Monday Hodge Podge

Cannon & King St., Charleston, SC

Almost worth going camping to be able to need a sleeping bag like this.

I found these freaky photo manipulations on the Presurfer

Let's play Finger Ball!

Katie is leaving love notes in airports.

Paul is taking pictures on my turf!

Not a good idea in my way of thinking. Somebody is fixin' to get hurt.

I broke my best Pirate mug. Luckily we have a Margaritaville store on King St.

Mississippi blogger Everything and Nothing is coming to town for a meeting tomorrow! What shall I show her? Woo hoo!

I worked late. It was raining too hard for my walk. I made a grilled cheese sandwich and snuggled into my favorite corner of the couch and fell completely to sleep. ZZZzzzzzz.

Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance

Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston, SC

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch,
a smile,
a kind word,
a listening ear,
an honest compliment,
or the smallest act of caring,
all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

Leo Buscaglia

A near explosion of color

Magnolia Plantation Gardens, Charleston, SC

Pack your bags kids! Charleston is ready to explode into color.

I drove out Highway 61 in the fog this morning to renew my annual membership at Magnolia Plantation just in the nick of time. It's that perfect time when the camellias are still blooming and the early azaleas are open. I swear this is one of my favorite places on earth. It makes me happy just to walk through it.

I've been all over today. Back later. I need to do yard work before it gets dark.

Saturday Funny

Baker House, Ashley Ave., Charleston

Baker Memorial Hospital was built in 1912 as Baker Sanatorium, at a cost of $100,000. The hospital was founded in 1912 by Dr. Archibald E. Baker, Sr. of Charleston and Dr. Lawrence Craig of Dillon. The hospital left this building and constructed a new building in North Charleston in 1981, and the old hospital was converted to a condominium complex called Baker House.

Commenter Paul, Tx mentioned this building on Colonial Lake. It is now expensive condos each costing much more than the original cost of the building.

Bonus Joke:
An eight year girl is trying to check out a book entitled "Advice for Young Mothers" from the local library.

Librarian: Now why do you want to check out this particular book, dear?

Little girl: I collect moths.

Undignified Ways to Die

Bethany Cemetery, Charleston, SC

Undignified Ways to Die
Skin diving with gas tanks you stole from a dentist.
Renting a basement apartment in Venice.

Wearing clown shoes while walking through a mine field at night.
Getting a life-size tattoo of someone your height.

Mistaking a python for your favorite tie.
Hangliding at night on the 4th of July.

Having a bowling ball dropped on your head.
Mooning some cannibals who haven't been fed.

Teasing some Scot's for wearing their kilts.
Approaching a chopper while walking on stilts.

Swimming with sharks in a suit made of meat.
Flashing yourself to a hippo in heat.

Slapping the head of a bald drunken sailor.
Telling your date's burly dad: "Five bucks says I nail her."
Paul Gilmartin

Oh heck, just listen to it. I was laughing out loud in the car on the way to work last week and had to find it for you.

In Living Color

Sheepman Graffiti, Buffalo South shopping center, Folly Road

It's worth repeating some of the pictures already posted in the smaller version on my previous blog. It's a pleasure to see them on a larger scale.

This is one panel of the Sheepman graffiti images on the back of the old and abandoned Buffalo South shopping center on Folly Road. I haven't been out there for some time and hope they are still intact. A few of the other panels can be found here. Tremendously cool.

While we are in an artsy mode, take a peak at these anatomy tattoos. Wow.

Happy Feet

Rutledge & Beaufain St., Charleston, SC

One day a picture like this will be dated by all the wires, poles and newspaper boxes. Already it is hard to find a telephone booth or mailbox. Things are disappearing quickly.

I was at the SC Hospital Association in Columbia today for a meeting of Volunteer Directors. It's nice to be with the only other people in the world who really know what we do. The gentleman who is our uniform vendor was there and I won a pair of Dansko shoes in a drawing. Lucky for me someone dropped my name in the bucket when I wasn't paying attention. Can't beat that!

It's the weekend, kids. Go forth and make merry.

I love the friends I have gathered .....

Pitt St., Charleston, SC

Some call it heavenly in its brilliance.
Others, mean and rueful of the Western dream.
I love the friends I have gathered together on this thin raft.
We have constructed pyramids in honor of our escaping.
This is the land where the Pharaoh died.
Jim Morrison, The Wasp

Another one of my favorite pieces of sidewalk graffiti is gone. I walked Pitt St. last weekend, realized I hadn't seen it for awhile and retraced my steps. These inscriptions have become the landmarks of my walks and I could feel something was missing.

It's amazing that I have been able to keep up a blog. I'm not allowed to talk about all the wacky stuff that happens at work since it is a hospital. I've been given strict rules not to blab about my kids. They are wisely very protective of their internet privacy. I'm single so I don't really talk about myself ;). My cat died. The dog moved moved to Oregon. It's lucky this town has an endless supply of purty pictures to share. And it does. It does.

Home of the Hand Wash

Home of the Hand Wash, Charleston, SC

Some days we all need a hand wash. Tonight I'd accept a foot massage as well.

