So there we were. enjoying a meal of pork chops, and “zing!”, I felt a sliver of bone get caught between two rear molars. I tried all the usual methods of getting it out (Plackers, old fashioned dental floss, my pocket knife blade), but nothing worked. I said to My Lovely Bride, “Suzanne, how about grabbing your tweezers”. That didn’t work either. Moving up in tool size, she went to the garage for a pair of pliers. I thought to myself, Self, this ain’t gonna turn out well. So I said, “Sweetheart, how about asking our dear friend Irene, who was a dental hygienist, if she can help?” I could tell that MLB was disappointed; after all, how often can a girl wield tools in a guy’s mouth? Well, we went over to Irene and Tony’s house, and in a few minutes, Irene had saved the day… or my teeth, which is just as important. But Suzanne was standing by with a big set of pliers if Irene’s dental tools didn’t work out.
How many times have you gone to the grocery, looked for a parking spot, and seen some goombah’s car parked outside the lines? Right, usually it’s some 16 year old who just got their learner’s permit, or a guy with a Ford F-350 extended cab that needs two spots, but a Corvette? Really? Bad, Bad Vette!
This next section is titled “Rack Envy”…. now, puh-lease, put those naughty thoughts out of your minds… we are talking about wine racks… while visiting our friends Rob and Margie at their open house, MLB is admiring their custom made wine racks and wine room. What a striking addition to an already beautiful new home they have in Windmill Harbour!
This photo is of a big aluminum sailboat in our marina. She is a very sturdy, blue water cruiser, designed for heavy offshore weather in places like Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Norway. Fiberglass boats, which make up 99% of the boats you find in the US, cannot match the rugged construction of aluminum or steel (heavy metal) boats, most of which are built in Holland, Germany or France. (We once had a 42 foot steel sailboat, but that was decades ago, and now we are happy to have a trawler and forego heavy weather and winter storms in the North Atlantic…)
One of the nice things about being near the water in South Carolina is the frequency of awesome sunsets; this one is typical of the spectacular views we get here in the Lowcountry… the view is from a nearby bridge crossing the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) between the mainland and Hilton Head.
We are currently on a short cruise aboard Gratitude; as we traveled down the ICW to Savannah, Georgia, we passed Daufuskie Island, where one of Suzanne’s acquaintances lives. Julie took this photo from her home as we passed her island. There are no cars there; you get off a ferry and either walk, bike or ride a golf cart to and from your home or hotel!
While in Savannah, we are staying at a marina across the Savannah River from the city itself. As we were coming up river, Suzanne was driving when a 1,000 foot long container ship passed us. This ship was 145,000 tons displacement; as a comparison, most aircraft carriers are about 100,000 tons, and my destroyer was only 9,000 tons. Look at all those containers! She might have just dropped off 1,000 of them at Savannah’s container port, one of the busiest in the world.
Here is a view of Savannah at night from across the river… what a beautiful place, night or day! We are looking forward to doing some sightseeing over the next few days, even though we have been here several times in the past.
Today was Thanksgiving, and we were grateful to be able to share it with our dear friends Mike and Beth Pasakarnis. You may recognize them as Wolf’s dad and stepmom from Wolf’s Message, one of Suzanne’s most popular books. They live about an hour away, and we had a fabulous day with them, with gourmet food and wine and some spirited games of “Codenames”. (The girls came out on top, but that was only a fluke…)
In closing, here are the Gratitude Dogs (Rusty and Nellie) in my lap, enjoying some R&R on the fantail (the rounded deck at the stern of a ship). While the nautical term “fantail” usually refers to a warship, I use it since I served aboard seven such ships. Rusty and Nellie don’t have much time at sea, but they are already becoming Good Sea Dogs!