Charleston Fountains

Fountain, Legare St., Charleston, SC 

Recent entries have turned into a series on fountains. Not planned! Some have been water features, others floral and this one on Legare St. is a mixture. What a beautiful yard.

My yard is not on such a grand scale but I am in the midst of improvements! I had gentlemen here today busily working on creating a little flagstone patio for me. Nothing I like more than watching a hustle and bustle of activity while my property is being improved. I can't wait. Neither can the bear.

Charleston Fountains

Fountain, Ladson St., Charleston, SC   

I understand it gets a little cooler this weekend and the time change will soon make it seem like fall so I should feature these blossoms before we lose them. I found this pretty fountain on Ladson St.

I slipped out of work early this afternoon for a wedding and the reception was out at one of my favorite places, Magnolia Plantation. Not a bad way to end the week. Happy Friday kids!

Black & White

Charleston Garden, Charleston, SC   

It is such a lovely garden and we only get to look in through the gate so it's hard to get a different view. Black and white ain't bad either!

Late night here after going to the Silent Auction event at the Lowcountry Senior Center and uploading their event pictures. Shrimp City Slim provided entertainment and the place was bustling with activity. It was a benefit to raise funds and by the looks of things they should be successful.

G'night kids. 

Floral fountain

Queen St. fountain, Charleston, SC 

We can't complain about losing our blossoms to the season just yet. This beautiful floral fountain is in the yard at Husk Restaurant on Queen St.

Until I clicked on the website to add the link I hadn't realized there will soon be four Husk locations - Charleston, Nashville and soon to come in Savannah and Greenville, Well done Chef Sean Brock.

The Husk building on Queen St. used to be used for art classes for the Gibbes museum of art. I once took a calligraphy class in the same room I have since licked tasty sauce off my fingers and eaten crispy pigs ears in.  

Gimme a kiss!

Chocolate Kisses Halloween, Charleston, SC   

One last Halloween post before I close the chapter for the year. Halloween is like a national holiday for the hospital volunteer department. This happy group coordinated their costume designing and came as Chocolate Kisses. The funniest part was trying to get them all on an elevator together! They roamed the hospital passing out candy treats and posing for photos.

Onward!

Halloween tour of Charleston

King St., Charleston, SC    

In my mind these home owners should get a tax deduction for taking the time to delight so many people every year. They certainly make me smile and I look forward to taking a long walk to check out the Halloween decorations. Thanks folks! We appreciate it.

Boo!

Halloween, Charleston, SC 

I bought myself a skeleton this year and have had fun posing him around my property. It then dawned on my with the limited storage in my small home he may need to sleep in the guest bed between seasons.

Market goodies

Farm fresh eggs, Charleston, SC  

Yes, I did go back to the West Ashley Farmer's Market. I am so much enjoying having a destination in the neighborhood to walk to. My friend Leah joined me and we picked up curried vegetables and macaroni and cheese from the Roti Rolls booth, fresh eggs for me and walked through the other vendors. The market has been such a success they have added on November dates and a holiday market.

Based on community feedback, the West Ashley Farmers Market pilot season will add two additional Wednesday markets (Nov. 2 and Nov. 9) before we close out 2016 with a special Sunday afternoon holiday fair and farmers market on November 20.  The City of Charleston – Office of Cultural Affairs extends an invitation to eligible Artisans, Crafters & Food Concessionaires to apply to participate in the West Ashley Farmers Market Holiday Fair on Sunday, November 20^th from 1 – 5 PM in Ackerman Park. Space is limited and acceptance will be granted to vendors with a unique offering that will add to the market’s holiday spirit! Thank you for taking the time to apply.*No Application Fee Required

WAFM Holiday Fair – Vendor Applications Now Available!

Charleston Quotes

Charleston, SC  

Charleston is one of the best built, handsomest, 

and most agreeable cities that I have ever seen.

Marquis de Lafayette

Cape Romain Lighthouse Tour

Cape Romain Ligfthouse, Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, McClellanville, SC  

The only reason I had the chance to snag a couple of the last tickets for the Cape Romain lighthouse tour was because it had been rescheduled due to the hurricane. The tours are only done four times a year. Lucky me!

Our tour started at the Seewee Visitor Center for a slide show and history presentation by Tommy Graham who has championed the preservation of the lighthouse and done much of the hands on work himself.  He had a wealth of historical information and photographs of the lighthouse keepers to share.

The Cape Romain Lighthouses are a pair of brick lighthouses on Lighthouse Island southeast of McClellanville. The first, built in 1827, and stand 65 feet in height. The second, built in 1857, stands at a height of 150 feet. Both survived Hurricane Hugo in 1989, and although no longer active, they still serve as a visual navigation point during daylight hours. They can also be seen on our department patch. These are truly treasuers of the Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge.

Following the presentation we drove on to the McClellanville boat landing to board the Coastal Expeditions boat. The trip was six miles and we couldn't have had a finer day. We nibbled on our picnic as the lighthouses came into view. We had been warned that we might get our feet muddy walking to the lighthouse but to my surprise the boat ramp had us stepping off into water and slippery black pluff mud well over our knees. All the members of our group were good sports as water overflowed and filled boots. One lady took a slip but bravely held her camera high above the water and we all made it. 

Both of the light houses had been opened for us to explore at the base but the steps were too dangerous to climb. Renovation was in progress thanks to Tommy Graham's efforts. The foundation of the old Lighthouse Keeper's home, cistern, and old buoy and a few other items were still there to explore. Swarms of mosquitoes were out in full force and after exploring we waded back through the water (with a walking stick this time!) to the boat.  

