Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween 2014, Charleston, S.C.

My merry band of hospital volunteers outdid themselves this year. They planned their costumes in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz. We traipsed around the hospital passing out candy treats to the staff, visitors and the occasional patient who might be in the mood for festivities. What good sports!

I stopped by the St. Andrew's Parks & Recreation yard sale about a month ago and took advantage of them selling off their vintage baseball uniforms for $2 each. I asked for three of the "least stained" ones and they were perfect and easy costumes. Happy Halloween everyone!

Enter if you dare!

Enter if you date! S.C.

I don't think these folks need any other security system, do you?! Yikes. I pulled this out of my Backroads album for the looking for something Halloween related. I can assure you that I did not enter the drive to explore any deeper.

Have a good Halloween folks. I am looking forward to lots of fun kids in costume pictures on facebook.

Boo!

Boo! Francis Beidler Forest, Harleyville, S.C

This good lookin' fella was posing in the park ranger office window at the Francis Beidler Forest.

In other news, the Post & Courier invited readers to submit their favorite cemetery photos to this album.

Charleston Area Convention And Visitors Bureau invited a group of blogging women to experience Charleston. Photos from their visit to Charleston here.

This sign near Francis Beidler Forest could drive a person around the bend!

Sunny days & soups & stews

Charleston, S.C.

I've had a busy day but done absolutely nothing productive all evening. Luckily I came home to tasty leftovers so I was smiling on my drive from work. I eat a scrappy hospital cafeteria salad each day and come home starving no matter how early or late I come in the door. 

This weekend I made cookbook writer Holly Herrick's Chicken Braised in Pinot Gris with Mushrooms, Leeks, and Dijon Mustard, which she was kind enough to share on her blog The Permanent Tourist. The chicken simmers in three cups of white wine. What could go wrong with that? Nuthin' honey. Thanks Holly!  This recipe was from her most recent book - The French Cook - Soups & Stews.

FYI, Holly Herrick does have a cooking class coming up at Southern Season in Mount Pleasant on Saturday, November 1 from 1 to 3:30 p.m. and will be be signing books after the class.

This green campus

College of Charleston campus, Charleston, S.C.

I am always happy to take a short cut through the College of Charleston campus. One quiet Sunday years ago I did this same walk and a security officer spotted me with my camera and let me wander through the Sottile House. It is beautiful with stained glass windows and dark wood paneling.

Can't stay long this evening because I got my three day alert that my downloaded book will disappear from my tablet. I forget about them until I get the warning and then read nonstop racing to beat the clock. Three day reader, that is me! I'd best not download any real long books. 

 

Hay there!

Eutawville fall hay fun, Eutawville, S.C.

Driving the country roads of the lowcountry right now I've been seeing lots of white fields and large bales of cotton but these ones were made of hay. I love people with a sense of humor who go to all this trouble just to make people smile as they go by. And I did.

Boardwalk Walking

Francis Beidler Forest, S.C.

What a bright sunny day! I dropped off my little car for an oil change and new fan belt and had an early birthday brunch with my son at Sesame . This afternoon I walked down the new boardwalk at the Francis Beidler Forest in Harleyville. 

I love all the little hidey holes in the cypress knees. Doesn't it look like a secret door in the one below?
 

Let the season begin!

Sermet's, King St., Charleston, S.C.

Sermets Restaurant on King St. is joining in the Halloween fun. It makes me wish I had a couple of skeletons for my own yard. I need to plan a South of Broad walk soon to catch the usual Halloween themed properties. Check out my past entries to get the idea of what to look for: Halloween.

October afternoons

Charleston Harbor, Charleston, S.C.

Charleston has once again ranked highly in the Conde Naste Reader's Choice Best Cities listing - as it should. I use the list to see where else I still need to go.

In other news, here is an article titled, "In All the Ancient Circles”: Tourism and the Decline of Charleston’s Elite Families" by Jack Trotter giving another look at what tourism on such a successful scale has done to the lowcountry.

Heritage - Chef Sean Brock

Chef Sean Brock, Book Signing, Charleston, S.C.

Holding the book just like that it looks like the tattooed covered arms are around my neck! Tonight was the first book signing party for Chef Sean Brock's long awaited first cookbook Heritage and I was one of the first in line to get mine signed. The recipes look pretty complicated but there are a few I am willing to try and I know anything Chef Sean comes up with will be worth the effort. What an exciting day! Congratulations Chef!

Sean Brock is the chef behind the game-changing restaurants Husk and McCrady’s, and his first book offers all of his inspired recipes. With a drive to preserve the heritage foods of the South, Brock cooks dishes that are ingredient-driven and reinterpret the flavors of his youth in Appalachia and his adopted hometown of Charleston. The recipes include all the comfort food (think food to eat at home) and high-end restaurant food (fancier dishes when there’s more time to cook) for which he has become so well-known. Brock’s interpretation of Southern favorites like Pickled Shrimp, Hoppin’ John, and Chocolate Alabama Stack Cake sit alongside recipes for Crispy Pig Ear Lettuce Wraps, Slow-Cooked Pork Shoulder with Tomato Gravy, and Baked Sea Island Red Peas. This is a very personal book, with headnotes that explain Brock’s background and give context to his food and essays in which he shares his admiration for the purveyors and ingredients he cherishes.

Imaging that!

The power of the magnet!

I hosted a group of teenagers interested in careers in Imaging this evening. They got a glimpse of what the staff in MRI, X Ray, CT and Ultrasound do on a daily basis. A very patient lady let five groups of students see her baby on ultrasound.

