Jiggety Joggety

Joggling Board, Hopsewee Plantation, SC 

I haven't added to my joggling board sightings recently so here are a couple of shots to start the morning. This joggling board is on the grounds of Hopsewee Plantation up the coast from Charleston on the way to Georgetown.

A joggling or jostling board is a long, pliable board that is supported on each end by wooden stands. The board is springy and a person sitting on it can easily bounce up and down. Sources differ on the origination; its usage in the Lowcountry of South Carolina around Charleston in the early 19th century is however rather well-documented. Traditionally, it is painted Charleston green. The joggling board's popularity has slowly been coming back, mostly as decorations on lawns and front porches.

You say Tomayto, I say Tomahto

Tomato Pie Recipe Contest, Mixson Market, North Charleston

It is tomato pie season!

I don't know which one won the contest but I snuck in to see the contestants lined up. I hope I got a picture that includes the recipe. These look a lot more elaborate that the recipe I use. So far none of the juicy Johns Island tomatoes I have got my hands on have jumped straight into my mouth.

Brunch at Basico

Blue & White Day

Charleston Strong, Charleston, SC  

What a week, what a day!

Dreadful sorrow to inspiring and uplifting eulogies. I've been consumed with sadness for days and yet this evening I can't stop smiling. I admit to doing the minimal amount of work today. I had the live viewing of the funeral services for Reverend Clementa Pinckney minimized on my desktop and tried to work around it. By the time President Obama gave the eulogy I stopped pretending.

Watch what I and so many people watched and if you don't listen to the entire speech at least fast forward to the last few minutes and hear our President break into singing Amazing Grace.

Thanks to everyone who participated in Blue & White Friday in solidarity and to those who dropped off donations to Mother Emanuel AME Church.

 

Bring in the Clowns

Caring Clowns, Charleston, SC 

I had lunch with a bunch of clowns. The Caring Clown program in Charleston enjoyed their annual luncheon get-together at Café Fork today. The clowns from different medical facilities in Charleston met each other, traded magic tricks tips and said farewell to Dr. Shutterbug one of our first local clowns.

Thanks to Dr. Geezer (Bob Mason) for bringing the program to South Carolina and Café Fork for being such wonderful hosts!

Caladiums all in a row

Caladiums, Charleston, SC  

I should plant the entire yard with white caladiums. In this heat they still manage to look cool. 

On the road - Methodist Camp Meeting Home Grimsby Beach

Grimsby Beach, Painted Ladies, Ontario, Canada

Times are sad and emotions are highly charged in Charleston right now and I've had a hard time posting regular items so, how about some pretty photos from my recent trip to Canada to fill in time?

I have in the past tracked down the rustic, wooden tent camp meeting locations in rural South Carolina so a newspaper clipping on my father's refrigerator advertising a garden tour of Grimsby Beach "painted lady" homes caught my eye. These are camp meeting homes of a different level! Wowza! Check them out!

My sister Shirley was in from Edmonton and in the mood to hit the road so we tracked them down. The only similarity to the wooden tents in South Carolina is that they are Methodist and built in a circle. It ends there. These are so decorative they are almost Disneyworld style.

The early Methodists missed the fellowship of church attendance, so each summer for a week or ten days, a mammoth camp meeting would be held so that everyone could absorb enough religious fervour to last through the long winter. The camp meeting was an important social as well as religious event. These meetings were held in various locations, but in 1859 John Bowslaugh donated the land on the shores of Lake Ontario for a permanent Ontario Methodist Camp Meeting Ground.

Because of its continued success, sixteen years later a company was incorporated to manage the site. Cottages were built and a community grew that included a grocery store, barber shop, telegraph office, hotels and even its own railway stopping. By 1888 a new temple was built and dedicated which could seat up to 7000 people. Steamers travelled daily from Toronto to land at Grimsby Park's Pier.

Gradually the camp meetings became a thing of the past. The year 1910 saw a new owner bring a mid-way, shooting gallery, merry-go-round and more. The park was now a summer resort. As time passed, the cottages became homes and the summer fun of Grimsby park turned into the more regular life of a little community.

Father's Day - 2015

Donald E. Perry, Ontario, Canada 

I made a mad dash out of town last week and landed in the midst of my family's reunion in Dunnville, Ontario. My father has Alzheimer's disease and I had no expectation that he would recognize me but his eyes sparked and he said, "It's our Joan" and almost broke my heart.

He doesn't talk much now but seemed to enjoy the happy chaos and grandchildren's activity. We owe a daily debt of gratitude to his wife Dianne Perry who cares for him lovingly. Seven of his eight children gathered with partners and families and it was a treat to be together.

Some years ago during a visit to Charleston, I asked my friend Dan Conover to interview my father. I jotted down questions that would lead to interesting parts of his life and left it in his hands.  Dan and videographer Don Lewis set up cameras and interviewed him in my livingroom. I am so happy to have this dvd in my father's voice telling the story of his life.

At the end of the interview Dan said, "I will ask you what I ask anyone who has reached your age, what is important?"

My father thought for a moment and said, "People. People are what is important" He continued on to say that perhaps he had spent too much time in his life working and paying attention to work and not enough on the people in his life.

At this time of terrible sorrow after the massacre in Charleston that is what we need to remember. People are what is important. Love and take care of the people in your life. Happy Father's Day to all the fathers and those who have served that role for all the children in the world.

Perry Family Reunion, 2015

Emanuel AME - this morning

Emanuel AME, Calhoun St., Charleston, SC

And then I walked across the peninsula in tears wondering how we could still be raising such racist hate filled young people at a time when all races learn and work together. I wanted to blame parents and imagine that he had grown up in a hate filled household and yet in what appears to be his essay he says "I was not raised in a racist home or environment".

