Labor Day 2009

I can't tell you how glad I am to be ensconced in the American workforce this Labor Day.

My job with SCIway.net -- take a look if you haven't already -- is like working for the encyclopedia. Everyday I dip into random topics related to South Carolina history and/or culture. Everything from waterfalls in the Upstate, to historical churches in the Midlands, to keeping up with football results for Clemson and what they call "Carolina".

I write -- notices to advertisers, notes to anyone who contributes ideas, descriptions for the photo gallery, short newsletter articles AND I figure out how to translate nearly everything I do into computer code.

I get to ponder things like when to use an endash instead of an emdash, the proper use of semicolons, how to say something substantive in 140 characters or less, and how to load text with the words that help us in Google rankings without being too obvious or repetitious.

You have to wonder how the really crack English teachers are teaching writing these days.

For those of us who came of age in the 70s, there was The Prophet by Kahil Gibran. He had something to say about nearly everything, and about work he said:
". . . And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.

And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching. . .

Often have I heard you say, "He who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is nobler than he who ploughs the soil. . ."
But I say, the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass;
And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.

Work is love made visible. "

I know I am fortunate to have found work at all, but to have found work that is interesting and satisfying and offers me opportunities to learn everyday is what I will celebrate on this holiday.

Good News Bad News

The bad news is that my cousin Donnie has died. He was a little older than Debbie and me and the "boy cousin" we saw the most. He grew up to be a real Carolina fan and sports nut. In many ways, neither of us ever had much in common with him, but for Mom and Dad he was a link back to Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Evelyn and precious for that alone. When he moved to Raleigh to teach, he joined Mom and Dad's church, which I always took as a nod to his esteem for them.

He has been very sick for a long time but has repeatedly rallied like the energizer bunny. But lately, he had outlived the possibility of regaining any measure of quality in his life, so I'm OK to let him go on to The Next Place.

Another cousin says so many people they know have died since Debbie, in April, that her children have asked if this is the season for it. I can see where they would ask. I was watching Ted Kennedy's funeral mass on TV today and found myself missing Walter Cronkite.

The good news is that my nephew, Jeffrey, graduated from his master's program at University of Chicago yesterday. I'm not sure exactly what he's going to do next, but I'm sure he's on his way to becoming Dr. Parker.

Work continues to be good and interesting. I love coming home across the James Island connector that swings over the downtown marina before it takes you onto Ashley River Road back into West Ashley. First I cross a vast expanse of marsh, which is bright green right now. Then the marina comes into view with huge yatchts and a mass of lesser sailboats. One day this week there was a group of what could have been Lasers clustered together in a spread-out circle; a sailing class, I imagine. One more turn of the road and you have to pay attention to traffic backing up again, but there's a nice stretch there where you get to really enjoy the view.

My Personal News of the Weird

Weird little things from my daily life these days:

The pool is closed by order of the health department. What's that about?

Duncan, who never goes anywhere on his own, will be out of town for his birthday. Since he's going south of Atlanta, it only seems to make sense that he should take the car -- that leaves me with The White Rocket for the weekend. It's been a really long time since I've had to use a clutch -- especially one that's nearly 20 years old.

Speaking of which, I've found a wine called White Truck that I've decided should be our standard house wine.

Last Sunday, a family at our church had their three sons baptized. I don't know the mom at all, but she is an artist and a yoga instructor. In my typical judgmental way, I had her cast as a groovy earth mother. Then someone told me that before she had a family she was a -- deep sea diving shark hunter! Wow!

At the exact moment of Debbie's death, I was getting my hair cut. Now, I find myself very reluctant to make that appointment. My hair is not quite out of control, but getting there.

At some point during the night, everyone in my house takes a turn snoring like a drunken sailor -- including Eloise.

When I was on my origami box tear, I made a pretty little triangular box from some very good quality, but old, wallpaper found in a closet during a clean-up day at church. A friend saw it, and said she knew the daughter of the person who bought that wallpaper. She took the box to her friend, who, in turn, gave it to her mother and sure enough, the paper was recognized and the box is prized. Tonight, I met the daughter.

Her mother was an interior decorator and remembers the house and room where she used that paper. She loves the little box -- Lucy said she looks at it and says "How is the world did she make that???"

Her mother is 93. She went to design school in New York City in the late 30s and worked in the city through the 40s before moving to Charleston. Lucy recently took her back to NYC for a few days and mom thoroughly enjoyed herself.

My little blog has turned 1 year old. Happy Birthday Fried Green Tomatoes -- and Duncan -- and Eloise!

Woof! Woof!

