Heaven is a beautiful place...

Hey y'all,

    So it's been a week or so since my last post, due to the fact that I have been picking, shelling, freezing, canning, and pickling my butt off!! Hubby and I have a pretty big garden, and  it all starting getting ready at one time! But I am caught up for now, so I thought I would blog while I can.

   I think I mentioned in my first blog post, that I have really deep coastal and low country roots. And a big chunk of those roots is in Murrells Inlet, SC. I don't know if any of you have ever heard of Genevieve Chandler Peterkin " Sister Peterkin" as they called her in Murrells Inlet, but her mama , also named Genevieve, was my great aunt, on my grandmothers side. I  had planned a trip to Murrells Inlet, to meet her, but I never got my chance. She passed away last September, and I was heartbroken that I would never get to meet her. But, I do have her book " Heaven is a beautiful place". She didn't write it, William Baldwin was the author, but the book is Genevieve's memoir. And it is like reading my own family history! I got it from the library a few months ago, but I wanted my own personal copy, so I purchased one from amazon, and I read it all over again. If you love the low country, Murrells Inlet, Myrtle Beach,  or just SC in general, you will love this book! It is dripping with southern, low country charm, I totally recommend it!

The Rutledge Victorian

Hey y'all,

     Hubby and I have our 4th wedding anniversary on Thursday, and I was reminiscing on our honeymoon to Charleston. The first 3 days of our honeymoon, we stayed at a bed and breakfast called the Rutledge Victorian. I am sad to say that is closed a few months after we stayed there, the owner moved and I have no idea what became our favorite B&B. Do you any of you local Charlestonians know what became of it?

   I fell head over heels in love with it! The owners were so sweet, and I felt right at home. It was kinda funny, hubby and I are night owls, so we stayed out kinda late, and when we went back to the B&B the first night, we had a key to use in the front door. And boy did I love that door! Anyway, when we opened the door, it squeaked, and my husband said it felt like we were sneaking in past our curfew.

  I didn't tell my husband at the time, but that B&B was said to have been one of the most haunted homes in Charleston. If I had told him before hand, he would not have stayed there, he hates anything haunted, but I love it, as long it's nice haunted and not horror movie haunted! The story I heard was, that was a fire one night that started in the top of the house, which at the time had 5 floors. One of the children of the family living there, died in the fire. They rebuilt the house, so it appears to only have 4 floors. They say Sara turns lights on and off, sits on the beds, and sometimes people see her looking through the window in the top floor, and you can occasionally smell smoke real strong. I did  not encounter any of that, but I wish I had! I don't know whole story of the home, but I am sure you could find it online. I wish the B&B was still open, I would love to stay there for our anniversary!! And if any of you know it's current status I would love to find out about it! Below are the pictures we took while staying there.

The former owner had a bunch of rescued dogs, and at night she would let them run around the porch with the guests.

My heart is longing....

Hey y'all,

          I woke up this morning with my heart aching to be in Charleston. I miss it so bad sometimes! I miss the smells of food, marsh mud, salty air, old houses, horses (not the horse pee pee), all mixed together, I miss the sounds of people walking, horses hoofs on the cobblestone, shop doors opening and closing, the sounds of the busy people in the market, and even the crazy girl in the chocolate shop by the market yelling ICE CREAM to all the tourists walking by.
              I love to sit and watch people walk by, I like to see what the locals are wearing, you can always pick a local out of all the tourists by what they wear and how they act. And I love to watch the women braiding their sweet grass baskets and fanning their selves from the summer heat. And the tourists making new discoveries, and standing on the street corners with heads together and a map in front of them, which includes my husband and I, we have learned a lot of the streets, but we still don't know all of them and probably never will! I laugh at people walking out of restaurants holding their  bellies and saying oh I ate to much, but it was sooo good! And one of our favorite things to do, is walk through the historic districts, and down Legare and Tradd and all the quiet side streets where the old houses are being remodeled and made new again. It's quite, and relaxing, and walking around admiring the houses I would love to live in, I get a feeling of peace tranquility. I know it sounds weird, but I love architecture, and old houses, the hidden gardens.  And for some reason, no tourists take the time to do that, they stay close to the stores and the restaurants. We like to go where no else does, and make new discoveries of our own. I would love to take a book and a cup of coffee and find a spot on the side walk on a street like south Legare and just sit and read and soak up the history, and the quite. I wish I could go right now!