The more I learn about the victims I suspect every single one of them was a better person than I. This is beyond my understanding. I can't write anything that makes sense so pictures will have to do.

Emanual AME Church

AME Emanuel Church, Charleston, SC

Post & Courier article by Jennifer Berry Hawes and Doug Pardue about what happened that terrible evening when they welcomed a stranger to join them for a prayer meeting: In an hour, a church changes for ever.

Heartbreak in Charleston

 

I've been in Canada visiting my father and family and learned of this unbelievable tragedy in Charleston on twitter. My heart is broken for my city and for the families and friends of the nine church members who had their lives taken last night during their prayer service.

I paid for my $5 ear buds on the flight home to listen to the news updates all the way home. We were surrounded on the trip by members of the national media and the overhead bins filled with video cameras.

This video is of the pastor who was murdered last night. He is explaining the important history of the Emanuel AME Church. What a lovely gentleman. What a terrible loss. It's difficult to think of anything else right now.

Ninety five years in service

Fielding Home for Funerals, Logan St., Charleston, SC

Ninety five years in service! That is pretty impressive track record for a funeral home. There is a nice history section on their web site:

Our Founder, Julius P.L. Fielding, began his business training with his father who ran a horse drawn livery business from the back yard of their home on Tradd street in downtown Charleston. When his father died and his mother later remarried, Julius continued training in his step-father's barber shop at the comer of Broad and Church streets in Charleston. With the help and encouragement of his mother and step-father, he attended Agricultural and Normal Institute in Orangeburg (now S.C. State University), and then to Renouard Embalming School in New York. Upon returning home in 1912, he opened the funeral home at the corner of King and Queen streets. In 1916, he married Sadie E. Gaillard Fielding, and together they moved the business to 61 Logan Street at the corner of Short Street. A large sign was placed on the corner that simply read "Julius P.L.Fielding, Undertaker and Embalmer".

The Westendorff

The Westendorff, St. Philips St., Charleston, SC 

I cared a lot more when I lived in the neighborhood but I am still happy to see this old hardware store being renovated into a restaurant. Here are past entries on the same topic. Maybe next time I walk downtown lights will be on and there will he happy chaos and tasty treats being served.

Weight restriction gate

Rutledge Ave., Charleston, SC

The fact is, if you aren't relatively slender you aren't fitting through this gate. I wonder what they were thinking? Perhaps everyone in the immediate family was of small build. Anyone larger of frame or carrying packages would need to enter the property through the driveway.

My week so far

SCRUBS Camp 2015, Charleston, SC 

Meet your future health care providers. We are fortunate that smart, caring young people still want to go into health care. In this group are students intending to be oncologists, surgeons, physician assistants, neonatal nurses and gastroenterologists. Sadly, no one mentioned wanting to be my plastic surgeon.

Today I rented a bus and took the entire group on a field trip to Trident Technical College where they hosted us and opened all their health career labs letting the students try their hands at pharmacy, dental, medical assistant careers and best of all the very cool simulator mannequins. All in all a very good day.

Now, ask me if I am tired? Heheh. Yawn.

Sunny photo on a rainy day

Montagu St., Charleston, SC 

Holy monsoons, kids! We have had some rain. I haven't seen my yard (post drainage installation) this flooded for a long time. I am very glad I didn't need to be driving in town this evening. It was a fine night to be snug as a bug in my little nest.

I don't usually walk Montagu St. this far west and spotted this bright beauty on a recent walk. I will be using some blog filler from recent walks and jaunts for the next week or so since I am busy as a:

Busy as a beaver

Busy as a humming bird with two tails

Busy as a one-armed paperhanger with the hives

Busy as the day is long

Busy as the devil in a gale of wind

Busy as a cross-eyed boy at a three-ring circus

Busy as a hen with fifteen chickens in a barnyard

Busy as a hen with one chick

Busy as a boy killing snakes

Busy as a beehive attacked by a bear

Busy as horses in a field of clover

 

Montagu St., Charleston, SC

Thanks for the sentiment but I am simply too busy!

All outta gas!

Abandoned gas station, Wentworth St., Charleston, SC 

Such a sweet little building this abandoned gas station on Wentworth St. It would make a darling cottage, wouldn't it? It's been empty for so long there must be issues with underground tanks that make it prohibitive to restore. That is my guess. I was snooping around the intranets to see if I could find any background information and came across this old picture. I love google!

Looks like we have some rain coming tomorrow, kids. Take your brolly to work.

 

This is one of the busiest weeks of my year. I am hosting my health career summer SCRUBS Camp at work and will be shepherding twenty two young people interested in careers in medicine. Today was their welcome day, tours and CPR certification. It takes a lot of juggling to keep them busy all week. Wish me luck. I had no trouble getting  my 10,000 steps before I left work this afternoon.

 

 

 

Sculpture Competition & Exhibition

I visit sculpture gardens in other cities - most recently St. Louis and Seattle and have actually complained that we fall short on large dramatic art installations. Hello! I saw a picture of this fun bicycle piece on facebook and knew it was time to go for my morning walk at the North Charleston River Front park again. Isn't this fun?!

This is ithe link to information on the National Outdoor Sculpture Competition information. They are currently featuring fourteen sculptures by established and emerging artists from across the nation and are on display for eleven month. I learned that the colorful bike art is by Meuller & Charzewski and that I missed some described on the site and will need to go back. Thank you North Charleston!

Edit: forgive my typos! I hope not too many people read it before I fixed them. Blogging in a hurry, multitasking. Shame on me. No spell check in the title box apparently.

Park band stand - art in it's own right!