Back to Folly Beach

December 31, 2016-January 6, 2017

Bob and I are staying at Folly Beach, SC in an apartment by the beach while our boat is being re-powered in Rockville, SC.

New Year's Eve day was warm and sunny which was a welcome change from Pittsburgh where it was snowing the day I left. I got settled back into the cottage, took a power walk on the beach, and spent the afternoon and evening watching college football bowl games.

Lots of people were enjoying the warm weather
at the beach on New Year's Eve Day.

The big spectacle in Folly Beach on New Year's Day was the Polar Bear Plunge which is held to benefit Special Olympics.  There were at least 1000 people on the beach.  Half of them were participants.

The enthusiastic crowd runs into the water,

and exits after a quick plunge.

New Year's Day (observed) was filled with college football bowl games.  The crowning game was the Rose bowl where Penn State sadly lost to University of Southern California 52-49.

One of our favorite pastimes here the Carolina low country is eating lunch in some of the quirky cafes in Folly and the surrounding area.

The Black Magic Cafe claims to have been
casting spells on Folly Beach since 2009.
The BLT with avocado sandwiches we had
were delicious.

During the rest of the week we did some sightseeing at Edisto Island (a barrier island south east of Charleston) and Charleston, SC.

Edisto Beach is the main town on Edisto Island.
The lack of commercial development is one
of the attractions of island.  The island had
one small grocery store, a few local restaurants,
a seafood house (pictured here), and one gas station.

The beach on Edisto Island is one of the nicest
we have seen in the low country.

We always visit the City Market when we are in Charleston.
Here you can see the famous sweet grass baskets on display.
At the market you can see the creators of these baskets at work.

On this trip we visited the Old Exchange and
 Provost Dungeon Museum.

The Old Exchange Building was used for business dealings and storage by the merchants of the city who had it built in 1771-1772.  Before the Revolution it was used as a meeting place for the Sons of Liberty who elected representatives to attend the 1st and 2nd Continental Congress in Philadelphia.  The British occupied Charleston in 1780 (during the Revolution) and used the basement of the building for a prison for patriots who refused to pledge their allegiance to the British Crown.

This pictures captures some of the beauty of
East Bay Street in the French Quarter of
Charleston SC.

We got the good news that our new Transmission for the boat was delivered on 1/6/2017 at 12:20 pm.  Maybe we will be able to get back to cruising soon.


Thank you for reading my blog.

Home for the Holidays - Chicago

December 26-30

I arrived in Chicago at 10:45 AM and was picked up at Millennium Station by my daughter Rachel.  After picking up Juan (Rachel's boyfriend) and Liliana (Juan's 6 year old daughter) we had brunch at Meli in the West Loop neighborhood. 

We spent the afternoon catching up and preparing for Christmas dinner.

Rachel, Juan, Liliana, and I are ready to
enjoy this delightful Christmas dinner in
Rachel's West Loop loft apartment and
photography studio.

We spent the next day walking around downtown Chicago.

I found this sign on the way to downtown.
It's something Bob and I won't see in
warmer climates.

The Cloud Gate is a huge bean shaped polished
stainless steel public sculpture
in AT&T Plaza at Millennium Park
that distorts the reflection
of the city sky line.

According to Wikipedia the Cloud Gate sculpture was created by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor.  Constructed between 2004 and 2006, the sculpture is nicknamed The Bean because of its shape. Made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, its highly polished exterior has no visible seams. It measures 33 by 66 by 42 feet (10 by 20 by 13 m), and weighs 110 short tons (100 t; 98 long tons). Visitors can walk through and around the sculpture.  

In this view of Chicago's Millennium Park (taken
from the terrace of the Chicago Athletic Association)
you can see "The Bean", the ice rink, the Pitzker Pavillion,
Lake Michigan, and part of the Chicago skyline.

Here we are (Lili, me, and Rachel) enjoying the view
from the terrace of the Chicago Athletic Association
after enjoying a great lunch in the Cherry Circle Room.

On the way back to Rachel's loft I took this
photo of two angels.