Low country supper

Hey y'all!

    Boy am I hungry! I like to try to fix at least one authentic low country supper a month, sometimes more if I have the time. Tonight we were craving my grandma Betty's stewed tomatoes and grits, so we fixed grits, stewed tomatoes we had canned from our garden last summer, biscuits, and I had so many cucumbers coming in from our garden, I decided to fix cucumber salad, and I am soooo ready to eat!!

Now, I know a lot of you are probably saying, but wait, stewed tomatoes have been around forever, your grandma didn't come up with that! But in my book she did! Ever since I can remember, my mama has fixed stewed tomatoes, and usually rice, but tonight we wanted grits, and talked about how grandma used to always make it, and it was so good, and so comforting, it was like a great big hug at the end of a hard day!
It's kind of a poor mans supper I guess. Most of the time we either have crab cakes or salmon patties with it, which is what my grandma fixed.
  Let me tell ya a little about my grandma. Her name was Betty , and she was one of 11 other children. They were all born and raised in Savannah, GA. Their daddy was a shrimper and had his own shrimp boat ( which he also made moonshine on, shhh). The Jackson women ( my grandma and her sisters) are a dying breed, as my uncle was said. And my grandma was force of nature! When she threw a fit, they called a B.C. short for  a Betty Catherine. She once pushed a refrigerator,  food and all across the kitchen and out the back door, because my grandpa told her she couldn't have a new one! And my mama always talks about what a great cook she was, and stewed tomatoes was one her specialties.
   So, I thought of an idea today while we were cooking. I am going to fix one low country meal a month, I mean  a real, authentic low country meal, and I will share it on my blog. I am still learning from my mama, and we come from a long line of southern, low country cooks. Every person in my family on both sides, settled in either, GA, or SC, in the 16 and 1700's and raised their families. So we have very deep roots there. Oh, and I am gonna try to make some Benne waffers, so if they turn out, I will share which recipe I used, because there are so many! The one I am gonna try is from a cook book my mama has, it's called Charleston Receipts, so we shall see! I hope they turn out, because I LOVE some benne waffers!

   I don't really have a real recipe, since my mama learned from her mama, and we just kinda eye ball everything. To fix stewed tomatoes, you chop half an onion, a green pepper if you want one, a clove of garlic and some bacon, and let them saute in a skillet. You don't have to use bacon, ham would be fine. When that gets brown, you add a can of crushed tomatoes, juice and all and cook it on medium heat, and add salt, pepper, any kind of seasoning you want, and after that you just cook it until it thickens. And you could fix rice, mashed potatoes, or grits to go with it.
 And for the cucumber salad, slice a couple of cucumbers, add 1/2 cup of mayo, 1/4 cup of sour cream, or butter milk, 1 teaspoon of  vinegar, and how ever much salt and pepper you prefer, like I said we kind of eye balled it, sorry!

  So if you make it, I hope you enjoy it, it's really good on a rainy day!! God Bless!

 Most people lick cake batter off of spoons, I lick the grits!!

Roseate Spoonbills

Hey y'all,
 

         I want to see one of these amazing birds so bad I can't stand myself! They have just starting coming back to the lowcountry, the last few summers. They were hunted almost to extinction in the late 1800's because women wanted their feathers for their hats. How could you look at that sweet face and still want a pretty hat? They get most of their vibrant pink color from the shell fish they eat like shrimp, and mollusks.
  If you want to see one, they hang out in the marsh and swamps, and I saw where they have been seen at Huntington Beach state park, in Georgetown, SC. I think they are absolutely gorgeous and well worth a trip to SC!

