Odd, but neat things I saw in Savannah

Random wrought iron on buildings.

Good luck dolphins on down spouts.

All seeing eyes on the side of the post office.

An Irish feathered silly creature.

A stained glass beauty

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist was open for any one that wanted to enter and see that the inside was just as beautiful as the outside.



We definitely wanted to see the inside, so in we went, camera in hand. We were struck with a feeling of awe and reverence as we came into this church. You could not look anywhere and not see art of some sort or another created to glorify our Lord.

It was truly worth stopping for.

There was stain glass everywhere. I was having trouble getting get pictures of it, but I finally used a longer exposure and got several pics.


The detail and colors were fantastic, you could just sit and stare at it for very long periods of time. Of course it left you in a very contemplative and prayerful mood.




I have very fond memories of the stain glass in my own church growing up. I got married in front of that stain glass in our chapel, and am sorry that the building has been removed. I wonder what they did with the stain glass.

I also remember the stain glass of Jesus over the baptistery in the newer building. I would stare at that stain glass through who knows how many sermons. I think it easier to pray sometimes that way.

I think that if I lived in Savannah, I would have to come visit this church every so often. I want to hear the organ that go with these pipes.

This was a good chance to tell BubbaLou about other churches. She was a bit overwhelmed.

We won't mention the holy water incident. She is Baptist, not Catholic, she didn't know. When Baptist see water, they think immersion.....It was only her hands. I should have been watching, but Popsaroo saw this one and he well, freaked out. He told me and I pulled her to the side and whispered in her ear, and all was well. Jesus loves the little children.

Did I tell you that we met a nun as we were entering the sanctuary, we did. She asked us if there were any public bathrooms. Hmmm. I would have thought she would have had a free pass to find a bathroom anywhere in that building.

I wish I could have gotten pics of all the glass. But it was all around! I took a little video, but my skills are not so good, and you may get dizzy, but I will post it anyway. BubbaLou also had questions about the candles. At least she asked me this time, I had to put the camera up to answer her questions. She has a habit of sticking her finger in the wax. This was top priority so that interdenominational relations would not be placed into turmoil!

Luke 18:16

but Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

How about a little church?

One of the first things I saw as we drove into the city of Savannah, were church steeples towering over the city. There is just something about seeing church steeples that makes me very happy. The fact that they point toward heaven and the one true God who is love and happiness probably has something to do with it. A connection of peace and Christian love and community is apparent in this town and it has been here for so many years. Most of these churches have endured much hardship over the years, and yet they are still here, with congregations that still send up prayers from the same churches that our forefathers did.

This is the steeple of the Independent Presbyterian Church. Woodrow Wilson married here in 1885 and the Forrest Gump feather scene was filmed in front of this church.



This is the First Baptist Church in Savannah. Pretty, huh? It was the only church that didn't burn down during the fires. According to our tour guide, people wondered what it was the Baptists were doing since theirs was the only church that didn't burn down. It seemed they had been the only church to build their church out of stone and not wood.

This is one of the rare churches that held services throughout the Civil War. That is pretty cool in itself. I can only imagine the gut wrenching prayers that were said for soldiers and families torn apart, and for the country itself.


One of the most ornate and beautiful set of steeples belong to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. This church actually burned in the late 1800's and was rebuilt about 1900. The congregation was organized in 1799 and is the oldest Roman Catholic group in Georgia, and that says a lot since Oglethorpe banned Catholics when he first started the colony-felt their loyalty was questionable to the crown. This was the only church that we were allowed to walk into and I got some great pics of their stain glass windows. Absolutely beautiful!

This is the St. John's Episcopal church. We passed it on the way to the Wilke's House to eat lunch. I took this pic from the view of Madison square. It was really pretty the way it was framed by the trees.

This church was interesting. It is the First African Baptist Church formed in 1788 and is the oldest congregation of African-Americans in the whole United States. I love the double red doors.

There were several churches that I didn't get to visit. I was sorely disappointed, I really wanted to see them. I really wanted to see the Wesley Monumental Church built in 1868, it was built as a memorial to the Wesleys. I also didn't get a chance to see the statue of John Wesley.

