Hitting Restart. . .

oh my, coming up out of a bit of a fog. . . fall was a fog because I did not anticipate that my boss's Christmas prep would totally supercede my own Christmas prep and of course I tried to act like everything was normal. Finally the inevitable crash and now hitting restart. Not as refreshed as I would like, but carry on.

Here's a list of things that happened, or in some cases, didn't happen. . .

1. Duncan has decided to join the Coast Guard Auxiliary -- which involves fitting into a very complex hierarchy, taking a lot of training, and having several uniforms -- each requiring the sewing on of name tags and stars and such just so. He is very fussy about it. Eventually he will be able to go out and help  rescue boats in distress. There is an Auxiliary Chef class he is very keen to take. Hmm, peanut butter sandwiches for 50.
2. We visited Christy and Morris in Southport. They have about the nicest brand new house I've been in. Very comfy and livable, even for Aubrey and her wheelchair.
3. Mom visited us in Charleston. We took a day trip to see Pearl Fryer's Topiary Garden in Bishopville. A worthy day-trip.

4. Spent a lovely Saturday at Botany Bay with Debbie and John Dickinson. It is a protected area, so very pristine and "unbuilt." Debbie & John are excellent company and we would have spent the night with them at Edisto, but Duncan felt bad.
5. The very next weekend I spent Saturday with Circular women at Dewees Island -- another lovely barrier island -- this one north off of Isle of Palms while Edisto is down 17 South. Dewees is approachable only by ferry and no cars allowed in the island. Some very nice homes there, tucked into the landscape and made comfortable enough to not want or need to leave for anything. Would have been very relaxing but for the mob of Circular women.
6. I did not make my "This Year I'm Thankful For. . . " list. Not because I'm not. Just didn't get the juices flowing. A regret. I like doing that each year.
7. Thanksgiving was a bit of a whirlwind. We traveled with the kitties to Grandmas. Left them at home while we visited Uncle Bill, the farm in Person County, went to church, had Thanksgiving dinner with Lil Martha and her whole crew -- beautiful table, great food there. Those are the nicest people in the world. We stopped by to see Aunt Mary and I think she knew who we were when we first got there, but things went fuzzy shortly thereafter. On the way home we went by Elizabethtown and I had a Melvin's burger and saw White Lake again for the first time since I was three.
8. We re-joined the gym. Oh boy.
9. The cats think bringing a tree into the house is the very best idea anybody every had. 

10. I successfully did some Christmas knitting.
11. Mom came for Christmas. We agreed it would be low key and quite. A good thing because Duncan got sick  and went to bed. 
12.  A trip to Black Mountain got nixed because Adam and Wilson were both sick too. Must have been grand for Jeffrey.
13. Oh, here's something that fits in the list as a thing that happened and a thing that didn't happen. . . what happened was, my husband, you all know Duncan, he didn't get me anything for Christmas. He didn't have any ideas. And he got sick. I'll just leave it there. 
14. Life goes on. I was fine, then all of a sudden last Sunday night I got cold and started shaking and basically went to bed and stayed until yesterday. So, some days were lost. Some thank you notes haven't been written. Actually some bills didn't get paid, (but they're paid now). Finally, I think I have righted the ship and am steering again. Just not with a lot of enthusiasm or direction. 
15. I did not do the "change over the calendar ritual" that I always enjoy but thumbing through the 2012 book I find clippings telling me The Artist won the Academy Award for Best Picture (eh,), when Mom & Sally were here in the Spring we visited Magnolia Plantation, 3 friends had high school seniors who graduated, we volunteered for Spoleto, when it was hot we went to a little spate of movies; Magic Mike, Moonrise Kingdom, To Rome w/ Love and The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel. Lee and Kathy and I had a weekend in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill in early December. Lee's daughter Nicole got married this summer and Laura finished Law School with a job. A good year for them. Christy and Morris moved into their new house. Barack Obama won, again. . . and I have a clipping that says: 1 in 3 newly elected congress members is a woman, 29 women of color will serve in the new congress, and the 113th congress will include the most female members ever.

