gander international airport

I don't remember ever hearing about that place in Canada.

Perhaps if I had been watching the news, I might have, but I doubt it.

The events in New York City that forever altered its skyline on September 11, 2001, were so devastating that every media outlet was bursting at the seams to keep the world saturated by them.

That meant no TV, no radio, and no headlines in print for me.

It was a dark, dark time...

though with one solitary bright spot as far as I was concerned.

At least Mama had died and didn't have to be consumed by that tragedy and its horrible aftermath.

Such deep, dark, sadness in the world.

All of those feelings came welling up this afternoon.

I was at a musical, a story that I thought was about a plane and its passengers that had been stranded in Canada at the start of the pandemic.

Maybe I had simply wanted to believe that.

That's why I had bought my ticket several weeks ago, planning for my birthday celebration to include the SCAD play, this musical, and "Frozen".

Three theatrical productions for my bday68!!!

 

A new friend was to have joined me, but instead I ended up in the very same row as the Asbury theatre peeps!

i thank You, God.

I don't know how I could have sat through the entire show if I hadn't had their love and strength beside me at the Tybee Post Theater.

 

I was just fine with that first song in "Come From Away".

Upbeat and hopeful, "Welcome To The Rock" brought images of Okinawa to me and had me smiling!

Then came the scene with the mayor in the coffee shop, on a day like any other day, when the town's reporter burst in and had everyone look at the dire news on the television from the country across the border.

She didn't even have to say what was going on... we all knew.

That's when I realized I had tears rolling down my cheeks.

The musical had barely begun.

The second song, "38 Planes", broadcast the shock of that new reality as planes from thirty-eight countries came in at that airport in Gander.

Operation Yellow Ribbon had forecast the arrival of 18 planes, but more and more flew in as they could not go to the more populous cities in Canada, like Halifax and Toronto.

Suddenly, the town of 10,000 residents had almost 7,000 visitors, many who didn't speak English, many with special dietary needs due to their religions, most with no idea what had necessitated the diversion of their planes.

And those residents in Gander and nearby small towns took in the strangers who had come from away...

and gave them showers and fresh clothing to wear after hours on the planes on the tarmac...

and found places for them to sleep in the churches and school gym and in their own homes... 

and gathered food to feed them, even repurposing the hockey rink as a giant freezer...

and they provided phones and computers and ways for them to contact their loved ones...

doing it all with grace and hope and courtesy.

 

Even though there were other times during the show when tears came again, I left there with a renewed appreciation of the humanity in the world.

After the show, I wanted to thank each and every one of the actors for lending their talents and their voices to this story.

I made sure to go on fb and thank the Savannah Community Theatre for bringing this production to us, as well as Tybee Post Theater for providing a space for this performance.

Thank you, Tom, Heidi, Emily, Lainie, and Linda, for sharing this time and your hugs on this Saturday afternoon.

Now, time to go and feed Dane and give him some extra loving.

Touch is very important. 

billy billie bill

 

And my birthday celebration just keeps going!

Late last week, Tybee Post Theater rewarded me for being "a loyal follower", gifting me two free tickets to a concert. 

Woot woot!!!

That's 58 dollars of free entertainment... and I could bring a friend! 

Happy bday67!!!

Fortunately, mi amiga Sandy was glad to go with me - hooray!!!

Happy bday 57 to her!!!

Did it matter that neither of us knew Jacob Khalil, the pianist?

Nope, not one bit!

We both love that he was to play music "from Billy Joel to Billie Eilish" 'cause we both know many of their songs!

And when he started off with "Just The Way You Are", we were thrilled!

I was even more elated when he followed that with "Vienna"!!!

The only time I ever hear that is when I sing it at karaoke, and it's one of my favorite Billy Joel tunes - even if it was just the B-side to that first song tonight.

(smile!)

The pianist followed that with another I knew by heart: "Lovely Day", by Bill Withers, and i swear he was looking at me, in F-18, the whole time.

That's because I'd been singing along with everything so far!!!

He switched it up with two from Elton John.

"Rocket Man" had me singing and dancing in my seat!

 

And "Your Song" - well he left me in tears with that one.

Sam Johnson would either sing that to me or request that I sing it at karaoke.

I knew Jacob Khalil was looking at me then, as he wiped away tears, too, as he took a few moments after the end.

Time to bounce back with a Beatles tune about looking for 'Mary Jane'!

