The Rabbi and the Doctor

A short story by Aimee Bender:

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/111828/the-doctor-and-the-rabbi

An abridged version of this story is read aloud on this podcast:

https://onbeing.org/programs/claire-danes-ellen-burstyn-tracy-k-smith-et-al-stories-about-mystery-dec2017

Podcasts

On Being With Krista Tippet:

David Steindl-Rast: "Anatomy of Gratitude" A monk who talks joyfully about gratefulness and life, December 21, 2017

Naomi Shihab Nye:  Your Life is A Poem

Rebecca Solnit: "Falling Together" December 14, 2017

Tuesday in Mississippi

Today was a beautiful day--weatherwise and otherwise.

As Maya Angelou said, "This is a wonderful day.  I've never seen this one before."

My first stop was in Gautier (pronounced Go-Shay).  I always stop at Block Therapy there--a quilt shop--to look for treasures for Day, my quilter daughter.

Then I got off the big road and wended my way back here to Covington where Betty and I stayed a week ago.  I chose a different motel because there was a  man I'd talked with at the Clarion (who was to be there for two weeks) who knocked at our door that last night and unnerved us both. Betty has already texted me and warned me not to talk to needy men, so I'm abiding by that!

I love the Mississippi Gulf Coast so much that if I were ever going to move anywhere, it would be this area.  Ocean Springs was my delightful surprise of the day, the first town after Gautier. If you ever go there, you must have a meal at Maison de Lu.

The best clam and corn bisque--along with a salad

A mural on a wall in downtown Ocean Springs that reminded me of Will's work. 

A view of the Biloxi Bridge from Ocean Springs beach

At lunch, I had a lively conversation with two local men at a nearby table.  Later in the day, I heard someone shouting, "Hey, San Antonio!" and looked up to see their smiling faces.  The residents and tourists in Ocean Springs were so friendly.  I asked a woman at a Toy Shop if she had any of those big bubble blowers and she said, "Only one and the book is missing, so I'll give it to you."

After Ocean Springs, I stayed on 90 through Biloxi, Gulfport, Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis, then got back up on the big road to find lodging and dinner.  I found a great Japanese Hibachi grill across the street and just returned from dinner to hear that San Antonio is expecting bad weather tonight and tomorrow.  That news (thanks to Joy's email) will help me decide the final leg of this fun journey.

Gulfport Beach

A few Selfies of my Shadows in the Sand

As I rode along, I listened to three extraordinary podcasts,  On Being With Krista Tippet.

I'll put links to them on the next post....

Tuesday, Day 13

Yesterday was gray in sky and mood.  The first day alone after being with folks I love can feel gray and lonesome--and lonesome is the other side of the proverbial coin of solitude.  Besides I (who love sleep) hadn't slept enough the night before to feel rested and travel ready. I didn't make phone calls due to car noise,  just drove along in the dark, then the morning, then the afternoon, my usual road-curiosity dampened.

By the time I got to Dauphine Island and took a couple of pictures, solitude was starting to feel okay again.

I went to a good and highly-recommended place called Bozo's (one of those places so deep in the city you have to ask your phone how to get there).  It was packed with people and sold all kinds of seafood, raw and cooked. A man was sitting outside playing a horn.  "Do you know Sweet Home Alabama?" one customer asked him.  "No, I know California Dreaming," he said--and I got into my Tiguan (Tiger/Iguana) with a box of shrimp listening to the easy dreamy sound of a trumpet.  I'm back in jazz country.

Then I found a beautiful room with a king-sized bed.  I sprawled all my stuff and myself onto this big bed and was so road-weary I thought I'd fall right to sleep.  But instead I discovered an Irish series on Acorn ( called Striking Out) that was so delightful that I watched a few episodes, then slept, then got up at 3:15 and made myself a banana, apple, and blueberry smoothie.

Now I have the king-sized luxury of going back to sleep, hoping to sleep until ten, then going for a walk on a beach before heading home.

Pascagoula Mississippi Monday Night

I woke up early and decided to get an early start on Atlanta traffic--too early to take the scenic route.  I've been in the car for over 12 hours, stopping only to visit Dauphin Island.  Because of high wind, the ferry wasn't running, so I didn't get to go to the main part of the island, but I enjoyed poking around and remembering when I went there last.

The ferry ride alone is about 45 minutes each way, so it's fine that I didn't go there, but I remember it fondly--with all its colorful houses and nice beaches.

In Pascagoula, I went to Bozo's for shrimp--recommended to me by someone on the island.  I was too tired to eat it, so brought it to  my room and plan to settle in early.

If you're traveling near Mobile on a sunny day, I highly recommend taking an early morning ferry and spending the day on Dauphin Island.

Last night at Carlene's

It's been gray all day

These are the colors of the houses on Dauphine Island--
wish I could have gotten on the ferry and taken
better photos.  This is a row of boat houses. 

Sunday in Lawrenceville

If I ate half a loaf of banana bread, you know who ate the other half?  My sweet mama--she likes me to call her that, so there you have it.

Sweetness affects us all differently, but for me it brings on the myalgia big time if I overdo it, which I did in Louisiana and now Georgia.  I'm aching today, but doing better at the table.  Bob and Jocelyn came over and we had Mexican food, mine gluten free, and then we went next door to an unusual shop--combination candy in beautiful colors and bags of herbs.  I chose turmeric--and Jocelyn also bought me some lemony almonds and we shared a bar of goat's milk soap.

