Family Visit

My brother Bill and his wife Cari have been with us for a couple of days.  What a great time we had.  It never gets old sharing this wonderful place.  We took a carriage ride through the streets lined with Live Oaks and past luscious gardens now blooming in full glory.  I’d had our guide on a previous outing and he proved as witty and personable as the first go-round.  “Surely you get tired of doing this,” someone asked…my response, “Are you kidding me!”  It’s always fresh and always a thrill.  I even discovered something new at the City Market.  Artist Scott Dixson Penegar wowed me with his painting of Frampton’s Flowers, the florist shop on Wentworth (a look down from our living room window) So, there’s always something waiting to unfold…a find.  We biked around, fooled around in Mount Pleasant antique shops and topped off the afternoon with drinks on the rooftop of Vendue Inn. 

They headed south this morning on the road to Beaufort, George walked to campus and I headed down to the library.

 Life is good.  Just keeps getting better and better.

The Harlows arrive tomorrow.

Erin Go Bragh

St. Patrick’s Day does not slip by un-noticed in Charleston.  Savannah may get the big publicity, but the Holy City put on a pretty good show yesterday.  Our friends, the Peels, were here for the weekend and the four of us did our part to celebrate the Irish saint in royal green style.  We got a good head start and warm up on Friday afternoon at Holy City Brewing Company followed by dinner at Hank’s and a rollicking good time Tommy Condons Irish Pub.  Nobody likes Irish music and dancing better than Carolyn, and no-one was disappointed.  Saturday’s parade was a big green explosion, complete with everything parades should have…..music, floats and dancers.  And, plenty of bagpipes and kilts.  Don’t you just love a man in a kilt?   We sat on the Library Society steps for a perfect vantage point.  The day just got better….milling around, taking in a few galleries and lunch at Fuel (super place in an old gas station).  We managed to slip in a beautiful drive out to a couple of antique shops in West Ashley were everyone found something they couldn’t live without.  A late afternoon wind-down on the porch at 124 Wentworth was a short reprieve, before heading out to follow the sounds of bagpipes from pub to pub.  We held our own with the best of them and raised our glasses for a final toast well before midnight.   

Woody enjoyed spending time with old friends and familiar faces.  An A+ weekend!

Gardens Beckon

There's No Place Like Home

I know it’s a cliche, but I can’t help but whisper it, albeit a bit under my breath.  I don’t want to jinx what I’ve got going on down in Charleston.  We are home for an entire week as the college has closed down for Spring Break.  So just like all coeds, we flew the coop and hit the road.  As hoards headed south on I-95, we drove north to a week of catch up.  Carpentry projects, yard work, grading papers and visiting with friends take top billing in the days ahead.  Visiting with friends?  Heck, I don’t need to leave Charleston for that, since we’ve got the next six weeks booked with dear friends visiting. As wonderful as it is to be in a destination spot, and share all the neat things we’ve discovered, just as Dorothy said, “There’s no place like home.”

Wonder if they’ll all feel the same way about Farmville, Virginia.  Haven’t you heard? 

 Longwood University here we come.

An aside, Woody is pretty content being “off leash” for a change.  Life is so good.