Casey's Birthday at Clemson

We just returned from a couple of days upstate. We went to Clemson to help Casey (grandson #2) celebrate his 18th birthday. First thing we did was tour Casey's dorm and then Callie's dorm room too. (Callie is Casey's girlfriend and their dorm buildings are right next door to each other) It was amazing to me how each room can look so different even though they are exactly the same when emptied of all the personal "stuff"! Casey's room was, well, rather messy, and Callie's room was designer!

We regrouped at the dinner hour and all drove out into the gorgeous countryside for what has been proclaimed the best barbecue ever! And it was fantastic!! Between us we tried the ribs, pulled pork and chicken. I loved my ribs and the special homemade sauce they had. We all ate too much!

After that huge dinner we returned to our hotel where Christie had planned a whole party right there in the public room! She does great party. She had baked a great "from Scratch" lemon cake and had all of his gifts!! We went to the pool area after sunset to have the cake because it had sparklers on it!!

Click on any picture to enlarge it

Casey got what every young man wants for his birthday - lots and lots of M&M's! And homemade cookies from Aunt Lisa!! (she sent them out overnight so they would be fresh and they didn't break either!!)

The Circle M Barbecue place was very authentic!!

Callie and Casey in Callie's dorm room. Designer fabric on the walls and a comfy futon. Doesn't get much better!

Birthday boy's mom - my little girl - Chrisitie.

Birthday boy's best girl - Callie

Birthday boy's grandma's best man! My Kirby!

A view of Clemson' clock tower. It is such a gorgeous university!

And - Kirby and Casey

Curry Bash

I guess I never posted these pictures. See, I get so confused.....Blog, Facebook, 365Project...??? Who is to know what I have posted where. Anyway here are a couple of pictures from the Curry Bash we had for Casey. It is his favorite food so we prepared lots and lots of it for him and we all had a great time. Of course we played Mexican Train after.

Morning Mushroom

I went let Jake out yesterday morning and right there on the screened porch was this beautiful mushroom. This just shows how much rain we have had this year! I am glad I got the picture because it was dead by the time I got home from work.

The Three Stooges

I don't even know what to say about this picture!! Guys just want to have fun?? Somehow they just did this! They never grow up do they? And we are glad! That's Ray, Kirby and Mac.

Changing Directions

I have been blogging now for almost 5 years. I had our travel blog which took us up to Nova Scotia and then to N. Carolina and then crashed. The whole website closed down and I lost everything. Then I went to Sailblogs and we went to the Bahamas and back to Maryland. When we settled in Charleston in a house of all things, I knew I couldn't continue to post on "Sailblogs"! That is when I began this blog. My main intent through all of this has been to post photos of our life. But I just don't get around to posting major events very often because there are not many of them. So I am thinking that I will try something just a little different.

I have been enjoying my 365 Project so much. It is a site where I post a picture a day for a year (or more if I keep it up). But I usually have more pictures than I can possibly use there and not only that, most people don't keep up with my 365 -but you visit here. So, I think I will start posting pictures here and just use this the way I enjoy most - photo journalism. I hope you don't mind that. I will tell you a bit about each of my pictures. Somedays I may miss and somedays I may have more than one picture and something really important to share.

So, to start this off, here is a picture of my dear friend, Lucy, and her dog - it was either Skipper or Sammy - I can't tell them apart. We were visiting on vacation last July and I took a series of pictures of the 'kids'. It was really fun and I never shared any of those pictures. Time to share!!

(click on picture to view it larger)

Casey's Send Off to College

I am really tired but wanted to get this posted. Casey leaves for college at Clemson University in South Carolina on Friday! (He is the one in the orange Clemson shirt). We had his send off tonight.

It is Saturday morning and I am now getting some more pictures added. There are more on my picasa website listed on the right under "Our Pictures".

Since I have joined the 365 Project I don't get to my blog very often and I apologize for that but not much is going on anyway. The big news this week is that we just celebrated our 11th anniversary. But when Kirby counts it up he comes up with something like 41 years. That is because he counts all the years we have been married - to anyone! He is so funny.

