On the Road

The small town we live nearest to, Ridgeland, just opened a town museum in an old gas station donated by a citizen. It's called the Morris Center and its first exhibit is about Highway 17, a historic road in South Carolina that put Ridgeland on the map and then took off again when Interstate 95 opened and bypassed it.

Highway 17 is an extension of the King's Highway commissioned by King Charles II as a postal route for the king's couriers built between 1673 and 1735.

The original King's Highway ran along the coast for 1300 miles from Boston, Massachusetts to Charles Town (Charleston), South Carolina.

 

 

 

(Photo from public domain)

 

But back to Ridgeland and the Morris Center.

Here it is today, looking a lot like it looked in its heyday.

 

It was built in 1937 at a cost of $5000 and served motorists traveling Highway 17, the Coastal Highway, through Georgia and as far south as Punta Gorda, Florida.

I found this old photo of it from the early 1950s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around the service station "motor courts" sprang up to provide automobile travelers places to sleep and restaurants to feed them.

The motels also still exist in Ridgeland, although now mostly as cheap rooms for the poor and transient to rent by the week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claude Dean worked in the station for his uncle and later bought it.

Here he remembers Ridgleland's heydays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's what was recommended for automobile travelers to carry with them in the early days of long distance travel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My family traveled a lot and I had seen most of the United States by the time I was a teenager. Every summer we would pack up the car with camping equipment and head out for a few weeks to explore the country.

My sister and I favored Sinclair gas stations because we like the dinosaur.

 

 

 

On the road, early 1950s

Is it any wonder I love to travel?

 

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The Winter Beach

The sun was shining and the temperature hit 65 this afternoon after a day of pouring rain yesterday.

The sea called; we had to go.

Folly Beach, Hilton Head Island

 

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This N That

Just to be clear, strawberries are available in the large grocery stores here pretty much all year,

but those have little flavor. They are picked too early and the variety is chosen for its firmness so it can travel thousands of miles from California to the Midwest and the East Coast.

The strawberries at the farmers market were grown in Beaufort County, a few miles from where I live. In January.

That's what made them so special.

 

Now that Christmas is over I thought I would show you some gifts I made this year. At the time I didn't have many of my belongings here so it was hard to think of something. I did have my sewing machine and this is what I came up with: potholders made from recycled fabric.

Some of the designs are my own and some are inspired by designs on the Internet.

The padding is from a cut up Polar Fleece jacket and the outer fabric is from soft recycled men's denim shirts.

There were more but I forgot to photograph them.

 

The cat one has a pocket to put your hand in to protect it from the heat of the oven.

 

 

Fun to make, handmade, and useful!

That's what my family likes.

 

(Since I updated my iPad, I can't flip photos anymore. Bummer!)

 

 

 

And speaking of Christmas ...

 

 

Here is Mason, age two, teaching my mom, age 89, how to use an iPhone.

Let's hope he isn't phoning Africa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I observed that adult coloring books were very popular in Christmas stockings this year. If you didn't receive one, here is a page for you. I don't think it will take you long to finish it.

And since cold season is upon us, here is a little advice.

I don't know if it works, but it sounds like it tastes good, unlike some of the other remedies I've read.

Stay warm, my friends!

 

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What? Really?

Could it be true?

I got an email yesterday saying there were local strawberries at the farmer's market. I was pretty sure it was an error, but what if it was true?

It's been the strangest winter here with record temps and things blooming that shouldn't be blooming,

so just maybe? We had to go see.

 

 

We found a parking place and entered with high hopes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of nice green things, all local and fresh.

Pretty exciting for a Minnesotan to see in the dead of winter.

 

Bread Man is here.

His loaves are amazing, baked in a wood-fired oven, so crusty and chewy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bags of beautiful buttery pecans.

And then, there they were!

Homegrown strawberries! The sweetest, strawberryest strawberries you ever tasted.

In January!

Once we found the strawberries we returned for a loaf of bread and some pretty red kale to make kale potato soup later in the week.