So limping a bit, but trending upwards.

The Christmas Knitting

Christmas Holidays 2011

It's been a lovely Christmas holiday; Mom here for a week, time off from work. Today is the last day of the year. I'm doing my annual out-with-old-in-with-the-new cleaning/reorganizing ritual and Duncan is cooking up a storm in the kitchen. I'm not sure what is to come, but I saw a can of collards so I think I was successful in talking him out of cooking fresh ones. Here are a few pictures:

A couple of weeks before Christmas, Duncan played Santa Claus for a Charleston Animal Society fundraiser. He overcame his aversion to the camera because he loves cats and dogs AND dressing up like Santa!

This is that moment when we've done everything we're going to do to "get ready" and we are just enjoying Christmas at home. Notice the framed envelope over the fireplace addressed to my Grandfather., We'll come back to that in a minute.

We did our annual Christmas Day Walk on the Beach. It was cold enough to bundle up, but not freezing. We hit it at a good low tide, so it was great for a walk.

Christmas Dinner was a picnic after our walk at the Folly Beach City Park. Ham biscuits, deviled eggs, fruit salad and tea. Yum!

Here we are among the "public art."

Too bad he doesn't have on his red suit. . .

Mom keeps passing along family treasures. This is a pearl handled quill pen that belonged to my Grandmother Bowles. Mom says she feels sure it was a special birthday or Christmas gift and is the one she used to write all the letters to Granddaddy that we have saved. (Go back to the large framed envelope over the fireplace, THAT envelope was addressed with THIS pen.)

More treasures from the Bowles family:  Mom's note says these two pieces of silver were a wedding gift to Grandmother and Granddaddy in 1913 -- and since they eloped, there probably weren't many wedding gifts -- so, very special.

And this final family treasure: Recently I told Mom I didn't have many pictures of Daddy, so she made special albums for me and each of the grandchildren. This is Daddy and me at Christmas in 1996.

Christmas is Coming to Our House

It's a pretty big deal for us to put up a Christmas tree. Most years, especially if we're traveling, we don't. (Not having children grants you certain freedoms). But Mom is spending a week with us this year, so we're pulling out more stops.

It's not leaning, is it? Damn!

Charleston Parade of Boats

Early in the month we went kicked off our Christmas season by going to see the Charleston Parade of Boats.

It's blurry, but squint your eyes and use your imagination and maybe you can tell this boat celebrated Christmas At the Beach. There's a flamingo and a jumping dolphin. Sailboats paraded at their own pace behind.

Christmas 2010

 

While everyone we loved was getting snow, it was a pleasant day on the beach this year. Sunny. Not windy. We arrived at low tide and had plenty of beach to walk on. Not as many people and dogs as in the past. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. 

 We took a nice leisurely walk and picked up shells and were perfectly, perfectly content. We discussed if we had become "old people."

In the next 24 hours the temperatures dropped significantly and on Sunday, snow fell even in Charleston. Our plan to join Mom and the Parkers at Green Peace in Black Mountain shfifted to joining them in Winston-Salem. They had a good bit of snow there, but the roads were clear, so we just enjoyed looking at it and being with them.

Five Christmases in Charleston

2009 -- It is hard to believe this is our 5th Christmas in Charleston. Our tradition is to take a walk on Folly Beach on Christmas day -- rain or shine. It is fun to find out if the beach is naughty or nice each year.

This year, it had been quite bad for several weeks leading up to Christmas. There were record amounts of rain throughout December. Then, there were torrents of rain earlier in the day Christmas morning. When we arrived at the beach around 2 pm, it was only misting, but it was high tide and there was hardly any beach to walk on. The sky was dramatically dark, the waves were churning and the wind was ripping. It was a short walk. We finally retreated to the road to return to the car. We met a man on holiday from Richmond Virginia. He was very nice and pleasant, but clearly needed to get out of the house and talk to someone besides his own family members.

