goody bags and treats galore!

Getting ready for the BYOP, part 2!

 

The Koz had Omar out helping him this afternoon, so that was good.

 

Omar's wife, Michanne, was in the House of Dawn with the rest of us women!

 

That's her on the left, putting the finishing touch on a ghost pop, while Margaret admires her art on the pudding cups. 

 

That was toward the end of our session this afternoon.

 

Yvette was at the other end of that time spectrum, having arrived at 11 AM, a full hour before this hen party was to begin.

 

She wanted to be sure to help out, but she had other plans that needed her on this sunny Saturday.

 

When I arrived, she was helping to cut out the printed labels for the treat bags.

 

I was commandeered for that task, too, as treat bags could not be made without them.

 

Then Margaret arrived and she was put to work with scissors to cut labels!

 

Fortunately, Dawn ran out of scissors, so Susan was put to work with tissue paper to start building goody bags.

 

That consisted of placing several goodies onto the open sheet and then stuffing in into a clear plastic bag! 

 

By that time, enough labels had been cut that I was set to work on a different task: building bags of ghost poop!

 

In short time, Debbie was right there with me, but she was building bags of rat tails! 

 

We found those tasks became exhausting unless we did them like an assembly line: fill a few bags with the food first until the right arm tired, then close the bags and staple on the labels, before starting afresh on the next batch.

 

Susan and Margaret followed our approach when they became treat bag assemblers.

  

Susan was in charge of witches' warts, while Margaret handled monster scabs - LOL!

 

All that food - marshmallows, licorice, chocolate chips, and Toast Crunch cereal - required that we wear gloves.

 

Gotta be extra clean for the kids who are going to be grabbing these treats!

 

Still, it was a good thing that handling those sweet things came after our luncheon! 

 

This time, Dawn had bought a Chinese banquet for the nine of us - that would be 7 women, 2 men.

 

Beef with broccoli, chicken with broccoli, vegetable stir-fry, chicken nuggets, edamame, spring rolls, gyoza, eggrolls - and those are just the items I chose!

 

"You will never need to worry about a steady income," read my fortune cookie.

Laura did ask me last week about my Periodic Table, so maybe there's good news to come about that!

 

Meanwhile, I had Jack O'Lantern teeth to bag while Dawn and Debbie worked on dressing up the goody bags with curling ribbon.

 

Those were the last tasks before we could consider our work here to be done - and we completed them!

 

Good friends, good company!

time to play like doc frankenstein!

"Ooohhhh, science!!!"

You got it! The time has come for a bit of AA and AAA down in Georgetown, and I was once again allowed to bring the inanimate to life! BWAH HA HA!!

"Well, happy 5th anniversary of doing that, you mad scientist!"

Thank you, thank you very much, dearie! I was there at noon30 to start popping batteries into the backs, feet, and heads of Dawn's indoor ghouls. I even brought my own tweakers from my days as a CTM in the Navy! 

"Well, look at you, being all prepared to throw down with the best of them!"

Let's just say that after nearly two decades of having their battery compartment lids removed and replaced, some of those screws have become a bit more cantankerous than the bodies they power. I know my tools have pointed tips that can still pile drive when needed.

"And where those particular little goblins and clowns waiting for life to begin again, or were they already ready to track their prey and clang cymbals and laugh maniacally?"

Darn tootin' they were ready to rumble! Dawn was still working, so I was digging the monsters out of the bin under the table and sticking it to them. The monkey took a bit of finagling, but I finally succeeded in getting his arms aligned so the cymbals would be able to touch. Those four, plus two more stage left, took about 25 minutes.

"Really? That long? And how many did she have that needed batteries?"

Oh, the entire dining room table top gets covered in them! She did a few this time, but mostly it was my hands doing the slap and tickle with the beasties. They get new ones every year, too, so that means a bit more time involved, but at least the newer ones get up to speed a bit faster. Even so, I reckon it took almost three hours to get them ready for the BYOP coming on October 24th.

"That's almost exactly a month away! Why so early?"

As Dawn says, it's all dependent on the Koz. Whenever he decides to fetch all the bins out of storage determines what timeline she needs to be on. This year, her new boss has had her out of town a lot, so he went ahead and emptied out the storage earlier this week. Then he occupied his time at night reworking the wire harnesses for his outside ghouls - long story, suffice it to say he'll not be accepting help in the future with taking them down. So, as he says, since he was having to have his hands on all of them anyway, he went ahead and powered them up. In other words, that task is done. He was already in the process of hanging them when I arrived.

