adventures

adventures / history / Instagram / photo / video — Comments Off on A church, a park, swings and ads
3
Jan 16

A church, a park, swings and ads

Another beautiful day in Savannah. Here’s your proof, this is the Independent Presbyterian Church, organized in 1755:

The original church was built on land granted by King George II. A new church went up in 1816. The English restoration style, features Federal windows, Corinthian columns, that picturesque steeple, and a beautiful sanctuary with an elevated mahogany pulpit. It was destroyed by fire in 1889, but a duplicate was built on the same spot just two years later and the interior is faithful to that period, including the baptismal, which survived that fire and is still used today. President Woodrow Wilson’s first wife was born on the property. The great hymn writer Lowell Mason worked there for a time.

We found some swings:

I created some Boomerang videos:

A swing, the Boomerang app and Ren. @lmrsmith @laurnsmith

A video posted by Kenny Smith (@kennydsmith) on

I like watching the kids in the background. It is hypnotic, really.

Some of the trees in Forsyth Park:

And some of the ads that were hanging at the restaurant where we had dinner tonight. People today sometimes think flight-sweep was about tail fins. And while they do stand out, they only ran for another seven or so years on American roads after this ad. No, flight-sweep was really centered around Virgil Exner‘s lower, sleeker designs, inspiring car designers you still see even today:

Doesn’t this just make you want to fly to Hawaii?

adventures / history / memories / photo / weekend — Comments Off on Seeing Savannah’s sights
2
Jan 16

Seeing Savannah’s sights

The people of Savannah used to call themselves “The Hostess City of the South,” which is one of those surely government-based promotional nicknames that is not in anyway worthy of a lovely town. Savannah is a lovely town. The Yankee and I took our first trip here. We got married here. We sometimes come back, as we have this week.

You do it for scenes like this:

The former was in the historic district. The latter was at Bonaventure Cemetery, where we spent some time today, taking in the sun and breeze and quiet while walking among the history and solemn scenery.

Amidst it all, there are a few dozen military graves in their own formal section.

Edward Myers had service in three wars, and earned a bronze star:

John Carter and the 401st were in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge. He died in Belgium:

Charles Higgs Jr. was a marine platoon sergeant. He was killed on the first day of the invasion of Iwo Jima:

Gentry Hoitt was in a different division of marines, but I bet Higgs knew the gunnery sergeant from back home. Hoitt was killed on the second day at Iwo Jima. He had six brothers and sisters, but they are all gone now. The last of them died in 2014. The 5th Division, meanwhile, scratched, cussed and fought on Iwo for more than a month with 2,482 killed in action, 19 missing in action, and 6,218 wounded in action, the highest casualty rate among the three Marine divisions involved in the invasion.

The 6th Marine Division fought in the Solomons, Guam, Guadalcanal and Okinawa. I can’t find anything about him online or what he did in the few years of his short life that he was left with after the war. If he was there for all of those events, though, he probably saw more than he should have had to:

John Chudob served in two wars, and there’s a brief mention of him in a Kansas newspaper, in between. There are a few Chudobas still in Georgia. I wonder if this is one of their ancestors:

It isn’t readily apparent what the 18th did in the Big Red One during World War I, but if William Breen was there throughout he might have seen one or some of these battles, Montdidier-Noyon, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, Lorraine or Picardy. There are reasons the First Division became so famous during and after that war. They were the first to go to Europe, the last to come home and they paraded in New York City in 1919. Who knows, he could be one of the men in the photos on this site covering their return and parade. I wonder if he ever talked about it when he came back home:

One of the steps on this memorial arch is engraved “Heirs together of the grace of life,” which becomes an even more beautiful sentiment the more you think about it.

There are beautiful oaks at Bonaventure:

And back downtown, at night:

But that was before dinner at the Crab Shack:

adventures / Friday / video — Comments Off on Happy New Year
1
Jan 16

Happy New Year

There was a polar bear plunge at Tybee Island, Georgia today. We were in nearby Savannah, to celebrate the new year with a few quiet days of doing not much of anything. But The Yankee did do the plunge.

These two guys did, too:

But, wait, there’s a video:

It was something like 61 degrees in the air and, while the ocean was no doubt a chilly experience, it was hardly polar today. They say it was cooler last year.

From that same Tybee Island beach, about 12 hours earlier, we sat a few hundred yards up the beach from the New Year’s fireworks:

I tend to think we remember fireworks a bit differently, with a fuzzy recollection. So I like to shoot them that way.

adventures / photo / Wednesday — Comments Off on In the air again, then on the road again
30
Dec 15

In the air again, then on the road again

We left Connecticut today, having spent a precious few days with my in-laws after a precious few days with my family. I was keeping track of the miles and hours and nights under different ceilings, but I’ve sorta lost the numbers in my head. Our resting days are usually pretty busy.

Sitting there, on that tarmac, in those terrible airplane chairs, was actually a moment of stillness.

Tonight we are at home, unpacking, doing laundry and repacking. Tomorrow we are on the move again.

adventures / family / Friday / photo — Comments Off on Merry Christmas
25
Dec 15

Merry Christmas

We gathered in the living room in pajama pants and opened presents across the late part of the morning. I’m sure it is a tradition that once took place earlier in the day, but we’re all a bit older now, so it is now a sorta-brunch affair.

Some of my presents:

I’ll wear them next year with my pajama pants.

This book is hilarious and I held up the present-opening system at least twice reading aloud from it:

The Yankee gave me this great gift. She knows me so well!

My mother-in-law has a pretty good read on me, too. This book looks promising:

But this is the one that really seals the deal, educational Pez with the early presidents:

Now I need the full set. Do they make dispensers of all the presidents? I’m going to need some more of those for next Christmas.

Another great book:

We had the traditional prime rib dinner, with the shrimp cocktail appetizer and homemade cocktail sauce. That’s a tradition we don’t have in my family and that’s a shame. We enjoyed a delicious meal and wrapped up a lovely day over plates that told the full “A Visit From St. Nicholas” story. This was the one I had:

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