I love hand painted signs, I do.

I started my day at a 7:30 am CEO Breakfast for the Heart Walk and ended it up at Trident Tech at the annual Employee Recognition Banquet where hundreds of people received award pins for years of service. Yawn. Sleepy me. I was hopping around taking pictures and they took my plate away (sniff) so I arrived home late and starving. Munching on peanut butter toast here as I nod off at the keyboard while my pictures upload.

Night folks. Y'all turn the lights out.

A Wonderful Correspondence

Unitarian Cemetery, Charleston, SC

If you've been hanging around here for long, you know that I steal a lot of my jokes from a blogger by the name of Old Horse Tail Snake. I knew Hoss was sick, in fact he often joked that he was in Hospice and not dying on schedule. It was still a shock to check back to his blog this evening for a quick smile and learn that he had passed away.

Here is how he described himself:

I am a mere 78 years old, and I have escaped from The Old Folks Home. I am living with a beautiful woman in Wilsonville, Oregon. Ain't no flies on me!

Hoss had recently lost the template to his blog and hadn't been able to rebuild it. Happily his last post was a picture of an angel, but not exactly an angelic one :)). He was a rascal to the end. It's a weird thing isn't it, missing someone you never knew.

His beloved Scamp's entry where she shares some personal letters is titled The End of a Wonderful Correspondence and in it he writes: "You will like the last line of my obit: “Maudlin plans to be cremated and then will reincarnate.” Really. A person should be allowed to have fun with his last words.

Nice. :)

My Talented Family

Alexei Perry & Dan Boeckner, Handsome Furs, Village Tavern, Mt. Pleasant, SC 2008

Reading my niece Alexei Perry's My Space page to see where their band Handsome Furs is playing makes my head spin. From Toronto to Texas, they hit Utrecht, Brussels, Belgrade, Krakow, Berlin, Lisbon all before the end of May.

These kids are on a roll and look like they are having the time of their lives. Last year I happened to glance at the calendar and was stunned to see they were scheduled to play the Village Tavern in Mt. Pleasant in the middle of an East Coast trip. Alexei had visited Charleston as a kid but probably hadn't connected that Mt. Pleasant was just across the river. No such luck this year but if you like Indie Rock their new album goes on sale today.

FACE CONTROL is the second album by Montreal’s Handsome Furs, 2007’s Plague Park was their first. Alexei Perry and Dan Boeckner wrote the songs on FACE CONTROL together. The album was recorded and mixed by Arlen Thompson at Mount Zoomer. It was mastered by Harris Newman at Hotel2Tango. It will be released on March 10th, 2009.

Yep. That talented bundle of energy is my niece. :))

Busier than Thou!

King St., Charleston, SC

I've been tugged in a thousand directions at work lately and hope I haven't let anything crucial slip through the cracks. I have pages and pages of scrawled messages to return. Every time I leave my office I come back to exactly seven new messages. It's all good stuff but I have that sinking feeling. Blub, blub.

How busy am I? I googled to find out how busy everyone else is and came up with:

Busier Than a Crack Dealer on Payday
Busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs
Busier than normal but I just cannot stop working
Busier than a one-armed paper hanger
Busier than a one-armed man in a rowing competition
Busier than a one-legged man at an ass kicking contest
Busier than a one armed brick layer in Beirut
Busier than a bee collecting honey.
Busier than a one-toothed beaver
Busier than a one-legged Riverdancer
Busier Than You Thought I Was.
I am busy, busier than thou!

Anyway. Like I said, it's all good stuff and a couple of incredible opportunities have been popping up, one which might involve travel to a most unexpected place. More on that soon.

I have been asked to do a couple of presentations to active seniors on blogging. What shall I tell them about this wonderful, wacky crowd I've grown accustomed to hanging out with? YOU.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood

Yep. This is how we dress for a walk on a Sunday morning in Charleston.

335 King St. I can't complain about cleaning my windows after watching this.

On a glorious and sunny like today I hear Mr. Rogers humming the background music for my walk. People are in their yards pulling weeds, washing windows and nodding to their neighbours. My daughter once told me she had college age friends who watched Mr. Rogers because he was the only one who told them he liked them, just the way they were. It made me realize how important he was.

Ummm...what does that second paragraph mean?

It's a Beautiful Day in this Neigbourhood

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?...

It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood,
A neighborly day for a beauty.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?...

I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.

So, let's make the most of this beautiful day.
Since we're together we might as well say:
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won't you be my neighbor?
Won't you please,
Won't you please?
Please won't you be my neighbor?


Gillon St. & East Bay, Charleston, SC

Saturday Hodgepodge

Philadelphia Alley, Charleston, SC

I love reviewing the googled search words that land people on my page but these screenshots are even funnier: Is Google making us dumber?

It's been a bright and glorious day. I walked King St. this morning mourning the new flagstone that has destroyed my treasure trove of sidewalk graffiti. :(.

