2018 Year in Review

 Highlights:

 Publix supermarket empty shelves



January Storm Hits DI  

January 3 Charleston recorded the third highest daily snowfall in its history at 5.3 inches since 1989. 

• March 5-8 We travelled to Biloxi, MS to visit my cousin Father Kelly who had retired and was in the process of relocating to an Assisted Living facility.  We stopped for a day in Atlanta to visit David and have dinner.

Father Kelly treated us to lunch and I had gulf oysters.

• March 16 we caught Marjorie Prime play at the Woolfe Stree Theater.

• On March 19 we celebrated my birthday at Circa 1886.

• April 16 celebrated Doris birthday at Grill 225.

• April 21-May 2 was another Road Scholar trip "The Absoulute Southwest" which took us from Phoenix to Las Vegas.  Our blog highlights arriving in Phoenix early and visiting the Desert Botanical Garden, lunch in Scottsdale and taking in an outdoor Papa John DeFrancesco jazz concert. The tour took us to Sedona, Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Navajo country,   Colorado River, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Park ending up in Las Vegas where we attended an Elton John concert.

• I made a quick trip out to San Francisco over the weekend of May 11-13 to attend the memorial  service for a very close neighbor growing up, Mike Davitt.  I got together with my All Souls classmates Stan Johnson, Ken Colombo and Jim Ferrari.  On behalf of the Booths I gave a brief euologyy recounting memories of growing up on Sycamore Avenue in Mayfair Village.

Mike with brother Eddie

Stan, Ken, Jim, Kray and Rich

• May 31 Spoleto Festival attended the Chucho Valdes Concert at the Gailiard and then on June 6 we went to our annual Chamber Music concert at the Dock Street theater featuring Geoff Nuthall and St. Lawrence quintet.

• June 9 was the Summer Soiree on DI at the Edgefield Pool Crows Nest featuring the music of the East Coast Party Band. 

• July 25th we attended an "Art of Jazz" performance at the Gibbes Museum of Art by Chantale Gagne, from Quebec and Friends (local Charleston musicians).

• My PCV friends from PC/Liberia days, Ted and Suzanne Abrams visited us on October 27th.  They live in Klamath Falls Oregon and we stopped and saw them when visiting my Sister-in-law Sharon who lives in Keno close to Klamath.  Coincidentally, it turned out they had a time-share property on Edisto Island near Charleston.  Anyway, we had a nice dinner at the Slighty North of Broad (SNOB) restuarant on East Bay. 

• December 18 we attended a Charleston Symphony Chamber Group performace at the Charleston Library Society.

• The United States federal government shutdown from on December 22, 2018, until January 25, 2019 (35 days) was the longest government shutdown in history and the second and final federal government shutdown involving furloughs during the presidency of Donald Trump. It occurred when Congress and Trump could not agree on an appropriations bill to fund the operations of the federal government for the 2019 fiscal year, or even a temporary continuing resolution that would extend the deadline for passing a bill. The shutdown stemmed from an impasse over Trump's demand for $5.7 billion in federal funds for a U.S.–Mexico border wall.

• The OIG ended up cancelling the winter cycle inspections of Helsinki

U.S. Events:

World Events:

Movies:

Best Picture was "Shape of Water" .  Best Actor went to Gary Oldman "Darkest Hour".  Best Actress was Frances Dormand in  "Billboards ".  Best Supporting actor was Sam Rockwell for "Billboards".  Best supporting actress went to Allison Janney in I Tonya.  Best Director Guillermo del Toro for "Shape of Water".

Super Bowl:

Super Bowl 53 was played on February 3, 2019, at Mercedes-Benz stadium in Atlanta and was the first one played there.  It was the lowest-scoring Super Bowl in NFL history (13-3).  The game marked the first Super Bowl in which neither team had a touchdown through the first three quarters, as the Patriots and the Rams fought to a 3–3 tie entering the fourth. In the final quarter, New England scored 10 unanswered points to claim victory, including the game's only touchdown by running back Sony Michel. Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman, who caught 10 passes for 141 yards, was named MVP.

World Series:

The 2018 World Series was played between the Boston Red Sox and LA Dodgers. The Red Sox defeated the Dodgers in five games to win their fourth World Series title in 15 years dating back to 2004 and their ninth in franchise history.  Steve Pearce was named World Series MVP after his two-homer, three-RBI night helped the Red Sox beat the Dodgers in Sunday's Game 5. Pearce was 4-for-12 in the Series with three home runs.  He was traded to Boston from Toronto in mid-season.