Yes, that got the good times vibe back in the house!

"I Won't (Give Up)" was his very own song and helped slide the musical time scale into this century.

Two more from so-called 'divas' - "Birds Of A Feather" from Billie Eilish, then "Levitating" from Dua Lipa" kept it solidly there until the break. 

Magnificent!!!

They returned to the stage with "Valerie", a song that I thought was much older than it turned out to be. 

Only from 2006? Really???

Then we got the debut song from Billie Eilish tune, as well as a the debut song from Britney Spears - very nicely done with his fresh takes!

Time for another one of his own tunes, "Rest Of My Life", with us all singing along for the chorus - loved that!

And he finished up with a sing-along of "Piano Man", flashing us right back to the 1970's where the concert music began - perfect!!!

Kudos to Ethan Marsh on bass and Robert Saunders on drums!

(smile!) 

As we told the piano man afterward, we had loved his refashioning of the songs, the way he made them sound new yet still familiar.

He loved that!

We kept talking about the music all the way home and while we ate.

She and I stopped off at Carey Hilliard's on Skidaway to cap off our evening with dinner.

We took her car, with me driving there and back, as it has air conditioning.

That's because we had a triple-digit high today... and that was without including the +15 for the heat index.

I'm glad that weather nonsense didn't keep us from an evening out!

What a marvelous cool treat on this hot summer night!

(smile!)

not the usual fare at tybee

"What's that? Did you go to one of the staged readings they've been having at the Tybee Post Theatre?"

Nope. This wasn't even something I would have selected on my own. I'd been looking at them in the event listings for months, but not for me... for the physicist. He's been heavy into Eastern mythologies and meditation for about the last three years, at least.

"So you finally put it onto his radar?"

Nope! He texted me yesterday morning and proposed that we attend the "Sound Bath" today. How about that? And when I agreed, he bought the tickets, justthatfast, and we were set to go!

"Holy cow! That qualifies as spontaneous for him!"

Right?! So, at 5 PM he was here to whisk me down there for the 6 PM session with Carol Melton. I had thought he remembered her from Armstrong, but he did not. She worked in IT there and retired in 2016. Leading these experiences in meditation is what she's been doing the last few years. Hence, the huge collection of Tibetan singing bowls she has. She also has an Ocean drum (beads inside a drumhead,  making a sound much like a rain stick), several colorful quartz singing bowls, and even some chimes.

"And is that colorful item on the floor your towel?"

It is! We were to bring a towel and a pillow. She had yoga mats there, so I borrowed one of those, a bright green one to match my lemons shirt. Everyone liked that!

"Am I to understand that you got down on the floor?!?"

Eventually, yes. It took a while for me to talk myself into it. Then I wasn't there long before Carol sensed my unease and encouraged me to choose a seat out in the auditorium. That's when the trouble began. With the yoga mat below me, I couldn't get my footing and ended up falling. Carol and the bfe then helped for my next try, but not before my right knee got bruised from all that leaning on it. Honestly, I should have known better.

"Honestly, you should have. You know you never get down on the floor."

I do. I just felt I owed it to the physicist to give it a try.

"You're not getting weird on him, are you? Please say you aren't."

I am not getting weird on him, I promise. His lifestyle and mine really aren't compatible for coupleship to be a consideration. He's my best friend extraordinaire, now as he has been since 2012. I just wanted to show him by active participation that I respect his choices. And I want to emphasize that I did enjoy this! Carol had dimmed all the lights and I closed my eyes from where I sat in the front row, letting the various tones she pulled from the instruments wash over me for the duration. I'm pretty sure I even fell asleep!

"What? You must have gotten pretty mellow for that to happen."

As I told the bfe, I felt like I'd had a massage, but without a stranger touching me. That was great! He was a bit surprised about that, but he didn't question it.

"That's interesting, given y'all's history, but he just may bring it up some other time. He was busy driving when you were saying that. Driving is not something he does for fun."

True. He didn't bring it up during dinner at Chipotle's, either. I talked about Carol's former teaching at Armstrong, as well as her being part of the Asbury Memorial family. Then I talked about seeing Kate at Bonnie's party, as I knew he knew Kate and her husband Chris. It turned out that he hasn't seen her in several years. I told him, too, about Scott's loss of Axel and me being able to refer him to Fox and Weeks, as they took such good care of his two old lady cats, Contessa and Chloe. By that time in the evening, the rain that started as we got to the restaurant had eased up. Time for him to go check on Emily the Cat!

