I picked up SIL Maryann Enright, arriving on a flight from Boston, Monday morning. This trip was my first to the Charleston airport on my own, and with Waze it was all very easy. This airport is very new and modern and beautifully laid out in so many ways. Parking was so easy.
While waiting for Maryann to meet me in the main lobby, I admired the display of Mary Jackson’s stunning sweetgrass baskets.
I’ve long been an admirer of these woven baskets–we had northern versions in Maine. But the sweetgrass makers and their baskets have a REALLY a big presence in the Low Country. The makers have many display sheds lining roads in Charleston so people can stop and buy their baskets.
There were two display cases of Mary Jackson’s baskets, and I took pictures of everything so you could all see how special they are.
What makes the low country baskets different from any I’ve seen in Maine is the use of pine straw in places. The dark decoration on many of the baskets tops is pine straw.
Here’s the second case.
Many of the local baskets are much plainer than Mary Jackson’s work as she uses light and dark materials to create her patterns. Most sweetgrass creations here are much plainer and just use the lighter-colored sweetgrass. They are ALL so special, however.
Maryann arrived and also admired this gorgeous work.
And then we went home and after she settled in, we went for a long walk at the Palmetto Islands park I blogged about recently. Yes, we climbed to the top of the observation tower.
Shortly after moving into my new home, I learned that people here love to make outdoor rooms–on screened porches and, sometimes, literally outdoors on a patio or some other hard outdoor surface, like, maybe, the upper part of a driveway.
Here’s a picture of the screened porch on the back of the house just after I moved in.
I brought the wood Adirondack chairs and the round table from Maine when I knew I’d have a porch for them–and, also, the Sunbrella cushions I had for the chairs, which came many years ago from LL Bean. These chairs were made locally in Maine and are so sturdy.
The little dark brown pottery pitcher has been with me for decades and decades now. It last sat on my beloved Reynolds, Georgia, grandmother’s back steps. It was probably locally made way way way back in the day. Grandmother loved all the shades of brown, and so it reminds me of her. And, it reminds me that she loved her gardens and worked in them a lot. They were famous in her small Georgia town.
The big blue pot was the only one I brought from Maine. At one time I had so many container pots and planted them in early spring so that the Maine house was surrounded by flowers all summer.
“You might like an outdoor rug on that screened porch,” DIL Tami said. “You might like to make an outdoor room to enjoy most of the year.” And realtor/friend Lisa Hartley said “I found an outdoor rug at Target a few years back that is wearing outside beautifully. We just hosed it off this spring and it looks like new.”
Target ships right to your house for free, and prices are super reasonable. I spent many hours pouring over pictures of outdoor rugs. And when I identified three I liked, both Tami and granddaughter Talula picked the same rug from the three I showed them–separately, not together. So I ordered it.
The two new navy blue Adirondack cushions came from LLBean. And the throw pillows from Target. The pillows were cheaper than anything I could make. I do bring them inside if I know it is going to rain–as the rain can blow well into the porch.
Next I found a very reasonably priced wooden outdoor coffee table that Target shipped to me. I put it together myself–which was very satisfying. Fake flowers from Target went into my grandmother’s brown pitcher–they are meant to be feathery, like beach grass. Bryan trimmed the long metal stems for me with a wire cutter. I am not a fan of fake flowers, but these will stand up to the outdoor weather. The green plant in its white holder came from realtor-friend Lisa when I moved into the house. The white cyclamen came from builder D. R. Horton to welcome me to my new home. And shells I’ve found on the beach are filling up the straw basket on the coffee table.
I did borrow two small conch shells from the buckets of shells at Bryan and Corinne’s the other day–breaking my rule of only bringing home what I have found on the beach. They were just too cute to resist.
I ordered one more piece from Target–a round wooden outdoor table that will go under Lisa’s plant and will be somewhat like the table on the other side of the double seat that I brought from Maine. It came and I put it together too. These Target pieces of furniture will weather grey in time, but I do wipe them off when they get wet.
I planted the big blue pot with rosemary, which is really hardy here. I have already clipped some for a roasted butternut squash dish.