"So I see. Does that mean you won't be needed anymore to help set up for the big shindig later?"

Oh, no, I'll be back tomorrow, along with some of the other women. Dawn has recruited us to fill the goody bags with witches' warts, rat tails, monster scabs, ghost poop, and pumpkin teeth. Should be lots of fun! I am usually enlisted to help Chris on battery detail for the second outing, so it'll be a nice change to do this craft work. 

"Poop and scabs and what???"

BWAH HA HA!!! Don't be so literal, g'friend! Chocolate chips, licorice, Toast Crunch cereal, mini-marshmallows, and candy corn - treats, not tricks!

"That looks like a definite treat right there!"

Oh, yes, it was! Luncheon on the back porch, overlooking the canal and enjoying the slight breeze with Dawn and the Koz! She made Reuben sandwiches on marble rye and they were absolutely divine!!! In fact, I've come home with the halves of both of their Reubens, so I'll have another meal to enjoy them. Thanks, y'all!!!

"What a lovely break that must have been from handling monsters!"

It certainly was, but then it was back to the "AA Meeting", so to speak. One of my fb friends posted this t-shirt and I thought it was cute and saved it for today. "Hello, my name is Todd and I'm a battery." HAHAHAHA!!! Totally appropriate!!!

"Nice pun for sure!"

Okay, just came home to drop off the Reubens. Off to Sandfly I go!

4 weeks of a*lists, but not 16 movies

Remember, AMC now allows me to have up to four movies per weeks as my A*List allowance.

I don't hit that maximum very often, for one reason or another.

Honestly, I think it's due to a habit of having three as the max for five years, so I don't think about adding that extra one.

That's okay, I'm still getting a great deal for my $28 monthly dues!

 

For my first week of September, I had a double feature of "The Dog Stars" and "Idiots", which gave me one beautiful movie and one not so good.

"The Dog Stars" was a post-apocalyptic scifi with stunning cinematography, as much of it consisted of a guy (Jake Elordi) and his dog flying in the mountains - seriously gorgeous!

It had a solid story, too, with a strong cast that included Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, and Guy Pearce.

Given the chance, I'll gladly see this again.

Not so for the poorly executed "Idiots", which was a shame. 

I kept watching, hoping for better from this road trip movie in which Dave Franco and O'Shea Jackson, Jr., have to get Mason Thames to a halfway house.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that never happened.

Such a waste of time and talent.

That's why I chose "Coyote Vs. Acme", as I'd already seen it and knew it was a solid hit out of the park. 

Week 2 found me with only 2 movies under my belt after 7 days.

Those were a double header, with both being intense with lots of fighting.

"Onslaught" may have been my favorite of the two, though, as it featured two military veterans (Adria Arjona and Reginald VelJohnson) saving the day when Dan Stevens' psycho borgs escape and threaten their trailer park.

Nice to see the "Die Hard" cop in this new scifi!

"By Any Means" was actually based on real events in Mississippi, back in 1966, when, for that second time that decade, a mobster hitman (Mark Wahlberg) gets sent in to force Klansmen to reveal the assassins in a case involving vote tampering.

On to week 3, when I thought I might go for 4 slots filled on my AMC A*List dance card, but ended up with only three, of which only one was new.

That would be "Practical Magic 2", seen after rewatching "Practical Magic", though it turned out the new one stands on its own merits.

Great to see Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing again on a Tina Tuesday!

They're 78 and 82 years old, respectively.

Given that it's been 28 years since the first movie, it's marvelous they were still alive to reprise their roles as the elderly aunts!

It's a shame that Aidan Quinn wasn't carried over as Sandra Bullock's husband, but then again, those Owens women's husbands die from the curse.

That's okay, Lee Pace is the new heart throb, and he has incredible smoky eyes, like those of Nicolas Cage, so he was a welcome addition - RAWR!!!

I didn't recognize him from "Guardians Of The Galaxy", but that's due to the makeup used to transform him into 'Ronan', which disguised those eyes. 

Glad I was able to see this before the "Movies With Grownups" event!

