Charleston, SC

Yesterday we drove from Asheville to Charleston with a stop at Carl Sandburg's last home. This home, on almost 250 acres, was turned over to the US Park Service after his death. Carl Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. The property is beautiful with the house sitting high on a bluff overlooking a small lake.

Today we took a harbor and city tour of Charleston. On the harbor tour, we learned that Charleston is a peninsula formed by the Cooper and Ashley Rivers, which flow into the Atlantic Ocean. We were told how South Carolina seceded from the Union as they feared newly-elected President Abraham Lincoln would abolish slavery when in fact he only hoped to prevent spread of slavery to the west. Lincoln did not receive one electoral vote from the southern states. The first shot of the Civil War was fired from James Island to Ft. Sumter, a small, 2-acre fort, sitting on a man-made island in Charleston's harbor. Lincoln was invited to a special ceremony at Ft. Sumter after the end of the war. His staff reminded the president that he was not well-liked in the South and he should not go to the ceremony. Instead, he went to the Ford Theater where he was assassinated.

Longest cable-stayed bridge in US

Typical Charleston houses in the historic district

After our tours, Arne and I took a trolley back to Market Street. We wandered through some of the shops and then went for dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. We shared a bowl of She crab Bisque. Arne had Southern fried chicken, which was good but didn't taste any better than my mother's country fried chicken. I had shrimp 'n grits, which was delicious with its Cajun seasoning. It was the first time I had ever eaten grits and our waitress was delighted that I liked them.

We are now back at our hotel watching the Bears run over the Vikings. Go Bears!!

Perfect Autumn Day

Arne and I took a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway today. While we were about a week beyond the peak, the colors were still spectacular. The temperature was perfect and the air was crisp. It was a little windy, like 45 MPH up at Craggy Gardens. The Ranger there said one time he came to work to find the roof peeled back on the visitor center. After four hours on the Blue Ridge, we stopped at the North Carolina Arboretum and spent several hours walking through their beautiful gardens and Bonsai exhibit. Tomorrow we drive to Charleston.

Arne sketching by the window in our hotel room.

Here are just a few of the 150 pictures we took on the Blue Ridge...

Trees in the parking lot at the Arboretum

I'm standing in center of The Quilt Garden

Arne took this candid shot through an iron gate. All that wind gave my hair more body than mousse or "lift" product I've ever used.

Savannah, Georgia

Arne had a doctor appointment in Gainesville yesterday afternoon. From there we drove to Savannah, arriving around 7:30 PM. Today we toured the historic district via trolley, which had 14 stops. We could get off and on at any of the stops. While on the trolley, the drivers gave a history of the city, pointing out landmarks.

Some Savannah history:

*Gen. James E. Oglethorpe and his settlers founded Savannah, England's 13th and last colony in February 1733.
*Residents embraced the revolt against England, but British forces captured the city by surprise in December 1778 and finally departed in 1782.
*Nineteenth-century Savannah grew and flourished with King Cotton, becoming a vital shipping port.
*In 1862, Union forces closed the port and in 1864 Gen. Sherman blazed a trail of destruction across Georgia. He entered Savannah on Christmas Day and offered it to President Abraham Lincoln as a gift.
*Oglethorpe set up Savannah in 24 squares, 22 of which remain today, thanks in great part to the Historic Savannah Foundation. Each square has a park, one of which is shown in the picture above.
*Established in 1775, First African Baptist Church is reputedly North America's oldest African-American church.
*Birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
*Birthplace of Johnny Mercer, writer of over 1000 songs, among them "Moon River" and "Tutti Frutti."
*Savannah is America's most haunted city.

One of the "ghosts"

Oak tree with fern growing along with the Spanish Moss

We bought these "roses" from this man who made them out of palm fronds.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. European look.
Beautiful stained glass windows.

For dinner tonite, we went to the Pirates' House. I took a picture of my dinner because I couldn't believe they served me THREE thick pork chops!! The other mound is mashed sweet potatoes. They were delicious but this is a crime when obesity is such a big problem in this country. They charged $23.95 for this platter. How about one chop and charging $8-10 less? Yes, I ate most of them with some help from Arne. We're traveling tomorrow so couldn't bring one home.

The Pirates' House has many rooms, as a result of many houses being put together, and the spirit of a 5-year-old boy, who died in one of the houses, has been seen by some patrons. As we were leaving the restaurant, a ghost tour entered. They were heading to the rum cellar hoping to see...ghosts, of course!

October Already!!

Seems like it was just the end of August. Temperatures have cooled way down in the mornings, requiring me to wear a light jacket even for pickleball. Today after basketball, I stayed for volleyball practice. The coach wanted me to give it another try. As one of the regulars pointed out..."You can't teach tall, and you're tall." They'll try to use me at the net, if I can get my timing down for the slam and block.

Arne and I saw "Driver" yesterday. I thought it was very well done, almost "artsy" in its use of music and dialogue, or lack of it. The main character, played by Ryan Gosling, didn't have much to say. While he was a man of few words, he was a dynamite driver. There's lots of blood and violence but I don't mind that when the bad guys are getting the brunt of it.

Today I saw my first Rugby match, on TV. I like it better than football. The ball looks like a football but bounces like a nerf ball. Moves soooo much faster and no quarterback needed. That would be good news for the Bears and Florida Gators, who lost a couple of quarterbacks in last night's game against Alabama. Talked to a pickleball player from England and he said the players are 220 pounds of muscle and can run 100 yards in 13 seconds. He also mentioned that many of them have broken noses and cauliflower ears. No helmets on these guys and no spare tires!!

