Penning Photography Daily

If you ever get near Macon, Georgia, do your tastebuds a favor and treat them to a side-trip to The Red Tomato in Bolinbroke.

Chef Michael Falduti, Jr has established a fresh-ingredient-based Itialian with a Southern flare restaurant that is worthy of the journey. I’ts tucked away in a small area north of Macon. We found it easily through directions on Google Maps.

I was searching for a place to eat that was locally owned, and hit the jackpot with The Red Tomato. TripAdvisor.com pointed me to this place.

Chef Michael came out during our meal, and introduced himself to us. Such a friendly guy! It made our meal, already superb, into one of the memorable experiences of our trip. When we left, he came out to pose for this photo. They have a book of photos and asked that we send him a copy so he could add it to the book.

We’ll be back. In fact, we might just plan our trip around it!

Our meal of taste delights at The Red Tomato restaurant in Bolingbroke, Georgia (Near Macon).

To the right: Flounder Piccata – pan seared flounder with a light lemon-garlic reduction plus mushrooms – light, and very flavorful.

At the bottom: Lucky Money – Cooked spinach greens with blackeyed peas – just the right mix of spices.

At the top: Garlic cheesy grits. Grits are not usually my favorite, but these grits were uncommonly good – a sensory delight.

An amazing meal, revealing a delicate hand of a master chef.

My Karen Sue, sitting across from me at our lunch today.

The nice window light at our table caught my eye.

To get a natural smile, I started playing peek-a-boo with Karen.

Folks – It’s worth the effort. Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, that is.

We spent 14 hours driving the first day on Friday, driving from Springfield, Illinois to Macon, Georgia.

Then Saturday, we drove another 4 hours to the island.

The fun fact: it started raining when we hit Chattanooga, Tennessee, and didn’t really quit yet (I’m writing this on Saturday night at our condo).

The driving rain, was our companion.

I had sattelite radio going, switching between music, talk-radio and more music as the mood hit me. Karen let me drive the whole way. I prefer it, and as a bonus, I get to pick the radio stations!

At times, I was singing and doing some body boogying to the music. Anything to stay alert and safe.

I think this was taken as we were passing the Ohio river, from Illinois into Kentucky.

This sliver of orange sun at the horizon greeted me as I was rushing to work yesterday morning to rescue a down server.

The beauty of nature, in the sun, and the magnificent sky, lifted my spirits.

A nice way to start what ended being a very long day and night.

Thanks you, Mr Sun and Madam Sky!

Early morning fog, looking out a window at work at 4:41AM.

I had been at work 22 hours by this time. One of our main servers which is at the core of our business has been ailing for a while. I was there to help with the cutover from the bad hardware to a new server.

I was babysitting the equipment. Every so often the old server would die, and I’d have to bring it back online so the data copy could finish.

It was a long day and night.

The fog rolled in about 3AM – or at least that’s when I noticed.

I grabbed my Panasonic LX3, a superb optical instrument, and headed for some windows.

This moody scene added to the sense of being alone all night long. I had a superb tech helping me via a remote connection. He was working from his home in Baltimore, Maryland. I was in foggy Springfield, Illinois.

We got it done, almost in time for the morning rush. The fog lifted, and eventually, I headed home and on to vacation.

This is one of my favorite places to sit for a spell.

It’s in Beaufort, South Carolina, in a very tiny park on the waterfront.

The shade trees are perfect for cooling on hot days. The waterfront has a
calming effect, with just enough traffic for interest. There’s a drawbridge
over the river to let tall ships go through.

The cannon was from the Civil War era. The plaque telling about it and a
certain General who’s home is behind the bench.

When we are at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina next week, we’ll take an
afternoon trip over to Beaufort, and I’ll eventually wind up here. Enjoying
the moments of peace as the world passes by.

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