"Nice segue!"

Thanks! And guess what? He had misplaced his phone in his apartment. We had talked about that earlier, with me assuring him I had done that many times. I also told him that every time I did lose the device, I'd think, "Oh, I should call Christina and have her call me so I can find it"... lol!!! Anyway, as he returned my towel and pillow, I suggested I could call him and maybe he could find his phone. "Great idea!", he said, then jumped in his car to head for home! Vroom!!!"

"Hahahaha! I can just picture him doing that! And were y'all successful?"

We were! I called several times, letting it ring through, waiting for him to pick up, waiting a few minutes between calls. At last, he answered! The phone had slipped off the counter and into the trash bin below. Good thing he hadn't thrown out the bag yet!

"Indeed! That's a funny and fitting end to the evening!"

Yes it was! And he said he'd heard the phone vibrate four times before he found it. I told him I was sure I'd called five times. Well, I was mistaken, as I said in my text just now. "You were right! There were 4 calls, not 5. Like when the Borgs tried to mess with Picard."

"Leave him with a laugh! Very good!"

 

let's have a musical: part 2

I wasn't going to go for a second musical today, actually, but Rabbi Haas talked me into it.

His summer sermon for us at Asbury Memorial was titled "Don't Worry, Be Happy".

Trust me, that was a much-needed respite from some of the heavy politically-driven rhetoric of late.

His message was this: we are so blessed to live here in the USA, yet we are now rated #27 for 'happiest countries in the world'.

That means the USA is 7 places behind Australia and 3 places behind Lithuania.

That's because we are putting too much emphasis on the wrong things.

We should be enjoying the fresh air here, the clean drinking water, the abundant food sources, life and free discourse with our family and friends - these are all things which are not available worldwide.

However, we take those for granted and choose to stress over temporary things, like who has which political office.

We should be more like his 6-year-old son, he admonished us, and partake in activities that bring us great joy.

I have such gratitude for that message!

I'd meant to be there in person at church, but my alarm had other plans.

Still, I'm so glad to have tuned in and caught it - many thanks to the Rabbi!

(smile!)

"Into The Woods" was the musical on the line.

This time, the Tybee Arts Association was performing and the venue was the Tybee Post Theater, which means it would be pricier than the version seen in February.

Even with the 10% discount granted from the TyPostTh membership, it was twice the cost. 

Ouch.

However, I'd told Henry Dickerson that I would come... so I did, for the last performance of the play at this venue, with him running the lights.

I almost wish I had not gone, as I kept finding myself comparing this play done with adults to that done by children and finding this newer one lacking.

Yes, the costumes were pretty good...

but the stage was considerably shorter in length, meaning the different groups from the fairy tales were scrunched together.

Creative use of lighting tried to offset that, but could only help so much.

 

I did enjoy seeing Gary Shelby, Renee DeRossett, and Joel Caydoff again.

Gary was the 'Narrator' and the Baker's long-lost (and cursed) pa and was his usual funny self.

Renee played 'Milky the Cow' to the hilt, frequently improvising some shuffles to the side as she side-eyed the Baker's Wife or Jack's mother - what a riot!

I really loved those baggy overalls and big hat!  

 

Then there's Joel Caydoff as the 'Big Bad Wolf' - very nice, though I don't understand the name change from when he portrayed the 'Tin Man'.

Whether Caydoff or Cadoff, he's always rock solid!

And, while I'm on this photo, I must congratulate Gabriella Galoni.

As 'Little Red Riding Hood', she had the absolute best skipping ever seen!!!

Seriously.

I sat up in my seat every time she entered the stage, not wanting to miss a single skip from those flying feet!

I only stayed for the first act.

When intermission came, I went.

Part of me felt a little guilty for doing so, given the cost of admittance, but I was following Rabbi Haas' lead.

The first act of the adult version covered the granting of wishes come true for Cinderella, Rapunzel, the Baker, Jack, and Little Red Riding Hood.

However, Act II would show the aftermath -

the "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it" -

and I wasn't interested in those hardships.

I have plenty of that in real life.

Must better, and more satisfying, to have left when I did.

Thanks, Rabbi, for your son's message!

(smile!) 

earth day spring fling with a smiley face!