As shown in yesterday’s post, the blinds ordered from Best Buy Blinds, Inc, the folks who did the plantation shutters in the house, were delivered and installed Thursday, so my outdoor room is finished. I am so enjoying it, and I eat lunch while reading out there most days. Sometimes I sit out there and hand sew or knit. This outdoor room is just a lovely place to sit and spend some time outdoors.
The shades are perfect. They were installed yesterday, and you can see that they mask the outside and will prevent direct sun on the porch, but will allow light and vision. The porch can be made cooler and more private without losing the sweeping views I have.
This picture shows the density of the shades a bit better. There are three big shades–and they stop halfway down the porch screens so they can be attached via bungee cords if needed to the wooden strip in the middle of the porch. They are so light and easy to roll up, where they totally disappear beneath their holders, leaving only their little bungee cord holders and the steel chains that control them in view. The chains are at the corners, so they don’t dangle in full view across the screens.
The shade below and the door shade can come down at night to provide privacy in my big room in the house. But I would roll them up at night before I go to bed so if a storm comes in (as happened last night), they won’t flap in the wind.
Here’s the door shade going all the way down, and you can see to its left the adjacent shades little bungee cord holder and how neatly it lives in its holder box.
Note, also, how green the neighborhood grass is getting. It is still too early to fertilize it for spring growth, and we are actually heading into a cold spell with much colder night temperatures for about a week–happening, unfortunately, while SIL Maryann is here from Boston next week.
I am grateful for the solid rain that came last night and will last much of today. I watered a bit yesterday by hand as the shrubs were looking parched. And the grass sod was looking so dry.
My back porch neighbor is a home town woman, and she called upon an old friend of hers to mow for her and for whatever neighbors might be interested in lawn mowing. I signed up and will hold off on buying an electric mower for the moment.
Yesterday I finished the last block center for the “36-Ring Circus” English Paper Piecing ((EPP) wedding ring quilt I’ve worked on for YEARS now. And, that I’m now determined to finish.
I had these centers all prepped back in March 2022, but did not sew them together. Now, I realized I wanted to make sure that I understood how they would each fit into the last row of the quilt–taking into consideration the placement of the centers in the whole quilt.
I laid out the finished top three rows and lined up the finished bottom two rows. Hmmm. It is interesting and kind of funky with the Cotton+Steel fabric centers.
How these bottom blocks of the 6th row get placed depends on WHAT one is looking in one moment–which is always true of quilt block placement. I can already see blocks I might want to switch around, but then also see “but wait, it would be too close to `that block.'” I am going to switch out the far right two blocks though–even though the corner block will be close to the red mushroom block above it. The lighter aqua block is too pale to hold down the corner.
At some level, it just is what it is…
But, I’m seeing other issues that are not working for me while looking at this picture–which is why taking a picture is a really good idea. I need to split up the blocks with the strong blue in them.
I still have to make and sew the templates that will square off this quilt. They are larger and might go faster. I’ll use all dark solid fabrics. And I might need to add some additional borders–a narrow one and a wider one. Thank heavens as they would be done on a sewing machine.
I took a moment yesterday to finish off the edge of this cotton kitchen towel hand cloth used to dry wet hands–made from cotton balls I had on hand for grandchildren, but which didn’t get used to teach them to knit due to no visits to Maine during covid. These balls became my hand work at night while I packed up in Maine. And, later, while I was waiting to get into my new home.
I had fun playing with patterns along the way–and explored a moss stitch in one of these hand cloths. A plain old garter stitch is sturdy for this kind of use too.
The cloths sit in a dish given to me many years ago by another Enright “outlaw” wife during a visit to Maine: Judy O’Connor.
The outdoor room blinds are being installed as I write this morning.
The azaleas are blooming, as are the Red Bud trees and other white-flowered trees (ornamental pears?). And, the grass is greening up.
Unfortunately, I’m seeing all the azalea and other blooming colors from the inside of my moving car as in our new little neighborhood just has newly planted flowering shrubs.
Mine are white, which will be really pretty against my seafood green house with its white trim in a year or so.
I fertilized and have been watering these plants as azaleas are shallow rooted.
