Hope on Goat 2014

Hope on Goat, Goat Island, S.C.

I caught a boat for a short ride and stepped on Goat Island for the first time. Today was Hope on Goat, a benefit for Louie's Kids and the ticket included oysters, hot dogs, fish stew, music and a silent auction. What wasn't mentioned in the publicity was the delightful quirkiness of the place. My friend Josephine and I walked the length of the island grinning at all the fun signs and artsy odds and ends. We even found a few goats!

Louie's Kids is a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization that raises funds to help treat childhood obesity, which afflicts 25 million American children today. Louie's Kids works to find the best treatment options to meet the needs of each child. We find the fix that fits, one kid at a time.

Vintage dining

Fletcher's Finds, Yemassee, S.C.

Head down the road to Yemassee, S.C. for a real vintage dining experience. It is so vintage that the dining room is set right inside an antique store and you can sit anywhere you like.

At Fletcher's Finds you can probably buy the chair you are sitting in as well as the glass vase centerpiece holding the napkins. Have to wait a minute for your server? Do some shopping. The food was good - I had three pulled pork sliders and broccoli with cheese. I was so full I was tempted to crawl up in the antique four poster bed in the bottom photo and take a nap.

Strolling through the garden

John C. Calhoun, Marion Square, Charleston, S.C.

I caught John C. Calhoun strolling through the garden at Marion Square. I like to pop up and surprise him and have a collection of photos to prove it. Boo!

Happy me! There is finally work being done on the building at Calhoun & King. It s one of the busiest corners in town and has been an empty eyesore for years. It is going to make so much difference when it is done and there is a hotel where the old library used to be. Progress is better than an abandoned shell.

Okay, kids. I just rowed across my living room for half an hour. Time to hit the recliner. I've been watching Top of the Lake. When you stream an entire season of a show on Netflix, it is like eating candy, you keep sneaking in just one more episode.

Teeny tiny houses of Charleston - Radcliffe St.

Radcliffe St., Charleston, S.C.

I am on a roll with the tiny houses but I haven't really scratched the surface yet. There are many more! This one was probably originally a business or shop since it is on the same property as a main house.

I do need to apologize to my readers for all the grammatical errors I make in my rush to post an entry. I am sorry. I often catch them later or a kind reader brings them to my attention. I fix what I can but those of you who read my entries first must suffer. To my credit, I grew up overseas, went to school in a different language,  took English as a second language subject and didn't always do well in it even though it was my native tongue. Sad state of affairs. Heheh. 

Roughing it in Ruffin

Farmhouse, Ruffin, S.C.

The House with Nobody In It 

 But a house that has done what a house should do,
a house that has sheltered life,
That has put its loving wooden arms around a man and his wife,
A house that has echoed a baby's laugh and held up his stumbling feet,
Is the saddest sight, when it's left alone, that ever your eyes could meet. 

by Joyce Kilmer

I should do a little better jotting down exact locations of places I take pictures of but I believe this old farmhouse was in Ruffin, S.C. Imagine all the stories that happened in this old house.

If you go down to the woods today....

Marlene Williamon, Teddy Bear's Picnic, Hampton Park, Charleston, S.C.

I spotted my friend Marlene setting up for the Charleston Parks Conservancy Teddy Bear picnic yesterday afternoon at Hampton Park. There are lots of cute pictures on their facebook page.

I can't help humming the Teddy Bear's Picnic song by Anne Murray. You know you want to hear it again too:

Floating Feathers

Hampton Park, Charleston, S.C.

I walked through Hampton Park this morning enjoying the sunshine but ended up spending most of my time tracking floating leaves and feathers in the pond.

Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance - Yemessee

Yemassee Junction, Yemassee, S.C.

This weekend was so beautiful I sympathize with anyone who had to work or spend it indoors.I've hit enough different spots this weekend to keep the blog filled for a week or two myself!

This week's Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance is the Holy Temple Church in the railroad junction town of Yemassee, S.C. I'd taken this same picture a few years ago and as always was relieved to see an old favorite still intact. Sciway.net has more information on the town and it's railroad history and this site has some great old photos.

Yemassee had a brief fling with fame a few years ago when they were featured in a reality show series called "The Week the Women Went" when all the women left town leaving the men to fend for themselves for a week.

Teeny, tiny houses of Charleston - Jasper St.

Jasper St., Charleston, S.C.

Yay, for sunshine and bright skies! Today is a cure for all that ails here in the lowcountry. Let's put this gray winter behind us.

I walked in town this morning and added to my collection of teeny, tiny houses/buildings of Charleston. Isn't this a darling? It is tucked behind the main house on Jasper St.

Although I haven't been involved this year the Wine & Food Festival continues. The ONLY fashionable wear in Charleston this weekend is a chef's jacket!I found this on the American Theater - We Drank. We Ate. We're Stuffed.

Fog on the harbor

Charleston Maritime Center, Charleston, S.C.

What a crazy day. I was ready to run away. Half the people would have waved and the other half chased me. Aaargh.


It's Charleston Wine & Food Festival time folks! There is a lot of tasty happening's going on around town. I drove through some of the action this evening as I headed down to the Maritime Center for an event and enjoyed imaging the festive dinner events going on in all the best restaurants tonight. Looking at the ticket availability it looks like most things have sold out. Well done!

Separated at birth

A couple of months ago I posted this picture of a framed drawing I found in an antique store in Walterboro. It was the frame that caught my eye and I intended to take out the serious little gal and put a print in it.