When Laura had asked if I would be at Jalapenos tonight, I'd told her I would not.

This was the 25th Annual Savannah Earth Day celebration and I had promised myself that I would be in Daffin Park for it!

Inside my butterfly tote bag I had five pairs of eyeglasses that had been in drawers, waiting to be rescued.

 

Forsight was thrilled to take them from me!!!

They'll use the frames for making new glasses for someone who can't afford frames.

In return, they gave me that snazzy lens-cleaning cloth!

Winner for all!

Next I stopped to chat at a table that had a game to play.

An aluminum beverage cup was perched over the edge of a board, then flipped.

If the cup landed back on the board, you got to keep it!

I couldn't get the knack of it, but Savannah To-Go Cup let me have one anyway!

At other vendors along the way, I'd stop and talk for while.

Wilderness Southeast, where Yvette was working the table.

Caretta Research Project, which I remembered from my days in the STERI project at Jenkins High.

The Dolphin Project, which I've wanted to be part of since I was 40.

The Tybee Marine Science Center, source of these sea turtle cards!

The City of Savannah had the most tables with free swag.

One was the source for a fabulous blank journal with ruled pages.

Another had an emergency disaster guide as well as a flashlight, batteries included.

A third had 2025 calendars loaded with helpful info.

And the fourth introduced SAV / Z, with neon-green vests for cyclists.

I picked up two of those.

As a rule, I would take two of most items, especially coloring books, like this one from Keep Savannah Beautiful.

Clean Harbors also had very nice activity books for kids.

Several places had single-page coloring or activity sheets for children, so I made sure to grab four every time I came across those.

After all, I have a vacation trip at the end of May and it will be good to have those as a surprise for the little blondes!

I spent a lot of time at two tables.

A communications graduate student and I had a 15-minute talk about his thesis of promoting conversations about recycling.

I had another lengthy talk with Savannah Riverkeeper, who aren't from here, but Augusta.

They gave me a new Happy Robot pin to go along with the square one I've had ever since the 2016 Savannah Film Festival. 

I received that white pin at the Q&A with Porkchop Zimmerman after "Happy", the documentary about his mission to make people smile.

They told me that I was the only person all day who knew anything about those pins.

That made me smile!

(smile!)

After nearly two hours there at Daffin Park, it was time to head east.

Never Been Any Reason to return to Tybee Post Theatre until the girlie show, right?

(Those last two links are just me having some musical pun fun!)

Beau Blush and Scarlett Siren of Coastal Cabaret were throwing a Spring Fling, ABCD style - aerial, burlesque, cabaret, drag!

Besides being greeted with a big bear hug by Wesley Pridgen, this show was just what I needed to get my motor all revved up!

Beau Blush, true to her name, put rosy cheeks on all the fellows with her opening burlesque routine to "Ain't No Sunshine" - just mesmerizing, she was.

Wow!

She was back in the second act, this time looking more like Rosie the Riveter as she danced with the aerial Luna ring in perfect timing with "Human".

Wow!

My third most favorite dance was the burlesque by Arabica Blacque to "When You're Good To Mama", the song Queen Latifah sang in "Chicago".

Wow!

My favorite number of the two burlesque routines by Scarlett Siren was her second one, performed with a Luna Lollipop - very smooth.

Trixie Noir used the Triangle Swing for her one aerial and was quite lovely and lithe and liquid in what was her premiere on stage.

Donna Matrix, the bellydancer, had two outings, once with a very large snake, then with two swords, all performed with constant hip undulations - very good!

The drag was handled by Nubia Rose, putting forth her inner Beyonce.

As for the cabaret number, that came at the show's finale, featuring Nubia Rose and the three Hoedown Honeys with a ribald song that was most def not PC - but sure was fun!

Oh, then there's the emcee, on stage between numbers in a smoking jacket, but still recognizable as the young man I'd first seen ten years earlier on an October evening with Carolyn.

Yes, it was Jack NTha Cox, in the flesh, which he was revealing for tips by show's end!

Nice to see that he's rocking more of a dad-bod these days!

My guess is that's the reason for the smiley face in the sky tonight.

Lots of sexy burlesque strips...

a naughty bit of cabaret...

fabulous fun in the evening sun...

and everyone comfortable in their bodies!

How wonderful to have had all this entertainment

for less than 25 bucks

as Venus and Saturn kept company

with the moon's crooked smile!

(smile!)