* I got the picture from www.wild-facts.com

Is it weird?

Hey y'all!

    Ok, so is it weird that I love to go in old grown up cemeteries? Because I do! I adore it! I have always liked to go in them, but I never really truly  loved it like I do now, until one day on our honeymoon 4 yrs ago, when hubby and  I were walking  the sidewalks of Charleston. We were walking past the Unitarian church and saw a couple walking out of this old ally with a brick walkway, and  to anyone walking by, it just looked like a walkway to someones house, or a forbidden garden. When I asked the woman walking out what was back there and could anyone go in, she  said it's the coolest, most peaceful cemetery I have ever seen, you have to go  in there! And of course that peaked my interest and before hubby could say anything we were  walking down the brick walkway that leads to it.
     I was already happy with just the walkway, it was so peaceful, and a cool escape from the heat. There were a few gates leading to gardens, with lots of plants and lizards, which I loved! And a bench under a tree against a very old brick wall as you can see in the picture below, I could have sat right there all day and been perfectly content. I love old trees and old brick, and put them together, pure heaven!

                                               Here are some pictures of the brick walkways throughout the cemetery

               

                                    This is part of the main walkway

The cemetery is fenced in and locked at night, which is good I think because of vandalism, I would hate to see anything happen to these graves that have withstood time, earthquakes, and hurricanes. The Unitarian church was built in 1772 at the start of the revolutionary war. For more info and history of the church itself here is their website http://www.charlestonuu.org/ , you should check it out, there is some really cool facts about the church during the war and the fire that almost destroyed it but the cemetery was untouched!
   At first glance the cemetery looks neglected, but I learned that it is kept natural on purpose, which I absolutely love! There are beautiful plants and flowers growing up over the old head stones, very tropical and if you love lizards and nature, then you will love this place!

One of the most beautiful head stones I saw throughout the whole cemetery was the one in the picture below, it just amazed me how the tree grew up over the head stone and has become part of it, I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

I would love to come in here at night, because they say  it is haunted, and I don't know if everyone out there believes in spirits and ghosts, but I do, and I have been to this cemetery 3 times, but on our last trip, last month, we were walking around taking pictures and relaxing,  and I got chills from my head to my toes, the hairs on my body stood up, and I got the feeling that we were not alone. It wasn't a bad or threatening feeling, but a calm, peaceful feeling. And let me add that it was 80 degrees outside. The feeling did not leave me until I stepped out of the cemetery and onto the sidewalk, and I have to say, I loved it!
  Going in this cemetery  is like a treasure hunt, it makes you feel like you are in a forbidden, forgotten garden. When you go, take the time to look at each and every head stone, pull bushes and limbs back, don't miss anything! Walk to each and every corner and soak it up! Oh, and interesting little tid bit I learned last time,  for you Edgar Allen Poe fans out there. Supposedly, Annabel Lee is buried here, and someone told me she was a love interest of Edgar's. For more info there is cool website you should check out, here is the link http://www.graveaddiction.com
     So I will leave you with the rest of the pictures I have taken over the years, you should make this a stop on your next trip to Charleston, if you like old cemeteries that is! God Bless!

   

Save the Angel Oak

Hey y'all,

   I have been following this website http://www.savetheangeloak.org/ for the past 2 months. I adore the Angel oak tree, it has a special place in my heart. And to think that someone wants to build around it, and destroy it's 1500 yr old root system just breaks my heart. Why would you do that? This beautiful, majestic tree has survived for over 1500 yrs, hurricanes, people, disease, earth quakes,wars,  and who knows what else! It makes me cry to hear someone say, it's just a tree. No, the angel oak is more than just some tree, it's a living, and sometimes I think maybe even breathing icon. And maybe I sound silly, but until you have been to see it in person, you won't understand how I feel, and how the locals feel. We have to save this tree! It could out live all of us, it could be there for 1500 more years, if we let it!! Save the Angel Oak, spread the word!!!!