“Out of the Box”

with Mary Anne Street

Mary Anne Street

Think Before You Toss

Recently I visited the UGA Marine Science Center on Skidaway Island. It’s a great little gem, worth a visit especially if children are with you. They have a wonderful set of aquariums, featuring over 200 animals that represent 50 species native to Georgia’s coastal waters, where you can see and study marine life up close and personal, and they have a touch tank where guests can pick up and touch marine animals.

Their displays include a nurse shark, a loggerhead sea turtle and seahorses. They are located on the Intercoastal Waterway, and you can bring a picnic lunch and sit at the picnic tables and lull away an afternoon watching the water. Birds land a take off there, so if you are a bird watcher, it’s great, for that as well. I sat under a pear tree, enjoying the breeze and reading a book while I waited for my group. They do special programs for groups using microscopes, marsh walks and films to illustrate marine life and to teach guests about environmental issues; I was the tour leader for one of those groups.

They have a myriad of posters that are FREE, some of which make wonderful works of art, if framed (Georgia’s Salt Marsh Official Habitat). Some are great for kids rooms (Marine Fishes of Georgia), and they have a great map of the Coast of Georgia. We framed the latter and have it hanging in our rental unit—it always gets interesting comments. We also have a framed copy hanging in the Concierge’s office at Tybee Vacation Rentals.

One particular poster caught my eye.  It was titled “Marine Debris from Land and Sea—In the Environment a Long, Long Time.” I was appalled at the information it provided. It featured a beach and shore, and the shore water had items one might commonly find in the ocean—that is, those things that people toss away–and how long it took for those things to break down.
Did you know that those plastic beverage holders take 400 years to “breakdown” to nothing? Four hundred years!!!!! And people toss these out all of the time. Disposable diapers? 450 years! Glass bottles and jars “undetermined!” That’s incredible.

We need to stop and think about what we are doing to our environment when we just toss something or let it blow around. Even a paper towel takes 2-4 weeks to decompose.

Here’s a list:

Foamed plastic cup – 50 years
Wool socks – 1-5 years
Photo-degradable beverage holder – 6 months
Plastic bottle – 450 years
Plastic beverage holder – 400 years
Foamed buoy – 50 years
Plastic grocery bag – 1-20 years
Plywood – 1-3 years
Monofilament fishing line – 600 years
Glass bottles and jars – undetermined
Paper Towel – 2-4 weeks
Newspaper – 6 weeks
Cotton rope – 1-5 months
Apple core – 2 months
Cardboard box – 2 months
Cotton gloves – 1-5 months
Waxed milk carton – 3 months
Disposable diaper – 450 years
Aluminum can – 200 years
Tin can – 50 years

SO THINK before you toss away!
Until next month,
Mary Anne

UGA Marine Education Center & Aquarium 9:00 am – 4:00 pm weekdays;
10:00 am – 5:00 pm Saturdays
Closed Sundays & holidays;
Adults & children 13 & up – $4
Children 3 – 12 $2; under 3 – Free; 912.598.2496

Poster info: scdhec.gov/environment/ocrm/outreach/marine_debris.htm

Mary Anne lives on Tybee with husband The Tybee Handyman. Contact her at: MaryAnne@tybeevacationremtals.com

“Out of the Box”

with Mary Anne Street

Now that Miley has brought Tybee to the movie scene people are abuzz with ideas. John Potter and Eric Thomas were sitting around Huc-a-poos, throwing out ideas about movies they could make, and finally they decided to take action rather than just talk about it. They officially set up the 1st Annual Savannah Beach Film Festival and Awards Show taking place on Saturday, October 2, 2010. They also decided that they wanted the money to go to a good cause, and they chose the Savannah Beach/Oceanside Nursing Home. The proceeds will go toward getting a gazebo built on the Home grounds.

John Potter used to work on movies in California, mostly for Universal Studios, and has some experience about their production and promotion.

“Now that film making is relatively easy with computers and such, I thought it might be feasible for locals to just do their own movies,” Potter said. “In fact, I have a couple of scripts ready and will do two films myself; one an animated cartoon and one a foreign ‘artsy’ film.” Potter said that one person is doing a surfing movie about surfers on Tybee, another is doing one about a bank heist, and yet another is doing one about a lighthouse.