Day trip down the coast today to sweet little Port Royal and ate green curry at the Suwan Thai because eventually I will have eaten the green curry in every Thai restaurant in South Carolina. This version had no eggplant which I take points off for, but you might not.

Ummm.....if you can't find a bill after searching the whole house, does it still exist?

Awwww....Waldo. Nice. Thanks.

I hope everyone is having a perfect weekend.

Dad does Moonshine?

Charleston Food & Wine Festival, McCrady's, Charleston, SC

Ha! That picture of Chef Johnny Iuzzini and his father cracked me up. I thought I'd post it since Dad is going to stop by the blog to look at setting up his own travel/photo blog for his dive adventure shots.

Now that I am the McCrady's family photographer (heheh) I was seated at the family and "adorable chef wives" table at the Food & Wine Festival dinner last night. Check out all the top chef luvin' going on, awwww, awwww, awwww! No wonder they are creating great food.

Can you imagine the tasty leftovers all over town during this festival? It boggles the mind. Link to the last night's food pictures.

It is a bright and sunny day in the lowcountry. Where shall we walk this morning?

Food & Wine Festival

Charleston Food & Wine Festival, McCrady's Dine Around, Charleston, SC

What are they doing in this beehive of activity? Making my perfect dinner that's what. And to think I my ate lunch in a cafeteria today. The weather went from one end of the scale to the other today and so have my dining experiences.

I was invited to pull up a chair at the Charleston Food & Wine Festival Dinner at McCrady's this evening and made free to abandon my seat when there was peak action in the kitchen. What they produced from that tiny kitchen was incredible.

The only thing I could compare the coordinated chaos in that room to - in my more familiar hospital experience, would be the delivery of triplets in surgery, where there is a doctor for every baby and a nurse for every doctor, all the back up personal stand ready to leap into action and a timely is delivery important.

Yum, yum. You might consider this food extravaganza wasted on a non foodie but I licked my plate after each course. Along with Chef Sean Brock, the visiting chefs were Wylie Dufresne from Wd-50, NYC and Johnny Iuzzini, Jean Georges Restaurant, NYC.

I am falling to sleep at the keyboard. G'night, kids. I'll put in links to images of the dishes in the morning but right now I can't tell my Candied Kumquats from my Calamanzi Noodles.

Edit: Here is the City Paper scoop from Stephanie Barna who actually knows what she is talking about :). Link to the evening's food pictures.

My Late Valentine Card

Magnolia Plantation, Charleston, SC

Just before valentine's day, scancafe.com offered free Obama Valentine's cards to promote their photo restoration services. You could send in a picture of yourself and they would insert President Obama next to you. For free.

Naturally, they got thousands of requests for their promotional joke, including mine. They got so many that they guaranteed to keep their promise to do them all even if it took weeks.

It did take weeks and I got my Obama Valentine yesterday. Heheh. Here is my sister Shirley and I at Magnolia Plantation with a slightly oversized President Obama, courtesy of Scancafe. This photoshop business is still fun. Look how happy he is to be spending the day with us in Charleston.

Best of! Charleston City Paper

Byron - Best Street Character, Joan Perry - Best Local Interest Blog.

Andre' Guillet - McCrady's Restaurant GM, Sean Brock - Best Chef, Tanya Brock, Clint Sloan - Best Sommelier, David Howard - Buccaneer Restaurant - Best Place to Take Country Kin Folk.

Sean Brock, Andre' Guillet, Joan Perry

Marjorie & Lori - Best Day Care, Roper St. Francis Learning Center

A few year's ago, when I had a baby blog called Walk this Way, my sister Shirley in Edmonton submitted it in the Best of Canada Blog awards. It was a great joke, since I live in the lowcountry of South Carolina. But, I am Canadian so I was eligible, and although there were some rumblings in Canadian blog circles about American influences, I won second place in the Photo/Art category. It was good fun.

Tonight I won the Charleston City Paper's "Best Of" category for Best Local Interest Blog. Woohoo! This is even better since most of my audience and commenters are not from Charleston. I tend to attract readers who used to live here and have pangs of homesickness, wished they lived here or who have visited here. This is quite an honor to get the local vote and I thank everyone who took the trouble to vote for me. Picture me blowing kisses.

The party was at the Joe Riley Stadium and had a mustache theme. I stopped by Hokus Pokus on the way home from work the other day and bought up a supply of mustaches.

Best Local Interest Blog
Joan Perry's photo collection is a daily affirmation that we live in, "the most beautiful city in the world."

My health care system cleaned up as well. Roper St. Francis Healthcare won Best Hospital, Best Place to Have a Baby and Best Learning Center. Tonight I am allowed more than one daily photo. Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to the Charleston City Paper for a fantastically hairy event!

Joans Brothers

Cannon & Coming St., Charleston, SC

I have three cool brothers, no doubt, but I've been bewildered by the number of google hits searching for "Joans Brothers".

Does everyone else appreciate Bob, Roger and Jim the way my family does?

Then it dawned on me. They are bad spellers looking for the "Jonas Brothers".

The Voice from the Basement

Charleston, SC

I hope someone helped this person.