Saturday, May 24, 2014

We are home from our Rhine River cruise and had a wonderful time!  Boy are we tired though. Got home at 7PM Thursday night and I unpacked everything and then yesterday morning started on my 10 loads of washing!  Between the two of us, we took about 1500 pictures! I have them downloaded, sorted by day and picked for the blog, so hopefully within the next few days I will have a cruise blog ready. I'll start a new page for it--Rhine RiverCruise. Then I'll start Summer 2014 for the next entries. Don't worry-I won't be posting ALL the pictures!! Hope everyone is well.  Happy Memorial Day and God bless our service men and women.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Oh my-summer has DEFINITELY arrived!

Thursday, May 1, 2014

It's very nice here now but we had a gully washer yesterday! Our neighbor stopped by this morning and told Oliver his rain guage measured 2 1/2 inches yesterday. Not as bad as Florida but still. I stepped outside and took this picture

It was blowing sideways! But perhaps the rain helped grow these beautiful tomatoes-our first of the season!!

Monday, April 28, 2014

We had just the best week-end with Bunny and John! They arrived Friday night and we enjoyed cocktails on the porch before dinner of pulled pork, baked beans, cole slaw and pound cake with ice cream, peach, pecan and amaretto preserves (thanks again, Alice!) followed by more wine. The weather was amazing so after breakfast on Satruday, we settled in by the pool for the rest of the afternoon. John played in the water with the dogs for hours and they are all exhausted now! W cleaned up and went to Old Bull Tavern for dinner. This is rated as the number 1 restaurant in Beaufort and it is really good. They're known for their hamburgers so Bunny, John and I had that while Oliver had a soft shell crab sandwich. As we were finishing, the couple at the table next to us started making a fuss and next thing we knew, the guy jumped up and got right in the owner's face! They exchanged words (some of them not very nice!) and then the guy tore his bill upinto a million pieces, grabbed his companion and they stormed out! We sent our waitress off to get the details for us and turned out the pen he was given to sign the bill had leaked on him (he had blue jean shorts on-not a tuxedo!). He confronted the waiter first, who bought them a round of drinks, but then went after the owner. We were sure that he was going to throw a punch but didn't.  After they left John, the owner, and Gabrielle, the waiter, both came over and apologized for the scene but we just found it entertaining!! Yesterday we ate breakfast and then went to church. After lunch we resumed our pool time and the dogs enjoyed having John play ball with them again. Last night we had chicken and beef kabobs on the grill and a yummy ice cream, nutella and frangelico sundae for dessert. Bunny and John left shortly after breakfast today but before they did, we planned a week-end in July with them, John, Alex and Spencer and all the significant others!  It will be a BIG house party!! Can't wait.

This is what we thought should have happened to the guy at Old Bull!!

We have these cute little lizards with bright electric blue tails-so cute.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Hope everyone had a nice Easter. We took Mary to the airport on Friday and then came back to Beaufort in time for Good Friday services. On Sunday, we decided to go to the 9 AM service because it was the only one of the 4 that both the adult and RSCM (children's) choir were both singing, as well as the brass quartet. I had a VERY pretty new dress to wear!  We were warned to be there early so arrived at 8:30 and by the time the service started, the pews and balcony were overflowing and they were bringing chairs in! The music was beautiful and a retired Bishop from Australia gave the sermon, so we enjoyed it very much. It had just started to rain a bit when we left and by the time we got home, it was POURING. Fortunately it cleared off enough for us to do our dinner on the grill later.

Yesterday the diver finally got here to clean the drain in the pool so we are back to clean water! Apparently leaves get clogged in the lines and the top of the drain has to be unbolted to get cleaned out. Oliver was griping a bit about MY pool and the diver told him the only difference between a boat and a pool is where the water is! Anyway, I enjoyed laying out yesterday and the temperature is climbing steadily. We are supposed to be in the 80s all week, so hopefully the water temp will get to 80 as well.

This morning we did some yard work. I HATE gardening but this yard is so big that I need to help, so I put on long pants, long sleeved shirt, gardening boots and gloves and pulled weeds from one of the beds in front. Oliver will get out his mulcher and makes some mulch and at least one spot will look good!! I can only do it for about 45 minutes and then I get itchy and hot, so off to the shower with me!!

Bunny and John are coming Friday and we will just lay around the pool all week-end, with the exception of a dinner at Old Bull Tavern on Saturday night. I'm really looking forward to seeing them.

We've seen the gator almost every day while walking-yesterday he was swimming slowly around-looking for food I guess!