Award-winning actress Kathy Bates is scheduled to come, and Potter is contacting several other stars and TV personalities to see if they will appear. Potter said that many famous people like to see independent films and are interested in attending small film festivals, so he thinks we’ll get some response. So far he’s sent an invitation to David Letterman, among others, and believes it’s just interesting enough to get Letterman to appear or send his sidekick. “Letterman likes these kinds of things, so we’re hopeful,” he said.

Huc-a-poos is the central location for information, tickets and questions about the films.

If you think that you are the next Spielberg, you can prove it by making a short film and entering it. Proceeds will go to the Oceanside/Savannah Beach Nursing Homes, and who knows, a Hollywood producer may see your work and whisk you away to Tinsel Town.

The rules are easy.

• No Porn! Keep it PG-13.
• Start Date is April 1st and all films must be in by September 1st. The awards show is Saturday, October 2nd at 8:00 at Huc-A-Poos. (The Tybee Times will soon have more on this.)
• Film length is not to exceed 20 min.
• Fill out the application form. There is a $20.00 entry fee for each production (includes 2 free seats).
• Festival tickets are $5.00. Reserve your seats now!
• The judges have the right to limit the number of films entered and it’s first come, first served. In the event your film won’t or can’t be screened, a refund will be issued.
• There will be movie stars and production people attending.
• Audience members will vote for the best films and who knows, you may win a “Pabstie” award.
• There will be Pabst Blue Ribbon blue carpet interviews.
• We are here to make movies, help out some of our neighbors and have a fun time.
• Application forms, tickets and information available at Huc-A-Poos, 912.786.5900.
• Festival Seat Tickets can be purchased anytime at the Ticket-Tron Vending Machine in Huc-A-Poos.

Until next month,
Mary Anne

Mary Anne lives on Tybee with husband The Tybee Handyman. Contact her at: MaryAnne@tybeevacationremtals.com

Mary Anne Street

When I first arrived in Savannah, I couldn’t get over the huge ships coming into that skinny river. I sat on River St. in Savannah and marveled at their might and tonnage, and how in the world they maneuvered in such a small space. This is a wonder for adults and kids alike, and it is one of the things I recommend to my guests.

We currently take 98% of the world’s ships into our harbor, and we’re the second largest container port on the East Coast and fifth in the nation; that’s pretty impressive and it surprises many people. Our cable-stayed, Tallmadge Bridge (named after a governor of Georgia) is 185 ft. clearance at high tide and allows the big ships access to our ports. There is talk of dredging our river six more feet so we can handle the grandest ships of all, allowing 100% of the world’s ocean monsters into the Georgia Ports. There is controversy, of course, as it may upset the delicate balance of marshes, creeks and rivers, and I respect that, but I’d love to be able to view the largest container ships in the world. I’ll leave it to the experts to duke this out.

My friend, Bev loves ships. She loves the magic of them, the wonder of where they’ve been and where they’re going. She comes to Tybee and stays at Lighthouse Point. When she sees a big ship coming, she jumps in the car and heads to River St. where she can usually be in time to see the ship come into the river where she can view it up close and personal. It is thrilling for her. Often, she’ll begin early in the day, and repeat the process as many times as she can. Once she was able to “chase” 4 large ships in a day—from Tybee to Savannah, and then back to Tybee to be on the lookout again.

It makes me think that one could play a “game” with kids in that you’d watch for a big ship, jump in the car and head to River St. to see it. Kids would particularly love the watching, the chasing, the “seeing it up close and personal,” and the involvement of the family, and if you don’t count the cost of gas, it’s FREE.

Every Friday, the Savannah Morning News publishes a shipping schedule for the week. They list the ship name and date of arrival and you’d be surprised at how many ships come in in a day. For example, this week we had five each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday; three on Monday; eight on Tuesday; three on Wednesday and eight on Thursday; total for the week was 37! That’s a lot of ships, and a lot of action.

Thinking about the ships makes me wonder about Florence Martus—the Waving Girl whose statue is on River St. in Savannah. She lived with her brother on Elba Island (he was the lighthouse keeper), and beginning at age 18, she waived at every single ship that came into Savannah for 44 years!! Forty-four years!! Never missed one!! She’d wave her towel or apron in the day, and wave her lantern at night. The sailors loved her and brought her many gifts from overseas. I always embellish the tale for my tours—she fell in love with a sailor who promised to return, and she waved at the ships hoping it would be her love. He never returned (aaawwwww is usually heard hear). This tale may or may not be true, but it’s a nice story.

