What’s For (Thanksgiving) Dinner?

   We enjoyed the peak of the fall colors this week with a picnic lunch in the National Forest and then struck out on a trail with no idea where it led. This gorgeous lake was our reward.

 

  We didn’t see another soul all day … unless you count the Double-crested cormorant drying it’s wings, or the Great Blue heron fishing, or all the turtles on logs soaking up the sunshine. 

    It’s only a week now before a big holiday in the U.S. — Thanksgiving.  In the grocery store we have noticed the carts are carrying pretty much the same items: celery, onions, potatoes, glass jars of gravy, green beans, canned pumpkin, packaged bread crumbs, a couple bottles of wine, all tucked in around and piled on top of the centerpiece of the cart: 

The Turkey! 

 

 It’s probably the same scene in every store in every town in America this week. 

 From the Pilgrims to the Pandemic, Thanksgiving dinner: the one meal of the year that never seems to vary. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn or green bean casserole (or both), pumpkin and apple pie for dessert, it’s always the same.

I’ll be joining my mom in Florida for the day. She is still in the rehab center after her fall a month ago. Mom is not impressed with the food there so who knows what we will be served! 

I would like to know: 

    

       If you are American, is your Thanksgiving feast any different?

 Do you stick to the tried-and-true basics, or is there a quirky, must-have, special addition to tradition for your family?

  

Last Hike of Summer

(Warning: Creepy Crawlies Ahead!)

  We have one more week of temperatures in the 70s F ahead and then it will be on to some frosty, freezing temps at night. The trees are beginning to change color (as much as they do in coastal South Carolina), birds we haven’t seen all summer are appearing at our feeders, and camellias, the flowers of winter, are about to bloom.

  Take a wander with us on a summery November day, down a beautiful coastal forest trail. 

  Turkey tracks lead us down a sandy road, each footprint bigger than 

the palm of my hand.

Along the trail, Bog Goldenrod hosts lethargic monarchs, warming in the morning sun. Perhaps they are on their migratory journey to Mexico. 

Foamy Purple Mist still flourishes in sunny spots. 

  And hello, Eastern Lubber grasshopper!  the largest grasshopper I’ve seen. The ladies can reach 3 1/2 inches long and this one was close to that. Because of her large size, she can’t hop or fly like her smaller cousins, only walk and climb. We didn’t try to hurry her along or get too close because when alarmed, she is likely to hiss and secrete a very foul-smelling froth to scare off predators like us. 

  We skirted a busy Bearded Orb Weaver, a beauty and also very large. So was his web, at least 6 feet across across the trail. 

  Orb weavers build their intricate web in the early morning, then sit at its center waiting for prey to wander in. A stuck insect trying to wiggle free sends vibrations along the web, calling the spider:  “Dinner is served.” 

  Moving rapidly along the web, he locates his prey, bites it to stun it, and waits for it to die. He vomits a digestive liquid over it to soften it and slurps up the liquefying soup.

  One last surprise awaits us as we return to the car: a brightly-colored Rough Greensnake (also known as a grass snake) hurrying across a sidewalk. Pencil thin, he stretched over three feet across the concrete. It was early morning, so perhaps he was coming down from the tree where he had spent the night to search for insects for his breakfast. 

  (No, Bob does not accompany us on hikes, though she would love to). This is Halloween night and she was checking out costumes on the trick-or-treaters. Fortunately no one was dressed as a UPS man. Inexplicably Bob loves everybody in the world except UPS delivery men. Those, she would like to eat! 

Scarecrow Contest

   Our small town had a scarecrow decorating contest for Halloween this year. Here are a few of my favorites. 

“Miss October”

    A mermaid scarecrow? Of course! We live on the coast so why not a mermaid?

  Not sure what Terpsi Turvy means but I like her!

  And my favorite scarecrow — the Gray Man, ghost of Pawleys Island who has been frightening residents of the coast and warning them of impending hurricanes for two centuries.

   Here’s the spooky story, just in time for Halloween.