The other two movies - "Coyote Vs. Acme" and "The Odyssey" - were seen the next day as a double feature, as both were on their way out of town.

I just wanted to make sure AMC knew I liked those!!

 

That brings me to this past week, with me again seeing three movies.

The new Ethan Hawke movie, "The Weight", was set in the 1930's during the Great Depression, with him as a man imprisoned for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, losing his daughter in the process.

He joins a road crew run by Russell Crowe, who figures he's found the man to lead his gold-stealing group.

Really good thriller!

Then, today, I finished with a double header, catching "Heart Of The Beast" and "The Stunt Driver" before their time was up at AMC.

Surprisingly, "The Stunt Driver", a new based on real life film about Canadian daredevil Ken Carter, seemed very familiar to me, especially the parts dealing with the 90-foot ramp that was going to let him jump the Saint-Laurent River.

I have to wonder if maybe I had the pleasure of seeing "The Devil At Your Heels", the 1981 documentary about that daring stunt, at one of Jim Reed's Psychotronic Film nights.

This new one was billed as a 'historical comedy', but it was pretty serious. 

"Heart Of The Beast" would have been lovely to have paired with "The Dog Stars", as it again featured a lot of screen time between a man and his dog, though this one starred Brad Pitt as the retired combat veteran with his bomb-sniffing buddy.

Both of those were set in mountains, too.

Maybe I'll have the chance to pair them in the future, when Peacock or some other streaming service makes them available to me.

(smile!)

fall equinox already?

I am not ready for temperatures in the 50's at night.

Last Monday, the week ahead read pretty normally for this latitude.

To whit, the highs ranged from the upper 80's to mid-90's, while the lower temperatures were in the low to mid-70's.

Like I said, pretty normal.

This week is a different kettle of fish that will no doubt spawn a batch of June babies  around here from folks cuddling up.

Just look at that weather song tra-la-la-ing into low 70's for its highs and dropping a decade into the low 60's at night...

it's even to land in the upper 50's mid-week!!!

That's what we get for the fall equinox this year?  

Not kosher, not kosher at all, especially with this being Yom Kippur.

That's why there's no Music Bingo tonight, as my friends are down for holiday, as they are all Jewish.

There's also not a Two First Posts meeting, even though it was supposedly moved two weeks ago to this night.

Arrrggghhh!!!

That's all a moot point, though, as I have no wheels still.

As I told Michelle at Rincon Transmission when she called, I'm waiting on a delivery of meds, so I'm hanging at my house.

Good thing I have movies galore to entertain me. 

Thanks, Comcast.

baseball movies, more or less

And they were all in my reward cache from Comcast! Lucky me!!!

 

"Oh, that is fortunate, as you're having a stay-cation right now."

 

That's not quite true... but, perhaps you're right. If I had my Saturn, I might have still gone to Savannah Stage Company's "James And The Giant Peach", or the Savannah Children's Theater's "Pete The Cat". As it was, I've seen both before, so there was no FOMO to be concerned about.

 

"FOMO??? Is that some really dirty acronym that I've missed?"

 

Hahahaha! No, dear, it's new-fangled slang for "fear of missing out". Apparently that's a thing. I guess the closest I come to that malady is in the winter when the lower temperatures are too threatening to my heart to allow me to venture out of the house. Though, this year, I may try hanging out at warmer places than my 60's house. According to research, a brief time in cold-er is better than an extended time being COLD. I'll be sure to keep my library card handy!

 

"That might be a really good experiment. Cabin fever is real."

 

Yes, it is, which is why I've been distracting myself with baseball. Nothing like a baseball game to make me feel like it's still summer!!! That's why I started off with 1989's "Major League" when I got home from dinner last night. Nice to see Charlie Sheen as the 'Wild Thing' on the diamond!

 

"Hahahaha! I remember that crazy haircut he had!"

 

Yep! Not the suave styling he had as 'Charlie Harper' fifteen years later! Then I launched into "A League Of Their Own", with Geena Davis, Madonna, and Rosie O'Donnell. That came out in 1992, the same year I got married for the second time. How about that? Go, girl power!!!

 

"Yes, dear! Gee, that movie is 34 years old!!!"

 

 I know. That's right past a third of a century!

"And then what's with this trio? That first one is a baseball movie, but not the other two."