Watching the ships also gets me wondering where they’ve been. It reminds me of Conrad Aiken, a Savannah native and famous writer buried in Bonaventure Cemetery. He was a poet and novelist, writing or editing some 50 books, and in 1930 he won a Pulitzer Prize for poetry. He eventually became Poet Laureate of the United States. He used to sit on the banks of the Savannah River, sipping martinis, and watching the ships go by, wondering where they were from and where they had been. One afternoon he saw one with the name Cosmos Mariner on the bow. That delighted him. (The word “cosmos” appears often in his poetry.)

That evening he went home and looked for mention of the Cosmos Mariner in the shipping news. There it was, in tiny type on the list of ships in port. The name was followed by the comment ‘Destination Unknown.’ That pleased him even more. So, his instructions for his tombstone were to make it a bench as an invitation for visitors to stop and enjoy a martini at his grave, and the inscription was to say, “Give my love to the world, Cosmos Mariner—Destination Unknown,” and that’s exactly how his grave is today.

Until next month,

Mary Anne

Mary Anne lives on Tybee with husband The Tybee Handyman.
Contact her at: MaryAnne@tybeevacationremtals.com

Tybee, we did you proud!

Mary Anne Street

Many entities came together to make the Porcelain Painter’s event a smash success. In case you forgot or didn’t know, we had 160 guests come onto Tybee (many of them teachers of porcelain painting in their communities) to attend 4-day classes on various methods concerning porcelain hand-building and painting. We also had 12 world-class teachers from such places as Argentina, Brazil, Portugal and cities in the U.S. to participate in the GA Seminars by the Sea Porcelain Art School.  One teacher is said to be THE finest portrait painter on porcelain IN THE WORLD—here on Tybee!

If you’ve never seen this work, you should take a look on line. It is absolutely fabulous and the skills and artistic expression these people put into their art is amazing. The door prize piece the World Organization gave us for our drawing is exquisite—so many commented that it looked like a photograph, but it wasn’t. It was hand painted on porcelain and fired by Manuel Filipe Pereira, one of the more colorful teachers Filipe is founder of the International Centre of Porcelain Painters in Venezuela (1985), and collaborator of the Bolivian Association of Porcelain Painting. He was delightful and made us all laugh; and his art …..Wow!

Photo by Nancy Heffernan

This was the 3rd year for the event, and as it’s been growing steadily, the organizers asked the Tybee Arts Association (TAA) for help. We wanted to make the artists feel welcome, so they would want to come back to Tybee so we started planning our part in the Seminars last fall. Many other Tybee entities came together for this as well.

We decided to give the artists tote bags filled with goodies.  Lindsay Fruchtl, Tybee Tourism Marketing Coordinator got us most of the Tybee totes (wonderful black bags with lime-green writing on them); and Sandy’s By the Shore and Tybee Vacation Rentals filled in with the rest. Greg Stoeffler of the DeSoto Hotel gave us delightful bookmarks for the totes; and several shops contributed coupons for discounts.

The TAA wanted to give each guest a “bit of Tybee” so we had a “turtle- making” evening where we made mall turtles. Rebecca Rice, a TAA leader, fired and painted them, and they were part of the welcome bags. We assembled small bags which held sand, a few shells, and a sign that said, “Take a little of Tybee with you.” We also became volunteers to help the director, Ms. Suzanne Painter with details and things she needed.

The Tybee Island Light House opened on Tuesday—their normal day off—to let the people see one of our star attractions, and Linda Odom of Tales of the South and myself did a free tour of Savannah and Tybee for the guests.

A highlight of the ten-day event was a welcome dinner held Friday, Feb. 26th at Stayce Jarrell’s home (she’s the owner of Oceanfront Cottages and most of the guests were staying in her properties). Her home showcased some of Tybee’s finest views of the marsh and water, and we witnessed a breath-taking sunset.

What a way to show people Tybee’s natural beauty. Lannie Jarrell cooked a low-country boil—a southern “special” tradition, other southern fare, and we wowed the people with our southern cuisine. The Tybee Arts Association brought delectable desserts, wine and beverages, and served as hosts and hostesses for the special guests. I was present, and had more than just a few people come up to me and say how welcome they felt, and how wonderful Tybee was.

Evidently, Ms. Painter waits years for some of the premier teachers to come to teach. We now have several of them keeping dates open because they love Tybee. One teacher canceled an appearance in Japan for next year, just because he loves Tybee so much, and wants to be here again for this event.