I am sitting here now absolutely stuffed. We went to brunch today to celebrate our anniversary. But that wasn't until after we visited the Swamp Garden at Magnolia Plantation. We never tire of it and it is never the same. We see different things each time we are there. And the big bonus for Jake is that he gets to go with us! He likes going but today he got really hot. We had water for him of course and there was a lot of shade. It is just the humidity. But Kirby and I don't let it slow us down - we just start early in the day. So we were there by 9 AM - before the crowds and before the bugs. It really was a lovely day with a gentle breeze blowing.

After we finished at the gardens we went to our favorite dog friendly cantina - Fuel. You have seen it here before and you probably will see it again. We were there last year for our anniversary so I guess it has become a tradition. Fuel is built in an old gas station and has a patio that is very, very dog friendly! Jake loves it and so do all the other guest that go there. Everyone gets along very well and we all have a good time. To say nothing of their great food. Kirby and I both decided on the Huevos Rancheros made with a quesadilla and black beans with salsa...very, very good. And they have my favorite pale ale - Drifter. (you can click on either "fuel" or "drifter" to go to their website.)

So, the hour is still fairly early, we have had fresh air and exercise and we have dined well. Great day so far!! Here are some pictures from our day.

Just Don't Smoke

I have a fellow classmate from high school who has been diagnosed with lung cancer. She has been very candid on Facebook about her condition and her treatments. Today I read her blog, "Just Don't Smoke". You can read it too by clicking on the title. Molly will tell you all that she has gone through in the past 9 months since learning that she had lung cancer. It will break your heart and it will educate you. She will tell you what it is like to not want to eat, to be sick for weeks on end and to depend on others for everything. Today she is a survivor. Listen to what Molly has to say.

Summer Vacation

I love road trips. Well, I did until yesterday when we returned from a long trip to Texas. It was a great trip....I just got tired of the riding. Can't really complain about the driving as Kirby did most of it. But, it really was a fantastic trip to visit friends and family. We left about 5 AM on Thursday and returned 8 days later. The majority of our time was spent in San Antonio with Ray and Lucy, our long time friends from boating days.

We really enjoyed downtown San Antonio with the river walk and all the Mexican markets and we especially loved all the great Mexican food that we had. We just can't get it like that here in Charleston and really miss it. I know - it is bad for us but we don't do it often!!

Our first day downtown we went to the Farmer's Market and then toured the new area of the river which our friend Cullen had designed - so we had a great tour since he was narrating for us! And then we returned on our last day and did the old town section of the river. Both are fantastic!

We also visited the cute little town of Gruene (prononced "Green"). I thoroughly enjoyed watching the river rafters coming down the Gruene River. And we had dinner at the Gristmill River Restaurant in New Braunfels.


We enjoyed visiting with Mac and Consuelo who now live in New Braunfels and also Marjorie and Luigi in their new home in San Antonio. We were so fortunate to be able to spend time with people who have meant so much to us.

From San Antonio we drove east to Houston to visit with Virginia - also a former cruiser that we had met in Mexico years ago. She and Jay were in Mazatlan on their 53' sailboat when we met them. Later we all spent a lot of time together when they built a home just south of San Diego on the beach and we were living in San Diego. Virginia has recently moved to the Houston area to be near her family. (She is family to us!!)
The next day we drove on east to Pensacola to visit my Aunt Lee and her family. My cousins Mike and Lori were there and I hadn't seen them in years and years so it was a wonderful reunion!

4th of July in the Hood

We had a really good time at the 4th of July celebration here in the "Hood". This little guy was celebrating and volunteered to be "sent to the moon"! On the second mail box blow up he finally made it! What we did was remove the real mailbox, replace it with a cheapie one and then blow it up. Then I was unsatisfied so they reconstructed it and put Mr. Frog onboard and did it again. It was great fun and I know...we are sick but did I ever say we weren't??

Senor Froggie

Ready for Blast-Off!

I think Senor Froggie had too much fun!

Some of the kids had their own party!

Christie (daughter)

"The Group!"

Kirby (husband)

Jake was very traumatized as were all the dogs.

Casey (grandson)

Brendan (grandson)

Yea!! We had sparklers!

We had so much food as I am sure everyone did! And the fireworks provided were just the best....always are! Phil and Michael came through with the best and the kids did a great job of orchestrating the whole thing! Thanks everyone for a great time!