Out and about: 2015 slid into 2016 last week and there were many comings and goings. We welcomed the milestone quietly at home, but there were others venturing about. Donnie and Sylvia Roland rang in 2016, in Memphis at the Peabody Hotel dance featuring two bands and a DJ and dinner at Folk’s Folly. On New Year’s Day they cheered for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks when they beat Kansas State 45-23 at the Liberty Bowl. They also visited Beale Street, home to the Birthplace of American music, and BB King’s Club and the Jerry Lee Lewis Café  — sounds fun to me. Then Nancy and Randy Jones, Allene and Sparky Reeves, and Stick and Elise Miller rang in the New Year at Amelia Island with dinner at the Amelia Island Club and were joined by Hugo and Gloria Chimenti of Venice, Italy, who visited Americus last year. Incidentally, Elise’s mom, Alice Shisler of Charlottesville, Virginia, is visiting the Millers at their home on Harrold Avenue. Also in Amelia were Hulme and Janet Kinnebrew, Burton and Elaine Thomas, Jackie and Ricky Sloan of Moultrie and Debbie and Craig Cannon of Doerun and rang in the New Year at the Ritz Carlton. On New Year’s Day the guys cheered the University of Georgia Bulldogs when they met Penn State at the Tax Slayer Bowl — a thriller. Also at the game and cheering for the Dawgs were Robert and Lori Goff, Kendall Usry, Rachel Goff, Jeremy Goff, Mike and Priscilla Wohrley and John Bodrey. Elsewhere, Charles and Kim Christmas and their puppy, Georgia Grace, spent Christmas week with Charles’ sister, Janice and her husband, Dick Crosby, at their home in Alexandria, Virginia, and were joined by Charles’ mother, Sylvia Christmas of Keystone Heights, Florida. The Crosbys’ home is located on one of George Washington’s original five farms. Active supporters of Mount Vernon, Dick and Janice arranged a private after-hours tour of the Mansion at Mount Vernon. Kim said The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association has done a wonderful job of restoring and maintaining the property. Their tour guide John Marshall told them the story of how the property came to be operated by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, joking that if you want something done right,  let the ladies do it. Meanwhile, Brandon Vann, Brian Roberts, David Lee, Logan Mathews and Trey Jones had a “ducky” weekend duck hunting in Pocahontas, Arkansas, and even brought home ducks. Brandon plans to have the handsome pintail he shot mounted. And Lori Shivers is home from Phoenix, Arizona, where she visited her sister, Stacey Stout, and family and grandmother Marge Vargas.

Leila S. Case lives in Americus.