Savannah

I had a wonderful weekend in Savannah, where I met three of my sisters as well as my parents, who live there. There  was plenty of delectable homemade food. . .

and more yummy homemade food. . .

and out to restaurants for Southern-style shrimp. . .

and more Southern-style shrimp

(these, actually, are both from Vic’s On the River, which is clearly my parents’ favorite restaurant. I only wish that I’d taken a picture of their scrumptious Lump Crab and Mango Tower with avocado, heirloom tomatoes, lemon aioli, and chive vinaigrette on a bed of arugula. Ahhhhh, yumma, yumma.)

Of course, the main event was the Savannah Book Festival. It was excellent. Some of the highlights, for me, were talks by:

• Dave Barry, who was very, very funny. Just my Mom and I made it to this kick-off event, and since she’s one of the organizers, I was pressed into service and earned a volunteer t-shirt. Whoop, whoop.
• Mary Sharrat, who wrote Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen. Two of my sisters and I ended up buying this book and getting it signed–the only one we did. It’s next on my “to read” list.
• Heidi Squier Kraft, who wrote Rule Number Two, a memoir of her time serving marines in Iraq as a Navy psychologist. Mom and I had both read this book and had a hard time not crying during her talk. Rather, a hard time stopping crying.
• A.J. Jacobs, who wrote, among others, The Year of Living Biblically. He was entertaining, informative, and fun.
• Claire Cook, who wrote her first novel in her minivan outside her daughter’s swim practice when she was 45, and later sold her book Must Love Dogs to Hollywood, thus paying for her kids’ college. Years later she remains grateful and inspiring to all of us mamas.

There were plenty more authors speaking, and the toughest part was choosing among several options for each session.

Another unexpected delight of the book festival? The most fabulous port-a-potties I’ve ever seen.

I mean, come on. That’s splendid.

The only bummer was that it was cold in Savannah over the weekend: 40s and 50s and blustery. And, sure, sure. That’s warmer than the Capital District, but when you consider that it’s sometimes in the 80s in February, it was a cruel disappointment. In other words, there was no need for khakis and I painted my toenails for nothing.

But, gosh, Savannah’s gorgeous. In the last hour or so in town I realized that I hadn’t taken any pictures, so I took a couple of random shots between restaurant and airport.

Oh, I love those huge oaks and all the Spanish moss.

We’re heading back to Savannah, my whole little family, soon. Can’t wait!