If you want to see some spectacular photos of blooming azaleas in South Carolina, here’s a nice link:
I have two new cooking adventures over the weekend.
Son Bryan has a Traeger wood-pellet smoker/grill, and Saturday night he grilled a marinated boneless leg of lamb on his smoker. His marinade included garlic, rosemary from his garden, olive oil, and salt. And while the meat rested, he grilled fresh asparagus. Corinne, meanwhile, made mashed potatoes.
Can I just say that this lamb was the best I have ever eaten. It was perfectly done inside and was tender and totally delicious. Sadly, I did NOT get a picture of this awesome family meal as I was too busy enjoying this family. But, the whole Traeger wood pellet smoker/grill was totally new to me. The pellet hopper automatically adds the pellets to keep the set temperature constant.
Saturday night at Mike and Tami’s, 14 people sat down for dinner: 4 adults (two grandmothers and 2 parents) and the rest ranged from 15 years to college freshmen. It was so fun to be amongst this energetic and happy crowd. M&T had BBQ with all the fixings, and Mike had also made extra side dishes, to include two platters of roasted veggies and a big salad.
I’ve never seen veggies done this way in big pieces. They were delicious! I came home with some of the leftovers. They are so pretty when cooked too.
There were many different BBQ sauces on the table as many of these folks had their own favorites. A new one to me was an Alabama white BBQ sauce made from a base of mayonnaise and horseradish, mixed with spices. It can be sweet or sour, or both, with varying degrees of hotness. There are many recipes online.
OK, that’s three new cooking adventures.
I’m stuck in the house today until my new grill arrives, with free shipping and already assembled included. Do I dare hope it actually will be assembled?
Bryan had an extra propane tank which he gave me. He told me to go to a local hardware store which will fill it FULLY, unlike, he says, getting a partially filled tank from the box stores.
It’s a big family weekend. Oldest grandchild, Bowen, came home Friday afternoon on spring break from Furman University. The two older granddaughters are playing in a tennis tournament in Pawley’s. DIL Tami’s mother (Mimi/Debbie) is here, and we had such a nice visit here at my home Friday morning. (She will be relocating to Charleston in the, hopefully, near future.) Bryan and Corinne invited me to dinner last night, and Mike and Tami will have “Sunday Night” dinner tonight.
So, I started the weekend Saturday morning with a trip to Kudzu’s Bakery to pick up TWO of their famous chocolate mousse cakes, one for the dinner at each house. Bryan’s girls were ecstatic when I came in with their cake last night. (So was Bryan, actually, who said he would definitely have a second piece some time before bed.) These cakes are flourless and basically mostly chocolate mousse and looked totally deliciously rich.
Bryan has a smoker/grill that is awesome, and he cooked a boned/rolled leg of lamb on it for dinner–and followed with roasted fresh asparagus on the grill while the meat rested. Corinne made mashed potatoes, and we ate outside on their back porch and had such a nice visit. I think Bryan’s leg of lamb, marinated with fresh rosemary from his garden, garlic, salt, and the olive oil I gave as a gift, was the best I’ve ever eaten.
Tonight Mike and Tami’s long table will be full. They are six in that family, and all will be at dinner. Bowen picked up his girl, Hannah, last night at the airport. (She has the same college break he does though she is in Maryland.) Bowen’s roommate and his girlfriend are visiting. Mimi and I will be there. And who knows who else will show up as the circle of friends for these four teenagers is large and some know good cooking when they eat it.
I have now been over the Ravenal Bridge, which links Mt. Pleasant to Charleston, twice now in the past week. Yeah! The bridge is 8 lanes, is very high, has a walkway along the coastal side, has an awesome view from its high point, is gorgeous, and ends in a tangle of highways coming into Charleston. Waze took me through safely to take my vacuum cleaner to Low Country Vacuum and Sew on Savannah Highway and to retrieve it Friday afternoon.
Patriot Point, on the Mt. Pleasant side of the bridge, lies to the coastal side of the bridge, and friend Gina Caceci sent me an article about all the places of interest at Patriot Point, which include the presence of water taxis that connect Mt. Pleasant to the downtown Charleston Harbor tourist/shopping areas. The taxis would be fun and would mean one would not have to find parking in downtown Charleston. Something about which to think as SIL Maryann Enright is coming for a visit March 13th and might enjoy that adventure.
