Charleston Quotes

Charleston, SC 

Charleston has a landscape that encourages intimacy and partisanship. I have heard it said that an inoculation to the sights and smells of the Carolina lowcountry is an almost irreversible antidote to the charms of other landscapes, other alien geographies. You can be moved profoundly by other vistas, by other oceans, by soaring mountain ranges, but you can never be seduced. You can even forsake the lowcountry, renounce it for other climates, but you can never completely escape the sensuous, semitropical pull of Charleston and her marshes.

Pat Conroy

Chalmers St.

Pink House, Charleston, SC    

I frequently pass this darling home on Chalmers St. that is often described as the oldest home on the peninsula but rarely find it without a car parked right in front of it. No car blocking the view and crepe myrtle trees in bloom - my lucky day!

A short walk down the street I always stop to admire my initials in the author Josephine Pinckney's home. JP! How considerate.

Charleston Carpet

Crepe Myrtle blossoms, Charleston, SC

It is worth looking down. These are the colors of Charleston's natural carpet at this time of year. Crepe Myrtle blossoms pink and purple. 

Crepe Myrtle Blossoms

Crepe Myrtle blossoms in Charleston, SC 

Crepe Myrtle blossoms. Our consolation prize for the heat of summer. 

Charleston's Summer Wear

Crepe Myrtle blossoms, Charleston, SC  

Charleston is wearing festive summer wear in this heat. 

Thank goodness for Crepe Myrtle blossoms.

Our annual "How Hot is it?" entry:

It's so hot in South Carolina that...

* A seat belt makes a pretty good branding iron.

* When the temperature drops below 95, you feel a bit chilly.

* It's so hot outside it will make you return things you never stole.

* It's hotter than a steel playground at noon.

* You can attend any function wearing shorts and a tank top.

* The best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.

* Hot water now comes out of both taps.

* You actually burn your hand opening the car door.

* You realize that asphalt has a liquid state.

• It's so hot the birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground.

• It's so hot I saw two trees fighting over a dog.

* It is so hot even the sea breeze feels like a hair dryer...

• It was so hot today I saw a dog chasing a cat and they were both walking.

• It's hotter than a June bride in a feather bed.

• It's so hot that the trees are creeping around looking for shade.

• It's stupid hot!

• It is hot enough to cure tobacco.

• It's hotter than the devil's underwear.

• It's another one of those aluminum foil sweater days.

* It's so hot you could spit fire. But, please don't.

Summer's floral gift to Charleston

Crepe Myrtle, Charleston, S.C.

It is suddenly Crepe Myrtle season! With their pink, white, purple blossoms, Charleston is dressed up in her festive summer wear. I have a little one that hasn't blossomed and I suspect it might be under too much shade. In my mind the blossoms are brilliant white. I hope I don't get a ticket from a passing horticulturalist for not having a Crepe Myrtle in the lowcountry. 

Okay, kids...I bought a new shredder on the way home so let's crank her up and have a shredding party!

 

Crepe Myrtle Season

Crepe Myrtle, Charleston, S.C.

Charleston's colorful summer gift - Crepe Myrtles trees. They have a distinctive smooth bare trunk. When I was teaching my kids the names of trees I would always say, "Myrtle! Get some clothes on!"

Myrtle in her finest

Tradd St., Charleston, S.C.

It may be almost too hot and humid to bear in Charleston but there is lush, colorful eye candy everywhere you look.

I am off to jury duty, kids. This will be a new experience for me.

Vote for a friend - Mad Men Casting Call

Crepe Myrtle, Charleston, S.C.

It has definitely been a Crepe Myrtle year.

Do me a favor if you would, vote for my bloggie buddy Marcheline for a spot on Mad Men. Mad Men is my favorite current show to watch and it would be a real kick to see a friend on it. It is easy to do, you don't have to register or promise your first born child. Simply click here to vote!

Charleston's Summer Party Frock

State St., Charleston, S.C.

Charleston has slipped into her summer party frock with crepe myrtles in bloom on every street and carpets of colored petals underfoot. It's a gift to console us for the heat.

Crepe Myrtles in bloom

Rutledge Ave., Charleston, S.C.

The Crepe Myrtles have been glorious this year, although they've recently had many of the blossoms beaten off the branches with our daily rain storms. It's been a trick staying a step ahead of dark storm clouds lately. That is a cute little closed up service station in the background.

Later kids. I am taking my sore toe out for a stroll down King St. to see how we manage. It looks and feels much better after evening soaks this week. I had bruises up and down my forehead, arms and legs from the cabinet that landed on me and although I am feeling healed they look most impressively colorful and dramatic now. I had lots of worried questions at work this week. Nice folks I work with.

Word spread that I was trying to pass it off as an "old sex injury" and people started poking their heads in my office just to ask how I got hurt. Hmmmmmph. Why is that so outrageous? It was supposed to be funny but not THAT funny. ;)