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

Even though this picture represents one of my preferred states, for the last couple of weeks I have learned so much that I am seeing html code in my dreams.

Not only am I learning computer code, but I'm also learning a whole new business (again), and getting to know a new group of co-workers.

Plus, Duncan and I are having to work out a new routine just to cover the home-front basics. I know we look like we've been together forever, but this is brand new for us. We haven't both worked full-time since we got married.

My brain is getting lots of new wrinkles with all this change going on. That's supposed to keep you young. Good.

My new office is in a not-much-to-look-at house on James Island, but the view out the kitchen window is pretty. The dock, I believe, is at the business owner's family home and the water is the Clark Sound that wraps around the bottom of James Island and then opens out to the ocean. It's pretty.

Gainful Employment -- Hooray!

Sandy Leonard Hutchinson,

grossly underemployed if employed at all

for 3 years and 2 months,
humbly announces she has a job,
starting Thursday, July 30, 2009.

A real full-time job with a decent salary, health and dental insurance, a 401(k) with employer match, paid time-off, and free parking. It is with a progressive, stable Internet business, so what I learn will increase my marketability going forward. That was pretty much my entire list of requirements for the next job.

The transition from Greensboro to Charleston has not been easy, and this employment piece has been the hardest nut to crack. I would like to think that we can all live with flexibility and mobility and take time out to help family, travel, pursue dreams that may not immediately produce income, but I'm not sure I could, in good conscious, tell another woman approaching age 50 to go for it. I am so lucky that Duncan has been able to keep us afloat and insured. These are tough times and many people have no cushion at all.

I sent out a celebratory e-mail to almost everyone I knew and while I got back congratulations and good wishes, I also got back notes telling me how hard work is right now. One friend wants to retire and can't. Another is not ready to retire but is being forced out. Someone else has had to lay people off. And more than one tells me that because of laptops, cell phones and blackberries, the boundaries between being at work and not being at work have all but disappeared and the result is stress, doctors, medication, and therapy. Aye Yi Yi. What am I jumping back into?

I just know I've been missing the things everyone else complains about -- having to get up on Monday morning, going to the office, a department- a "team", meetings, a mission statement and a strategic plan with deadlines. I'm looking forward to being involved with someone else's projects again!

Good Eatin'

We had a cook-out at our pool this afternoon for the middle and senior-highs from church. They had a lot of fun crabbing with strings and chicken necks and were very successful -- so we added crabs to the menu. We just steamed them and ate them out of the shell. A little messy, but nothing better.

Today's paper had recipes for shrimp and crab dishes -- but nothing that sounded like it could beat this one from Kathy Wulf.

Hearty Crab Casserole

1 1/2 lb. crabmeat
4 shallots, chopped fine
4 tender celery stalks, chopped fine
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
4 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 C. Milk
1/4 C. dry sherry
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. Worcestershire
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
dash of red pepper
1 tsp. chicken bouillon granules
4 oz. grated Swiss cheese
Parmesan cheese
Dried bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 325. Place crab in well buttered 2 quart baking dish. Cook shallots, celery & mushrooms in butter. Stir in flour and add milk and sherry. Bring to a boil. Add lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, parsley and bouillon. Remove from heat and stir in Swiss cheese until melted. Pour over crab. Cover top w/ Parmesan and bread crumbs. Bake for 30 mins. until bubbly.

I'm accumulating crab meat in the freezer now to make this one. Hmmm. . . . who will be the lucky dinner guests that night?

Happy 4th of July

Holidays are always good. D had Friday off and we tooled down to Seabrook Island and took a look at Camp St. Christopher as a possible place for a church youth retreat. I could just feel the summer church camp vibe emanating from those shack-y buildings and bunk beds. But what a pretty place right on the water. The sand had mica in it, so it sparkled and my feet looked like they'd been dipped in golden glitter. It was a beach you could walk for hours. I kept wanting to see what was beyond the next curve, but the sky was that washed-out blue color it gets when it's just impossibly hot so we kept it short.

My niece Laurel is getting married today at St. Simon's Island. She wanted to have the most private of ceremonies in a beautiful setting. I hope it fits the dream and I hope no one melts. I got married once on the beach in July. My memory of it is not all about how hot it was, but several years later we went back around the time of our anniversary and I almost died. What were we thinking?? Who knows, maybe global warming made its way to South Carolina between 1988 and 1994. Anyway, here's to Laurel and Brandon with best wishes.

We are going to a dinner tonight and taking potato salad. How did I get to be this middle-age woman who actually wears red, white and blue to cookouts on the 4th of July? I understand there will be young children and backyard fireworks. I'm going to hum Sousa snippets and enjoy.