We rinsed the berries and ate a handful each. We had some more for breakfast with yogurt this morning.

Yup, all gone now

but the sweet memory

of fresh strawberries in January.

 

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And The Winner Is . . .

The sculpture chosen by the jury to remain was this one:

 

Sunset

Not the one we would have chosen but if you think of it as a palmetto frond instead of a sunset, it does fit into the landscape. Its permanent location hasn't been chosen yet.

Purchase price : $30,000.

 

 

 

 

People's choice, first place went to the sea turtle. My photo doesn't do it justice. It's a sea turtle, which this area is known for, swimming under water with the Carolina moon in the background.

It's gorgeous and I really wanted it to be the one to stay.

 

 

 

 

 

Second went to "Hanging". I think that is hanging as in "hanging out".

Notes from the artist say the purpose is to "provide the community with a place to meet, rest, play, or think."

I'm wondering if the artist has ever sat on a tractor seat. They are not very comfortable and conducive to hanging out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Third place went to "LoveArch". It would look nice in a courtyard with a door behind it, I think.

 

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2015 Sculpture Exhibition at Honey Horn

 

I love sculpture.

Just before Christmas we took in the 2015 Public Art Exhibition at Honey Horn on Hilton Head Island. The sculptures were all outdoors in a beautiful setting, placed along a mile-long trail that meanders along the salt marsh edge, past farm buildings and marsh tacky horses, through the butterfly house and gardens, past the stately old home and the huge camellia garden that was just beginning to bloom.

I'm going to show you a few of my favorite pieces. I'll tell you tomorrow which one was chosen to stay at Honey Horn and the three top choices for The People's Choice awards.

Setting Sun

 

 

 

LoveArch

by Andrew Denton

 

 

 

 

 

THEB (Transparent Hollow Empty Boxes): "TALLY"

by Jeff Boshart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunflower

by Patricia Vader

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brickhead Orisha

by James Tyler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chasing Infinity

by David Teng Olson

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nature's Journey by Robert Sadlemire

Means to an End by Nam Lee

 

 

 

 

 

Vita

by Michael Shewmaker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you see the photographer?

 

 

 

 

Wheel

by Claudia Jane Klein

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanging by Eileen Blyth and Mark Finley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which one would you have given top honors to?

Which one do you think was chosen to remain at Honey Horn?

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New Years Day on Edisto Island

We went from the snow, ice, and floods in the Midwest for Christmas to the beach for New Years Day. We visited a friend on Edisto Island, which would be a hop, skip, and a jump by boat but is an hour and a half of country roads by car. Edisto is a sea island off the coast of South Carolina, one of the least developed ones with many old modest beach homes, one grocery store, and a couple little cafes. A good chunk of it is state park lands.

 

We had a very long lunch at the Sea Cow Cafe, catching up with our friend and eating clam chowder, shrimp, and flounder.

It rained all morning and all the time we were in the cafe chatting.

 

Then it cleared up enough for a nice beach walk just when the chairs began to get too hard.

Most of the houses on the island are built up on stilts. Nowadays dunes are strictly protected but there were no laws when these were built right on the water many years ago. You can see how close the surf is to the homes and without the protection of the dunes, erosion will eventually carry them away.

The temperature was only 61 degrees F but that didn't stop these hardy children from a New Year's swim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unlike any of the other sea island beaches I've been on here, this beach had a lot of shells. The light area near the waves In the photo above is all shells waiting to be dug through for treasure.

I found a nice intact whelk and a pen shell and gave them to our friend.

I brought a few home for our deck collection. The iridescent one is part of a pen shell and others are whelks. The small dark one has a hole through it and the one at the top is an oyster shell polished smooth by the action of sand and water.

 

 

 

 

It's been such a warm winter, the Indian Blanket is still blooming on the dunes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the road to the island we noticed this sign:

Touch by Faith Hair Salon, Specializing in Healthness of the Hair and Its Beauty.

 

 

 

In the ditch you can see all the litter on the sides of the roads. In my new state there is much poverty and ignorance amidst the wealth and beauty.

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