Another highlight was when we presented Ms. Suzanne Painter with a Proclamation from Mayor Buelterman. Ms. Painter has brought much business to Tybee in the last three years, and is helping to secure Tybee as an art destination, something the TAA is striving for.  She is delightful, full of life and vigor, never tires, always smiles, and works long, hard hours on these Seminars. She fought hard to get the Seminars going here because she felt it was so wonderful, and the TAA felt she deserved recognition.

Rebecca Rice and Chantel Morton, Tybee’s Better Hometown Coordinator, wrote a terrific proclamation and our Mayor attended the dinner and was charming in presenting the award. Ms. Painter was very pleased and so were her colleagues and peers. (She is quite a fine porcelain painter herself.)

The Porcelain Painters gave us four scholarships to award as we saw fit. We gave two to the Savannah Arts Academy, and Ms. Ang and Ms. Taylor accepted the “hand-building classes”—a thrill for the young, gifted high school artists. We offered the other two scholarships to SCAD, but as it was the end of the semester, and students really couldn’t afford four days off at that critical time, we instead offered them to TAA members. Ms. Alice Gerber and Mary Lou Vandenberg were the recipients. It was great that the Tybee Arts Association could reach out into the community and include Savannah Arts as well as our own artists.

The Poreclain Painters’ Art School opened its doors on Sunday February 28th to allow the public a peek at the actual classes, the art pieces, and to watch the masters at work. This was also a fund-raiser for TAA to help build our coffers for future art events and classes. The event was a smashing  success and many were able to see the heart and soul of porcelain art; plus, there was a drawing for two fabulous pieces: one a porcelain piece done by Manuel Filipe Pereira, and a piece done by TAA artist Rebecca Rice.

All around, this year’s Georgia Seminars by the Sea Porcelain Painter’s Retreat was amazing; we had these fine, WORLD-class artists on our island, and our community worked TOGETHER to make them feel welcomed and appreciated—a win-win for everybody.

Mary Anne

Mary Anne Street is Concierge for Tybee Vacation Rentals. She may be contacted for comments at: tybeeconcierge@tybeevacationremtals.com

Mary Anne Street

So, the holidays are over and we’re into the cold, dead months of winter. I’m sure many of you love February, but I don’t. After all of the hub-bub of the holidays, Jan. and Feb. can seem boring and dreary.

Here are some ways to add a little sparkle and have something constructive to do.

Coming up on Tybee:

Feb. 12th & 13th enjoy Tybee’s Mardi Gras. There will be masks, parades, beads, live entertainment, and a ball. Visit the website to get the scoop. This SURELY won’t be boring.

Feb. 28th from 2-5 the Tybee Arts Association will offer a studio tour to see the work of the world renowned teachers and their students involved in the GA Seminars by the Sea Porcelain Painters Retreat on Tybee. You’ll get to watch the art in action, see how the art is done, see finished pieces, AND “get a peek at some of the most beautiful houses and condos on Tybee,” all for $8 ($5 if you are a Tybee Arts Association member). Your ticket will also include a drawing for 2 door prizes – a finished piece of porcelain art and an art piece by Rebecca Rice. Call 912.786.5920 for tickets and information.

March 3rd from 7:00-9:00 p.m. the Tybee Arts Association will present a Showcase of the finished art from the first round of classes of the Porcelain Painters. This is FREE and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. Come and view this fantastic art. Call 912.786.5920 for information.

I went to the YMCA on Tybee recently to start my workouts again (resolutions and all that). I hadn’t been in a while, and I was pleasantly surprised. The Y looks fantastic. It has freshly painted blue and white walls, the windows have new treatments, there’s a new floor, new equipment and they knocked out a few walls to make the place bigger. It’s cleaner, brighter, bigger and better! I understand that soon they’ll have a new rowing machine, too. I’ve belonged to several other Y’s in my lifetime and I’ll hold Tybee’s up to any of them. It’s pleasant and friendlier than any I’ve been in, and some of my long-term friendships that I’ve formed on Tybee began at this Y. If you haven’t been, give it a try.  You can get healthy, meet some people, learn new things, and generally feel better. It’s the best little deal on Tybee.

