Best Places to be When Disaster Strikes

For the last week, everytime I've been in the car, I've listened to the radio coverage of the devastation in Haiti and usually arrived at my distination in tears. Today, I heard a story that made me smile. Yesterday, a husband a wife were found alive in the rubble of a grocery store that collapsed around them while they were shopping. They survived by eating food that was piled all around them.

What aisle do you want to be on when the earthquake strikes? Not pet food. Not baking goods. Lunch meats would work -- how far away is a bread display?

January Starts

We started the year with a record-breaking cold snap -- 13 or 14 nights in a row with temperatures below freezing. People around here don't have any stamina for these bitter days and in this, I have become one of them.

Finally, yesterday Duncan and I took a walk after work and watched the sky go light pink as the sun faded and it was a great relief to be outside and think it was pleasant. And to notice that it was after work and not dark yet. The days get longer by nearly a minute every day, I heard. It's beginning to make a difference.

Claire gave me a wonderful book for my birthday -- When Wanderers Cease to Roam by Vivian Swift. It is a creative woman's journal notations and water color sketches for a year. Vivian says January is the Warrior month because it takes a warrior to soldier through these cold, dark, harsh January days. She goes on to say this must be why the Romans put January at the head of the calendar, the better to teach the most important lesson of the year, that: What it takes to get through January is what it takes to get through Life.

That may well be, but it was Duncan who saved my bacon on Sunday morning when we woke up with frozen pipes. He used a heat gun (who knew we even had a heat gun?) and thawed them out in about 10 minutes.

Tuesday a strong earthquake erupted in Port-au-Prince in Haiti. Most of the island is in rubble. That is all the news and heartbreaking.

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.

55 and Still Kicking

This is the birthday gift that greeted me when I came down the stairs yesterday morning. Nice presentation, Duncan! After a year that has pretty much kicked my ass, it's nice to have my husband give me something to kick back with next year!

And here is another special birthday gift, from Mom. I have admired and coveted and begged for this ring for oh, about 25 years now. Mom and Dad bought the stone when they went to Brazil in 1979 and Mom had a jeweler design and make the ring using the gold from her mother's and grandmother's wedding bands.

I  think because I loved it from the minute I first saw it, Mom always meant to give it to me "at some point."  This year has reminded us to ask "What are you waiting for??" and  I love that she has made it a gift to me now.

On Sunday, Bert preached about "temples of memory" where you "harvest meaning from the seeds of experience." He said Christmas -- or a birthday or any anniversary -- is a temple of memory. Mary, when she learned she was pregnant, remembered her grandmother Hannah -- and The Magnificat -- the "My soul doth magnify the Lord" part are similar to words of Hannah. Anyway, if bread and wine can be Christ, I don't see why this ring can't connect me to the spirit of my mother and grandmothers in a sustaining way.

I wonder what my grandmothers would make of red cowboy boots?. Probably in their lives, they would shake their heads -- or scratch their heads!. But hopefully, from the vantage point they now have -- they are cheering me on..

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.

What I'm Thankful For. . .

This year's big thing is that Debbie died in April, suddenly, unexpectedly, and pretty much inexplicably. Even in that, there are a million tender mercies, circumstances that aligned in the best possible way, people who have been unbelievably kind, an entire family of relatives and friends who have found ways to help each other through. All I will say here is that I am profoundly grateful for her -- for my life as her sister, for the gifts that shone in her, and the good work she did so well in the world.

I am thankful that we now have a President who speaks in complete sentences and paragraphs. I just feel better when the person in charge has a command of the English language.

I have a job, a good job, a fun job, an interesting job. It has a decent salary, health benefits and 401(k) with employer match. Plus free parking. And I can leave it there. When I get home I can “kick off my shoes and waltz around my kitchen singing “I am a piece of work!”

One of the things you miss when you don’t “work outside the home” is – office parties. Where else can you eat brownies and artichoke dip before lunch? In my four short months of employment, I have attended two birthday celebrations and a very elaborate baby shower.

Mom and I traded cars this summer and I now enjoy cruise control and automatic locks.

Maybe the most enduring gift that came this year was when Debbie took Mom and Uncle Bill into a StoryCorps booth in Ashville and got them talking about their memories of growing up and of WWII. We now have a 1-hour CD that is a special, priceless record of family history. I’m also thankful for the afternoon the whole family gathered in Chapel Hill to listen to it for the first time, together.

As always, old and dear friends have been so important. Christy and I got a weekend away this year. I spent several days in Greensboro, staying with Julie Knight and playing mad Banana-gram. I got in an overnight visit with Pat Weathers, and a recent girls’ weekend at Lake Gaston with Lee and Kathy – board games also a fun part of that visit. Is there a theme developing here? The miracle, though, was when it finally made it through my thick skull what good friends I have right here in Charleston. Life is good!

We have especially enjoyed the good friendship that has developed over the year with Marcus and DeDee and 2 year-old Fiona. They live very close by and during the summer we got into the nice habit of meeting at the swimming pool after dinner and just floating and talking and playing with Fiona. It was so lovely for all of us and now, I think, we are just all very special to each other. And, there is nothing quite like being special to a 2 year-old.

I bit the bullet and got a real, grown-up cell phone this year and like it more than I thought I would. We’re still holding out on cable, but for entertainment are thankful for CNN.com, Netflix, and Hulu.com -- and friends.

It is Thanksgiving, and impatiens are still blooming in Charleston and in my yard.

Duncan. I’m eternally thankful for Duncan. He has been patient with and supportive of me in my unemployment, in my grief, and in my incessant travels. He often makes me laugh before breakfast and every time I leave the house he always tells me to “Be careful.” which is his code language for he loves me. Like I said, life is good.

Church at the Beach

Sunday morning Duncan announced he thought he'd like to worship at Folly Beach this week and he didn't get any argument from me. The temperature was in the mid 70s, the sky was blue, and we both felt the need to just be and listen to the surf.

So we broke bread at the Lost Dog and took our beach chairs and books and stilled our minds and bodies while watching an incredibly steady stream of young and old going into the water with surfboards. I had no idea there were so many people who owned wet suits. Before it was over, we took a short walk, but mostly we just sat and read and napped and listened to waves and gulls and felt the breeze. It was a good service.