a different trio than planned, but still a trio!

Sandy and Elissa were already in the car when Joel came by to pick me up.

He had reservations at Flock To The Wok, downtown, so we were riding together to avoid the parking hassle on a Saturday night.

We never made it past Jenkins High School.

That's where Joel pulled over because the rain made it impossible to see.

 

Did I say rain?

This was more than that, just continuous avalanche of water from the sky.

The torrential downpour had waited until exactly 6:30 PM to strike, just as I was getting into the car.

What timing!

So, we waited in the school parking lot, watching walls of water get erected on DeRenne Avenue as vehicles plowed through the flood on the road.

After ten minutes, he called to see if he could cancel the reservation.

Amazingly, the restaurant allowed him to do so!

That meant we needed to decide on a new place to dine.

I rattled off names of nearby sites, but it was The Narra Tree that drew wholehearted agreement from the others - Hooray!

Marcia met us there, having chosen to drive solo.

Joel ordered lumpia for all, which was quite magnanimous of him!

 

I had the giant House Salad, plus dessert with my meal.

I couldn't resist the concept of the Ube Tiramisu, which combined the purple potato of the Philippines with the Italian coffee concoction.

I wasn't prepared for the delicate lavender tint the sweet treat had!

I portioned it into six servings, so all could share, taking a cue from Joel.

Sandy and Marcia both had some, and I was only too glad to polish it off!

(smile!)

After dining, the next stop would have been Peacock Lounge, had we been downtown.

Instead, we went to Colleagues & Lovers, the arty bar next door to the Music Bingo place on Habersham.

We all sat in the back, with this painting catching our attention.

We all saw a naked woman, but some thought it was from her front.

I said it was her back to us, with her arms raised as she shook out the red dress that she was about to pull on.

The artist had her positioned such that we could not see her butt crack.

We could tell this was a woman, though, by the curve of her hip toward her waist.

As to why she was shaking out the dress, perhaps it had landed on the floor and been rumpled in her haste to have sex.

That would be my guess.

Been there, done that, loved every minute of it!

Perception is in the eye of the art beholder! 

(smile!)

After their cocktails, it was time for the next site on the agenda.

That would have been Alley Cat Lounge, had we still been following that original plan.

Instead, we bopped over to The Palace Diner, over on Abercorn.

I was ready for a little something substantial, as the salad was wearing off.

 

Then, there it was on the menu!

French Toast, made with Challah bread... and they had peanut butter chips!!!

Oh, yes, Elvis would definitely have ordered that, so I did, too!!!

And did it make this girl holla? 

You bet it did!

I just should have saved part of it for breakfast tomorrow.

I've been home an hour and I'm still stuffed. 

Next time I'll save half... maybe!

(smile!) 

sushi in the morning, skyelite at night!

 

Yesterday was the 23rd, which means my SNAP had life to it again!

Yesterday was also Wednesday, which meant $5 sushi at Publix!

It's been a little while, so I treated myself to two trays.

The spicy tuna roll was dinner last night...

letting me have the crunchy California roll to start my day!

(smile!)

Then I popped into fb to wish happy birthdays to friends - real ones, not just the casual acquaintances that the social media site calls "friends".

While there, I caught this from Patrick Young, down in JAX.

He was looking out his kitchen window and found himself looking right at a deer in his yard...

but, he wasn't.

Upon closer inspection, it was just a dead bush with Spanish moss on it.

As I told him, perception is everything!

He wanted to see a deer... and so he did.

(smile!)

Next was a visit to Sherry Giddens page.

She can be counted on to have a giggle or two posted, and most are puns.

Take this one, with two Star Trek peeps.

The captain says, "A lady asked me if I would help her get a job as a professional Scrabble player."

As Lt. Ryker waited, Picard added, "I put in a good word for her."

Hahahaha!!!

Absolutely beautiful!

(smile!)

Then it was time to go work on the yard.

I chose the side yard by the Sullivans, as I knew the spiderwort had straggled all over that area.

I also had dead sticker vines and thorny things to pick up, plus more sticker vines and thorny things to pull off the side of the house.

I'd thought one of those big paper bags would be too much, but I took one out there anyway... and found that I'd filled it within 90 minutes.

Even with me continually tamping it down, it filled and is ready for the curb.

See, that's perception on my part: "oh, that isn't so overgrown." 

Indeed it was.

There's some kinda sorta dandelion that's sprouted up and it grows up to three feet tall, with at least thirty buds to send spores flying.

Yikes!

Fortunately, those plants are very easy to uproot, but, as they have nice leaves on their thick stalk, they hide in the azaleas very well.

Every time I thought I'd pulled up the last one, I'd see another, lurking in the bushes.

Good thing I had a protein-rich breakfast!

However, clad in long sleeves, long pants, and gloves, I was ready to get out of the sun and into a tall, cold, glass of water!

Instead, I poured two of those into me after I ditched the clothes.

Ah, much better.

(smile!)

Time to cruise over to Savannah Arts Academy for a free jazz concert!

Woohoo!!!

 

The first half was performed by the regular jazz band.

Their program had been arranged chronologically from 1933 to 1963.

"Stompin' At The Savoy" got the blood flowing, then "Bernie's Tune" challenged the saxophone players to get their long solos done.

"All The Way", the Frank Sinatra song, let the trumpets shine!

How about those trombones?

Well, their turn came with 1963's "Doxy" - and it was good!

I liked that it reminded me of "Baby Let Your Hair Hang Down"!

Time to "Take Five" after that while Skyelite Jazz Band took the stage.

(There's a little jazz joke from me to you, dear reader!)

Their program ran the gamut from 1928 all the way to 1985, starting off with "Harlem Air Shaft", guaranteed to blow a skirt up!

(smile!)

That Duke Ellington really knew how to swing, didn't he?

But "Brass Machine", the toned-down version of Mark Taylor's "Scream Machine", written for the Army Blues Jazz Emsemble, has to be my favorite of the concert.

All five pieces of brass was up front and turned up!

And there was cowbell, lots and lots of cowbell!!!

As Christopher Walken said, "I need more cowbell" in my life!

(smile!)

Oh, then there was Kermit's song about "Bein' Green", played with trombone solos in all the right places... very nice.

So far, there had been no singers.

Then, surprise!!!

Truman Nash came up to do a bit of New Orleans' skat for the "Basin Street Blues" and to shake his moneymaker a little bit, too!

Yes, I sure did love that!!!

Living the "Lush Life" while on a "Caravan" is all well and good...

but to dance is the best!

(smile!)

 

I'm so blessed to be retired!

At this time of year when I was teaching, I would not have had such a day as this.

It's unfortunate that five young nurses lost their lives on April 22, 2015.

One of those young women had an uncle who was big in Georgia politics.

Her death was the motivation for the merger in 2017 between Armstrong State and Georgia Southern Universities, obliterating my alma mater by making it the "nursing epicenter" for the larger school.

Those changes are responsible for me retiring in May of 2018, as my teaching position was eliminated by the merger finalization.

i thank You, God, that I am in retirement and have the freedom to script my day as I like, free to attend the many cultural events in this town.

(smile!)Hallelujah!