Meandering Mostollers: Family and Lowcountry..

Wait a minute.... that doesn't sound right. Visiting family is a high for us....but we were in the Lowcountry of South Carolina too. Maybe I better start at the beginning. We left Sycamore Lodge just before Halloween and traveled southeast to Wilmington NC to see John's daughter Corinne. We stayed at Camp Walmart for 2 nights and had a lovely visit. See looks good, as usual.... see...

We went out for pizza... and it wasn't Friday.

Next stop was Charleston SC to visit with John's brother, Jim, and his wife Terri. We get sooooo spoiled rotten there. I feel like I gained 15 pounds from Terri's good cooking. Here we are posing on their couch so John can learn to do a delayed shot with his camera. It took several tries. Can you tell John is out of breath from running to the couch before the picture snapped?

We went for a ride to Foley Beach at high tide. There were only a few surfers as the waves weren't very high that day.

On the way back from the beach we stopped at the "Graffiti Boat". This is an old boat that was washed up on shore during hurricane Hugo many years ago and was never removed. It sits alongside of Foley Road. Locals started painting messages, wedding proposals and ads on the boat.... and so goes the tradition. I'm told it gets repainted frequently, some times within hours. So if you paint a message, you take a picture of it. Jim's daughter Amy painted it pink when she came to visit for Jim's retirement party and within hours someone had redone it. There must be thousands of coats of paint on this thing. Jim says he thinks someone maintains a web site with all the messages but he's not sure. I'll have to look and see.

PS.... Here is an address to a website with pics of the boat's various paintings. http://www.pbase.com/laplageauxfolles/graffiti_boat&page=all

Another stop was the market. I was there many years ago when I went to Charleston for a conference while working at Williamsport Hospital. They have since done some renovations, and what an improvement. They modernized the conveniences while retaining the charm and history of the place. Terri and I stopped and talked with one of the sweetgrass vendors, Elouise Frazier. What an interesting and beautiful person. She told us the history of the basket making and stories of her grandmother. I could of stayed there all day talking with her. If you ever get to the market look for Elouise and buy one of her baskets.... they are magnificent and she is one remarkable "lady"

As we left the market Terri found me some delicious she-crap soup. A trip to Charleston is not complete without some she-crab soup.

John and I both love the "Live Oak" trees here in South Carolina, so Jim and Terri took us to see the Angel Tree. It is the largest Live Oak east of the Mississippi standing 65 feet tall. It is believed to be between 300 and 400 years old. The trunk is 25.5 feet in circumference and has an area of shade of 17,000 square feet. It's longest branch is 83 feet long. The branches are so long and large that they touch the ground and have to be supported. It is amazing. Here are some pics.