Hotel Bennett progress

Hotel Bennett progress, Charleston, SC 

This spot used to be my two story library when I lived in the neighborhood. I've watched the progress through demolition to almost completion of this luxury hotel right at Marion Square. When I am in the area I climb to the upper level of the Francis Marion hotel parking deck to get the view. What a change! Follow the link for details: Hotel Bennett.

Pink Bagels for Sale!

Pink Ribbon Bagels, Panera Bread Company, Charelston, SC 

My team and I sold 250 bagels yesterday morning - pink ribbon bagels! I wasn't sure we could pull it off but they were very much in demand and we sold out. Panera Bread makes these especially during October and donates the profits to breast cancer research.

Yesterday 100% of the proceeds were donated and for the rest of the month a percentage of profits from the bagels sold in their stores goes towards the cause. Thanks Panera! 

Pull right up, my friends. Boo!

Halloween Mural, Charleston, SC 

Pull right up, my friends. We've saved you a spot.

Yikes!

Mural artist Douglas Panzone is painting a new mural on DB's Cheesesteaks at the corner of Savannah Highway and Avondale Avenue in anticipation of the premier of the Halloween movie staring Jamie Lee Curtis and filmed locally, opening this month. 

Happy weekend from Muffler Man!

Backroads, SC 

Muffler man always make me smile. G'morning kids! What is everyone up to on this drizzly Saturday morning? I've allowed the rain to give me permission to be supremely lazy so far but I'll kick into action eventually. 

Charleston Silhouettes

Silhouettes by Clay Rice, Charleston, SC

Every home in Charleston seems to have one on the wall and you can still have a silhouette of your child done by artist Clay Rice. I spotted these posters on a King St. shop and they include the contact info.

Queen St.

Queen St., Charleston, SC

High five to the architects of this new home on Queen St. Elevated, stylish and masonry. I'll take it! It looks like it would be about 151 Queen. I can't wait to see what it looks like finished.

Inscribed bricks

Inscribed bricks, King St., Charleston

With King St. closed to traffic for the parade yesterday we found familiar names inscribed on the bricks. Hey there Jimmy Buffet! 

Sadly I missed the opportunity and may need to take a black marker down and add myself someday!

Happy Pride Parade Day Charleston!

Pride Parade Charleston 2018

Happy Pride Parade Day Charleston! This was fun. I love it when the parade keeps stopping and I collect hugs! Some of my friends were offering Free Mom Hugs and we met for brunch at Basic Kitchen afterwards. Let me know if anyone is looking for specific float shots. I probably have them!

On the road - Oslo, Norway

National Theater, Oslo

The trip to Norway was billed as Norway in a Nutshell. Planning our trip during the hot and humid lowcountry summer, I was sold on the scenes of trains in gorgeous mountains and boat rides on the fjords and convinced my sister Shirley from Edmonton to join me. The trip is coordinated through Fjord Tours and can begin and end in different cities but usually include both Oslo and Bergen. In between you travel by trains, buses, and boats and space it out as you like with nights in different spots.

Sure enough I was sent a booklet of tickets and hoped for the best. The names of the towns and fjords are so complicated and unfamiliar that none of it seemed real until we were there to figure it out. Some of the connections were so close it was hard to believe it would all work, but it did! At times we would hop off a train on one track and flow with the group to get on an arriving train on the other side of the track. Everything ran very efficiently. One of my best moves was booking hotels a block or two from the train stations so that part was easy to manage.

Oslo

We - my sister Shirley (from Edmonton) and I, started our journey in Oslo and had a couple of days to explore before boarding our first train. It was a vibrant, walk-able city with wide pedestrian boulevards.

We planned our day over the incredible breakfast buffet at the Thon Astoria. Waffles, herring, pickles, brown cheese (grew to love it!), the spread had something for everyone and kept us full most of the day. We looked forward to breakfast with daily awe!

After plotting our top destinations we caught the Hop-on Hop-off bus and headed to the Vigeland Park, the world's largest single artist sculpture park featuring two hundred warm and active family scenes of nude statues.