 

Au contraire, g'friend. Let's consider, shall we? Yesterday, I watched the movie with men playing baseball, then the one with women playing ball. This morning, I started out with kids playing baseball as I watched "The Sandlot", which I have enjoyed pretty regularly over the four years since Comcast gave it to me.

 

"That one from 1993 is such a nice flashback to playing ball with my brothers in the lot across the street."

 

Good times, most def! That naturally led me to the hedgehog playing baseball, right? "Sonic The Hedgehog" knew the joy of watching the game and just wanted to be part of a team! Then he went and caused a power spike and overload that alerted folks to his presence. Oops! LOL!

 

"That has such nice scenes in San Francisco, too. Bonus for you!"

 

That it is! I'm so glad that Paul's triple bypass heart surgery went so well. You know what got him to go to his doctor? A weird ache in his left thumb. Seriously. His doc put him in the hospital for a series of tests, then they transferred him to the San Franciso hospital for the surgery.

 

"Good lord! This is all news to me!!!"

 

Don't you remember talking with him about it on August 8th? That was the Saturday before the Tuesday surgery. Then I'd talked with him again a week later, on the 15th, as he was in process of being discharged. Neither he nor Cathy realized how appropriate that date was for him to be going home. The 15th of August is their anniversary. I even suggested to Cathy that they have sushi to celebrate, or even ceviche, as either of those would be a healthy dinner. It all reminded me of Daddy and Bonnie, who claimed to only remember their anniversary because they would get a card from me! (smile!)

 

"Well, I'm glad to hear that Paul is doing well."

 

Oh, yes, me, too. I've been calling him and Cathy every other week to catch up. She's been put in charge of her mom's headstone. I'm glad I didn't have to deal with that. Frank just took charge, and I do like what he had written on her marker.

 

"Shall we get back to this baseball film festival? You still have one more to go, and I look forward to hearing why it was included."

 

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"? Of course it has a legit place in this group! How could you overlook the trio skipping school to watch a spring game with the Chicago Cubs? I never got to go to Wrigley Field, but I did drive past it on my return from the Field of Dreams. That was really awesome!!!  

 

"I totally get ya now. You went from a hedgehog enjoying a kids' game to high school kids enjoying a professional game. That circled it all back to "Major League"! Good move!"

 

Thanks! Now to celebrate the 60th anniversary of "Star Trek" with episodes on MeTV. Tonight, they have "The Trouble With Tribbles"!!! I'm so excited to see that again!!! (smile!)

and now i have a cane...

Today, I had a long-awaited meeting with my PCP at Savannah VA.

The pain of walking with my right leg has been intense for at least a month, with me being reduced to a hobbling gait for the past two weeks.

The driving force has been my determination to have some relief at this scheduled 6-month checkup with Ms. Duchene.

And I have that now, in the form of a sturdy cane, a lesson in how to use it, an upcoming physical therapy appointment, and an X-ray at some near-future date to determine the source of the worsened pain.

Progress, however slow, is still progress, as I told everyone at the S&K Friday Fiesta gathered at Jalapenos tonight.

Tony and Laura very kindly gave me a ride so I could be with everyone.

They also managed to get me up into one of those high-top table chairs, with a regular chair to prop my legs and prevent sciatica.

They even bought my dinner!!!

I chose a fairly inexpensive dish, Enchiladas Caseras.

That has three enchiladas - one cheese, one shredded beef, one shredded chicken - as well as a Mexican salad and queso-topped frijoles.

Such a lot of food for that $12 price tag!

I ate every bit as I chatted with them, Smitty and Mary, Betsy and Jimmy, Mark, and Becca, down at the other end of the table.

I even came home with most of Laura's Chicken Mexi-Bowl!

That will be good while I'm stuck at home this weekend.

Say what???

That silly plastic grommet that joins the two metal parts of the Saturn's Shift Cable has failed, as they do.

Honestly, I've been expecting it to do so for a couple of weeks.

Remember, the last one was good for only a month.

This new one has been in since mid-July, so at least it lasted two months.

I was at Publix, picking up a few items while they were on sale.

i thank You, God, that I didn't park in the Handicapped space.

I would have been stuck there, as the gear shift was trapped in 3rd gear, which seems to be the favorite for the grommet to break.

