Charleston

Today I am in a rush as the masses are urging me to remove myself from this computer and get thee to the beach.....But knowing my loyal fans are hanging on my every update , I have ignored their pleadings......

We wandered the streets of Charleston yesterday. The air was balmy and delightful and it was a short 21 mile drive from Kiawah. Altho I learned a great deal of very early history, early history and later early history, I won't detail it here...... mostly because I can't remember all the wars and invasions and disasters that have befallen this magnificent area.

This is a close up of a woman making a sweetgrass basket. This is a skill passed down since the days of rice plantations when they made the baskets from local grasses to winnow the rice. On many street corners, these are displayed for sale. I wanted to take a picture of this women but she declined so I snapped a quick one of her working. The picture below is a googled picture since I forgot to take one on the many we saw. They are not cheap but very labor intensive so I am glad they are popular and valued. The woman did say that she liked my purse.....my big lime green one. I offered a trade for a basket but guess she didn't like it that much.

We did take a carriage ride thru the streets.......here is a cobblestone road that are prevalent in the older parts.. The stones were used for ballast by the English ships and then either dumped or made into streets.
A view from the ride shows the Slave Market up ahead. It was a place to buy and sell slaves altho their history is rather vague and more politically correct these days when discussing this. On a smaller scale, it reminds me a bit of Pike's market in Seattle or Fanueil Hall in Boston in that it is a long, multi block open air building with stalls for selling assorted goods. Pike's market is more upscale, Boston's is more permanent and this one had mostly forgettable shopping. It is also an area of frequent floods so all looks temporary.

Here is our guide and horse, Bandit. Some of stories told may or maynot be historically accurate but it was a pleasant ride thru history for an hour.

Later we walked and walked and walked. I took few pictures but this is a view of Rainbow Row where they narrow houses are each painted a different colors. There are 40 'approved paints' in Charleston and most of the city looks like a Historical district so not much can be changed without lengthy bureacratic decisions.

Not sure of the history, if any, of this house but it is somewhat typical of the narrow tiny row houses.

Later, we met the rest of the family for some libation. We met at the world renowned Hyman Seafood restaurant downtown. We ate well and of course, I have pictures to prove it.

Laca has been raised a true southerner. She ordered Fried Okra and Fried Green Tomatoes........note, I said this was a SEAFOOD restaurant. !!

Kevin took the plunge and ordered the Fried Calamari po-boy sandwich. This picture does not begin to show the true size of this whopper..........he declared it delicious and most of us declined a taste.

Jan and I had shrimp appetizers with really fresh and delicious hush puppies. Curt also had the fried green tomatoes and the shrimp.

Paul had the fried flounder. It was massive but he gave it a 10 for freshness and taste.


BEFORE

AFTER

And then we were too full and satiated to do anything but go home and take a nap.

Charleston is just lovely and would need many many trips to enjoy it all. We'd like to go back.

And now we're off to the beach.............................................

Kiawah Island, Day 2

It was a peaceful morning, like so many other mornings on the Island. Jan and Laca sharing mother-daughter thoughts. And then........, The "Jaw' s Music" could be heard in the distance......you know the tune.....
and the pair looked out on that dark and stormy night.....(ooops, wrong story)

....looked out to see who was humming the ominous sound.........

. It was Larry ........contrary to popular belief, he had no interest in food or small children or even the mother-daughter conversation......

Larry knew that a 'world famous blog' was about to be written and he wanted to be a part of it. He put on his best shiny coat, without the assorted twigs and leaf adornments, drew up close and personal and showed those pearly whites for the camera. And then he waited and waited and waited.........

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Meanwhile, life on the Island was waiting to be explored. First we went for a walk. Trails wind thru the lovely live Oaks and palms. Then we went for a long bike ride for more distant views.

And close up views.......

We ended the afternoon at the beach......with a cold one, a good book and a best friend...forever......

Kiawah Island, South Carolina

Jan and Curt, VFF, (very favorite family) have become regulars at this beautiful place on the Carolina coast and this year, have invited us to share the experience. (Jan is Paul's sister for the non-relative readers of the blog). Laca (Jan and Curt's daughter) and husband Kevin rounded out the group. And now that the introductions are over, let's begin the tour.