Meanwhile, since I can never decide which one of my thousands of prints to enlarge, I left it on the wall and I'm kinda getting used to her. Today going through a box of old pictures I found this ancient picture of myself. Tada! Twins!

One giant ringy dingy

The Military College of S.C., Charleston, S.C.

It has been awhile since I walked the beautiful campus at the Citadel, the Military College of S.C. but I headed there last Sunday morning and was greeted with this scene. Wow! That is a giant ring. I can imagine that everyone visiting the campus must have their picture taken standing by the ring.

Interesting note for House of Cards fans, I imagine this would be the model for the ring that meant so much to Kevin Spacey.

I taut I taw a puddy tat

Charleston, S.C.

I taut I taw a puddy tat a creepin' up on me.
I did! I taw a puddy tat as plain as he could be!

Song "I taut I taw a Puddy Tat" by Alan Livingston / Warren Foster / Billy May

I can't explain it but I walked by this scene a few years ago and smiled when I saw it in one of my old albums. Someone had a sense of humor. 

New mural - GDC Home

GDC Home, Charleston, S.C.

GDC Home has a recent and colorful mural on the side of their West Ashley building and I finally pulled over to get a photo to share. Isn't this great? I believe it is another piece by talented David Boatwright. You can see the process here.

I am ready to settle in for a lazy end to my weekend watching the Oscars. I see Bill Murray is in attendance and I don't recall being invited to go with him. He does live in Charleston after all and it would have been so easy. Drat.

How much is that doggie in the window?

Guard dog, ReTAIL Shop, Savannah Highway, Charleston, S.C.

Why do we always want the one thing that isn't for sale? This oversize dog was the talk of the shop as he guards the door of the ReTAIL shop on Savannah Highway. The second hand store benefits Pet Helpers and the Charleston Animal Society so it is fitting that a dog gets all the attention.

It's been a drizzly day here in Charleston but I hope you've managed to pull off a good weekend. I have a friend in the hospital so checking back and forth to keep tabs on him. Many thanks to the dedicated healthcare folks who tend to all our loved ones over the weekend.

Here doggie, doggie....

The Citadel Bulldog, Charleston, S.C.

This is a pretty impressive bulldog! Let's hope he doesn't come alive after midnight and roam the neighborhood. The Citadel Bulldog is the logo for the Citadel Bulldog Athletic Teams. Private First Class Davis offered to pose next to him to show the scale.

All ages, classes, races, called her blessed

Anna DeCosta Banks, Charleston, S.C.

I am celebrating Black History Month by recognizing one my Charleston heroines. At a time when nursing was a very young profession, Anna DeCosta Banks enrolled in nursing school in 1891 and worked her entire life as a nurse and teacher. She was head nurse of the hospital and training school on Cannon St. Here's to you Ms. Banks. You led the way.

Anna DeCosta Banks was born on September 2, 1869, in Charleston, South Carolina. The daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth DeCosta, Anna DeCosta was educated in the Charleston Public Schools and graduated from Virginia’s Hampton Institute in 1891. She enrolled in Hampton’s Dixie Hospital of Nursing and she was among its first graduates, later serving as head nurse at the training school. Upon returning to Charleston, she joined the staff of the Hospital and Training School for Nurses, located at 135 Cannon Street. She worked as head nurse and subsequently became Superintendent of Nurses, serving in that capacity for 32 years.

Banks once said, “I have found that when a person is sick or in need, it does not make any difference to them who you are or what. If you have come to help them, all are gladly received.” Mrs. Banks worked at the hospital and also as a visiting nurse for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. For twenty-four years she was a private nurse with the Ladies Benevolent Society in Charleston. When Mrs. Banks died in 1930, the Ladies Benevolent Society paid her this tribute: "All ages, classes, races, called her blessed."

“The colored people have long felt the need of a hospital where their sick can be properly cared for. Many of them have simply died for want of attention. The work has only been going on for one year and within that time we have paid $1,000 on the building, the whole cost being $4,000. The building has two wards, two private rooms, dormitory for the nurses, dining room and kitchen and reading room. We can accommodate fifteen patients at a time.”
- Mrs. Anna DeCosta Banks, Superintendent of Nurses for the Hospital and Training School for Nurses, to the Southern Workman, published by the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute where she received her own nursing education.

If ya like it then ya gotta put a bike on it!

Mixson Market, North Charleston, S.C.

If ya like it then ya gotta put a bike on it! How about this for window decor? I stepped in to check out the little gourmet grocery store at Mixson and liked the contrast of the bike hanging in the window.  Here is the website and menu for Mixson Market. The hood is changing kids!

I've been sitting on my butt in meetings all day and need to go row across my living room before bedtime.

Imaging that!

SCRUBS U Imaging Careers, Charleston, S.C.

Our Imaging Department hosted thirty high school students interested in exploring careers last night. My friend Meredith always has some freaky X Ray images to show them and then X Rays their cell phones. Meredith is a talented photographer behind a regular camera as well.

Thanks to all the staff who stayed late to talk about their career tracks and show the students what their work involves. I expect they changed some career courses!

Bowens Island Oyster Roast

Oysters at Bowens Island, Charleston, S.C.

There are work related events and then there are work related events. When a friend invited me to go to an oyster roast at Bowens Island supporting the Lowcountry Senior Center yesterday afternoon I said, "Yes, I can!" It is supposed to be cool and crisp outside for an oyster roast and we were right on the money.

I hadn't been out to Bowens Island for a while and wanted to see what they had done with the place since the fire. Sadly most of the old graffiti burned down but the oyster room is intact (not that you can tell the difference) and people are quickly writing on all the walls to return it to the original condition.