The angry baby statue is one of the best known pieces and visitors waited for their turn for photo ops with the screaming infant. Groups of students enjoyed playing the "pose like/with the statue" game and we couldn't resist joining the fun.

We toured the Norwegian Folk Museum, which is huge and pleasantly took up much of the day and made it to the Viking Ship museum which turned out to be right next door.

The Folk Museum had model village and farm buildings but I had my eye out for the Stave Church reconstructed based on the Gol Stave church from 1157 - 1216. Wow. 

Shirley and I are both tea drinkers or "te" drinkers and were happy to see it served everywhere and freely available in hotel lobbies, but yikes, the tea in Oslo is served hotter than I've ever had it anywhere and had to remind myself not to burn my lips each time. Everyone had a Nespresso machine for coffee and hot water and every place had a waffle machine for emergency on-the-fly waffles! It didn't seem possible to have too many waffles and I came home determined to buy a waffle machine.

We spent the evenings walking and walking, exploring the waterfront and the opera house and worked my step counter over time every day. The next day we figured out the tram system and went to the Ekebergparken sculpture park which had trails through a park with surprise art and statues along the way. The young man selling tickets also offered coffee, tea and cooked up more waffles behind his counter and cheerfully said since we couldn't buy a return tram ticket on that end, we'd need to hope we didn't get caught. We didn't :). We found the most wonderful restaurant on the top of the hill and enjoyed a late lunch of mussels over looking the city.  

In the evening we hiked up to explore the cemetery - you know I had to. I found the tombs of playwright Henrik Ibsen and artist Edvard Munch (The Scream). Shirley enjoys music and theater and was on the look out for what might be playing. We passed a re-purposed Jewish temple and bought tickets for an evening of Gypsy music which turned out to be an awesome end to the day. We went to our beds, snuggling under individual white duvets and smiled thinking of the breakfast buffet. 

Norwegian Folk Museum, Oslo

Norwegian Folk Museum, Oslo

Location of the painting "The Scream"

Walking Woman statue, Ekebergparken Sculpture Park

Henrik Ibsen's Tomb

On the road - murals in Norway

Oslo, Norway

I've been on a trains, boats and bus adventure in Norway resting my eyes with the sight of beautiful mountains, waterfalls and the enjoying the deliciousness of crisp, cool air. I arrived back to the stressful watch and wait to see what Hurricane Florence brings our way and it's hard to get in the mood to post fun travel shots when I am glued to endless news updates and trying to figure out if I am hunkering down or making a dash inland.

Meanwhile here are a few fun Norwegian mural and graffiti spots I discovered in my travels. Most are from Oslo with a few from Bergen. More to come after things settle down and we can think of something beside wind speed.

Stay safe and dry my friends!

Dumb South Carolina Laws

Charleston, SC 

I don't know if these are actually true or not since I found them on a joke page but they very well may be! Besides, I am out of town and trying to entertain you with filler :) 

Dumb South Carolina Laws

It is a capital offense to inadvertently kill someone while attempting suicide.

Every adult male must bring a rifle to church on Sunday in order to ward off Indian attacks.

It is perfectly legal to beat your wife on the court house steps on Sundays.

When approaching a four way or blind intersection in a non-horse driven vehicle you must stop 100 ft from the intersection and discharge a firearm into the air to warn horse traffic.

It is illegal to sell any alcoholic beverages on Sunday, unless you own a private club. (Repealed November 2000)

Horses may not be kept in bathtubs.

It is considered an offense to get a tattoo.

Performing a U-turn within 1,000 feet of an intersection is illegal.

Musical instruments may not be sold on Sunday.

No work may be done on Sunday.

An exception to the above law is that light bulbs may be sold.

All schools must prepare a suitable program for Francis Willard Day.

Dance halls may not operate on Sundays.

Merchandise may not be sold within a half mile of a church unless fruit is being sold.

Fortune tellers are required to obtain a special permit from the state.

