Metal Lace Gate

King St., Charleston, S.C.

Isn't this the most beautiful metal lace gate? It looks so delicate. Love it.

It is almost fall Restaurant Week, kids! Mark your calendars for the best fine meal deals in Charleston. Here is the Post & Courier write up on how to Make the Most of Restaurant Week and here is a link to all the of participating restaurants that you might want to invite me to. Harhar.

Shades of Green

Burbage's Grocery Store, Broad St., Charleston, S.C.

Shades of green! Burbage's Grocery Store on Broad St. consistently wins the Best Corner Store award from the Charleston City Paper. I did a series on Charleston's corner stores a few years ago. It's probably time to visit them all again. Any favorites I should feature?

I got to town in time to drop off donations at the American Heart Association on Kings St. so put on my walking shoes and just kept on going. It's lovely outside. What a relief after months of heat.

Glorious Greenery

Meeting St., Charleston, S.C.

Wow. Isn't this a glorious show?

It makes me a bit ashamed that I just got rid of my window boxes but to be fair mine tend to end up as trash cans for the college kids in the neighborhood.

Beat the BAR

King St., Charleston, S.C.

Let's play beat the Board of Architectural Review! These folks apparently want to change the color of their house. They have been instructed to paint a sample of the colors they hope for so members of the Board of Architectural Review can drive by and determine what they will grant permission for.

Being a BLUE person, I think they should go back to the original color. What do y'all vote for?

This is Home

This is Home, King St., Charleston, S.C.

I posted this shot the other day and then back tracked to see what other versions I have. Someone has been painting "This is Home" on the pavement all over town and someone has been improving them.


How do you like this version? It even came with a gospel pamphlet. This World is Not Our Home.


This is Home. Branded Like Cows.

Am I missing any creative versions?

Staying up too late watching Intolerable Cruelty with George Clooney. He is so very worth it.

Home Sweet Home

King St., Charleston, S.C.

Nothing makes a house a home like a plant in the window. Cute, eh?! It was a piece of a large graffiti wall in an alley on King St. just below Spring. Here is the larger view in case anyone wants it.

In other news, Charleston Magazine is asking for votes for their annual Giving Back Non Profit Award but you don't have much time before votes are tallied on Wednesday at midnight. Vote for your favorite lowcountry charity here: Giving Back Awards. There are so many good charities listed I was torn and am happy that five of them will be featured. I love Windwood Farms, the Hemangioma Treatment Foundation, the Lowcountry Food Bank and many others. I ended up voting for the Ryan White Foundation because I process their volunteers and see what good work they do on a regular basis. Go support all these good folks!

Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance - Pitt St. Sweets

Pitt St., Charleston, S.C.

Pitt Street Sweets.

This is a private residence now, but years ago it was a church and after that belonged to the Association for the Blind. When it belonged to the Association for the Blind they had a sign saying "Scented Garden" and I would close my eyes and inhale deeply breathing in the sweet fragrance when I walked by.

41 Pitt St. -- Association for the Blind -- This building, formerly occupied by Plymouth Congregational Church, was purchased and re adapted for use by the Charleston County Association for the Blind, in 1957. The former churchyard has been landscaped as a fragrance garden for the blind.

More info about the transformation into a private residence here. Now I really want to see inside.

Wind Walking

Charleston Harbor, Charleston, S.C.

Stay safe, kids. It's windy out there. Tide is high. We are very lucky it isn't raining too much right now.

Beach Boys & Barsa

Beach Boys, Line St., Charleston, S.C.

I went to Barsa last night with the old gal's dinner club but apparently the Beach Boys discovered it before I did. New readers may not be aware but one of my early blogging projects was documenting all the sidewalk graffiti in the Charleston sidewalks. If your name is on the pavement I probably know where it is. Here is the link to one of my earlier posts about scribbles in pavement.

