Wow! As the Hippie era song goes: "Jokers to the left of me, clowns to the right, here I sit in the middle with you." On the left of my desk is my US 2005 IRS tax form to be completed. On the right, summons for US court jury duty this month. What better time to escape all that and write a blog. So much is happening lately my material is endless. Savannah is a busy place this time of year.
International seems to be the theme of events flooding over me. Savannah's annual Tour of Homes just occurred and was a smashing success. All the money goes to fund grants for the needy of the city and we have a plethora of those. Residents in grand and historic homes open them to the public for the price of a ticket. As a result I STOOD Saturday from 9:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. in a home as head host, greeting 1500 of my closest brand new best friends and explaining the virtues of the house they were seeing. As usual I was amazed at the number of people from California, Europe and all parts of the nation and world who make the annual pilgrimage to visit our city for this event. Each year a different selection of homes is on the tour for that reason and it's when our gardens are in full bloom.
Heard from a friend I haven't seen since 1980 today. He's like family (have actual relatives I see about that often) so it was good to know he's well. We began our association in about 1964 as Graduate School classmates. We became closer when he and his wife became my next door neighbor. When my family left Durham for Atlanta, my friend and his followed by coincidence a few years later. After I became a divorcee I changed jobs from one department to another and ended up with my old classmate as my boss. We worked together for the 80s. I often feel like a vagabond but was really impressed to learn he's refined it to an art form. He closed his research lab a year ago now at a mid-western American med school and only teaches. He's bought a place near a sailing mecca and plans to move there soon. He's always struck me as a born lifetime bachelor which he reverted to after taking cues from another old song, "Fifty Ways to Leave a Lover". He left Atlanta for the north which he prefers. I knew his reputation as a world class sailor but wasn't prepared to learn that he's sailed yachts ( for other people who were rich enough to afford the grandest but needed someone to "reposition them" globally) from Iceland to the Caribbean and Atlantic to the Mediterranean in his spare time. Nice gigs.
Got it together for a passport with the thought I'd take a nice relaxing international fling in April. Bad time for taxes but usually a good time for travel. Climate is at its best and rates are good then. The day I went to the Post Office to renew my well-expired passport the line was out the front door. It made me ask of those around me if there was something happening that I should know about that was causing the obvious mass migration. They smiled but shrugged. I mentioned to the lady taking application and she admitted she'd never seen the line so long. I still don't understand it. I planned to leave for my trip as soon after tax deadline on the 15th as possible but didn't actually part with money as I awaited arrival of my passport. Had my eye on a jaunt that took off on the 27th. Then the mail came. I report for jury duty April 18th with a reminder that if I serve long enough to earn $600.00, they'll be forced to report it to the IRS. At the rate they pay jurors that would take long enough for my heirs, not ME, to be concerned. I figure roughly mid May will be my first chance to hop the next freighter!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment