Heron, squirrel, deer and Millie the cat

We humans seem eternally curious about the Animal Kingdom, and I count myself one of those ... at least when I have a camera in my hand. 

And nowadays, thanks to the convenience and much-improved quality of cameras in cellphones, we technically have a camera at the ready at all times.

So in recent weeks, I pulled out the iPhone to capture images you are seeing in today's post. They feature yet another deer grazing in our backyard, a squirrel foraging for food on the roof of the house immediately outside my office window, the house cat, Millie, cavorting about outside and on the stairs to the second floor in the house and a blue heron that did not seem to fret when it saw me and/or other park visitors who were walking the trail around Yates Mill Pond. 

It turns out, each shoot carries a little story. I've already told you about the story about the heron -- it being unafraid of being so close to two-legged human creatures, although it did tread carefully. I'd never gotten that close to a heron before, so a part of me wished I had my DSLR with a zoom lens. That's not to say I didn't use the iPhone camera zoom for my shots; I did. But I was still closer to a heron yesterday than ever before.  

And I've seen squirrels on the roof before, but in the past, as soon they'd see me looking at them through the window, they'd bolt. It's possible that because we've had many of the limbs of a nearby crepe myrtle tree trimmed -- especially those that were falling onto the roof -- that squirrels don't have nearly the quick escape they used to. This squirrel (see photo above) even paused long enough to drop the berry or nut it was eating to look me square in the eye and, perhaps, dare me to make a first move toward it. I didn't. So it went back to its business (first two photos below), keeping an eye on me all the while.

I took advantage of this squirrel's decision to linger to get as many shots as I could with the iPhone; even though my DSLR camera case was nearby, I didn't want to risk losing any time. 

As for the deer ... well, we'd seen one in the year about two weeks ago, but it didn't hang around long enough to photograph. This time I sucked it up and shot through a house window. Unfortunately, a back deck plexiglass window stood between the house window and the deer, so many shots had two gradients of light exposure. The combination of that plus the fact that I'm pretty sure my iPhone zoom was maxed out made the resolution quality less than optimum (see photo above).

So when I had my fill of those shots, I went out the front door, quietly snuck around the house to a corner near the backside and grabbed a few more shots before the deer got wise to my presence (first photo below) and paused about 4 seconds, apparently to see if I would make a move. I didn't, so the deer decided to make one itself and bolted into the safety of the wooded land before it (second photo below). 

In an unfortunate footnote to the deer story ... residents of my neighborhood learned a couple weeks ago that a developer has submitted plans to put 253+ houses on 95 acres of wooded land that touches many of our properties. My home in particular -- which sits just outside the wooded acreage property line -- will be affected by the development. 

One of the things I enjoyed about our new home was the serenity -- and sounds of birds chirping -- that those woods gave us in the six years since we've been here. In the near future, that will all dissipate if the developer is successful in getting his high-density housing project approved adjacent to the two low-density neighborhoods (including ours) that flank the woods. 

The woods was an unofficial sanctuary of sorts for various wild life, including the deer who'd stray into our yard from time to time. But we've also seen a variety of birds and hawks, not to mention rabbits, turtles and snakes in the time we've been here. We wonder where those land-borne critters will run to after the heavy equipment comes here to start leveling the trees and creating the new homes. 

We'll have to wait and see, I guess.  

The deer and squirrel pictures are really the best of the lot, so I fill out the post with a few others of Millie and the heron below. You'll get to see Millie in various stages of her regular outdoor romp routine. I was able to photograph the heron from several angles, and unfortunately the mid-day sun did my compositions more harm than good, rendering -- at least from one angle -- me almost silhouettes. In the first heron photo below the pointing thing sticking out from the water in the background is simply a piece of driftwood. I chuckled when I first saw it; it reminded me of a shark or dolphin fin. 

Enjoy. 

Return to Savannah, Part VI: A fortuitous encounter at Forsyth Square

As I alluded to in the first post of this series, I had a fortuitous encounter in Forsyth on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, our second full day in Savannah. It was a day we spent the morning walking around the historic district again (which we always make a point to do while in Savannah) and, in the afternoon, taking the hour and a half trolley tour of the district. 

During the morning walking portion of our day, we approached Forsyth Square from the east, the side flanked by Drayton Street. I spied a couple of gentlemen sitting on a park bench in the middle of the park's south section, a scenario that reminded me of something that had happened on our very first visit to Savannah in March 2017. 

If you're a regular follower of this blog, you might remember the story and picture of the two nattily dressed gentlemen I made in 2017 and included in one of my posts here about that trip. 

At that time, I had asked the gentlemen if they would mind me photographing them, and both cheerfully consented. They told me their names, but I didn't write them down. By the time I got home to Indianapolis and began to compose the blog post, while I had remembered the full name of one gentleman (John Harrington), I could remember only the first name of the other one (James). The photo leading off the post is a cropped version that ran with the original post in 2017; below is the uncropped original, which I don't think I included in the 2017 post. 

When I saw those gentlemen on the bench from afar on the recent visit, I decided to cross the grassy meadow of Forsyth Square to investigate if maybe those were the same two gentlemen I had photographed in 2017. If so, I was hoping to get the other guy's last name and possibly do an updated photo.

Alas, as I got close to the men, I could see that it was not them. I turned and walked north toward the central fountain. In short order,  I came upon a single man on another bench, and I came up with the idea to ask him if he were a regular visitor to the park (he said yes). And then asked him if would mind telling me if he knew or recognized John and/or James if I showed him their photo on my iPhone. 

He looked at the photo for a good 10 seconds before he flashed a smile and said, while still fixing his attention on the photograph, that yes, he has seen them in the park before. He said they help staff a very modest Jehovah Witness booth that sets up daily in the park near the central fountain. 

I thanked him and headed north toward the fountain. Before I got to it though, there was a small booth along the sidewalk on the right that clearly was religious in nature. So I strolled over to it and gambled that it was likely staffed by members of Jehovah Witness that the man on the bench who I had just talked to mentioned moments earlier. But the booth was staffed by two women -- no men. So I repeated with the women what I had done with the man moments earlier -- showed her the picture and asked if they recognized John and James. 

The first lady I showed the picture to immediately and cheerfully said yes. She confirmed that one was John Harrington and told me James' surname was Washington. She also confirmed that the two men help out with the church's mission to spread the word at the park booths, but they do so primarily in the afternoon. 

I told her about the chance encounter I had with John and James six years earlier in the same park, and the woman agreed to let me send her a copy of the photo by text so she could show it to John and James the next time she came across them. I gave her my name, too, in case either of the gentlemen cared to know that information. There was a small part of me that wished John or James might drop me a text at some point since that May 16 encounter, but that has not happened.  

When I first came upon John and James in 2017, they were simply sitting on a park bench that was considerably south of the park's central fountain. There was no church-related booth setup nearby. Because of my curious nature, I would have liked to have asked them this time around if they always had been members of Jehovah Witness and participated in church promotions in the park ... or whether that activity came about in the years after I was there in 2017. I will add that in the few weeks since learning about their work with Jehovah's Witness, when I've gone back to look at the photo I took in 2017, I've wondered if the pamphlet James Washington is holding might be a church flier.  

I guess I'll never know. And I didn't get a chance to go back to the square while we were there to see if John and James would welcome an updated portrait. 

End of Series

Previously in this series:

Part I: Revisiting Savannah's historic district

Part II: The Crab Shack, Tybee Island

Part III: Dolphin-spotting, seabirds, lighthouses and more off Tybee Island

Part IV: Eateries, galleries and boutiques

Part V: Tiffani Taylor paintings find homes in historic district

Return to Savannah, Part V: Gallery closed, but some Tiffani Taylor paintings find new downtown homes

For whatever reasons, Savannah painter Tiffani Taylor closed her Whitaker Street art gallery last December, nine months after we first "discovered" it while on our fifth visit to the southeastern Georgia city. 

Lee Ann and I had so much enjoyed that gallery visit in March 2022, and we didn't learn about its closing until we made the trip back in May. I did some quick online checks to see what I could learn and found that Tiffany had announced the closing on her Facebook page, although I had been on a long hiatus from Facebook at the time. 

But she did say that three businesses in the Savannah historic district had welcomed opportunities to hang her works on their walls. They are the Andaz Hotel at Ellis Square, the Hyatt-Regency Hotel along the River Walk and the 45 Bistro inside the historic Marshall House Hotel on Broughton Street.

Lee Ann and I managed to get inside the Andaz and Hyatt-Regency to view her works there while we were in Savannah recently. The pictures you see here are from the displayed works we saw.

Next Up: A fortuitous encounter in Forsyth Square

Previously in this series:

Part I: Revisiting Savannah's historic district

Part II: The Crab Shack, Tybee Island

Part III: Dolphin-spotting, seabirds, lighthouses and more off Tybee Island

Part IV: Eateries, galleries and boutiques

Return to Savannah, Part IV: Eateries, galleries and boutiques

 If there are two things all tourists indulge on almost every stop on their travels, it's shopping and dining. And it's because of that truism that every time I sit to compose posts of my pictures from a travel excursion, I try to devote one or more posts to those keystone pastimes. 

And given that we've made six trips to Savannah now in the past six years, I've visited a lot of restaurants there. (You can peruse the list, which includes repeat trips, in the "Restaurants" folder of my photos at SmugMug.com).

Our recent trip involved four nights and three full days. In that time, we dined out four times in Savannah and once on Tybee Island. We also stuck our heads into seven picture-worthy shops and spent time briefly at two hotels where we visited artwork displayed there by Savannah painter Tiffany Taylor, an artist both Lee Ann and I first became acquainted with on our last trip to Savannah, in March of 2022, because her then-gallery was just around the corner from where we staying. I'll devote a full post to pictures of those artworks in Part V. 

After we learned her gallery had closed in December 2022, I decided to devote a full post in this series to pictures of her work that I took at those hotels.

Two of the four restaurants in Savannah where we dined this time were return visits -- The Ordinary Pub and Six Pence Pub. The two new ones were Tequila's Town and Poe's Tavern. I already covered the trip to The Crab Shack on Tybee Island. 

Of the seven shops we visited, six were new to us -- Whispers, Something Different, Saints and Shamrocks, the Copper Penny Boutique and George Davis Fine Art & Antiques, while the seventh, E Shaver Bookseller and Tea Room, was a return visit. 

Here is a summary (with pictures, of course) of each of those:  

THE ORDINARY PUB

I gambled with my fare on this visit and ordered the Honey Glazed Salmon, which was salmon served on a chimichurri sauce and sauteed arugula topped with fresh pineapple pico and fresh basil. Even after the dish was served at our table, I felt sketchy about it. But the more I delved into everything, the more delicious and flavorful it was. I ate every bite of the serving. The salmon is the first photo below. 

Lee Ann went with the bacon cheeseburger and fresh cut fries (second photo below). As for drinks, I had a margarita (fourth photo below) and Lee Ann ventured with a house special cocktail but can't remember what was in it (third photo below). 

At the bottom of this section, I include a photo of a large sign of the pub name in lights alongside the bar, something I don't remember from our previous visit. 

TEQUILA'S TOWN

My most memorable experience in my first visit to Tequila's Town, a Mexican restaurant at 109 Whitaker St., was the large margarita (with the house tequila) that I consumed (first photo below). 

Other than being in a large mug, it wasn't anything extraordinary, but it hit the spot on the night we were there. Lee Ann ordered a premium margarita (second photo) which had a label tequila. She couldn't finish it (and didn't expect to), so she gave what she couldn't consume to me. By the time I got to her drink, I couldn't really notice the higher-shelf tequila.   

I ordered a taco salad as seen in the fourth photo below (I wasn't feeling too adventurous), while Lee Ann had the Gringa Quesedilla (third photo).

SIX PENCE PUB

The first of our two return visits to local eateries was the Six Pence Pub. We'd eaten there three times previously, and each time I had the pot roast and mashed potatoes, and each of those times, it was absolutely delicious. Lee Ann had grown fond of the pub's Shepherd's Pie, which she also had found delightful in the past. 

We were both disappointed with those same dishes this time around, though. Not sure why Lee Ann wasn't happy with hers (first photo below), but my pot roast (second photo) was dry -- despite the gravy on top -- and on the tepid side (as opposed to hot out of the oven).