I must have seen the Lutheran Church but I didn't get a picture, nor do I remember it. I think I must have been on overload because I know I walked over in that area. It had burned in the late 1700's and was rebuilt in the mid 1800's. It was close to the Trinity United Methodist Church which is the oldest Methodist Church.

I also missed the Christ Church. The original building was built before 1940, and the present building was built within its own walls just before 1900.

I know there is probably more, but I will have to make do with what I saw until I have a chance to go back again and explore Savannah. So much to see, so little time. But God sure made sure he brought some church to Savannah!

Matthew 16:18

And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it.

Stairs, stairs, stairs

We had the chance to climb all sorts of stairs in Savannah. The stairs include all sorts of nooks and crannies, sort of like Thomas' English Muffins. The history that has occurred and those people who have stood on them and near them just sends shivers up my spine!

The stairs were everywhere. Some curved on both sides of a recessed landing like the one below. Arms of southern hospitality. I was on a horse buggy when I took this picture, so I didn't get both arms, but they are there. The age and the patina of the stairs throughout the city just amazed me.

I love wrought iron and red brick, and it was in Savannah like I have only dreamed about. I particularly loved this staircase below, it is covered in all the pretty greens plants that are lovingly cared for by this home's owner.

On River street, you had to take stairs to get into the second floor shops. They were often festively decorated. Charming.

We climbed up these old stone stairs from River street to a park above. These are built really close to what they believe was an Indian burial mound. They were really steep. But beautiful.

We climbed these stairs and descended them several times. They were off Bay street and led down to River St. I thought I had lost BubbaLou once when she stumbled. Scared me half to death!

Almost every house had stairs of some sort of other. Mums asked me if it was wheel-chair accessible. You know, I wasn't able to say that it was. I really didn't pay attention, but it seemed like for the most part, down on River St., that would be awful hard to imagine. It was full of cobblestones and uneven pavement. We certainly had to watch our footing!

Good Eats!

Where, oh, where did we eat you ask???

You may be surprised. We took time to rate each place we ate along the way. We came up with 1-6 star ratings! Bet you can't wait to hear!!!! We tried to avoid anything that we could get in Florida!

We started our food fest at Spanky's Pizza Galley on River St. It was our first afternoon, we arrived in Savannah hungry as bears, and maybe as grumpy as one too! Spanky's, we came to find out, is home to the "Original Chicken Finger." What I want to know is, how do they really know that they are home to the original chicken finger? They also had beer battered spuds. In order to try it all, I got an individual pizza-which they make from scratch, and Popsaroo and BubbaLou got the chicken fingers, plus Popsaroo tried the beer battered spuds.

Popsaroo- 1 star BubbaLou- 5 stars Momsaroo-3 stars

Next, we stopped by the Savannah Candy Shoppe on River St. Let's just say, this put us in a pretty fantastic mood. It was a fun atmosphere, they were pulling taffy and had all kinds of colorful sugar treats and candy machinery. We hit the taffy bin and filled a bag, BubbaLou scored a very sticky caramel apple, and I found the most divine pecan pralines-regular and chocolate, and a gopher(I think it is a glorified turtle)! We actually stopped by this place again, and got some taffy for the trip back and Mums and Mummy Iris a pecan praline.

Popsaroo-6 stars BubbaLou-6 stars Momsaroo-6 stars

The next morning, we took advantage of the deluxe continental breakfast at our hotel, The Promenade. It was convenient and included in the price of the room. It was all sorts of pastries, muffins, bagels, and English muffins. Plenty of milk and cereal to choose from, with some yogurt and apples available as well. This allowed Popsaroo to sleep in! BubbaLou thought the muffins were "spectacular!"


Popsaroo-1/2 a star BubbaLou-6 stars Momsaroo-3 stars


Our second day, lunch was a real treat and a choice! We skipped Lady and Son's(Paula Dean's restaurant, for the gem of Savannah, The Wilke's House.

Isn't it pretty? It is on Jones St., one of the most scenic neighborhoods. These are the stairs and the alley way next the entrance of the restaurant on the ground level.

People stand in line, a long line, outside the door. We waited to be the next group of eight people taken in and seated. We shared a table with some folks from the Washington D.C. area. We shared a few pleasantries between mouth fulls. I tell you, there wasn't much talkin' except for, "Can you pass the potatoes, have you had the greens, pass me a biscuit please..."

One word, YUM describes this place. We ate family style and loved every minute of it. The literal word on the street from the people exiting, (burp) deep breath, tap, tap, tap on their stomach, and loudly sharing comments like this, "That was a heck of a lot better than Lady and Son's!"

So, see! We chose well. Why flock to a place just because they have a fun cookin' show(sorry Paula, but I had to choose!) We followed the word we had heard from a friend, a tip in the paper, and we followed the word we heard on the street and came away on top! And talk about friendly, one couple we were in line with, found out at the last moment that the Wilke's House does not take credit cards-they had nothing on them. Oh, No! They thought they had stood in line for nothing. But the Wilke's House encouraged them to stand in line and eat, they could go get their money after they got full! How is that for Southern Hospitality. They even called Popsaroo, "sweetie" when he took our plates to the kitchen.

Did I mention that eating at the Wilke's House in the book "A Thousand Things to Do Before You Die"?

Popsaroo-6 stars BubbaLou-6 stars Momsaroo-6 stars

Snacks are always important, don't ya think? We thought so. A friend also clued me into the Cupcake Emporium on Bull and State St. All sorts of yummy cupcakes to choose from. I was taking a walk by myself when I stopped by. I picked 6 cupcakes to take back to the room. 2 red velvet, 1 pistachio, 1 chocolate with butter cream, 1 nutter butter, and 1 strawberry. My favorite was the pistachio, Popsaroo's favorite was the red velvet, BubbaLou's favorite was the chocolate.

Popsaroo-3 stars BubbaLou-6 stars Momsaroo-6 stars

Vinnie Van Ghous was the next pizza place we tried. It is in City Market, on a corner with tables outside on the sidewalk. After a long day, we sat down at one of those tables and ordered a large 1/2 pepperoni and 1/2 cheese pizza. Best priced meal we had the entire time.

Popsaroo-3 stars BubbaLou-1 star Momsaroo-3 stars

The last night in town, we tried the Wild Wings that was also in City Market and short distance from our hotel. Pretty good, I got the buffalo salad with hot spiced chicken meat, it was SPICY!

Popsaroo-2 stars BubbaLou-3 stars Momsaroo-3 stars

For breakfast on our very last day, we went to the Cobblestone Cafe. It was in a really neat building and very quaint inside. The neat thing about this little place, is that they had journals on each table for people to write a little note in. BubbaLou wrote the most embarrassing note! I think she is trying to get me back for some of my posts. If you want to read it, I guess you better go to the Cobblestone Cafe! I am not telling you what table we were sitting at either!

Popsaroo-3 stars BubbaLou-6 stars Momsaroo-3 stars

We spent a very short time in Charleston, SC. Just long enough to catch the ferry boat out to Fort Sumter. The guy at the ticket counter told us of a place just a couple of blocks away that turned out to be very good advice. East Bay Deli. I think I had one of the best deli sandwiches I have ever had! I had a Tessa or something like that. It was a turkey with cheese, cream cheese, avocado, bacon, and grilled onions. Wow. I got a salad too, I was in dire need of some veggies. Very good. Popsaroo got a Yankee and BubbaLou got a grilled cheese. Best grilled cheese next to Popsaroo's! We got on the ferry and we still had our drinks. One guy saw our cups and said that he and his wife looked for East Bay Deli, but couldn't find it. I advised him to go back and look again and gave him a little better direction.

Popsaroo-4 stars BubbaLou-6 stars Momsaroo-6 stars

I was slacking when we stopped on the side of the road for boiled peanuts and cider in South Carolina. I can't remember the name of the place. But we found peach Nehis there. We haven't seen them in a long time. I also got a cherry cider, a peanut roll, and boiled peanuts. BubbaLou picked out some sort of wierd candy that she didn't like and a moon pie. Popsaroo had already eaten a iced honey bun from a drugstore that we stopped at earlier-so he just ate a few boiled peanuts.

Momsaroo-3 stars

A BIG Thank You to Mums!