This is a view across the water from the deck. Everytime we open the slider and step outside, along comes Larry, swimming over for a snack. Then he

parks himself beside the deck and waits, and waits, and waits...........fortunately, there are no small children around.....This picture is looking straight down off the deck with the building and clouds reflected back...but Larry is NO reflection. Clicking on the picture will make it bigger and you will see the stick across his nose and his beady eyes. Here is the view to the right with the deck next door which looks just like ours and provides for good Larry and other wildlife viewing.

We went for a walk to the nearby beach.......

The grounds are lovely and have over 30 miles of bike/walking paths and 10 miles of beach front.

The beach is very hard packed and biking is a popular way to see it all.

Love the many birds.

Later, we went to dinner and came out to this beautiful sunset. We look forward to some beach time and some biking and more exploring.

Changes

Paul is finally back from his teaching stretch in Miami. It was a long 10 days or so it seemed. Shortly, he will head back down for another stint.He is stimulated by the challenges but maybe would be happier with more golf interrupting the simulator sessions. Meanwhile, I am happy to hold down the fort and find it to be all the challenges and stimulation that I need. I have never considered returning to nursing for one minute......not one.


My thoughts are more challenged by some changes we are contemplating in the near future. We made a good choice with this house , considering we had about a gazillion to choose from. However, as in rearranging the furniture now and then, sometimes rearranging walls can be good. We have no idea what or if we will do anything but we continue to pour over drawings and dream.
The housing economy is abysmal almost everywhere but in The Villages. There was a slump and even a slight reduction in prices but now it seems to be returning to life. If you can imagine, in it's heyday, a couple of years ago, they were pouring 100 foundation slabs A WEEK. And selling over 300 houses a month. Now the number is at 50 slabs/week and last month they sold 240 homes. It is quite staggering. And the summer season, from May to October used to be very quiet. Businesses barely made a go of it. Now, there is a higher percentage of FROGS (here til we croak) and fewer SNOWBIRDS.

So those days of just walking on a golf course are pretty much over and tee times for choice hours are just as hard to get as in the winter.

This school season has seen some firsts in the family. Nicholas is a SENIOR in COLLEGE this year at Colorado School of Mines....when did he grow up!!! And Becca started her 1st year at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. She will do brilliantly and we are very excited for her. Alex started HIGH SCHOOL and Mr. Cuteness is one popular young man with the ladies (especially his grandma). And Andy started FIRST GRADE. Look how tall he is.

So many memories of all of them as wonderful little kissable babies and adorable toddlers. It goes by too soon.....

Today we are heading out for an "Excellent Adventure". Stay tuned....pictures at 11.

Don't blast my ashes into space.......

Again, I sat in front of NASA TV for a couple hours waiting with nervous energy for the launch of the shuttle. I had stayed up late a couple of nights before only to have weather and then some broken device cause a delay. Mostly, I sit and hope that it DOESN'T go up. I just get so anxious and I can't imagine what possesses a person to want to actually do this. It's almost unbearable to me to wait for the launch. Sometimes I hope I will fall asleep and miss it.....but then, no pictures for the blog !! I wonder if anyone ever has 2nd thoughts about being blasted into space. I've never heard of them ever substituting someone when they have a delay.And to think that people actually PAY for a chance to sit on a rocket. I just can't imagine doing it. I just can't.......

But tonight, despite my hoping that a stray cloud would wander over and fire of one bolt of lightning, or a bulb would burn out or something just to stop it from roaring into space, it lifted off right on schedule. These pictures are really bad but I just had to prove to you that I did see it. It was a clear night and maybe that was not a good thing. Other times, the clouds have reflected a lot of the light and the shuttle has to go thru them and it makes for a more visible event. I had one ear on the TV and one foot out the back door. As soon as there was main ignition, there was this tremendous orange glow on the horizon, above the trees. And out of this glow came this brilliant orange light moving fair ly slowly upward.

Eventually, it started to arc over and became whiter in color. It then moved faster it seemed.

And then, it just looked like a bright moving star. I was able to see it until they said it was over 300 miles down range and 5 minutes from launch.

And now I can relax. Out of sight, out of mind I guess.

The area was very quiet. Usually we hear people cheering but it was still and only the frogs from the pond were clapping. And now I'm wide awake......