Cooking, Anyone?
Love food? Love eating it, smelling it and cooking it? Take a cooking class. Several places offer classes ranging from learning how to cook a really good pizza, to romantic Italian, to classes for kids. Here’s where to get information:

Kitchens On The Square – 38 Barnard St. – 912.236.0100 – they have a Lunch and Learn series which includes Southern cooking, Savannah cooking and Lowcountry cooking, and wonderful classes called Ladies Night Out. Classes also include a 10% discount on items purchased in their great store on the day of the class, and free shipping for tourists. Classes are about 90 min. each.

Kitchen Outfitters – 5500 Abercorn St. (Twelve Oaks Shopping Center) – 912.356.1117 – classes have names such as Savory Fish Supper for a Savannah Winter’s Evening, Nick’s Famous Pizza Class and Tropical Warmth for a Winter’s Evening. Damon Fowler, the food writer for the Savannah Morning News and author of several cookbooks also teaches several classes. Wines are almost always included. Most classes are 6:30-9:00 pm, and they also give a 10% discount on items purchased included. Most classes are 6:30-9:00 pm, and they also give a 10% discount on items purchased in their wonderful store on the day of the class.

Chef Joe Randall-Savannah Cooking School – 5409 Waters Ave. – 912.303.0409 – Chef Joe’s mission is to bring the great treasures of the coastal region as close to peoples’ homes as their own kitchens. His motto: put a little south in your mouth. Learn how to cook Savannah Red Rice, Sea Island Smothered Shrimp with Stone-ground Grits in classes with such titles as Creole Feast, the Cuban Dinner and Treasures from the Sea. He also serves wines. Most classes are from 6:30-9:30.

Culinary Cottage – cooking classes for children – 5702 Skidaway Rd. – 912.692.0105 – these “hands-on” cooking classes allow kids to explore new flavors and express their creativity. The classes venture into applying basics of chemistry, applying math and reading comprehension, and exploring nature’s bounty. “Culinary Essentials for Kids” is the current cooking series. They also offer cooking summer camps, parties and special programs with names such as Growing Gourmets (for ages 3-5) and Young Chefs. Spice up your February and try one of the above; better yet, try them all!
Mary Anne

You may contact Mary Anne at tybeeconcierge@tybeevacationremtals.com

with Mary Anne Street

There’s a great little gem of a book called The Customer Comes Second  by Hal Rosenbluth.  At first glance you think the guy is absolutely nutty to be writing a book with a title like this, but if you read the book, you realize that he really has the key to it all. His premise is that if you treat your employees well, great service will follow. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Happy employees have greater enthusiasm, a good attitude, give the extra effort, contribute extra in a pinch; AND they provide great customer service because they believe in and love their company. As Rosenbluth puts it, “put your people first and watch them kick butt.”

Part of the reason why I absolutely love my job is that my employers are terrific.  They provide small “perks” to us all to oil the gears and build relationship equity.  We sometimes have pizza for no reason; we often get invited to attend the Tourism Council and Chamber events that require payments and tickets; they treat us to lunches and dinners at some of our best area restaurants. (Today TVR is providing a cake for an employee with a birthday.) They send us to conventions that provide new ideas and tools to help us accomplish great service. We have the best equipment and the newest systems available to do our jobs. For our end of the summer event, we all went bowling — what a hoot and we had a great time. These are the things that make for reasons to want to come to work and to give it our all.

Don’t get me wrong, we still get frustrated, get irritated, get mad at times, but the relationship equity that is built up helps us through those trying times, and we emerge still strong.

How do you treat your employees? Do you appreciate them? Do you find ways to “oil the gears?” Just like Mr. Fezziwig in A Christmas Carol, giving a little extra throughout the year, treating your employees with kindness, and valuing their contributions make employees want to do a good job and go the extra mile.

Ah, but it takes money! Indeed it does, but think of it as an investment in service; by making your employees a priority and treating them well, you invest in your company, just in a little different way, and I guarantee that the money you spend this way will be far more effective than some of the other ways you invest your funds.

And speaking of service, there is another gem of a book called Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct  by Pier Massimo Forni.  Forni felt that the world was becoming uncivil, populated with rude people; people who were short, uncaring, not courteous, having a poor attitude, and so forth, and he believed something had to be done to try and correct the situation, so he wrote the book. He says that as a professor, he not only wanted to give lectures on literature, but he also wanted to teach students to be kind human beings.  He launched the book six years ago, and it has changed his life. The book has sold 100,000 copies and has become the focus of seminars and reading groups in communities nationwide. Several schools have made the subject of civility part of their curriculum. The goal is to provide a civil climate in the schools that then will carry on into students’ lives. Inner-city students and prisoners have also been part of forums for discussions and outreach projects in civility.