Thanks to Mums, our wee family was able to take a southern vacation. We travelled all the way to Savannah, Georgia and the Charleston Harbor, SC! I have so much to share. But first, and foremost, thank you Mums for watching Patrick Poopers and our two fish. We get to pick Thomas the dog up from his "fun dog park" tomorrow. We missed him so much. Oh, and Mums, we missed you too! I was thinking of you when I came across these characters while I was walking down Bull St. in Savannah.

Thanks to the Good Lord above for keeping us safe!

Vacation Hiccups!

How often we just like to fly by the seat of our pants! We are impulsive and last minute planners. When we travel, it is usually day trips within the state and don't require great planning skills, like planning to board your dog while you are gone.

We have learned very quickly, that if you make hotel reservations for yourselves, you need to make them for the dog at the same time. Dog kennels get booked fast, or so we learned when we couldn't find a spot for ole Tomas the dog! We had to post-pone, but it is coming! We had pre-planning to do that we didn't know about anyway.

We had to take Thomas the dog to the vet today to get his kennel cough vaccine. You thought my kid was dramatic, just wait til' you meet my dog! Talk about a drama dog....

He barked the entire time. Well, at least 99.9 % of the hour that we were there. His form of saying hello is barking as loud and viciously as possible! This is Thomas the dog, "HEY, HOW ARE YOU? MY NAME IS THOMAS, WHAT IS YOURS? WHY ARE YOU SO SMALL, YOU AREN'T A CAT ARE YOU. HAVE YOU SEEN ANY CATS AROUND HERE? HEY, ARE YOU A FRIEND OR A FOE? IS THERE ANY FOOD AROUND HERE OTHER THAN THOSE DRY DOG-AWFUL BONES? HEY, WHERE ARE YOU GOING, ARE YOU NOT GOING TO BE MY FRIEND?MOM, THEY ARE LEAVING, MAKE THEM STOP. COME BACK, ARE YOU A GIRL OR A BOY, CAN I SNIFF YOU????

And so it went for an hour. Even the vet staff felt that they had to place a muzzle on his nose and mouth and give him his vaccine and clip his claws. Do you know how much my dog hates to have his nails clipped? Can you get your dog de-clawed? I don't think he would mind as long as he never had to have them clipped again!

As we were leaving the parking lot and Thomas the dog is going from window to window in the back seat barking, BubbaLou made the comment, "This is so embarassing! It's like he isn't trained or anything!

He is trained, sorta. He is isolated in our big field, with no other dogs to talk to. He has no concrete to walk on to wear his nails down and chat with other k-9's in the process.

Poor wittle puppy dawg! But won't the kennel staff have fun with Thomas the dog?

The Great Summer Lightening Show of 2008

God does amazing things with his world! I remember how much I loved the land in Tennessee. I loved the trees, the hills, the mountains, the way the clover grew, and the way the leaves would turn colors in the fall. I don't have any great memories of the sky.

Here in Florida, the sky is where it is at! The ground is really not much to look at; flat and dry, sandy, with a scrubby trees that really don't change into pretty colors. The palms are nice, but really, even that is planned and landscaped for it to look like the postcards.

God puts on light shows in the sky. We can see the stars(at least where we live), and the rainbows are amazing! We saw double rainbows just the other night. I don't ever think I saw a double rainbow while I lived in Tennessee. The lightening shows are also mesmerizing. They are just so vivid and alive when a bolt crackles in 15 different directions throughout the sky.

You just sit back in awe as you watch it as you are leaving Busch Gardens. Then you go into your house and find that your power is out and a tree is down in the backyard. Then the power stays out for 12 hours and most everything in your fridge has to go in the garbage the next day. Of course your cable, phone, and Internet are also out, even after the electricity comes back on at 2am in the morning. Four days later, when you finally get that cable, Internet, and phone back up, you find that the lightening got your Ethernet port, so you still have no Internet. Obviously, other people have had this happen, so there is a nifty little converter to USB!

But the show was something else, the storm clouds were layered in different shades of gray and black, gorgeous! And the rain! Oh, how we needed the rain! We really needed a soaking for the 4th of July! All those fireworks are just brush fires waiting to happen!

