Charleston IronWorks

 

On Friday we spent a beautiful day wandering through the

Historic District of Charleston.

One of the most beautiful and dominant elements of

the city are the iron pieces found throughout -

An African American by the name of Philip Simmons was

a well known ironworker in the 20th century.  He was born and

practiced his art in Charleston.  There is quite a lot online if you google him.

IronWork was a show of wealth and prestige.

I thought it interesting that the churches had some of the most impressive

pieces.  If I remember correctly this first fence,

 which surrounds an old Episcopal Church,

is an example of the work done by Philip Simmons.

 

 

 

I think it was Adam that commented on all the little courtyards in the historic

district.  Note how substantial this work is, but much less intricate.

 

This was my favorite, if that is possible.  It was gorgeous.  The

leaves were really cool. 

 

Keith, are you feeling inspired?

 

Love you all.  Mom

Sunset at the Beach

Savannah

In cool temperatures and under overcast skies, we headed, on Wednesday

to Savannah.  It was an easy two hour drive.

Unusual, in that you cross the bridge over the river

into Georgia and BOOM, you are in

downtown Savannah!

 

 

 

It is a beautiful city!  Even in February, on a cool, cloudy day, it was

stunning.  The layout of the city was drawn up in England before

the settlers arrived.  22 of the 24 original town parks

still exist and I believe it is the largest historic district in

the states.

 

Much of the original ironwork still is in place.  It was

a show of wealth, the more you had and the more ornate the design.

 

Lovely old churches, many of them the oldest

of their denomination.  You know me, I would love

to do a church tour.  The first African American

Baptist Church was built by the slaves of

one of the plantations.  The Master allowed them

to work on it after their day's work was finished.

It was part of the underground railroad.

 

The Savannah College of Design was evident everywhere in the city.

The school is very active in the preservation and restoration and repurposing of buildings and homes.

 

Beautiful detail.

 

This fountain is in one of the larger parks.

It was ordered from Sears and Roebuck in 1903.

 

This shrub was in bloom throughout the park.  I don't know what it is,

but it had a very intense rose fragrance.

 

The old Victorian houses were crazy impressive.  They are

mostly businesses and Bed and Breakfasts.  They are beautifully

restored and maintained.

 

This is the central building of the old cotton exchange.  It

extends for at least a block each way.  It is restored and now houses

many different businesses.

 

We had a great day - stayed until the rain drove us to the car.  We started the day with a bus tour, which was terrific and then finished up walking.

There is so much to see, one could easily spend 3 or 4 days touring this

lovely city.

 

Today, Thursday, was the best weather day.  We walked a long time

on the beach and Dad has some beautiful photos to share.

Miss you all.

Love, Mom

Beach Time

Here is a short post from our first 2 days on Kiawah Island.  It

is a beautiful place, very different from the Outer Banks.  It is

very tropical looking and the beautiful beach is also different.

The Kiawah River flows into the Atlantic about 3 miles from

our condo.  We walked the beach this afternoon.  It was

brisk, but bright and very beautiful. 

 

 

 

This pic is from our first walk upon arriving

Sunday afternoon.  We drove all way in the sunshine

and it was lovely and in the 60s for our walk.

The rain caught up Sunday night and we lost

about 20 degrees, but the sun...

 

shone beautifully for our day in Charleston.  We started

with a bus tour of the historic city and we walked and

then we did a drive through when we headed

out of town.

 

One of the things that Charleston is known for is its

stunning iron work. 

 

I entertained myself on today's walk by taking pictures mostly

of the beautiful patterns and arrangements in the sand.

This is one of my favorites.

 

Look at the size of this Horseshoe Crab !!

 

It was apparently not a good night for the crabs. 

There were many exoskeletons on the beach.

 

 

At the river's edge.

 

 

Do you recognize this guy?

 

 

I took lots of pics othese arrangements provided by

Mom Nature.  I hope some of them

are good enough to frame.

 

Tomorrow Savannah.

 

Love you all, Mom

Kiawah Island Arrival

 

For those  who may not know the story, my former boss (Dale) retired at the end of 2014 and he and his wife left after the new year to spend 7 weeks on Kiawah Island, SC.  They graciously invited us to spend a week with them and this is what greeted us upon our arrival!

 

We immediately went for a stroll on the beach and then out for a bite to eat and back to the beautiful condo to watch the Super Bowl.

 

 

The island is very different from the ones we normally inhabit in NC.  The sand on beach is very firm (folks on bicycles) the dunes not nearly as high and covered in shrubbery on the backside.  The island itself has a good bit of vegetation including large trees draped in Spanish moss.

 

This is not our condo, but I just really liked the look.  We are not ocean front, but the walk to the beach is no more than five hundred yards.  As you can see we are in the off-season and the beaches are pleasantly crowded.

The water temp is about 55 degrees and no one was swimming, though Karen did a bit of wading along the edges.  The air temps are supposed to be in the 50's and 60's most of the week with some rain now and again.  I think we'll stay:)

 

 



I don't know what to call this post...

...yours are all so interesting and awesome and this is kind of boring, but your Dad
has sort of encouraged me to put something up  (I don't think he knows how little I have to work with)  so here goes...

 

We loaned our big Christmas tree to Denise and Kurt when theirs decided not to light.  Jill was home at Thanksgiving time and a tree was needed for

"the Christmas of Jill".

So, instead of a big tree I put up 3 little ones.

I wasn't excited about it at first, but in the end it was pretty nice.

The one above has our small "collection" of Drumm ornaments.

 

This is the star tree.

 

And the big little one with my collection of glass ornaments.

 

 

Really! A green scooter Christmas pillow?

 

G'ma took me to Miss Mollies for a holiday lunch -

always a pleasant outing.



Christmas on the front porch -

technically that makes 4 trees, I guess.

 

Sarah, Keith - do you recognize this container?

You guys got this for me and after seeing the cover of the of the

December Better Homes and Gardens, I was inspired.  I love how it

turned out.

 

Pat made this glass geometric terrarium and it worked too.

 

These paper lanterns were on display at the Cleveland Art Musuem.

Sort of a funny shot of the Gerhry building from the

Art Museum.

 

Reminded me of the paper lanterns G'ma makes.

 

So, it was a pretty quiet holiday here, but it was good.  January is generally

a pretty fast month and February drags on.  The shortest month is

the longest month of the year.  Dad and I are really looking forward

to using the month to travel to warmer, sunnier climes.  Friends at the beach and family

in the desert...looking forward to some more interesting photos too!

 

Love you all,

Mom