Santa heard me and brought a new camera -- so hopefully I won't find myself out with a camera that won't cooperate as I have so often in this last year. 


2008 -- This was our nicest Christmas Day on the beach so far. It was warm enough for shorts and we took full advantage. We brought walking shoes, snacks, a kite, books, and beach chairs for naps. We walked and walked -- from almost the pier, all the way to the point across from Morris Island and the lighthouse. We never did get the hang of the kite, but we came close and had fun trying. Maybe we need a easier kite?
We were hardly alone on the beach today. Lots of walkers  -- a smattering of surfers and lots of dogs romping off the leash..

2007 -- Another blustery, not too nice day at the beach. Dad died in April this year and Mom spent Christmas with us in Charleston. She wisely decided not to join us for the traditional walk on the beach -- and believe me, we didn't stay long either! The binoculars were one of Duncan's Christmas presents -- he was trying to try them out, but the wind was awfully stiff.

The day after Christmas, Debbie, Wilson, Adam, Jeffrey, Laurie and Brandon all came for a few days. It's hard to see why Charleston is so popular when it's damp, cold, and gray -- but they gave us the benefit of the doubt. Laurie gave Debbie and Wilson a night at a downtown B&B which for some reason they were not able to use for more than a year. But in March of 2009, they came for their night at the Inn and then extended their stay through a house-swap with us. We went to their house in Black Mountain and they spent some days here. I love presents that last.

2006 -- We were newlyweds! The forecast was for Rain Rain Rain on Christmas Day, so we took our walk a day early this year. The beach turned out to be pretty nice on Christmas Eve.We took a long walk and as long as the wind was at our back, we did great. But on the way back, we were walking into the wind and it took about twice as long. We had been to Raleigh before Christmas and the peanuts and Thirteen Moons were Duncan's Christmas gifts from Mom and Dad.

This was the year he gave me my first digital camera -- which was wonderful because I was missing Greensboro friends so much and I found I could send a picture in an e-mail and people almost always responded right away. Duncan has proved himself to have a knack for the right gift at the right time.

2005 -- This was the year before the digital camera -- so I have no picture! Duncan had moved to Charleston in August -- and I was still living in Greensboro, so, of course we spent Christmas in Charleston. We went to the candlelight service at Circular Church on Christmas Eve and spent the night at the Ansonborough Inn downtown. -- In the morning, we took a walk downtown and then decided to go over to the beach. A tradition was born.

My memory is that it was another blustery, overcast day at the beach -- and all terribly romantic. Duncan thought it was hilarious that the young woman working the desk at the Inn was wearing flip flops on a sort of raw, December day. We were just beginning to get to know Charleston.Today, we might not take any notice of flip flops in any season or any setting.

Getting Ready for Christmas

This is the early stages of Christmas at our house. It is hard to find time to compose thoughts, but generally these days of Christmas preparation are passing pleasantly. 

NC is getting socked with a snow storm right now. We are drowning in rain here in the Lowcountry but it is 60 degrees and is supposed to be in the 60s for Christmas. Bodes well for our annual walk on the beach.

Tomorrow, I'm going to a holiday brunch for the fiber guild. I have agreed to be President of that group next year. Why did I say yes to that? The same project is on my loom that I started last January. Amazing how life fills up with jobs. Hmmmm.

End of One Year and the Beginning of Another

For our 4th annual Christmas walk on the beach we had our nicest day yet. We wore shorts, had a picnic, flew a kite and walked for miles.


The New Year has begun with warm days, foggy mornings, and an overnight visit from Kathy's nephew, Luke who fixed my computer so that the wireless connection is back and I can move the laptop around the house again. Yea!
Luke is a serious cyclist and before he left town, he wanted to ride the Ravenel Bridge. He got this great picture of the bridge in the fog.

My resolutions are fairly standard. They have to do with weight, exercise, and thrift. There's also get a good job, learn something brand new and no whining! Let the games begin!

Christmas is Upon Us

Well, Christmas is almost upon us and the weather prophets say it will be 70 degrees for our annual walk on the beach.