As it was, I waited for about twenty minutes until the person parked in front of me left, so I could force my car to pull on through.

i thank You, God, that the 5 PM rush hour traffic had not begun.

i thank You, God, that it was 3rd gear, so I could take Truman Parkway to get me home again.

I pulled up in front of my house, not into the driveway, of course.

Without the ability to get into reverse, I would have been trapped.

Now, to await Monday morning, when Rincon Transmission will open.

i thank You, God, that this was a slow weekend for me.

Sure, I had things I could have done... but nothing I'd paid for yet, so if I missed it, at least I had not lost money.

That's always a blessing! 

sixty sisters in faith in september

After two months of no sisterly love in Holliday Hall, we were all chomping at the bit to see each other again.

This 'return from summer' luncheon was a true celebration of the friendships within Sisters In Faith, and it was feast for the senses!

 

Eight of the women had agreed to serve as hostesses for this fancy, white-tablecloth, sit-down meal, each bringing their own china and table decor.

I chose to sit at Table 7, the fourth one on the left, and my "springtime" dress can be spotted in the aisle from my seat on the end.

Part of the reason I selected that table was very simple: the white china had the same octagonal shape as my china.

The other reason was because the hostess was CeCe Coleman.

That's her at the other end of the table, and Emily Garrard - my theater-going friend - was sitting to my right. 

Truth to tell, she was the third reason I opted for this table.

Catherine Gilbert, a colleague from Armstrong, was on my left, and that younger woman is a member of the Wesley Oak congregation.

She used to come to Asbury, until the young people she worked with went to Wesley; now, she has returned to Asbury, as that church is defunct.

Word is that the property has been sold, so that's a blessing!

 

And who else was at our table, between Emily and CeCe?

Those are Connie and Madelyn "Mad Dawg", the Georgia Bulldogs fan!

She was a trip to be with today!!!

She and I had several things in common, as we get out of the house far more than many of the others.

Even with this worsened hitch in my giddy-up, I made sure to be here!

 

Like I said, this was a celebration, after two months away from each other.

The food was prepared by professional chefs, just for us, and every bite let us know how very special we are.

Just look at that appetizer: bruschetta with Mediterranean salsa, topped with marinated Georgia shrimp... totally scrumptious!

When Carson Branan brought out a leftover plate of the summery delight, I graciously accepted it, eating every morsel!

The entree featured a rich quiche containing mushrooms, spinach, sun-dried tomato, and Swiss cheese in egg custard - fabulous!

That was accompanied by a mixed green salad topped with toasted Asbury pecans, cranberries, and balsamic vinaigrette - I would have gladly eaten seconds of that, too!

Ah, but then, how would I have room for that luxurious dessert?

Grand Marnier Chocolate Mousse, it was, with raspberry sauce and fresh whipped cream - I ate it in tiny bites to make it last as long as possible!

 

My gratitude to Philip and Charlene Branan for this feast for the senses!

They were the owners and chefs at the Boar's Head restaurant until just recently when they retired.

Get this: they were born in 1959, the Chinese Year of the Pig.

No doubt that was the inspiration for the fine eatery's name!

Now, they're using their talents here and Asbury Memorial has been reaping the benefits all this year.

Today, they had their son, Carson, helping out, as well as his wife.

Kudos to all for spoiling us with this meal!

 

Kudos to Lynn Drake for the music from the Wesley Oak piano; to Tim Steinhauser for serving as the tuxedo-clad Maitre-d as well as the male component of the Holiday Hall Cafe Trio (along with Carmel Hearn and Kathy Solomons); and to Allexa Schlimmer for her vocal talents with the entertainment provided! 

I don't know who was in charge of choosing which bits of Shel Silverstein's poetry would be used this afternoon, but I applaud the choices!

I can't say that I knew them all, but I definitely was familiar enough with the final one - "Moon-Catchin' Net" - that I was able to sing along!

 

Afterward, I went to Greenwich to visit Mama.

I just felt the need to share this outing with friends with her.

The next time I head out there, I'll have some fresh flowers in hand, as those by the headstone are looking a bit beat from the summer heat.

There was one major change out there: the huge pine tree that had been a few sites down was gone.

Just a ragged stump marked where it had been.

Surprisingly, there was no damage to any of the markers, so perhaps it had been taken down instead of falling.

I'll have to check out the other sites when I return.

What a beautiful day this has been!

i thank You, God, that I was able to share it with so many others.