There is one more tour for this year on November 20th. 

Charleston Gardens

Charleston garden, Charleston, SC    

The older part of the peninsula with it's secret gardens, gates and quirkiness always makes for an enjoyable walk. One of the sad things about most new construction is how incredibly boring it is to walk past. In a car perhaps it isn't so obvious but on foot there doesn't seem to be much charm or difference to enjoy from the outside. These folks in the historic district had a lovely formal garden although I did take the shot before our recent wind storm.

Speaking of storms it breaks my heart to walk below my neighborhood West Ashley and see homes that had just recovered from the floods last October torn apart again. I know at least four people who had repeat floods. Two of them are from the Shadowmoss development and one of the ladies has flooded three times. What a sad mess.

My street seems to be mostly back together except for the giant piles of debris waiting to be picked up. I walked back at dusk this evening and almost tripped over a branch sticking out in the road. Ooops!

What movie shall I see tomorrow?

West Ashley Farmer's Market

West Ashley Farmer's Market, Sycamore Rd, Charleston, SC   

This new Farmer's Market could be habit forming! It is an easy walk from my house without crossing a highway (yay!), the weather was perfect, there were even more vendors than the last time I went and I ran into so many people I know.

I grabbed a savory crepe and iced coffee for dinner and found a spot to eat with my friend Vera, West Ashley United was set up and Mayor John Tecklenburg and his wife Sandy made their rounds. I believe the market has been extended for a few more weeks. See you there my friends!

Historic Rice Mill building

Historic Rice Mill, Charleston, SC  

It seems a lifetime ago but these pictures were on my camera card immediately before the recent wind storm chaos when I walked out on the dock after a lazy Sunday brunch at the Marina Variety store. It's always fun to pretend you stepped off your yacht to have breakfast with your fellow yacht owners overlooking the water.

The building in the photo is the historic rice mill building which appears to be used as an event and wedding space now.

West Point MillToday, the four-story Classic Revival mill building is obscured by heavily-trafficked bridge approaches, clusters of modern buildings, parking lots, and rows of yachts, but once it stood alone as one of the city’s most industrious endeavors.West Point was a small sliver of land protruding into the Ashley River in the 1830’s, when a steam-driven rice mill was built and powered by water from large areas of man-made pond. An 1859 fire destroyed the mill, which was replaced one year later with a structure that housed giant boilers and massive cylindrical shafts for grinding and brushing kernels into polished rice and flour. The 15-acre complex included separate shipping wharves, carpenters’ sheds and cooperage facilities, as well as new artesian wells for water supply. For more than half a century, the West Point mill was among America’s largest and most productive, annually cranking out hundreds of thousands of barrels, and when a foundering rice business finally forced the facility to close in 1926, much of the oversized inventory was bought by Henry Ford for display at his Edison Institute antique museum in Dearborn, Michigan.In the late 1930’s, remnants of the old mill ponds were dredged for a municipal yacht basin and planned as the site of a transatlantic seaplane terminal in an agreement made by the city with the German Air Ministry, but the coming of World War II shot the project down. The abandoned building remains Charleston’s only completely intact rice mill, and has been used for Chamber of Commerce headquarters, a restaurant and city marina offices, and the old mill pond area now supports high-rise condominiums and hotels, and approaches to Ashley River bridges, where the watery foundation is still evident in an undulating roadway surface.

On the road - Portland

Oregon  

I didn't blow away! I had complicated travel plans lined up for October that had been tossed into the air by Hurricane Matthew's evacuation surprise. Instead of going directly to Portland, Oregon from a conference in Atlanta as planned, I had been in Augusta, back to Charleston and then scrambling to figure out if I could still change flights and pull off my trip west. I did! My goal was for a quick trip with my son out to visit my daughter in Portland. 

The crazy thing is that we landed there for one gloriously sunny day before tropical storm alerts were warning for the west coast. I have never set myself up to be a storm chaser. We made the most of our sunny day stopping at waterfalls along the Columbia river gorge. It is such a contrast to our lowcountry scenery I was in heaven with cool mist on my face. We had lunch at the pFriem Family Brewery and wandered the cute little Hood River town.

The rest of the visit was rain sprinkled but didn't hamper our pleasure. I love Portland's quirky neighborhoods and my daughter had all the best brunch and lunch spots lined up. I traveled lightly and left my big camera at home so have a few cell phone photos to share this time. We enjoyed the Art Museum and visits to the discounted Columbia and Adidas shops as well as IKEA. There is nothing better for me than to hear my two grown children laughing and enjoying each other's company.

The storm was hitting the worst the night I had a 3 a.m. airport cab arriving but I didn't have any trouble getting home. Thanks to the coastal Boeing locations we now have a non-stop Seattle to Charleston flight which is grand. I have one more lazy day to recover and then back to reality. I hope everyone has recovered from the storms on both coasts.

Thanks Augusta!

James Brown statue, Augusta, Georgia

We made the most of Augusta, Georgia during our evacuation days. At first it seemed oddly abandoned and we finally asked why we were the only ones at what appeared to be a popular lunch spot on a lovely day. They looked at us strangely and said, "there is a hurricane coming, you know." Well, yes, I did know but this was our safe place. It hadn't dawned on me that their schools were cancelled as well.

By the next day everyone roaming and shopping were fellow east coast strays comparing notes and fears. I suggested that the antique store post a Welcome Refugee sign. My son got some work done and I listened in on periodic team meetings from home and in between we wandered the downtown, took the canal boat ride and caught a few movies. Thanks for the welcome Augusta.