September Routine

September in The Villages brings cooling temps, humidity dropping from 96% to 75%, and people returning from their summer homes. For me it also means resuming Sunday basketball practice and playing more golf. Oh my gosh...I mustn't forget those pesky lovebugs who just seem to screw and then die. I opened our front door yesterday to see the front porch littered with hundreds of lovebugs, some screwin' and many more dead from the exertion. This must be the reason everyone here has a screened in lanai. Thank goodness, they only appear in May and September.

Arne and I joined the Chicagoland Club last March but have yet to get to a meeting. That will change this week as today we went to one of the country clubs to watch the Bears with other Bear fans. Tuesday night, we're going to our first meeting. The Bears game was a bust after QB Cutler got sacked AGAIN and the Saints recovered the fumble. That was the turning point in the game and it wasn't good for the Bears who lost 30-13. Next week they play the Packers. Unless the Bears offensive line gives more protection to Cutler, the Packers are going to walk right over them.

Never having been a college football fan before we moved here, I enjoyed watching Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators. So we are watching more of it...college football, that is. Florida has several good teams who could be very good next year.

Movies we've seen recently on our Saturday night "date"...The Help, The Debt and yesterday Contagion. They were all good, but I wouldn't rate any of them as outstanding. Good movies to see on DVD.

I've been playing pickleball 4-5 mornings a week, depending on my golf schedule. So, life is good here, where we have 6 Saturdays and 1 Sunday. :-)

Travel To & From Oakland

Wednesday evening, August 24, Tim and Marilyn from Scottsdale arrived for a short visit. Arne and I were scheduled to fly to Oakland on Friday, the 26th. After watching the weather channel for days, we decided Hurricane Irene might cause us a problem so changed our flight to Saturday morning. This required changing reservations for rental car and hotel in CA but also gave us a little more time with Tim and Marilyn. They loved pickleball as we played Thursday and Friday mornings. Marilyn promised to come back again for a longer visit. They were quite impressed with The Villages.

Arne and I stayed near the airport in Orlando Friday night (26th) and left our car there. As we began our return home on Thursday, Sept. 1, Arne mentioned that he wasn't sure where he'd put the keys. Once we got to the airport, we found a table in a corner near Security so he could go through his suitcase. No key! I called the places we'd stayed in CA and no key! I actually made 13 calls that day and 11 calls on Friday. Such a mess! We couldn't decide whether to take a shuttle home, get our extra key, drive the Corvette back to pick up the Avalon OR to have the car towed to a Toyota dealer and have another key made. We stayed in Orlando Thursday night and the next morning the towing company sent a flatbed truck. This wouldn't work as there was not enough room for the truck. The next truck was smaller with front wheel lift but no way to get at the front of our car as another car was parked in that spot. After finding out that it was going to cost almost $500 to have a new FOB made, we decided getting our other key was the best thing to do. We were also hoping the lost key would be found. As we're standing in front of the hotel thirty minutes later, waiting for their shuttle to take us to the airport where we could get a van to take us home, Arne noticed our car was gone from its parking spot. We walked over there to find the towing company had come back! There were 4 guys with the two different trucks. They had put concrete under the front wheels and dragged the car out of its spot. We told them we didn't want it taken to Toyota. Since they couldn't put it back, they said they would store it overnight. So...this afternoon we'll drive back to Orlando to pick it up.

The good news is that Arne finally remembered that he had put the key in the nightstand drawer. Sure enough, after calling the hotel they were able to find the key. This morning, I'm lying in bed and remember I left a bathing suit, coverup and a tank top in a dresser drawer in that same hotel! I was blaming Arne's forgetfulness on his turning 70. Guess I'm already there. :-(

Visiting California Cousins

Our trip to California was to surprise cousin Eileen at her 70th birthday party and surprise her we did. The party was Mexican Fiesta and Eileen's daughter-in-law had done a superb job with the decorations. Along with the Mexican cuisine, there was a performance by a Mariachi band.

Eileen and son, Stephen

Stephen's vineyard behind Eileen's house

Marge, Sharon, Arne, Lynn
We stayed at John Muir Inn in Martinez, birthplace of the martini and Joe DiMaggio. This Inn was just two miles from Eileen's home. We spent Sunday with her and she drove us to the waterfront which is actually the east end of San Francisco Bay.

Monday, we went with Eileen, her son Eric and grandson Evan, to San Francisco. We rode BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to Powell Street and then took a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. We had lunch at Bodin's, home of delicious sourdough bread. Thanks to Evan's insistence on going into a gift shop, we discovered Hyde Street Pier which is a historical site under the National Park Service. I was able to use my Golden Eagle Passport to get us onto the ships for no charge. We spent over an hour walking through an old ferry which was used before the Golden Gate bridge was built and a ship used to haul cargo to and from San Francisco.

Tuesday, we checked out of the Inn and drove to cousin Marge's home where we spent the next two nights. We joined another cousin, Lynn and her family, for lunch at their country club
.

Lunch at Castlewood. Aunt Eleanor is center front.

Wednesday, Eileen came to Marge's so the cousins could do more reminiscing while looking at pictures from times past.

We had a delightful five days in northern California. The weather was perfect...comfortable during the day and cool in the evenings.