Turkey Tracks:  June 3, 2012

Charleston Trip Highlights

I am posting this entry mostly for our far-flung greater family, who will enjoy the pictures.

However, I did not take as many pictures as I might have taken.  I get caught up in the moment and forget…   I did not, for instance, take a single shot of Bryan and Corinne’s Ailey.  I was too busy drinking her in.  At 18 months, she is in constant motion, smiles and laughs all the time (except when she gets tired or when someone tries to hold her still), and takes two good naps a day.  It’s probably just as well since Bryan is not at all sure he wants her picture on the internet.

But, in no particular order, here’s the best of the pictures I came home with.

First, you know I love trees.  Bryan took me to see this beauty over on Sullivan’s Island.  Sullivan is just south of Isle of Palms island, and both are just north of the entrance to Charleston’s harbor.  This tree is an old live oak, and the only thing it’s missing is festoons of grey moss.

Here’s a close-up view of the amazing trunks:

These trees are protected, and they should be.  There’s one over on, I think, St. John’s island, which is south of Charleston and much more really a part of the low-country land system than an actual barrier island.  It is called the Angel Oak.  Some have said it’s the oldest tree on the East Coast.  We always talk about seeing it.  One of these days we will…

On Sunday 20th, the whole family went to the Riverdogs–the local baseball farm team that feeds into the Yankees.  The stadium is beautiful.  The baseball was terrific.  And there were lots of events for the children as this Sunday was a “children’s day” at the field.  Both grandsons are learning baseball, and we went to see their last game on Saturday morning.  By the end of the game, both boys were getting a bigger sense of how the plays work and why they are being taught certain skills.  Both brought gloves, and we had seats just back of the Riverdogs’ dugout, so we dodged lots of fly balls.  Someone rolled Bo a baseball over the top of the dugout sometime during the game, which thrilled all of us.

Here’s a picture of John and Mina in the stands.  Mina is an Enright–and I constantly see Maryann, Jim, Kim, and Kerry in her face.

Here’s the view behind the stadium, which you see if you go up to the restrooms or for food.  The river is the Ashley, I think.  And this view is what the “low country” rivers look like–postcard pretty.

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After the game and after Miss Ailey, who had enjoyed the outing with all her relatives, had been taken home to her bed, the players lined up and autographed whatever the children brought.  Bo got his ball autographed.  The rest of the children got hands, arms, and shirts autographed.  Here they are in line:

Here they are reaching the first player:

And, here they are, now they are in the swing of the event:

John and Michael supervised:

And here’s a picture of the four kiddos on the way out of the now-nearly empty stadium–tired, but happy, as were we all!

Bill Murray, the actor, is a part-owner of the Riverdogs.  During the game, he caught a foul ball, and when people realized it was him, he turned and bowed to all.   He’s always been a favorite actor of mine.  He does comedy, yes, but he also does serious.  If you’ve never seen him in RAZOR’S EDGE, rent it and take a look.

We also went as a family to Bee City, which is near Summerville, SC.  It has bees and honey, but the real draw is the petting zoo, which is quite good.  I saw at least three animals I’ve never seen before.  There was an interesting building housing South Carolina flora and fauna–among which are TONS of poisonous snakes and the alligators that are everywhere in the low country.  (Maine has NO poisonous snakes YET and certainly NO alligators!)  Seeing the snakes brought back Georgia childhood memories of being taught to look for snakes constantly, especially when picking blackberries.  And, of once when fishing looking down to see a coiled cottonmouth moccasin about to strike me.  We learned that the state beverage of SC is MILK!

Anyway, Mike had his wits about him–unlike his mother who was, frankly, sightseeing– and took this picture of Miss Talula Bee Honey, produced by bees in a front yard on Isle of Palms :

We went to swim team practice–here’s Mina waiting on the steps for Talula to finish a lap.  Mina spends most of this waiting time on the bottom of the pool peering at you through goggles.  Talula can swim the lap, only she does not quite know it yet and grabs the side every few feet to rest.  She’ll learn in another few weeks, I feel sure.

Here’s Kelly, all done after an hour of swimming laps.  Pretty impressive, this hour of laps…  So healthy for all the children…

Here’s John, overseeing the action:

We went to Bo’s Poetry Cafe at his school–East Cooper Montessori.  Bo had memorized and recited a fairly long Shell Silverstein poem that his classmates really liked:

We went to the girls’ graduations from their little pre-kindergarten school at the fabulous Isle of Palms recreation center.  What a gift that place is to local residents.

I saw, also, Leighton and Tara Derr Webb’s new rented digs–lovely land with a classic low-country house on enough acreage for a small farm–all of which has waterfront on the intercoastal waterway north of Charleston.  They move back to Charleston mid-June.  And, Tami and I had breakfast with Lisa Hartley and her daughter Sophie at Hominey Grill–all of which is always a real treat!

We had many nurturing, fun, very tasty meals with Bryan, Corinne, and Ailey–and they took us to dinner at one of Charleston’s many good, exciting restaurants–The Grocery.  Bryan is a really good cook, and Corinne makes the best homemade ice cream ever!  Our time with them was low-key and very pleasant.

And, we all had some really good beach times–we rode lots of waves and came home with good tans.  I, in fact, came home with a new bathing suit since chlorine has eaten out the black fiber in the center back my old one, leaving only the see-through mesh.  When I showed it to Tami, she said “oh my gosh, you’ve been x-rated on the beach, Mom!”