Forni’s rules, which fit on a bookmark, make civility seem attainable. In short, they are: “Pay attention,” “Speak kindly,” and “Respect others’ opinions.” (There are 22 others, but these sum them all up.) The author himself hands out magnets that say, “Choose Civility” to remind people that when they are dealing with a challenging customer, it’s good to think and act “civilly.”

That’s great advice. We all are faced with what I call, “poopy people” and our knee jerk response is to get defensive and get our ire up. That, of course, will do nothing but produce a bunch of “poopiness.” Behavior is catching, and if you keep your cool, and practice civility, chances are their demeanor will settle, and they will become at least a little more civil.

Of course, there’s no magic fairy dust to MAKE people civil—if they choose to be uncivil you can’t change it, but you can choose how YOU react, and Forni asks that you choose civility. Great words for this new year.

Until next time,
Mary Anne

Mary Anne Street lives on Tybee Island with her husband, The Tybee Handyman, and works as concierge for Tybee Vacation Rentals.  For more information about vacation rentals or othe other wonderful things Tybee has to offer, contact Mary Anne at tybeeconcierge@tybeevacationremtals.com

with Columnist Mary Anne Street

It all started last February with a sign at the Guard House. It said “China Painting.” My curiosity was aroused. Were there people from China painting in the Guard House? Were people painting on china plates? Was there a new painting class and I missed it?

Being a member of the Tybee Arts Association, I couldn’t imagine a painting experience not being known to all the members. I called the number and got Stacye Jarrell of Oceanfront Rentals. Stacey explained that this was the second year of a yearly art school featuring WORLD renowned painters of china objects. “Have you got some time?” she said. “I’ll take you and show you what this is about.” I grabbed Rebecca Rice and Denise Vernon of the TAA and off we went.

Wow! That’s about all I can say about the wonderment we discovered. We first visited a “studio” where a gentleman was teaching painting on china plates. Evidently you put a layer of paint on, fire it, paint on, fire it and so forth until the plate is finished. Stacey had 5 kilns on her property to take care of the nightly firings. Next, we visited another plate class; then it was on to a porcelain clay sculpting class of vases and boxes. Finally, we visited a studio where mostly ladies were painting portraits on china. All I can say is “wow!” We were privileged to meet some of the world’s most renowned painters of china. What exquisite beauty in this age old art that is now making a comeback.

China painting on porcelain came from the country of China; hence, the name. Several countries stole the idea and began making exquisite pieces, putting their own “mark” and style on them and for years the artists garnered high prices for their beautiful work. However, with time the art lost some of its luster and talent as younger people took up faster and easier ways of making “china;” but
quietly in the background the masters continued their art and taught it to the few interested parties.

Today the art is making a comeback, and Tybee is lucky enough to
be part of a fabulous event called GA Seminars by the Sea that invites artists and masters alike to come to paint and learn. The 2010 event will take place February 25th through March 7th and will bring about 120 artists to our island from states such as California, Vermont and Michigan; along with about 14 of the “grand masters” of China painting from Portugal, Argentina and Brazil.

The Tybee Arts Association will host several events this year to welcome our guests and assist in their painting efforts. We will host a teacher’s reception where local art teachers will gather to meet and greet our artists. There will be two “China Painting Art Appreciation and Educational Exhibits,” at the Arts Center to show the work of the painters (one after the first week, and another after the second). This will be an opportunity to share the various techniques and information about this unique fine art form, including its history. The TAA also hopes to offer an event for children to expose them to this “lost art.”

As the attendees will be given welcome bags, members of the Tybee Arts Association met on Oct. 29th to fashion “favors” for the bags. We made turtles out of clay, painted them and fired them. As turtles are Tybee’s “mascot” it was felt these would make appropriate gifts for the bags.

Consider signing up for these classes. THEY WELCOME BEGINNERS and you don’t have to have any experience in china art at all; plus they give discounts to locals. Interested? Call Suzanne Painter at 706.495.6724, or go to http://www.gaseminarsbythesea.net.

As we come together to celebrate the holidays, don’t forget to think of our friends and neighbors who have no family around. Share your meal, bring a gift, or simply spend some time with those in need of a little time. And there is always the Nursing Home on Tybee—they can always use a little time and TLC.

May your holidays be blessed and peaceful.

Mary Anne