baby, you can sleep while I drive

Okay, so I fudged the time of the posting of this entry.
We actually pulled into my first niece's driveway about thirty minutes later as we returned from a full afternoon and evening at Jekyll Island. The children, exhausted from a day in the sun and surf, were sleeping soundly in the back seat as soon as we hit the highway. Even my niece, riding shotgun, was sleeping.
It was really nice.
We had all ventured down for the release of the loggerhead, Hugue, a newly rehabilitated patient of the turtle hospital at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. After more than two years of care, she was finally seaworthy again. Yeah!
And what better time for her release than the date which coincides with our celebration of our nation's freedom? Indeed!
And how better to celebrate than with fireworks several hours later, as the night sky darkened and the stars twinkled? Fireworks over our beach, with the fireworks of Brunswick and Saint Simon's Island visible behind and to the side of our own! Fireworks for more than twenty minutes in three directions!
Yes, it has been a magical time I have spent with this family for the last two evenings, complete with fireworks on each night! Such a lovely end to my 55 days of birthday!

sea turtles and francophones

At the time of my divorce, the time of my re-birth into a new life after sixteen years as part of a couple, I was actively seeking different experiences to help chart my course. Little did I know that those experiences would serve as channel markers to help me plot my safe passage into, and through, unknown waters.
Last summer, one of those new experiences marked its fifth year of existence. I attended the event, sharing the celebration with my bfe. The Georgia Sea Turtle Center was birthed in the summer of 2007, the same summer that my marriage was ending. I had fled to Jekyll Island one weekend, needing to wake up somewhere else and put the unbearable aspects of my life on hold, if only for a day. While driving around the island that morning, I came upon the GSTC and decided to check it out. I am so glad I did! There, I found a hands-on science exhibit, designed to educate and entertain, to share the life in the ocean of the Gulf Coast with the landlubbers on shore. Even better, the site sported a hospital for ailing sea turtles, mostly loggerheads. Whether recovering from near-fatal entanglements with man-made devices or suffering from shock of unexpectedly cold currents, the turtles were being nursed back to health in individual "beds" of seawater. The goal of the hospital is to allow the turtles to retain their wild nature during recovery and to eventually release them back into the ocean.
I've witnessed some of those releases and the event is reaffirming of the goodness of humanity. Surely we are not such a bad breed of animal if we can return to health a fellow creature damaged by our negligence and then return that creature to its home. The reunions of the sea creatures are joyous occasions for all in attendance, but especially for the animal racing into the surf and its ocean home. Truly marvelous!
Last year, I added my two-cents worth of support to a film festival I've been enjoying for some few years. I then put the matter aside and went on with other projects.
This past week, I was reminded.
My name was listed in the credits for the Francophone Film Festival. Nice!
But, what made this even sweeter for me was this: the French Club's event celebrated its fifth anniversary of the festival this year.
That's right: five years.
Amazing.
I well recall the first Francophone Film Festival in 2009. Sparsely attended, those of us present for opening night were treated to a fabulous feast of French fare, catered by the local French restaurant. The films that year were very good, though I cannot currently recall their names.
I do recall that it was an event my ex would not have cared to attend. He never cared for subtitled films.
Every year saw the festival increase in size and attendance. That's not to say the films are SRO even today, but the word of mouth has definitely worked in its favor.
I'm glad to have anteed up my two cents toward this year's three-day festival.
I've even thrown in another two cents for next year's festival.
Francophones, unite!

i'm coming home

There's nothing like going home after a long hospital stay, whether one is human or turtle. Truck, a 75-pound loggerhead turtle, was released on his own recognizance today and he RAN into the surf of the low tide at Great Dunes Beach on Jekyll Island. What a great pleasure to watch his joyous reunion with the ocean he holds so dear!