With did notice that the pub's tribute to Queen Elizabeth had been replaced by a photo of King Charles III (third photo below). 

POE'S TAVERN

I'm pretty sure this pub is relatively new to Savannah. It's on the far western fringe of the downtown historic district, so if it has been around a while, that would explain why we hadn't known of it before this trip. 

Poe's has traditional pub fare, and the day we were there we both were in a burger mood. I got the simple Gold Bug Burger with Swiss cheese (first photo below), while Lee Ann opted for the Gold Bug Plus (second photo below), which enabled her to top hers with Pimento cheese (not available with the simple Gold Bug). Our burgers were good, as were the fries. 

The place has lots of Poe-related wall hangings, and I include two photos of the like below the food pictures.

  

GEORGE DAVIS FINE ART & ANTIQUES GALLERY

The pictures with this section were taken at the above named gallery at 408 Bull St. I liked a lot of what I saw, and after taking a few pictures, a gentleman came out from the back, and I asked him if he were George Davis. The looked at me oddly and and we exchanged a few more uncomfortable questions and answers about George, he explained that he was George's partner (I presumed he meant in the business). Then he asked me if I knew George, and I said no and that I presumed the person I would meet in the shop would be the gentleman for whom it was named. 

That's when he told me that George was deceased and that he was now running the establishment. He said the shop displays art by several artists and sculptors, and we talked about one or two. As we made our way out the door, the gentleman followed us outdoors quickly and locked the door behind him. 

I felt offended, but hey, what do I know? We moved on. As I said before, I really liked the art in the shop. So much so that the photo leading off the post was also taken inside this gallery.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

This shop on River Street near the River Walk is aptly named. You'll find oddities, novelties and funny sayings on an assortment of merchandise. The photos in this section are from our stop in that store.

SAVANNAH BEE CO.

Lee Ann and I both have interest in quality honey, Lee Ann to use in her hot teas and me to consume raw versions on a daily basis to help negate symptoms triggered by environmental allergies to pollen, dust, mold and cat dander. So we spent time perusing the offerings this shop, also along River Street but in the tunnel on the west end of the River Walk. The Sourwood honey (last picture in this section) was particularly delicious, so we got some of that.   

WHISPERS

Another River Street shop, Whispers is -- as the photos should convey -- a women's clothing, shoes and accessories shop. My interest in going in was photos; Lee Ann actually bought a couple of shawls and the three pins you see at the bottom of this section. She has become friends to dragon flies because they are a gardening cohort (they eat pests that can harm the garden), she has a cat named Millie and she's always liked butterflies. 

THE COPPER PENNY BOUTIQUE

We didn't spend a lot of time in this Broughton Street shop, but I will point out that the man who seemed to be the owner and/or manager was very congenial and even offered me an opportunity to sit and enjoy a beverage while Lee Ann looked around. These four photos are the entirety of my shoot there.

SAINTS AND SHAMROCKS

This shop at 309 Bull St. is another fun place, reminiscent of Something Different except that the merchandise is confined to light religious and Irish fun merchandise, including clothes, wall art, books, coffee mugs and the like. 

I don't recall if we walked out with anything, but I do remember we enjoyed a folk tune that was playing on the store streaming system ... so much so that I asked the staffers if they could tell me who the vocalist was, and they said Harry O'Donoghue. They did not say if they had any of his recordings for sale, but I'd have to imagine they would have directed me to them if they did. 

E SHAVER BOOKSELLER AND TEA ROOM

Like a lot of people, it's hard for Lee Ann and I to not stop at a local-owned bookstore, which is what E Shaver's is at 326 Bull St., just off Madison Square. We'd been here on a previous visit, and I believe I presented some pictures from that visit in a blog post at the time. But I couldn't help but taking more pictures again, and speaking of cats, a couple of the pictures were of the shop's resident cats. 

Next Up: Tiffani Taylor paintings find homes in historic district

Previously in this series:

Part I: Revisiting Savannah's historic district

Part II: The Crab Shack, Tybee Island

Part III: Dolphin-spotting, seabirds, lighthouses and more off Tybee Island