Thursday night in Savannah

After getting changed, feeding and putting baby Baxter to bed; Will and I continued exploring down Savannah's Bay and River Streets well into the night.  Our first stop was the hotel right across the street from ours; the East Bay Inn,  where daily tours are conducted throughout.  We were greeted by the concierge and even though tour had concluded for the day, she showed us some local history in the welcome area, where we took some photos and continued on our way.

East Bay Inn, Bay Street

Next we visited Savannah's Candy Kitchen on River St, which has to be every child and sweet tooth's dream!  We witnessed the mixing and manufacturing of candy, sampled local delights and after almost an hour of me deliberating what sweets to buy and Will growing increasingly impatient; we left with only one caramel coated apple!

Savannah's Candy Kitchen

Afterward, we had dinner at the Oyster Bar and listened to a one-man show at the Cotton Exchange Tavern before wrapping up for the evening.

Weekend getaway to historic Savannah

Will's going to South Africa for two whole weeks; but not wanting to loose the title of best-hubbie-in-the-world, he has organised a weekend trip for the three of us to visit Savannah beforehand!  I'm so excited!  This trip will appease the restlessness within me caused by being in the same place for so long; and it will enable us to spend quality time together... ahh bliss!

We left Atlanta this morning and arrived in Savannah by 3pm: just in time for a horrendous storm that brought hail, a city-wide power outage and lightening that was striking down trees and power lines before our eyes!  Once it was safe to leave the car, Will checked us into an ancient and beautiful building on Bay St, which is now the Staybridge Hotel. 

Ordinarily, we would have been ecstatic to be upgraded to a suite on the top level, but with no electricity, Will lugged our entire car-trunk of luggage up five flights of stairs and this put a slight damp on his enthusiasm! I offered to help or course, but my Prince Charming insisted on doing it himself.  By 4 pm, we were walking down River St! Where the streets are paved with... oyster shells.

We walked all the way from one end of Bay St to the other and then back up Bay St to our hotel to get ready for the evening.

Great mornings at the Green Market

On Saturday mornings between May and October, Will and I like to kick our weekends off with a walk to the Piedmont Park Green Market where we have breakfast.  The market vendors are all local farms or businesses and their stalls have something to interest everyone; like organic fruit and veg, fresh meat, hot or iced tea and coffee, sweet and savoury preserves and jams, hand crafted jewellery, Asian and Mexican cuisine, baked goods and a myriad of sweets for desert!

We pick up our coffees, walk around and choose our breakfasts and sit down to enjoy it all at a table right next to the (always upbeat) band. The market is pet friendly so Baxter comes along and lays in the shade under our table, munching on his organic dog biscuit from the "Big Daddy's Doggy" tent.  


Photo: ieatsales.com

Photo: piedmontpark.org

Photo: discover-atlanta.com

Photo: sohoatlantablog.typepad.com



Box of Memories

Will's aunt is putting her house on the market and has been cleaning it out little by little, getting rid of all the things she won't need, including Will's battle-scarred, childhood chest that he brought home a few days ago.  

I spent some of my day off work today cleaning and polishing it up, preparing it for its new role as storage space for our spare bedding. As I wiped and waxed, I couldn't help picturing my husband as a kid; energetic, loud and rough with the world at his feet and all the potential in the world.  I wonder if he is happy with the way his life turned out... of course if I asked him he would say that he is, but I wonder if he ever thought his life would turn out the way it has? 

Did he ever imagine that he would become a travelling salesman like his father, when he was a boy crying with frustration that his daddy was never home, stuffing this chest with toys?  Or when he got to high school and begun filling it with sports memorabilia, trophies, jerseys and collective cards?  Did he think he would be so settled down when he became even older and his chest became a storage unit for letters, photos and records of his achievements in the Marine Corps? 

I wonder if he thinks that his life has become so predictable and whether he is content with the decisions he has made that have got him to this place in his life... or if he still yearns for more? Like his toy chest that watched him evolve over his lifetime, holding so much within; now standing rather pathetically at the foot of our bed storing pillows, sheets and blankets.

Sweetwater Creek Park

Both Will and I have been working so much that we haven’t had a chance to get anyway anywhere, even for a weekend. Both of us go stir-crazy being cooped up in the city for long, so we take any chance we can to put on our hiking shoes and at least explore places near to us on synchronized days off. Recently we found a place about 20mins away called “Sweetwater Creek Park.”

More than just an awesome State Park with an abundance of wildlife, native plants, awesome walking trails and a river flowing through it, Sweetwater is also home to an incredible historic site: the ruins of a textile mill demolished in the Civil War! Its strong foundation and several skeletal walls still stand on the creek bed, casting a hauntingly beautiful centrepiece amongst the otherwise untouched, wild landscape.

  

Rainbow flip flops

In Australia they’re called thongs... but here in the States, a thong is something entirely different! Whatever you want to call them; Rainbow’s are the most comfortable flip flips in the world! Will’s worn the same pair since before I met him four years ago and last week he finally converted me into buying a pair. They were tight and painful at first, but Will suggested that I wear them in the shower so that I can get them wet and stretch them out. I always thought wetting leather was a big no-no, but take my word for it: it works!


And do yourself a favour: get a pair of Rainbow thongs (the Aussie meaning!)

Scarborough Beach

Of all the experiences within my life, few compare to the sunsets on Australia's western coastline.  For half the year of 2009, I would try every evening to be by the shore to bear witness to another glorious sunset over the beach.  Scarborough Beach. 

Prior to moving to Scarborough Beach, I had lived three years in QLD at the base of the Great Barrier Reef; but this new beach had a completely different kind of beauty.  Its sand was powder soft and white; its water was sapphire blue with enormous and angry waves and its seashells were types I'd never seen before.  There was a raw, untouched authenticity to its shore; where tall grass grew right onto the sand and rabbits would hide - real, adorable rabbits on a beach - nothing else I've seen yet beats that.  There were giant pine trees growing at the border line where sand met soil; and Rosella parrots were seen everywhere and  heard above beeping horns and crashing waves. 

This was our first home; Will and I.  A more magnificent backdrop we could never have imagined as we were consumed by our love for each other and took our first steps into a shared life.  It was on Scarborough Beach that Will proposed to me - surrounded by rabbits, gum nuts, crashing waves, those annoying parrots; and a setting sun that still takes my breath away just remembering it. 

Scarborough Beach was where I met Will's mum for the first time; where Will and I had our first argument; and there in that tiny, one bedroom apartment on Pearl Parade that I cooked our first dinner, paid our first bills, ruined our first load of washing and got my first taste of missing my home in QLD so much, that I stayed up and cried in private while he slept. 

It was there on Scarborough Beach that I realised for first time that I would spend the rest of my life with someone, as Will and I sat on a blanket sipping champagne (shhhh, alcohol wasn't allowed!) and watched as the sun set over the beach and that very first, very amazing chapter of our joint life.  At times, I close my eyes and I am right there again.


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