Nature's beauty

The afternoon and early evening storms persist. But we manage to get outdoors between raindrops. This is my view as I was on the way to the golf course about 5 pm today, following Rick and Ann and looking at the towering clouds up ahead. I wondered how much time we would have before the deluge. But I have my trusty iPHONE....(have I mentioned how much I love this thing) and I can check on LIVE weather radar and know when to head for shelter. Now, I realize that it might be just as easy to look at the sky and listen for the thunder but really, isn't it more fun to check the screen.......the X in the middle approximately marks our house. As we played, the build up continued and the sky darkened. I managed to get in 7 holes of brilliant golf despite not playing for almost a month.

We drove home in light rain and the downpour began as I pulled into the garage.......

Jeff has been in Mazatlan , visiting Travis and getting in some golf. And capturing this brilliant, awesome display over the city.

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Learning new things.......

We have had some pretty intense weather of late. It is common to get those afternoon tropical downpours with a bit of thunder and some lightning. But it seems that the weather gods have really become aggressive and have been sending some scary stuff our way. I mentioned that a house recently burned to the ground after a direct lightning strike. It happened again this week. This time it was a tad farther from us but with the same result. And again, the homeowners were not in the house.

Shortly before the latest assault, I took this picture of the approaching dark ominous scene. Note the golfers on the course. At this point, the thunder was loud and lightning flashes were obvious but they played on. This is the 4th hole....not sure how long they acted foolish. They don't sound alarms for weather on the courses....it's up to the individual to have a brain and seek shelter. We are tied into a system where we get calls on our home and cell phones about weather warnings. That is helpful. We also have a NOAA radio, thanks to Jon and Marybeth, which is really LOUD.


Remember the picture of the sad plants on the trellis? We replaced them both the other day. And come to find out, the plants that I thought were mandevilla's, really were another type, called diplodenia. The new ones have larger blooms and lovely large shiny leaves.




It comes in white, pink and yellow.

Looks pretty skimpy right now but we look forward to vigorous growth and an abundance of blooms.

My latest project involves some technical reading. I know very little about computers. I can wander around and do most of what I want but don't understand a thing. And if something goes wrong, I have to ask for help, which is gladly given. But I want to know for myself. And everytime Michael adds something new , which we appreciate, I get behinder and deeper into ignorance. To that end, I have been thinking about a MAC. In this family, that is heresy. Having iPODS and iPHONES is bad enough but to go completely over to the dark side is not highly thought of at some family discussions. Jeff did get a desk top Apple for his photography work but uses a PC for a laptop. Now that would really confuse me.

I love the iPHONE. I've found it so intuitive and easy to understand and it just does what seems logical. We have a Sony laptop that has some quirky issues and is pushing me over to consider other options. To that end, I am doing some reading these days.

This is really basic stuff but that's where I need to start. And so far, I understand it all. But it makes me want to have one to practice on.

And, I am feeling better but still not 100%......but then, the last time I was 100% , I was 16 and .....well, we won't go there.

Well, I lied.....

I guess I'm not feeling as well as I thought. Finally went to get checked out and came home with these. She thinks its probably allergies or a virus. But gave me an Rx for an antibiotic if I didn't improve in a few days and today I had that filled. So, I'm accepting gifts of all kinds, especially chocolate and wine. Not that I can drink the wine now but it may come in handy when I'm cured....to celebrate. I actually don't feel that terrible but I'm just not better. I MAY try golf tonight but doubt I could make it past 3 or 4 holes.
So, I"m knitting, Paul's playing golf and I'm looking for some new reading material if anyone has a good suggestion. I've read in the past few months, and highly recommend, "The Reader", "Revolutionary Road" (excellent) "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society", charming and delightful, "The Dive from Clausen's Pier"( an older book that I picked up at the Newtown Library sale (love that event) and found the ending less than satisfying. Easy good summer read tho. I slogged thru "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon who has a new book out "The Angel's Game". Shadow was very well written and very interesting and I like books with depth but even tho the reviews were over the top, I needed a list to keep track of Spanish names and just was ready for it to be over. I think it would make a wonderfully dark movie. I'm going to start "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. Paul read it and wanted me to read it so we could discuss it. I do want to read "The Help" but not in hardcover. Remember my discussion on the KINDLE. Well, some days I really want one so I can just download a book but then I realize how many I could actually buy at the store with that $299. Doesn't seem practical yet........and everyone knows how very practical I am.

The shuttle is going back up on Tues am. at 2 am.... I might just have to get up for it. But only if it's a clear night.