January 28, 2019 - February 3, 2019
The polar vortex that affected the upper midwest and east coast this week, also affected Charleston, but not so severely. While Chicago was experiencing wind chills of 50 below zero Bob and I were complaining about the near freezing temperatures we woke up to for several mornings.
On Wednesday we picked up the rental car that I was going to use to drive to Sarasota to meet Grace (my youngest daughter) and Ben (her boyfriend) so we could visit with Claire (my children’s grandmother). I wasn’t leaving until Thursday morning so we used the car to visit a Joann’s Fabric store to look for a fabric we had purchased there a few years earlier. I want to make a curtain for the quarter berth. We didn’t find the fabric there, but Bob located the fabric number so we can continue to search for it online. Next, Bob and I decided to drive to Folly Beach for lunch and a walk on the beach.
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| We stopped at St. James Gate, Folly Beach’s Irish bar, for lunch. The food was great and the atmosphere even better. |
We drove to the southern end of the island to walk on the county park beach.
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| Sea grass and sand form the basis of the stark beauty of a beach in winter. |
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| Beaches that are left to nature and not cleaned up for tourists often have dead trees scattered about. |
I left for Sarasota early on Thursday morning and arrived to check my daughter into the hotel at around 3:00 pm. After a great dinner at Anna Marie’s Oyster Bar we headed over to the Assisted Living Facility to visit Claire. Grace had not seen her grandmother for several years and it was a tearful reunion. I stayed with Claire for the two nights I visited and we chatted and watched an old Western movie. The next day we were all able to have lunch together in the dining room. Claire’s husband was still in the hospital and was to be released to a rehab facility for him to regain the strength necessary to be able to take care of himself and return home. I made a couple of trips to the hospital and the rehab facility to help him get settled in. Fortunately, both were close to the assisted living facility. I left to return to Charleston around noon on Saturday and arrived home by 9 pm. It had been a whirlwind trip, but it was great to see Claire, Grace, and Ben even if for only a few hours.
Sunday was devoted to resting up from my trip, having a PT session, going out to lunch, and watching the Super Bowl (which turned out to be a real snooze).
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| We ate lunch at Leon’s Poultry and Oyster Shop which is in a renovated auto repair garage. It serves the best fried chicken I have ever had. Bob loved the oysters on the half shell, too. |
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| One of the bonuses of living on the water is observing the wild life. Our dock has several egrets and herons that visit frequently. Bob even saw an otter in the water the other day. I regularly watch dolphins swimming in the harbor near our boat. |
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