Prepping the garden and house for Isaias 7 ' 20

  I spent the day prepping the house and yard for Isaias

I moved all our lightweight potted plants to  wind-sheltered locations 

and took all our yard art indoors so hit couldn't become a missile.

Then, I harvested all of the cut-flowers, and trimmed their plants back to three feet of lower so they would have less  mass and be less likely to get flatted.

The large bowls of cut-flowers help make  the house look really cheery.

Next I tackled harvesting all my herbs which are in their peak of  summer growth.

I put all the soft herbs like basil into large bowls of water so that they would stay fresh until I had time to process them into pesto, or infuse them into oils.

The remaining culinary herbs were hung  to dry 

from a pot rack above our kitchen sink.

They make the house smell just heavenly. 

HOA Deck Repair 8 '19

New deck floorboards ready to be installed.

Our HOA has decided to redo the weatherproofing and wood on all of our condo units'upstairs decks. Today, the workers began ripping out the deck wood and railings from the unit next to ours.

Neighbor's deck with new waterproof sealant.

That is a pretty good indicator that our unit's deck will be all torn up next week. We have a lot of patio decor and a gazillion potted herbs that will have to be cleared off of our deck before construction can begin on our unit.

Patio furniture stored in  BJs office

Bruce moved all of our patio furnishings indoors,
while I moved all of the potted plants from our deck to other locations  downstairs where they would be safe from the construction.

Small pots of cukes, peppers, tomatoes, basil, thyme etc. crowd  the back porch

Savannah's Temple Mickve Israel: 10 '18

On yesterday's trolley tour, our guide pointed out both Savannah's Catholic Cathedral of St John the Baptist, and the Congregation Mickve Israel, and recommended we tour both. Whenever we visit a new town, Bruce and I usually look up both the local Catholic and  Jewish congregations' places of worship.  It gives us a sense of commonality with the local community.  So it was a no-brainer that we would put these two buildings on our must-see list. Knowing how difficult parking spaces are to find, we got up at first light so we could beat the crowds. First stop: Temple Mickve Israel.  Perhaps we were a little too proactive.  The building doesn't open to the public before 10 am.

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But the signage was enough to convince us we wanted to come back as soon the doors opened.  In sum, it told us that the Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah, Georgia, is one of the oldest in the United States, as it was organized in 1735 by mostly Sephardic Jewish immigrants of Spanish-Portuguese extraction from London who arrived in the new colony in 1733. They consecrated their current synagogue, located on Monterey Square in historic Savannah, in 1878. It is a rare example of a Gothic-style synagogue. The synagogue building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Today, the synagogue is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism.

Come 10 o'clock, we were back. This time to take the full tour. Built in Neo-Gothic style that echoes the elaborate architecture of the Victorian period--it is the only synagogue in the United States like it. While a lot simpler in decor than it's Catholic counterpart, the Congregation of Mickve Israel Temple is every bit as rich in history.

The Mickve Israel Temple tour was one of the highlights of our long weekend in Savannah!  Our guide was extraordinarily knowledgeable welcoming.  The tour included:

The Mitzvah

The Baroque style architecture 
and organ were highly progressive enhancements.

as were the beautiful stained glass windows.

The arc contains multiple Torahs including a Holocaust Torah from Poland.

After visiting the main temple, we toured 

the congregation's museum.

It was filled with the artifacts both religious

Deerskin Torahs 

 and secular items detailing all the people, places and events the Congregations members have impacted.

Letters from George Washington and every US President since are on the wall.

These veggies love the cold: 12 '16

There's ice on the cars this morning, but my winter herbs and veggies don't seem to mind.  We've already trimmed the cilantro and parsleys, and the kale, red mustard, and chard are ready to start harvesting.

New Bern Tyron Palace work areas: 11'16

After touring the Governor and his family and formal rooms, we were free to explore the separate unattached buildings that housed the kitchen area and other working areas of the palace household.

The kitchen was large and roomy with many different areas for food preparation

A costumed expert  colonial cooking processes was on hand to answer any questions we might have while she  prepared an authentic meal for the day, 

Another room was set aside for weaving and tailoring

The head of the female staff.(above)  as well as the lead butler each had their own modest, but reasonably comfortable  private accommodations.

Other servants however bunked together in minimaly furnished accomodations.

Other areas we viewed were the blacksmith  house,

the stables,

and the herb and kitchen gardens.

Getting our Herbs Organized

Yesterday, we heard the sound of glass (lots of it) loudly crashing against other glass.  Upon investigation we found that one of the wire shelves I store our dried herbs on, had come loose from the pantry wall, and dumped dozens of bottles of herbs atop of one another.  

Nothing was broken, but it took me a long time to pick up all the bottles of herbs and spices, and get then sorted out alphabetically. Meanwhile Bruce reattached the shelf to the wall, using twice as many supports to insure it would stay up.

To make it easy to find a seasoning quickly,  the herbs and spice bottles went back onto the shelves in alphabetical order. I use clothes pins labeled A through Z  on the outer rack to designate where each letter of the alphabet begins.

But of course that was only half the battle.  We still had another entire shelf of herbs and spices that had to be unloaded and the supports reinforced , lest we have a similar mishap next week.  But at the end of the day, the pantry was all put back together and all was in good order.