I spent two more days with Rachel, et al. eating, playing board games, and just generally having fun.

I ended my whirlwind visit to as many family members as possible in 17 days by flying to Pittsburg and staying over night with my sister Becky and her husband Al.  It turned out that my daughter Jessica and her husband Joe were visiting them that night, too.  The next morning I drove to Annapolis and then to BWI for my trip back to Charleston and finally to Folly Beach where Bob and I are staying with our two cats while our boat is being re-powered.  It was a wonderful holiday with my children and sisters, but it is also wonderful  to be back with Bob and the cats.  I have many blessings to count in the 2016 year.


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Home for the Holidays - Pittsburg and South Bend IN

On December 23, 2016 I drove from Baltimore to Pittsburg to visit my sister, Becky, and her husband, Al.

Becky and Al in their dining room during a game of Scrabble.

That evening, my niece, Allison, her husband, Ryan,
and their nine month old son, Ronan,
drove down for a visit
from Oil City, PA.  

I got up the next morning at 3:00 am in order to catch my flight to Chicago.  From Midway airport I took a taxi to the South Shore train station.  I boarded the train at 8:30 am (CST) and arrived in South Bend by 10:30 am (EST).  Needless to say I was exhausted, but I met my youngest daughter, Grace, at the grocery store to buy what we needed for dinner on Christmas day.  We made some preparations for dinner and I went to my hotel early that night.

I spent Christmas day with Grace and her friend Ben cooking,
eating, talking, and laughing at Christmas movies and
Christmas sitcom episodes.

When I got back to my hotel I watched the disappointing Ravens vs. Steelers game that ended with a score of Ravens - 27  Steelers - 31.


The next morning I was up early to take the train to Chicago to visit my daughter Rachel.


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Home for the Holidays - Baltimore, MD

I left Houston on December 18th at 6:00 am and landed in Baltimore/Washington International Airport at 10:30 am.  My oldest daughter, Jessica, and her husband, Joe, live in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore.  In the summer Bob and I moor the boat in a marina in Baltimore so it was almost like going home.

Jessica and Joe at Lexington Market in Baltimore.

On Monday we celebrated the holidays with friends at
Lexington Market where we ordered the famous
Thanksgiving sandwiches from Krause's Lite Fare
and enjoyed the caroling of a local school chorus.
It was the best turkey sandwich ever!

Jess had to work all day so Joe and I prepared the
 "Christmas Dinner." Joe made the fillet mignon 
and brussels sprouts while I made the
 wilted spinach salad and potatoes au gratin.

Later in the week we visited Longwood Gardens 
and met my sister Laurie there.

Longwood Gardens is located in Kennett Square, PA and is the living legacy of Pierre S. du Pont who purchased the Peirce family’s arboretum in 1906 to save the trees from a lumber company.  Mr. du Pont continued to add gardens, green houses and a conservatory throughout his life and today this 1,077+ acres estate is one of the premier gardens in  the world.

The conservatory contains multiple rooms of gardens. 
Each room contained a Christmas tree 
matching the theme of the room.
This tree was in the succulent garden and is constructed
of a wide variety of succulent plants. 

In the evening the gardens came alive with millions of lights.

Since my sister, Nancy (in the center), lives right behind
Longwood Gardens we all stopped in for a visit.

On my last night in Baltimore we saw the play Dot at
the Everyman theatre.

After the theater we opened presents by the tree.

Leaving the next morning was difficult after such a wonderful visit with Jess and Joe.  Pittsburg here I come.


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Home for the Holidays - Katy Texas

December 12, 2016

Before I left Folly Beach (where we are staying while our boat is re-powered) I baked all of the of the Christmas cookies that I bake each year in hopes that I would be able to get them through security at the airport and safely into my children's hands.

This is definitely the 1st time I've made Christmas cookies
when it was 70 degrees outside!

I packed each type of cookie (I baked 9 different kinds)
in a rigid plastic container with wax paper between layers
and placed them in this duffle to carry on to the airplane on Tuesday.
Thank goodness they arrived in Katy safely.