To back up a bit–I had one question from blog readers about the EPP method post I did a few days back–specifically about folding part of the quilt to attach a new piece. I updated that post with this picture–so you can see that the left side center block is folded in half, templates and all, so I can grip it in my left hand in order to manage the sewing with the flat back stitch better in my right hand. Thus the piece can be picked up–as it is pretty much impossible to stitch with the piece flat on the table. You can fold a much larger piece of the mother quilt in this way as well.
Low tide is at noon today, but Isle of Palms had a festival of some sort yesterday, and the island was packed with visitors–made worse as it was a wam day, definitely warm enough for beach swimming for the hardy.
In addition, there was some sort of accident across from the connector to the mainland when I headed home early evening. It took me forever to get home as the main artery on IOP was backed up for more than a mile. I suspect a walk on the beach today might be a problem due to weekend visitors, so maybe I will walk around Mike and Tami’s neighborhood. I can take some hand-sewing over, sit on their back porch “outdoor room” and enjoy the coming and going of the family.
But first I have to go to the grocery store myself. And mop all the tracks I’ve made on the floor while reorganizing the garage yesterday (to get ready for the grill that will arrive fully assembled tomorrow…hopefully) and while giving “Girlie” car a good cleaning.
I treasure my beach walks with DIL Corinne. She is as curious as I am about all things in nature, and I never end a beach walk with her without having learned way more about all things we see on the beach. She is especially knowledgeable about all the shells.
Yesterday’s walk produced a shell I’ve never seen (a Stiff Pen clam shell) and the info that a beautiful shell we ran across, the Lettered Olive Shell, is the SC state shell.
First, we saw a jelly fish stranded in the tide, which was just starting to come in, so maybe it will survive. Corinne said it will sting if you encounter it in the water, but that this one’s sting isn’t too bad. Corinne said it is a Cannonball jellyfish and is very common in these waters.
We didn’t find any whole sand dollars–that requires deeper wading on to the sand bars at a falling tide most of the time. But we found lots of parts, and I picked up some until I can find whole ones. These will dry and bleach to white over time.
The four shells at the bottom were worth bringing home: on the left a Lettered Olive snail shell, which is the SC state shell. The shell’s markings make people think of written letters or hieroglyphics. At the top an intact beautiful clam shell from a clam that can grow quite big. To the right, a still-connected and smooth, shiny white clam shell. And at the bottom, a baby conch shell.
But, the shell I’ve never seen is this big one, which Corinne told me is a Stiff Pen clam shell. And there were a lot of them on the beach yesterday. She wouldn’t let me bring it home as she said it would stink to high heavens, even though the birds had already eaten whatever meat was left when it washed up.
It is called a “stiff pen” as the family of this kind of clam is pointed only on one end, which it sticks in the sand on the ocean bottom to bring itself upright to feed.
Here are some links to the Lettered Olive shell and the Stiff Pen shell if you are interested. There are better pictures, and I hope the links work as for some reason WordPress is not letting me copy and paste a link this morning. I have to research how to make that happen.
I sent it out to be refinished by a local business–Chehaw River Woodworks– that had/has wonderful online reviews.
This cherry table is many decades old and has held us around itself for so many, many meals. But its surface and legs showed lots of faded places, scars, and scratches.
It now looks brand new and is presently preening itself in its new spot in my new home. And I am giggling with delight.
John and I bought the cherry chairs over 50 years ago now. They were one of our first early marriage purchases, along with a dining room table that matched. We left that table behind when we moved to Maine as we didn’t need two tables, and this table sits two on each end if needed and is less “formal” in design.
Look at the beautiful finish.
Corinne and I will have a beach walk this morning. Will I find some sand dollars for my growing shell collection?
And sometime today I’ll pick up the local raw milk as today is the day it arrives. Will there also be raw cream today? I hope so.
Yes, I’m making progress on the quilt from hell. All the centers are made for row five, and I’ll attach block 5 now. That might take more than one day.
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