  In 1822 a young man traveled by ship from Charleston to Georgetown to see his fiancée on Pawleys Island. From Georgetown, he continued to the island on horseback. To his dismay (I’m sure ‘twas a dark and stormy night!)  he and his horse became stuck in the pluff mud and tragically died, leaving his bereft love waiting forever on the island. 

  Since that night a lean young man dressed all in gray and carrying a lantern has walked the beaches, swinging his dim light and moaning for the love he left behind. Gray Man appears to residents of the island before hurricanes, warning them to leave the island. If they take heed, they say their house is always the one left standing when all others are blown to bits.  

  Lots of people in town and on the island will tell you their stories of sighting the Gray Man walking the beach on stormy nights, especially just before each of our major hurricanes. 

  All these scarecrows must have been effective because we did not see one crow in the park! 

Happy Halloween! 🎃

  

Where Am I?

  October has been quite a month for us with medical issues (ours and extended families’) that have not been fun. I will spare you details except to say my 94 year old mom who lives in Florida fell while we happened to be there with her. She is still in the hospital after a week but after some time in rehab is expected to make a full recovery. 

  

  Some happy news is, after two whole years (thanks to Covid) we were finally able to see one of my daughters and her family from Minnesota! Unfortunately Mom fell the day they arrived but we still got to spend a few hours with them. It was so wonderful to be able to hug them and talk to them all in person, I still get teary just thinking about it! 

Last breakfast before they left for the Everglades, and back to Minnesota 

Mason and his mama looking for sharks 

and dolphins in the ocean

  I’ll be back to reading your blogs this week and catching up on all the news. 

Goodbye, September

 

  Goodbye, September … Hello, October

  The October beach begins to reveal its wilder side while the slightly cooler air still feels soft as summer. The children have gone off to get their education and the beach is left to the dog walkers, sand joggers, shell pickers, migrating birds. 

  

  Sand pails and bright beach umbrellas are gone but all the toys are not put away quite yet. 

  Sailboats await the weekenders returning from the cities, seeking to relax and squeeze a bit more beach time out of the waning year. 

  No red and golden leaf displays yet to wow us here, but still

Nature lavishes color upon us  …

 

  Splashes of royal purple, 

     beauty berry bushes 

         fairly glow 

         along the trail 

             to the beach.

Bright and sunny brown-eyed Susans and morning glories crouch among the dune grasses. 

  And perhaps the most shocking fall color of all … pink!  the color of Roseate spoonbills.  

  A group of this year’s young spoonbills feast on seafood on the tidal flats, then rest on one leg to digest their brunch. Egrets, both Great and Snowy, share their spot, all reflected in the blues of the clear October sky.

  My Northerner’s heart loves and craves the oranges and golds, the yellows and greens, of a cooler autumn while still enjoying a very different but beautiful one here in coastal South Carolina.

One in Five Hundred?

Headline yesterday:

One in Every 500 Americans Dead From Covid.  

  At first we thought …. that can’t be right! 

 

 

  Doing the math, we found it sadly but indisputably correct.  

  Population of the US: 330 million. Deaths from Covid: 670,000.

 

  Just days ago the country remembered the 3,000 deaths on 9/11, marked the loss of lives with all kinds of emotion, patriotism, press, national and local displays, political speeches, memorial services.  

Yet, 670,000 deaths by Covid, 

           preventable, still rising daily, 

                   don’t seem to evoke the same sense of a tragedy 

                            many times larger. 

  I just don’t get it. 

  In 2001, an event that killed 3000 brought out the best in people. In 2021, 670,000 are dead and a vaccine that will save lives, based on the best science, is turned into a shouting match. A 5-inch square of fabric turned into a reason to attack each other with weapons in the grocery store.  

                What’s happened to people? 

  (All original artwork from ArtFields 2021: Numbers Have No Emotion, Stefanie Neuner; Tag! You’re It!, Stacy Bloom Rexrude; Mr. Covid’s Neighborhood, Keith Kennedy; and One, Colleen Galeazzi. 

  

September Morning

  My morning walk by the bay. 

Do you see the recumbent camel?

  It’s my favorite month and I have a favorite September song. 

From the 1960s musical, The Fantasticks.

Enjoy!