Whenever it gets quiet in the MRI room I ask them to demonstrate the power of the magnet with a pair of scissor on a band just because I get such a kick out it. I learn something each time I do one of these career evenings. The staff in this area all seem to enjoy their jobs and each technologist thinks their equipment is the best. I suspect we sparked some career interest this evening. Thanks to the team in the Imaging Department at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital!

Future health care professionals from Ft. Dorchester High School

Travel Tuesday - Iceland

Eggs in Happy Bay, Djupivogur, Iceland

On Tuesdays I allow myself a field trip and dip into old travel albums. How about them eggs! The outdoor sculpture of 34 stone eggs known as "Eggin i Gleoivik" (Eggs in Happy Bay) are by the celebrated artist Sigurour Guomundsson, They represent the thirty-four local birds found in Iceland. They are all the same size except for the single larger one. What a happy artistic surprise in a small village. 

More Murals

Murals at Avondale, Charleston, S.C.

I especially like it when real greenery tumbles and grows over painted murals. I don't have much time this evening so I'm sharing a quick splash of color! In fact, some bloggers feature a Mural Monday theme so it all fits.

I attended the city planning report on the future of my part of town - West Ashley, this evening. West Ashley has been left out of the revitalization that has been going on the upper peninsula and Mount Pleasant. They showed lots of fancy dreams and hope for the Citadel Mall area, the Bees Ferry traffic circle and Sam Rittenburg Boulevard. If a quarter of it comes true I will be pleased!

Rich in Love

Johns Island, S.C.

When my friend local author Josephine Humphreys' book Rich in Love was made into a movie, this sweet little octagonal cottage was part of the set. Instead of it being disposed of, she had it dismantled and put together on the bank of a marsh creek on Johns Island. The movie was made in 1992 and filmed in Charleston and Mt. Pleasant. It is already a little time capsule showing the old bridges and the former Wando High School campus. I love listening to Josephine's stories of the movie being filmed.

I had dinner on the dock at dusk last night watching the birds swoop down over the gold tinted autumn marsh. It was a perfect lowcountry evening. 

Running in the Hood

Avondale 5K, Charleston, S.C.

I am not a runner but I do have a habit of walking to runs and back. Surely that counts for something? I see the winner start, I watch the winner win, I walk through the murals behind the shops at Avondale, pick up the ingredients to make Holly Herrick's French Onion Soup at Harris Teeter and cram them in my back pack and I am home before the festivities end.The Avondale 5 K raised money for the Charles Webb Center.

Congratulations to the winners and participants!

Mud up or Shut up!

Nuthin' a little soap and water won't clean off!

My son once sent me a snippet of video from a mud bog and I shook my head in amazement so when I spotted a Mud Bog sign in Orangeburg County last weekend I couldn't resist handing over the $10 entry fee and paying a visit. Check the All About Mud blog for more info and truck photos. They had a tractor ready to pull the trucks out when they stalled in the mud which seemed pretty much expected, and the vehicles were clearly designed for the event. If you can see past the mud it looks like pretty clean family fun. 

 

 

 

Muddin' for the Cure

S.C Mud bog

Yes, it is October. Yes, his shirt says "Muddin' for the Cure" and yes, he is smoking. I'm not sure I need to say anything else. I will follow up with some fun Muddin' photos though!

Blue skies and sunshine

Ashley River, Charleston, S.C.

It is much too pretty to be cooped up working inside this week. I had a volunteer recognition event at the Charleston Rifle Club and as I do each year after this luncheon, I walked down the long dock to sniff the river before I headed back to the hospital. Not such a bad mid day break.

Carmella's Cafe & Dessert Bar

Carmella's Cafe & Dessert Bar, East Bay St., Charleston, S.C.

Next time you are in wandering around town and feel like a little sumthin' sumthin', don't have dinner reservations and don't need a full meal, pop into Carmella's Cafe & Dessert Bar for ice cream, petite sweets, meat and cheese plates and/or a glass of wine. I didn't get a picture of the ice cream because I was invited to the soft opening event and it was packed with happy people eating everything in sight. Thanks Brian!

Enough coffee for ya?

The Coffee Pot, Hwy 301, S.C.

I had spotted this coffee pot years ago when it was in terrible shape. Thanks to the Times & Democrat's 100 Things in 100 Days I spotted a recent image showing the refurbished coffee pot and steered a recent drive in the country in that direction. It has been fixed! Wow....the entire structure is freshly painted and clean. The windows invite you to snoop and the inside is some kind of doll museum. It made me wonder if the owners might be grandparents? Here is the scoop from the Times & Democrat's website:

The Coffee Pot: Before they opened the diner in 1950-51, British natives Fred and Emily Griffin had originally planned to open a tearoom. Deciding the busy highway needed a coffee shop instead, the Griffins opened the Coffee Pot Diner. Mrs. Griffin is said to have baked pies each night for the next day’s customers. A traveler could order breakfast and lunch and, of course, plenty of steaming cups of Joe.
Coffee may have been the American public’s beverage of choice for a caffeine fix, but in a nod to her British roots, Mrs. Griffin continued to partake of her afternoon tea at 4 o’clock every day.
The 1950s motored on, and the Griffins greeted their guests from near and far. But trouble was brewing on the horizon for the Coffee Pot Diner and other establishments like it.
In the mid-1950s, President Dwight D. Eisenhower brought home from World War II the idea of the interstate, a road system designed to move military equipment quickly, based on Germany’s Autobahn. South Carolina was to get three interstates: I-20, I-26 and I-95.
Begun in 1957 and one of the oldest interstates, it was I-95 that would slice through Orangeburg County, parallel to U.S. 301, sounding the death knell for countless motels, gas stations and mom-and-pop diners like the Coffee Pot.
The Coffee Pot poured its last cup in 1979