Jocelyn is posing beside one of the paintings of the store owner, a poet and painter and herbalist.

Carlene attended a funeral of a friend's husband today--the third in a very short space of time.

After a late lunch, Carlene and I spent the rest of the day watching the marches and listening to the articulate young people speaking out against gun violence.

Days 8 and 9

Carlene and I are having a relaxing good, but short, visit--before I head back to Texas.  Today we drove over to Athens and had lunch with Bob and Jocelyn at Bone Island, a restaurant we all like.

Jocelyn showed me some photos she took on portrait mode on her new iPhone 8--really good pictures!

Carlene at lunch today

Gracie, one of Bob and Jocelyn's dogs--what a sweet one! 

Bob worked me out a backroad route back to Texas--which I look forward to exploring on my way back to San Antonio, avoiding Baton Rouge, Houston, Atlanta, and Lake Charles.  

Carlene's friend, Carol Ann,  made us a banana bread and it was so delicious I went ahead and enjoyed half a loaf of it!  I'm paying for it today with myalgia, so I'll get back on the wagon from here on out.

Here's Nathan getting ready for last night's tryouts--he wants to be a drummer in middle school next year.  Fingers crossed, he'll make the cut and begin his percussion years.

Yesterday, his dog died--the smallest of the three, a rat terrier named Skippy.  Nathan was upset about Skippy--and Elena said, "Nathan, you can have Charley."[That's her dog, a mixed-poodle.]

Later, Nathan seemed to be feeling somewhat cheerful again.

"What's the matter, Nathan?  Aren't you sad anymore?  Are you already over Skippy?" Elena asked--which made him sad all over again!

Day 8--36 degrees

Yesterday, Betty and I drove in tandem as far as the Georgia Welcome Center, then she peeled off to head to Peachtree City and I drove here to Lawrenceville....

I missed Betty and her little brown Civic after we'd been weaving along I65 and I85 together for all those hours.

She's always teasing me about my "perilous pull-overs"--me pulling off by the side of any road to take a picture when one calls.  As trucks whizz by and she sits in the passenger seat rolling her eyes, I can just hear her saying, as she so often actually does, "I'm going to have to be the one to call Carlene and tell her you're dead."

There were no perilous pullovers yesterday, not even a single temptation to break the flow of forward-moving traffic or risk being swept into the Wild Blue Yonder by the tight string of 18-wheelers in which we and a few other cars found ourselves.

Expressways are mostly devoid of photo opportunities, anyway.  On the back roads, the world is far more interesting, textured and slow; major highways make me believe the world is flat all over again. So Betty and I  drove along, our cars like two little paper boats in the same current, both on cruise control, she listening to satellite radio, me listening to podcasts.

I particularly enjoyed the Invisibilia podcast.  In one episode, Hanna Rosen tells about how her mother decided one day she wanted to jump out of an airplane--and that story leads to an interesting discussion about losses.  Not that her mother died from jumping (she didn't), but the jump helped her to begin to get past the worst of the grief after the death of her husband of 51 years.

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510307/invisibilia

On one Super Soul podcast, Oprah talks to Trevor Noah (my favorite comedian, The Daily Show) about his life and work and his book, Born a Crime.

Finally: On Being With Krista Tippet.  On Monday, as Betty and I were driving to the causeway heading into New Orleans, I heard a voice that sounded familiar.  She was reading the last few lines of a poem.  It turns out it was Naomi, our Naomi, from San Antonio--and I made a mental note to listen to the entire episode.  I'm all set up to listen with Carlene when she gets back from the beauty shop.

https://onbeing.org/blog/the-gift-of-presence-the-perils-of-advice/

https://onbeing.org/series/podcast/

Day Seven

Day Seven hasn't quite started yet and already I've had an adventure.

Betty is sleeping.  I threw my coat on over my pajamas and drove to McDonald's to get a coke to go with my Advil (stiff neck from driving).  McDonalds was closed, so I went to the Satsuma Chevron.

The owners, Bill and his wife, were making breakfast.  "We're fixing to feed about 500 people," Bill told me.

He gave me a sample--and it was, hands down, the best breakfast I've had this entire trip: red Creole gravy on buttery grits with eggs and sausage.

"I'd say you're from Michigan," he said.  "Hey, Honey--where do you think she's from?"

"Not Michigan," she said, both sizing me up.

"Well, you're educated, probably a liberal, the kind of woman who could write a book," Bill said.

So after we'd talked a bit and gotten the geography straight, I asked Bill how he knew so much about me, even though he was far off on Michigan.  "I'm a retired Marine and I've always been good about profiling people," he said.  "I just thought Michigan before you started talking."

"Even with your pajamas and cool green shoes, I could tell you were a writer," he said.  "Not murder mysteries, but probably fiction or books about the South."

"Yeah," his wife agreed.  "But not cooking kinds of books, something more like nature and landscapes and people."

SO--I'm going to go back to sleep now, hoping not to wake Betty, then later see if she wants to stop by the Satsuma Chevron for some Creole breakfast and personality profiling, then start my five-hour drive to Lawrenceville.

Day Six

Betty and I are halfway to Georgia--spending the night tonight near Mobile.  We drove off the expressway on Highway 190 East so we could enjoy the Gulf Shores.  Pass Christian (just west of Gulfport) was a nice surprise--a pretty little town on the beach.

Here I am with the sister of Robin Roberts--
who has a gift shop in Pass Christian named Robin's Nest

Clean white sand in Gulfport....