Thursday, April 17, 2014

We are enjoying a nice visit with Mary. She arrived into Savannah on Tuesday and it was puring rain! It let up enough for us to have cocktails on the screened porch. Yesterday was a sunny day but quite chilly, although we were  able to sit out by the pool for a short while. We went into Beaufort for a little driving tour and a stop at St. Helena's Church followed by a shopping trip to the Chocolate Tree. Last night Mary treated us to dinner at the Dockside restaurant and it was yummy. I had the best blackened salmon and scallops, Oliver loved his soft shells crabs and Mary said her catfish was good. We came home and watched some TV before bedtime.

This morning I went over to Holy Trinity Classical Christian school for a tour and then came home to have lunch with Mary. We sat by the pool for over an hour and it was nice and warm.

Mary and I went for a little walk and saw this in the pond across the street:

I might have been scared but I figured I only had to outrun Mary!!  Just kidding!!!!

On a cuter note, we have more baby birds. These just hatched since yesterday.

Tonight we're having dinner at home-pasta, salad and bread. Mary goes home tomorrow so we will leave for Savannah at about 9AM. A short visit but we're so happy she made the effort to come see us.

Happy Easter to everyone!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Almost two weeks without posting!!  I certainly did not mean to do that but we have been busy. My piano continues to take up quite a bit of my time. Fortunately, I didn't have a lesson this week because I did next to no practicing when Alice was here. We picked her up in Savannah last Thursday and she treated us to a very nice lunch and then a most interesting harbor cruise of the port. It was very different from many harbor cruises, which tend to focus on houses, and instead we had a very informative description of the port, which is the 4th busiest port in the US!! After a quick stop at Harbor Freight, we made our way slowly back to Beaufort. On friday, Alice and I went into town for the organ concert at our church and to do a bit of sightseeing around the church, and then lunch at Paninis. We really enjoyed the warm weather and spent lots of time sitting on the screened porch. Saturday we visited Hunting Island State Park and Alice and I climbed the 160 stairs to the top of the lighthouse. The view, of course, is quite amazing. We also visited the nature center and walked out on the fishing pier. Sunday we went to church and late in the day, the skies opened up and it POURED for hours! It was so noisy on the metal roof that we could hardly hear each other. Monday was better so we went into town and Alice and I took a carriage ride. Our guide was phenomenal-much better than the one we had last time-and I learned a lot about my town. One of the more important things I learned was that the Chocolate Tree would give us a free piece of chocolate for taking the carriage tour! Alice treated us to lunch at Luther's and then we redeemed our free chocoltae and did a bit of other candy shopping! Tuesday morning was gloomy but bright and sunny in the afternoon, but we had to take Alice back to Savannah for her flight-a whole long story in itself, as they had cancelled her  Milwaukee-Chicago  leg, bussed them to O'Hare and as a result, they cancelled her entire return flight! It took a 90 minute phone call to fix but they did get it straightened out so, after a good dinner at Fatz Cafe right near the airport, we dropped her off and came back to Beaufort.

I attended the organ concert again this past Friday and this morning we went to Palm Sunday services at church-it was packed and the music was outstanding. A few errands on the way home, some lunch, and now we are going out to sit at the pool. It's 80 here today but of COURSE the weather is going to change when Mary is here! Never fails. We're hoping it will not be too bad!

The spring flowers here are beautiful

Here's a picture from our harbor tour boat of the riverwalk in Savannah and the replications of the Nina and Pinta which were visiting

I forgot to mention our baby birds that we have been watching for thast two weeks. They were hungry! They all flew away on Wednesday!

Here's the carriage we toured in

Alice on the visitor's swing!

And here come the Niina and Pinta to Beaufort!

April 1, 2014

Thank goodness this winter is behind us all! We are now looking forward to several days of sunny, 82-84 degree weather. The pool water topped 70 yesterday so should be "swimable" very soon.

Here's an email I received yesterday from my piano teacher:

March 23, 2014

Today was a very special day for us. After 10 weeks of class, we were confirmed in the Parish Church of St. Helena this morning. Our best friend Phyllis came from Charlotte to share the day with us and it was a very beautiful service. All of the choirs sang and the Brass Quartet played and we were confirmed by the Bishop of South Carolina. There were 11 adults and 10 children confirmed, along wirth 3 adults received into membership and 4 adults reaffirmed. Each of us knelt individually in front of the Bishop and he laid his hands on our head and said a prayer. Oliver went before me and as he walked away, the Bishop asked if I was "with him" and then called Oliver back, to stand behind me with his hands on my shoulders. The look on Oliver's face when the Bishop called him back was priceless-like he thought he had done something wrong! After the service,our Rector told Oliver he thought maybe it hadn't "taken" the first time!! It was a full house-probably 500 people or so-just a very joyous occasion!

Not the best picture but at least we have one from the day.