Celebrity week - June 2010

Beginning on June 04, several celebrities decided to visit us in Charleston and brought their parents or great grandparents along for company. With all their comings and goings, I am sure that my car can find its own way to the airport without me!
Marc, Lesley, Kincaid and Cormac arrived on Friday as did Donna later in the day. Stuart, Noelle and Liam arrived Saturday as did my Mom. The weather was hot, hot but we began with a visit downtown to Marion Square before the rest of the gang arrived. Kincaid enjoyed the "bouncy castle" while the adults looked at the art exhibits. Given the heat, a fountain turned into a popular attraction. See the album by clicking on the following photo.

2010_06_05

On Sunday we went to the beach which was windy and hot. The boys enjoyed digging in the sand or playing in the waves while the adults hovered around like paparazzi taking photos. When time came to go home, at least one small person expressed his disagreement. Click on this photo for the album.

Isle of Palms 06.2010

It was fun watching the cousins interact over meals and toys. Given the warm weather a lot of our time was spent outside on the back deck and at the pool. See the album behind this photo:

Cousins

Whatever else we did, we were in the water, either our pool or the club pool:

Drop Box

Now that they are gone, the house is empty and quiet! Boo Hoo.

Cindy ("Sandy") Braddon visit

The first weekend in May we were lucky to have Cindy Braddon visit us for the weekend. The weather was perfect again and so we managed to play golf both Saturday and Sunday. I think Cindy was more interested in visiting the beach because she spent lots of time in the sand traps that litter our courses. Her new nickname is "Sandy". A good time was had by all especially this green fella that I photographed lying next to #12 on the Ralston course.
The pool temperatures have finally hit the "acceptable" (low 80s) level and these two ladies enjoyed margaritas after a hard day of golf.

Ellenors and Daniels Visit - April

April is usually characterized in Charleston by a coating of yellow pollen that gets over everything and brings out the allergies in most of us who are seeking to enjoy the outdoors. This April has been no different - we have had no rain to wash it away and have powerwashed the back deck twice already. Perfect weather makes for good golf and beautiful flowers, and we have taken advantage of both. Here are some photos of the flowers in the yard. (Remember to click on picture to access album.)

Garden flowers

April is also the best time for visitors and the month began with the Ellenors who just dropped in from Vancouver. We had an action packed week with golf and tourism.
In addition to playing lots of golf, we managed to fit in a trip to Fort Sumter and a house tour of the Old french district houses. Here are some photos of both events.

Garden tour 4.10

We also managed to hop on our bikes to ride down by the beach at Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island to Fort Moultrie which was on the receiving end of British shelling and the delivering end of the attack on Fort Sumter.

Fort Moultrie4.10

As the Ellenors left, Ron Daniels (Donna's brother) and Nancy arrived. Once again we tested the golf courses and the beaches as well as the restaurants. All in all, I think I have gained ten pounds. It would have been impolite not to drink and eat with our guests after all! Photos of their visit and golf spectators are attached.

Ron & Nancy on Ralston

Birds and Beaufort

It has been a rather miserable winter - wet and cold but I have been able to get out and about with my camera looking for things to shoot at. Most recently I was in the Beaufort area for a delightful visit with friends Jim and Joan Anne who (like the birds) winter in Harbor Island.
While there, I stopped by to photograph some egrets in a mood for mating, caught a osprey as it looked out over the harbor and visited a church ruin built in 1740 but later destroyed in a fire. Here are the highlights (as before, remember to click on the photo to see the album):

Beaufort 3.10

Around Daniel Island I rode my bike around the golf course one day to take a few playful photos. These are the results:

Golf Course Feb 10

January 2010

Well it is a new year and so I have decided to update this blog. This is my first entry with photo albums so that those interested can see more than just the photos on the web site itself by just clicking on a photo album the link will direct you to a gallery of others in that album.

January has been unusually cold and wet in Charleston. Cold for Charleston, that is, but nothing compared to what you northerners have experienced. On one of the nicer days I threw my camera into the car and motored over to Magnolia Plantation on the outskirts of town and just wandered the grounds. These photos are the results: (remember, click on the photo to go to gallery)

At the end of the month we visited the Millers at their place in Florida. Donna flew down from Washington and I drove. We had a great time eating, drinking, playing golf and catching up. It was windy golf so we were not pressured by golfers behind us which allowed me to take a bunch of photos. The huge clubhouse shown is Tesoro Country club. (There are building lots available in case you are interested) The Millers live at Martin Downs CC and the second batch of photos are taken on their course.

Golf with millers Tesoro

Golf WMillers day three

December 2009

We were lucky to have many visitors in the month of December, beginning with an old Ottawa friend Jim Elliott who introduced us to Joan Anne. They made the pilgrimage to the COSCO store in Charleston from Beaufort, SC where they hibernate from Canadian winters. After a day of shopping they joined us for dinner in town and spent the night in the frog (family room over the garage) before heading back south. It was fun catching up and swapping tall stories from the foreign service.

Next came Cira Pereira with daughter Celina on the way back from Tampa. They brought the rain with them, and boy did it rain - over 5 inches. Rain notwithstanding, Donna's flight was on time and we had a nice visit despite David's efforts at cooking dinner. Cira and Celinas departure the next day was tentative given that 5 inches of rain translated into two feet of snow in the Washington area. It took them two full days of driving to get home.

The next week, Liam came back bringing his parents and stayed through the holidays. As you can see from the photos, he was the center of attention as he experienced his first Christmas. The weather treated us well and Stu, joined us for golf and we managed to fit in some biking and the gym whenever we felt guilty from overeating. I think Noelle & Stu enjoyed the occasional break from parenting and found time for shopping, a movie and lots of lazing about time. Donna and Dave enjoyed waking up with a little "elf" in the bed as Noelle passed Liam to us so that she could go back to bed and sleep in. We all wonder how Liam is going to adjust to life back in Toronto where he won't have a crowd of people to entertain him and no paparazzi photographing his every move!

It was a great December!

Thanksgiving 2009

David's Mom joined us for Thanksgiving. We were blessed with cool but sunny days, very convenient for shopping and wandering about town. It was a very nice visit.