Tea Room Season

Old St. Andrews, Charleston, SC 

It's Tea Room season! Church ladies and gentlemen put on aprons and cook traditional lowcountry tearoom menus - shrimp and chicken sandwiches, okra and she crab soup, coconut cake, Huguenot tort and Mississippi Mud Pie. We order and eat exactly the same thing every year and we like it.

The church makes an impressive profit from all the volunteer labor and supports a healthy list of charities. It's like old home week each year and I see so many familiar faces.

Park Circle goes green

Park Circle St. Patrick's Day festivities, North Charleston, SC

The Park Circle neighborhood of North Charleston celebrates St. Patrick's day in a big way and they do it early! It's the first time I've been to this event and the streets were crowded with happy green people having a good time.

Indian Fields Campground

Indian Fields Campground, St. George, SC

On our day trip to St. George we took a detour to walk through the historic Methodist camp meeting grounds - Indian Fields. The rustic wooden tent cabins are passed down through families through generations and lively annual revival weeks are still held annually.

It is always a peaceful and beautiful spot to walk through. This particular camp ground has the tabernacle meeting structure in the middle and is circled by outhouses that match the cabins.

Little Mt. Vernon renovation - Eutawville

Little Mt. Vernon, Eutawville, SC

We were enjoying a delicious BBQ lunch at Sweatman's BBQ when I happened to ask our friend Martha Rose if she knew anything about the Little Mt. Vernon renovation project. The next thing I knew she had contacted the owners who invited us to come tour their project. It pays to have friends with connections!

Wow! I didn't even know exactly where it was until recently since they had cleared out overgrown garden debris that concealed the property. These are some high energy folks and the gentleman, Dwight is doing all of the work himself. The home was built from plans that were popular in the 1930's patterned after Mt. Vernon.

The family is documenting the renovation project on a blog so you can follow along! Little Mt. Vernon. 

Archdale & Beaufain

Archdale & Beaufain St., Charleston, SC 

What a sweet street corner. Folks who have lived in Charleston remember it as Celia's Porta Via restaurant and to my happy surprise you can still order her specialties online! Check this website. I am very temped by that lasagna! What a fun dinner party it would be. 

Colorful King St.

King St., Charleston, SC 

This is a colorful intersection on King St. with buildings of completely different styles yet each appealing in their own way. The curved one used to be Edwards 5 & dime store. The other one is now The Darling Oyster Bar. It looks so pretty it makes me want to give it a try.

Backroads, SC

Adidas Rd. SC

This cottage always catches my eye. Until recently there has often been a gentleman on the porch who waved to a honk on the horn. He's been absent lately so I didn't feel like I was invading his space to pull up and grab a shot. Hope he is okay.

Happy weekend, kids!

I need to up my citrus game

Citrus, Charleston, SC 

It's gray and rainy so I probably won't be going for a walk this evening so I am dipping into recent pictures to share this wonderful crop of oranges. Wow! I need to up my citrus game. I have one lime tree in a pot and harvested ONE lime this, my first year. It would be grand to have plenty of lemons and oranges in your own back yard.

In the pink

Camellias, Bennett Hotel, Charleston

When I moved to Charleston my family lived a few blocks from the library and we traipsed back and forth carrying armfuls of books. The library was two stories and built of pink marble.

After the new library on Calhoun St. was built the shabby pink building sat abandoned for years. Not the spot is the grand new Bennett Hotel and some of the pink marble has been re-purposed into Camellias Bar. I did a quick walk through the lobby this weekend and grabbed a shot through the door.

South Eastern Wildlife Festival - 2019

SEWE, Charleston, SC

The South Eastern Wildlife Festival is winding down today so I directed my walk through Marion Square to at least catch the free displays. I got lucky. The birds of prey were on display, cooking sessions in progress and I had a courtesy bowl of cardamom wild boar stew from Michael's on the Alley. (It was so delicious I already checked their menu to see if it was a regular dish). Everyone seemed to be having fine time and pets were on display in full force. 

A beautiful valentine!

Miss South Caroline U.S. International 2019

It helps to know the right people and each year I contact Randall Dukes and he summons up a beauty queen to serve as an honorary hospital volunteer on Valentine's Day. I order romantic fortune cookies and chocolate hearts and we roam the hospital treating the staff and patients as she patiently poses for photo ops.

This year our guest was Sara Burd, Miss South Carolina U.S. International and she was a delight! Thanks Sara! You brought a lot of smiles. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

My wild birthday ride!

Container Bar, Charleston, SC 

My son offered a few options for my birthday and we settled on this one! He picked me up in a ex-military humvee and took me to an oyster roast at the new Container Bar on Mt. Pleasant St. This was definitely a new experience and what better can you hope for on a birthday? What fun!

I am very old

I am very old. North Charleston, SC

I spotted this sign by an ancient oak tree with low limbs on the old Navy Base and thought it would make a perfect birthday pictures so saved it for the occasion. Tada! I am old!

I have so many friends celebrating birthdays within these few weeks that it has become a good time of year to have a party. This year's theme was to cook a recipe from the old Charleston Receipts cookbook published in 1950. The party was hosted by my friend Josephine Humphreys and Tom Hutchinson at their beautiful home on Sullivan's Island.

It was a little tricky deciding what to make from the book and I flipped on past the Opossum pie, rabbit stew and Cooter (turtle) soup. I ended up making the traditional cheese log and eggplant au gratin but there were plenty of brave cooks and an amazing spread of food including macaroni pie, rum punch, red rice, chicken, peach cobbler and pralines. Fitting to the period most of us wore pearls and aprons. It was a perfect evening with good food and friends. Happy birthday to us all. I didn't take many pictures and I think these two were by Terry Richardson and Brandon Coffee. Thanks gentlemen!

Fancy duds!

Shoe buckle owned by the Swamp Fox, Charleston Museum, Charleston, SC 

The stories that caught my imagination about the legendary Swamp Fox didn't include jeweled shoe buckles, fine china and his decanter set! Photos from the Charleston Museum.

Headless peacock

Peacock, Charleston, SC

I had in mind to capture a little snippet of ruffling feathers with video but the more I turned around him the more he spun so I had a hard time facing his rear. I finally caught him with his head tucked in. 

Valentine spirit

Valentine spirit, Charleston, SC 

 These folks clearly like Valentine's Day!

Historic Camellia Collection

Magnolia Gardens, Camellia Collection, Charleston, SC 

 For some reason I like doing the camellia garden walk after a cold spell. They are as beautiful as they die as they are in full bloom. Hope someone says that about me someday!