Blue Moon

If there are two full moons in one month, the second one is called a "Blue Moon". We have a Blue Moon tonight and just look at it! Does it make you think about all those vampire movies and books? Would this be a good vampire night??

Lee's Visit - Beer Exchange and Folly Beach

If you have been following my blog at all you must know that I really don't write much - I prefer photo journalism. I just love documenting everything with pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words. And now that I have my new camera, I am making my family crazy with my photo taking! Too bad! But for that reason, many of my pictures are taken rather on the run....trying to keep up with everyone else. But I did get some fun pictures today as we toured Lee around.

We started downtown at the Charleston Beer Exchange. (I always go crazy taking pictures in there as it is all so pretty.) We managed to find a parking place right outside their door which made it very handy for getting our purchases to the car.

You really have to click on the pictures to blow them up and get the full effect of all the shiny glass and colorful labels.
From there we went to Griffin's Pub just a couple of blocks away. Look closely at the walls and the ceiling - it is covered with money $$$!!! We each enjoyed an ale and shared a basket of onion rings - fat free of course!


We have been promising to take Lee to Folly Beach for a couple of years so that he could see what the surfers in South Carolina have. It actually is quite a long drive from Mount Pleasant where we live through all the holiday traffic, through downtown, over a bridge or two and past a couple of accidents but we finally reached our destination! It is quaint and cute and closed down during the day. But the surf shop was open and we had fun wandering around in there. Here are some of my pictures so you can feel like you just visited Folly Beach too!

Lee is explaining to Kirby the differences in the boards.

Look at all the colorful surfboards!

Quaint and colorful!

She is sort of colorful too - and there are two of her. I would say she has "fish eyes".

I loved the pictures - especially Elvis and John Wayne.

Another place closed.

And Rita's was closed too!

I just realized that we never really went to "the Beach" but the town was so colorful and cute that I never even noticed. It seemed that there were mostly hotels and condo taking up most of the nearby waterfront anyway.

Christmas Day 2009

We woke on Christmas morning to rain and it continued to rain for most of the day. Christie and Michael live right on the wetlands. That means that when it rains, there is water everywhere. We are pretty much at sea level here so the water just sits. Our house is at 14 feet above sea level. I love the wetlands and I love the view out their windows. As it was raining, the picture isn't very good but it does give you an idea of what it looks like when it rains. Most all the leaves are gone for the winter and everything is brown and gray.

You can click on the picture to get the larger version. Read about "wetlands" here.

Christmas 2009

Jake was looking out the window waiting for Santa to come!We had so much fun opening our gifts this Christmas. Santa was good as usual and we all had lots of fun!
We opened just a few on Christmas Eve and then finished off on Christmas morning. I had made a great egg and sausage casserole so we took a break and pigged out - again!
Don't I have handsome grandson's? I think so. Casey (above) is 17 and a senior at Wando High School (Mount Pleasant, SC. Brendan (below) will be 19 next month. Brendan is a freshman at Iona College in New York. It is so great having him home with us!


And there is more to come because we are going back over soon for more food!

Casey, Jake and a Friendly Flower

Yea! I now have a "camera"- not a point and shoot! This is a real camera and I am in love!! I just don't know how to use it! Thank God it comes with "Auto". He is very helpful.I searched high and low for something/someone to take pictures of so I could try out my new little gem. Fortunately for me, grandson Casey came over to visit! I made him let me take his picture!!

And Jake of course had no choice in the matter. But he did cock his ears quite nicely so he must have liked the sound of the fancy shutter clicking away.

And this Azalea had no choice in the matter either. Poor little thing is just freezing out there in the cold but I think he did like the 5 inches of rain we had on Friday! That is a lot of rain!

I am almost ready for Christmas. It is so much easier when you get older and don't feel so compelled to be super woman and bake and shop and wrap AND do all the normal everyday chores. I think I like this a lot! Merry Christmas!

Olive Cheese Balls

I am making some Olive Cheese Balls for a holiday party. This is a recipe that I have used for at least 30 years. Simple, easy and yummy.


1/2 lb. grated cheddar cheese
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
4 oz small pimento stuffed green olives

Mix the cheese and flour until crumbly. (I use my food processor- which wasn't around when this recipe was developed!) Add the melted butter and stir well. (again - the food processor is wonderful!)

Roll a small amount into a ball, press a hole in it and place an olive inside and then mold the dough around the olive.

Place all the cheese balls on an ungreased baking sheet and refrigerate for 1 hour or more. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes. Makes 3-4 doz.


I suggest serving these wonderful little morsels warm with ranch dressing but they are great just the way they come out of the oven.

Good Friends

I am running so behind with all the activities of the holidays! Wow, need to slow down a bit. Last weekend Ken and Connie on their Gulfstar 45, Oz, were in Charleston Harbor. They seem to have been having one problem after another but they just keep on truckin' - or rather, sailin'! Already they are down in Florida heading for warmer waters.

We certainly enjoyed our visit with them. Of course first thing we headed downtown to visit one of our favorite pubs, Tommy Condon's. We got sort of stuck in the Charleston Christmas Parade and had to park about 20 blocks away. The walk just built up our thirst, right?

The walk back to the parking building seemed to be a little easier after an ale and a burger.

Kirby decided not to travel with them as it is so late - and cold!