Did I mention that my septic tank backed up and we had to get it pumped today? It was way over due anyway. I think God just wanted us to get it pumped out, we sorta procrastinate!

God has a way of pulling all things together for good!

Paradise

Summer vacation, what a beautiful and relaxing time of year. I just love lying by the pool, looking at the beautiful clear blue sky and listening to the palm trees rustle in the wind as the kids squeal and splash in the pool. It is just remarkable how the scent of sunscreen and pool water help create this little piece of paradise.

The problem is, when you have been playing and relaxing in paradise, you forget you are there. So something is bound to happen to remind you that you are in paradise. So went my afternoon.

I had enjoyed playing with BubbaLou in the pool, I even swam a few laps. We decided to get out of the pool and enjoy our picnic lunch we brought. Ham and turkey on wheat bread. We skipped the picnic table and just got comfortable in our lounge chairs. I was biting into the last half of my sandwich, when BubbaLou and I heard a flapping noise and then something dropping. Something hit my leg. I looked down, disgusted to see that I had a large white wet glop on my leg, with a trail leading to a bird making his get away.

The bird of paradise had gotten me! Ewwww!

I repeat, Ewwww!

Not without mummy!

BubbaLou and Popsaroo made a dash for Orlando yesterday with our new Sea World /Aquatica /Busch Gardens/Adventure Island passes.

Where was I, you ask?

At work. Slaving away as my dear husband and daughter frolicked in the Florida summer heat among the sea creatures.

BubbaLou did however, miss her dear mummy. She refused to see any shows without her mummy right there to experience it with her. She didn't even want to take pictures since I wasn't there. What a kid! Is that not just the sweetest thing ever!?

Popsaroo and BubbaLou did however ride the Kraken, and loved it. Well, sorta, because according to BubbaLou, Popsaroo cried. (Shh, Don't tell anyone!) At least, they lived to tell about it.

The Kraken brings back memories to one of the most enjoyable book series that BubbaLou and I have listened to together, the Emily Winsnap series. Emily Winsnap and the Monster of the Deep is a really good kraken story, full of moments just like the roller coaster! Reading it is good, but listening to it on audio is even better!

Definitely a summer hit!

Happy Father's Day!

BubbaLou's Top Five Reasons She is Glad that Popsaroo is her Popsaroo!

1. He is funny.

2. He is fun because he plays lots of stuff and is fun on my birthday.

3. He buys me donuts.

4. He bought me a dog for my birthday.

5. He appreciates my sense of humor.

More spare time needed

More spare time is needed to create! It might be summer for some short little folks running amuck, but for me, I still have plenty of work calling me...at least three days a week, all day long. Between those days of my nose to the grindstone, I have found a few moments, here and there to try to figure out photoshop. I have only scraped the surface of digi- scrapbooking. My work is raw and unpolished, but yet, I am making my photos into pretty little things.

This is the most recent of my efforts. I can not take credit for the page, I just dropped photos in. I got this as a free download at CottageArts. I am hoping that by paying attention to their tips, I can get a clue. Baby steps for now! I want to get to the point that I can do this from scratch.

These pics of two of my old friends were taken last year at my 20th High School Reunion. I have to say, these are my before pictures. I have since lost 35 lbs! Yay, Me!!!


Now this, was my first attempt to make a purposeful page. I am learning all about layering and such, but really at the time I was just hoping that I could get the text bigger than I did on the next picture. This page is dedicated to all those who wanted to see a picture of Popsaroo! Purty, isn't he?

I took the crazy pic of BubbaLou and put it on a fancy background to make it pop! I think it truly reflects how crazy she really can be. I couldn't figure this out a couple of days ago.

My scrapbooking efforts have found life again! I was doing so well with scrapbooking after BubbaLou was born. Well, at least until she started to crawl. Then run at 10 months! That child sure can move. She never has stopped. She turns 9 in December, and I am just now picking it up again! I have tons of pictures to scrapbook.

I feel so blessed that God has given me such precious memories to scrapbook. We each have so many memories that are special to us in our families, I can only imagine what the scrapbook that Jesus' mother Mary would have created, or the one that he would make of us.