The Beach Boys inscription is in the pavement in front of Barsa and I consider that a good recommendation. They were right! It is a Tapas restaurant but I had the Seafood Paella and the Sangria it was delicious. We had a lovely evening catching up on old times. Many thanks to the gorgeous lady who came over and introduced herself as a blog fan - you made my evening!

I happened on the smiley face on Hassell St. on this evening's walk. Happy day!

Truthfully it's been an odd day full of people saying the strangest things. I've worn a "huh? do you have any idea what just came out of your mouth?" expression all day. Sigh.

Charlie's Angels

Charleston, S.C.

Fun photo, eh! I asked them to come in on Tuesday morning for a picture. Each of these retired business people joined the volunteer team at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital because they know Charlie Black who is seated in the center.

Either because he simply let them know what he was doing and how much he enjoyed it, or in the case of one of the gentlemen who was a widower, he called him a couple of times encouraging him to explore volunteering. Two of the gentlemen help staff the recovery room desk, two of the women are patient representatives making rounds on patients, one lady works in outpatient, a gentleman works in the pharmacy and another in Ambulatory Surgery.

Charlie Black, retired as director of sales and marketing for Geer Drug Company, staffs the main information desk at the hospital.

The amazing thing, is that because of this one person and his positive influence, this team has served over 18,350 hours at the hospital. It's hard to imagine how many lives they have touched and it all started with one person.

Best part? Not only is Charlie Black a great role model but he has a wicked sense of humor and entertains me with a fresh joke everyday. :)

Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance - St. Mark's

St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Thomas St., Charleston, S.C.

“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.”
Langston Hughes

Such dramatic skies we've been having lately. It can be raining on one block and not on the next. It was pouring West Ashley when I left and the sun is shining brightly in town to welcome me home!

Thank goodness Hurricane Irene is skirting the coast. I'm simply not, not, not ready for another hurricane. We had a hurricane preparedness meeting at the friendly little hospital across the river this afternoon as an exercise to make sure we had all of our ducks in a row. I am hoping we don't need any of it this season since I've been gobbling up my hurricane supplies. Cookies - yum.

Who knows where the treasure is?

Charleston, S.C.

It's clear who knows where the treasure is! The crazy little pirate dog!

I plan to take over 700 people to the Lowcountry Heart Walk in September and our theme is "Fiercely Protecting Your Heart". Participants campaign to be our Pirate King or Queen and call me to help stage their photo op. As we did in years past with our infamous Men in Red dresses, we tend to get carried away.

This group includes Cap'n Sarah Sparrow, Cap'n Diesel Dino and Private Bow Wow and represents our Rehab Team. They had they brilliant idea to include the dog and his expressions cracked me up. We went out to the pond at the back of our parking lot at the hospital and took their campaign photos today.

I like the American Heart Association because half the people I know and love wouldn't be here today without the advances that have been made in the awareness and treatment of heart disease. Join us! The little pup's expression has been good for my heart already!

G'night kids. I have to be in my CEO's office at 8 a.m. so I'd best get myself to bed.

There is a new blogging posse in town!

2006 Blogger Meet Up, Charleston, S.C.

Back in Ye Olde Early Age of Blogging we were a motley crew of writers, newspaper editors, photographers, actresses, technology folks and scientists. It was wonderful for me because it took me out of my usual familiar healthcare circle and shook me up with a new and fascinating cast of characters.

Dan Conover from Xark was working at the Post & Courier at that time and made contact with some of us individually. We had a first gathering of lowcountry bloggers meet up on the patio of the Riverview restaurant overlooking the Charleston harbor in 2006 to sniff each other out and put faces to writers we already knew so much about from their writing. Bloggers gathered outside to pose for a photo op on the pretty blue mustang – the only car with a blog of it’s own - Mustang Rolling.