A railroad my not remove itself from a town of more than five hundred people.

Railroad companies may be held liable in some instances for scaring horses.

By law, if a man promises to marry an unmarried woman, the marriage must take place.

It is illegal to communicate with a woman using obscene messages.

It is illegal to display a confederate flag on a courthouse.

Dusk, by Dubose Heyward

Dusk, by Dubose Heyward

South Battery beauty

56 South Battery, Charleston, SC

The cut wood designs in the covered Gothic entryway and the ironwork have always caught my eye on this house at 56 South Battery. It looks like some major work is being done to restore the fragile porches. This link has a great old photo of the home called the Osborne McCrady home and great shots here as well. She is a beauty! 

The Little Dancer

White Point Gardens, Charleston, SC 

I always pay a visit to the wee water fountain statue at White Point Gardens and it looks like everyone else does as well. Hello there Little Dancer!

Good old Charleston:

Charleston, SC 

I found an old Reddit board with a few Charleston jokes. This was one of them: 

How many South of Broad residents does it take to screw in a light bulb?

15. One to screw in the light bulb and 14 to sit around and talk about how great the old one was.

Charleston Quotes

South Battery, Charleston, SC 

“Walking the streets of Charleston in the late afternoons of August 

was like walking through gauze or inhaling damaged silk.”

Pat Conroy

Window display - South Battery

Rutledge & South Battery, Charleston, SC 

I love this home at Rutledge & South Battery because I look forward to seeing their window display. It used to be ships and now it is horse themed. Thanks folks!

Mini lending library British Phone Booth style

Mini lending library, Ashley Ave., Charleston, SC

Cute little British phone booth style mini free lending library on Ashley Ave. just below Colonial Lake. These always make me smile. 

Teeny, tiny restaurants - H & R Sweet Shop

H & R Sweet Shop & Soul Food, Mt. Pleasant, SC 

I didn't actually eat at the H & R Sweet Shop because my walks are normally timed for when most businesses are closed. That trick has saved me a lot of money through the years but I wouldn't mind returning to eat one of their burgers and enjoy the ambiance. There is a fun write up in the Moultrie News from 2017:

The "H" stands for Harriet and the "R" is for Raliegh "Pat" Johnson, Sr. In 1947 Raliegh Johnson was discharged from the army and returned to Mount Pleasant where his father, Peter Johnson, owned a strip of land on the north side of Royall starting at Morrison and extending to the playground. Peter Johnson, Sr., bought the property from the school district for $150 in 1903. The Inflation calculator indicates that $150 in 1903 equates to $1,574 today. However, that amount of money was quite an investment in those days. In 109 years the property has not been out of family hands.Years ago the Sweet Shop brought in jazz performers to entertain patrons in the club room in the rear. "Oscar and Fabian Rivers brought their Chicago-based band to Charleston," says Raliegh, and they performed here. Also performing were Nita Nelson with Donald Fields on drums, with Jack McDuff and Joy Pryor. All of this occurred when jazz was practically dead in this part of the country.Raliegh Senior's brother Peter started the P.S. Johnson Funeral Home, now called Johnson and Hall, located on Venning Street. Together, the Johnson brothers were successful entrepreneurs in the area, and they were instrumental in the rebuilding of nearby Friendship A.M.E. Church. The Quaker Church of Philadelphia had operated a mission and a freedman's school on this land during Reconstruction. As years progressed, parcels of land were sold off to families who could afford it. The Johnsons have jealously guarded their inheritance and it appears that the H & R Sweet Shop and Major's Hats and Suit business is on track to see its 100th anniversary.Raliegh, Sr., was both a cook and a barber in the U.S. Army. In 1947 he engaged a contractor to build the block and stucco building that you see today. On one side, Raliegh operated a barbershop and on the other, a full-service ice cream shop and diner. For a while Raliegh was the only licensed barber in Mount Pleasant. In the 1960s before desegregation, the Sweet Shop was a beehive of activity for the African-American community, and Raliegh was known to help a lot of people out when they got into a jam, financially.