, what's it like to live with you?"

I definitely have my own way of doing things. Now that I have been retired for 7 years, I notice that I have a schedule, though it isn't one that others can really see. I do try to keep weekends open for family interaction, but the rest of the time I'm doing only what I want to do. Some days I don't even get dressed, and that started during the pandemic. If I don't get dressed, then it was okay to stay at home.

"What is your most positive memory or experience from your service? Why?"

We made friends quickly!

We all knew from the moment we arrived at each duty station that we needed to "find our tribe" - in the current vernacular - because we were going to need friends for our time there.

Quickly!

And we were all in the same situation, mostly. We were all going to be there for 1 /2 to 2 years. That isn't much time to find bonds with others. That's okay, we were all in the same situation. We could spend our time stationed there alone, or we could live and get the most from that different cultural experience.

So we joined the local film club, we joined the squaredance club, we joined the theatre troupe - we joined - quickly! 

 

 - - - - -

I liked the order of the questions. 

Those were not sequential in the workbook.

Those were on pages 1, 19, 15, and 13.

Why those particular ones and in that order?

They were chosen to lead us from more serious matters to lighter ones, so that we would be leaving on a positive note.

I can relate to that.

After all, I have a 40+-year-old mixtape that does that same thing.

(smile!)

Now, time to shift gears before my first niece arrives!

(smile!) 

"because my husband is fishing in Canada" party!

That Dawn, she'll throw a ladies-only party for any reason at all!

This time, it was because The Koz was off with cousins in Canada and she didn't feel like having a Friday night with just Stella.

Stella was fine with that, as can be seen here, where she is getting petted by me and Cindy, while Lindy is hanging out by the sink.

Such a lucky dog Stella is!

Oh, and Cindy and Lindy will both have their birthdays this month, so we celebrated early and sang to them!

(smile!) 

That's how we roll in Georgetown!

And such a wonderful spread we ladies had!

Dawn's salad Nicoise, Susan's shrimp, Cindy's pizza, Bunny's bean salad, Lindy's doughnuts, and my tiramisu!

Well, not as in "I made it", but more like "I picked it up from Food Lion"... and it was great!

Susan definitely agreed with me!

(smile!) 

Speaking of Dawn's neighbor, here she is during the blackout that set in about 9:30 pm, when it wasn't even raining.

By that time, we were down to four of us - Susan, me, Cindy, and Dawn - and guess what we did?

We passed around that tablet with its list of tongue twisters on it and took turns reading them aloud!

Hahahaha!

Only Dawn could come up with a fun idea like that!

(smile!)

Susan and I left around 10:15 PM, shortly after a late-comer - Arlette - arrived from Tybee. 

Dawn was glad to see her, as it had been a while, but Arlette missed out on the group photo that Yvette took three hours earlier.

So, left to right, that's my outlaw Bunny, me flashing a peace sign, Susan right behind me, then Lindy, Cindy, Dawn, and Yvette!

What a fabulous group of women!!!

Thanks, Dawn!!!

(smile!)