Dan recruited many of us to be in his zombie film Brunch of the Living Dead and I finally did something that made my children proud. Many of the friendships last to this day. Heather developed the Home Ec101 blog into a book, Gene Glave turned her blog into a one women play and sadly passed away this summer, Chuck keeps us current with the music scene, Kelly Love Johnson moved to Austin and Jared is still our weather guru. The scientist moved out of the Airstream, the artist packed up her camper but is still painting and Vera still knits at every event. Eugene kills me with his Friday dinner pictures and the Kittens are still skipping on the keyboard. Notoriously Nice Mike the first lowcountry blogger I met, is mostly nice on Facebook now.

Blogging ranks thinned out after members moved to Twitter and meet-ups became “tweet ups” or Social Media meetings. With the instant reactions people got from Twitter, later Facebook and now Google +, it seemed like blogging might disappear.

Apparently not! The first recent flurry of new activity were folks like Doug and Susie who had moved to the lowcounty and LOVED it. They posted pictures of the lowcountry sights they were discovering and featured meals at local restaurants.

Now there is a new blogging posse in town! They are young, they are stylish, they work out, cook, they almost all seem to be blonde and every one of them is drop dead gorgeous. Wowza. Check out this picture from a recent blog meet up.

Welcome to lowcounty blogland, ladies! I've been scrambling to add newcomers I discover to my Lowcountry Blog side bar. Holler if I've missed you.



Hmmmm. I feel like a Bloggy Matriarch.

The kids are back in town

Calhoun St., Charleston, S.C.

What a difference a week makes. Everywhere you look there are students on bikes, skateboards and this evening trying to cover their heads and dashing to get out of the rain. The "towels over the banister" look is one of my favorites.

I've been doing a little kayaking lately and was amazed to come across this site: Richard Bernabe's South Carolina Riverventure. In 2007 the nature photographer chose a route that took him 270 miles through the state’s rivers, lakes, swamps and canals, as well as negotiating around eight dams in a canoe. He began on the Broad River at the foothills of the North Carolina Mountains and finished at Battery Park in the Charleston Harbor.

Holy cow! The story is in three parts but each page leads to the next. He is amazing but does not make it sounds like a tempting escapade. I think I will stick to my hiking holidays.

The Turtle Ballet of Lake Marion

Lake Marion, S.C.

Look at him! So cute, posing for us! My friend Leah and I snuck our kayaks up quietly and although his companion slipped under the water as we approached, this fella kicked up his heels and posed for us. He let us get so close that it finally dawned on us that he was stuck and couldn't get his back feet to touch the cypress-knee perch. Leah gave him a gentle lift with her paddle after we were quite finished taking pictures.

I wasn't brave enough to take my DSLR out but my trusty pocket camera is a sweetie for certain things. It was like stirring soup paddling through the swamp plants but we had a great time stalking the elusive wood stork. Thanks for the company Leah!

Horsing around in Charleston

King St., Charleston, S.C.

I've passed this a thousand times and finally took a picture of it. It is at the Library Society building on King St.

I am off to Lake Marion. Shall I risk taking my camera on the water? Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Maybe. I think so.

Before & After - Unitarian Cemetery

Unitarian Cemetery, Charleston, S.C.

I matched up another scene from the U.S. Geological Survey collection. I was tempted to ask a random tourist to stand in the same spot as the gentleman in the picture but they were dressed in such baggy, sloppy clothes that it didn't have the same effect.

This picture was easily recognizable as the Unitarian Cemetery. It is titled: Charleston, South Carolina, Earthquake August 31, 1886. Displaced monument in the cemetery of the Unitarian Church.

Thanks again to the Librarian commenter for leading me to these fantastic old photos. There is enough on the site to entertain me for awhile! I added another few blossom photos to my cemetery collection while I was there.

I am off to bed, kids. This is the summer of the kayak and if the skies are clear I intend to explore a bit of Lake Marion in the morning.

Mr. C the Wedding Specialist.

Rivers Ave., Charleston, S.C.

Who needs match.com when we have Mr. C. the Wedding Specialist?! Heheh! Quick drive by photo in the rain.