 

Katy, Texas December 13-18

I visited my son and his family in Katy, a suburb just north of Houston for the first leg of my journey.  My grandson, Acen, has a birthday on December 14th so I wanted to be there for his party as well as visit with the whole family.

I had not seen my son for almost a year.
It was marvelous to reconnect.

My son, Karl, (on the far right) cooked us a delicious
dinner one night.  Seated from left to right are
Maddix (my son's stepson),
Terry (my son's mother-in law),
Acen (my son's son), and me.

I spent many joyful hours playing "animals"
with Acen.  His favorite right now are
dinosaurs and jungle animals.

I was able to create this" Noturo" type
costume for Maddix while I was there.
He will be wearing it at a convention in
San Antonio in January. It also gave me a
chance to spend some quality time with him.

On Saturday Afternoon we set up for Acen's
third birthday party. This is my daughter-in-law, Brandy.
As you can see she planned for a dinosaur theme.

Acen and all of the other guests were thrilled with
the party venue.  It had giant bouncy play areas,
a section for "crawlers", and games for older children.
It was a big success!!

    

It was difficult to leave everyone that evening, but I have three other children to visit  for the holidays.

I had to be up at 3 AM in order to catch my flight to Baltimore.

My next blog will be about that leg of my journey!

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Folly Beach, SC

Since our  boat (s/v Rainy Days) is being re-powered we can't live aboard so we rented an ocean front apartment in Folly Beach, SC for 6 weeks.    Folly Island is a barrier island in the Atlantic Ocean near Charleston, South Carolina. It's long and thin with approximately 7 square miles of sandy beaches, beach houses, cottages, a population of 2,749, and a small centrally located town, Folly Beach.

Folly Island is a retro style beach area that welcomes everyone - surfers, retirees, families, tourists, freaks, fishermen, and beachcombers with:

beautiful beaches,

aa

a picturesque lighthouse,

two custom surfboard shops (no pop outs here),

seven t-shirt shops,

the requisite ice-cream shop,

numerous restaurants and bars,

A fishing pier,

a crazy Christmas parade,

a county park,

and beautiful sunsets. 
That's me on the left beach combing.
My husband, Bob, took this photo.

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From Baltimore Harbor to Folly Beach, SC

Just to bring anyone who might be reading this blog up to date with where we are and why: We left Baltimore on October 5, 2015 with the goal of arriving in St. Augustine, FL by November 28, 2016 and then after the holidays continue on to the Abacos in the Bahamas.  Our voyage was smooth sailing (actually motoring most of the way) with  stops at charming towns and anchorages along the way.  Unfortunately, we hit a glitch when our engine seized up about 20 miles north of Isle of Palms (IOP).  IOP is a barrier island just north of Charleston, SC.  We were towed to the marina in IOP on October 28, 2016 hoping to quickly diagnose and fix the problem and be on our way.  Well, we stayed at IOP for 4 weeks waiting  to have the boat towed to Marine Propulsions in Rockville, SC.   Our stay at IOP was long but enjoyable with mild temperatures and sunny skies.  We rented bikes to get around the island; to the beach, grocery store, and local restaurants.  On the weekends we rented a car to visit Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, Sullivan's Island, Beaufort, SC, and various other points of interest in the area. On November 29th our boat was towed to Rockville, SC where it will be re-powered at Marine Propulsions. The next day we moved our household to a beach side cottage in Folly Beach, SC and will be here for 4-6 weeks while our boat is re-powered.

Here's a picture of s/v Rainy Days docked at IOP Marina

Here I am on one of our weekend excursions to 

The Center for Birds of Prey in Awendaw, SC

Here is Bob (captain of the vessel) as 
he sits at the helm early in our trip

Joining us on our adventure are our two cats.  

Lizzy, the dark haired Maine coon and 
Captain Jack, the orange domestic long hair

Now that I've made all of the introductions I can focus on our experiences in Folly Beach in my next blog post.

Thank you for reading my blog.