Go out and have a good Saturday kids.

Through the veil

South Battery, Charleston, S.C.

It is such a delicate vine twisting it's way around the entire fence with little red blossoms. Beautiful. My little pocket camera isn't doing too badly for most purposes and it isn't such a weight to carry on my walks.

Hello weekend, my old friend.

This is Home

King St., Charleston, S.C.

This is Home. Someone has been spray painting these words all over town. I try my hardest not to glorify vandalism (soooo tempting sometimes) but since this is painted on the pavement it isn't going to damage anything and I can enjoy it. This one is at the end of King almost at the tip of the peninsula.

Here are some lovely This is Home graphics and here is a song of the same title by Switchback:

This is Home
Lyrics by Switchback

Yah this is home, now im finally where I belong
Yea this is home, ive been searching for a place of my own,
Now I found it, maybe this is home
Yes this is home

And now, after all my searching
After all my questions
Im going to call it home
I got a brand new mind set
I can finally see the sunset
Im gonna call it home

Home, this is home
Now Im finally where I belong, belong
Yes this is home,
Ive been searching for a place of my own
Now I found it,
Maybe this is home
This is home

Now I know
Yea this is home

Ive come too far
And I wont go back
Yea this is home

Wheeling & dealing in vestments

Charleston, S.C.

I've been wheelin' & dealin' in vestments.

My friend Andre is also a Deacon at Christ our King in Mt. Pleasant. He had three huge boxes of beautiful vestments and robes that the Church wasn't using. We couldn't bear to get rid of them so I put my thinking cap on. I called Molly Green at Water Missions International knowing they regularly shipped containers of water purification systems to third world countries connected through the Episcopal Church. Bingo! We made the transfer today and these lovely items will be a happy surprise for little churches all over the world.

I admit. I did contemplate holding back a couple of robes in case I ever felt the urge to impersonate a priest. Hmmmmm. Did I or didn't I? Bless you, my child.

Secret alleys and afternoon escapes

Philadelphia Alley, Queen St., Charleston, S.C.

Philadelphia Alley is such a sweet shady alleyway no one with a camera can resist it.

Nice day. I arranged to let all of the volunteers at Roper St. Francis Healthcare go to see The Help at the Terrace Theater this afternoon. What fun! It felt like we were playing hooky and I have to thank Charlie and Darrell who agreed to cover the Front Desk at the hospital because they thought it was a "chick flick". I arrived early to greet everyone and collect hugs. We filled the theater with so few seats to spare I was a worried we might not all fit in. I work with such a great gang. After party at Zias next door for margarita and nachos.

I am Sailing, I am Sailing....

Waterfront Park, Charleston, S.C.

Yes. I did buy a dollhouse model ship on eBay just so I could take pictures in puddles.

:)))

And, I find it all works much better if I hum Rod Stewart's "I am sailing" when I am on my belly in the mud trying to keep my little ship from tipping over in the puddle.

Best New Restaurant 2011

Husk Restaurant, Queen St., Charleston, S.C.

Yipee! Bon Appetit magazine listed Husk Restaurant at the top of their Best New Restaurant's list. Congrats to Chef Sean Brock and the team who have made the restaurant such a success! I bet they are partying tonight!

Check out the pictures from my finger lickin' good dinner at Husk earlier in the year. Yum.

No Parking. Please. Pretty Please.

Charleston, S.C.

This is the time of year we welcome the rush of new college students to Charleston. Bless 'em. I'm so glad they have a change to further their education since it's clear they have come from remote and deprived towns without the modern concept of private driveways. This is what my driveway has looked like more often than not this month. The sad thing is that is often the parents moving the kids in who simply pull up and park where ever they like.

I've photocopied a generous stack of pictures of tow trucks to put on windshields for the time being but here is an assortment of Charleston's "No Parking" signs. I need to come up with the perfect sign.