Headin' South!! Part I

Two weeks in the South in the middle of July...not the best time to go if you and summer heat don't get along!  Our first week was spent in Savannah, Georgia.  Our oldest daughter, SAW, was spending a week at SCAD, Savannah College of Art and Design, to take a couple of classes and get a glimpse of what to expect of college.  The rest of us spent time wandering around Savannah, getting to know the city.  Our budding artist had a wonderful time playing college and created some pretty cool artwork.  Here is a sampling: 

Her task was to draw a how-to.  This was in a Sequential Art class.  The other class SAW took was Animation:  Bringing Artwork to Life.  I am not able to show you that sample, but it is pretty cool!  She drew 62 pictures for about 4 seconds of animation.  At this point, she thinks she will major in Sequential Art and hopes to be a storyboard artist/cartoonist.  She is committing to attend SCAD next fall.  Pretty scary sending my first child off to college so far away!  At least it is Savannah, a beautiful, enchanting city.

While she got to know SCAD, my husband, younger daughter, JMW, and I found things to do.  We spent a lot of time walking around Savannah.  Even though we had a full 4 days, I'm sure we did not see even half of the city.  This was not our first trip to Savannah, so we skipped the museums and historical homes in favor of strolling around.  Savannah is not a city to rush through.  When you hurry through, you miss quite a lot.  Sitting on a bench in one of the many squares, watching the tour buses cruise by and the tourists and locals traversing the town on their way to wherever is recommended.  People watching in Savannah was more interesting to me than getting a canned tour in a home turned $20 museum.  Quite interesting. 

The most fun I had was visiting a couple of cemeteries.  The Colonial Park Cemetery in downtown has some unusual tombs.  The most curious thing about the cemetery was the playground just outside the main fence. 

We took a trip out to Savannah's most famous cemetery, the Bonaventure Cemetery.  The rich and famous are buried here.  We saw maybe 1/3 of the cemetery and spent a good hour, hour and a half there.  I took the most pictures here.  Talk about spooky-so many statues and mighty oaks draped in Spanish moss.



In addition to seeking out the dead amongst the living, we ate at some really good restaurants and took a trip out to the Atlantic to look for dolphins.  The food was great and the dolphins performed beautifully.  I'm excited SAW will be going to school in such a wonderful city.  It will make our time apart a little less painful.  And it doesn't hurt that we will have to spend more time there ourselves.  I'm thinking  maybe I'll just move down there with her......

Every Year at this Time

a harsh reality hits me....fall is really here and winter is on the way.  I hate winter.  I hate the cold, I hate the snow and ice, I hate winter clothes, I hate wearing shoes.  The only redeeming quality that winter has is being able to wrap myself up in my t-shirt quilt and lay in front of a roaring fire, dreaming of summer.  Since fall precedes that dastardly winter season, I have a strong dislike for it.  It is only a strong dislike for these reasons: 

How can I hate a season that gives us such scenery?

Colonial Williamsburg is my absolute

favorite place to visit!  We made it there twice already this year and hope to get a quick trip in this fall.  I have been following the saga of the Anderson Blacksmith Shop and Public Armoury for the last couple of years.  It is particularly of interest to me as my Dad was a hobby blacksmith.  It has been fun to watch the project progress from planning to archaeological digs and more planning to the actual reconstruction of the buildings.  I've been following via a blog with web-cam availability.  Check it out here:  Anderson's Public Armoury. 
The Armoury has a mascot named Eleanor.  She isn't the friendliest kitty; you have to get her in the right mood.  Here she is with Kenneth Schwarz, Master Blacksmith:

 The Armoury is going to be a huge complex with plans for multiple structures on the site.  It was a busy place during the Revolution and had many people working at the complex.  Another important element to the successful quest for liberty by our Founders.

As I wander around this blog,

I see that it has been a year, very nearly to the day, since I have published any musings.  I certainly have had quite a lot over the last year to muse about!  One thing I would like to share with you, my faithful readers, is a new blog I started in June of 2011:  A Girl and Her Grill.  I love grilled food and decided to share recipes, etc. with the world at large.  It turns out, I really am sharing with the world.  Browsing my stats, I have viewers from over 40 countries! 

I celebrated my 40th birthday in 2011.  Life begins at 40-who was the first person to say that?  I don't necessarily agree with that statement, but I will say life changes at 40!  The changes that have occurred in my life in the last year would have been inconceiveable to me just 2 or 3 years ago.  Some of the changes are very welcome, some have taken me by surprise and some I would rather forget about.  Here are a couple of pictures sampling one change:

1st day of school in 2003, 3rd grade and Kindergarten.

1st day of school 2012, Freshman and Senior.

I'm not sure where the time went, but I want it back!!!  Above is the very first 1st day of school picture of my daughters together and the very last 1st day of school picture of them.  I swear I turned my back for only a moment!  Next year, the photos will be dropping one off at college (14 hours away!) and a lone pose in front of the door of my high school sophomore.  Wow!

JANE AND THE CANTERBURY TALE

Being the 11th Jane Austen Mystery.  Stephanie Barron is truly gifted.  She adroitly weaves Jane Austen's letters and papers into a compelling account of "what if?" and "what might have happened?"  After 11 mysteries, I am still in awe of Ms. Barron's ability to keep me interested.   And I am one who never before finding the Jane Austen Mystery Series, would have ever picked up a Jane Austen novel!  I have become a neophyte of the Regency period.

Jane and the Canterbury Tale is number 11 in the series.  It is towards the end of October, 1813.  Jane is staying at Godersham, her brother Edward's home in Kent.  5 years have passed since he lost the love of his life, Elizabeth, to death in childbirth.  His eldest daughter, Fanny, has been the mistress of the house, trying to grow up herself as she attends to the needs of the household and her younger siblings. 

Nearby at Chilham Castle, home to the Wildman family, the Godersham entourage spend some time on social calls.  The marriage of Adelaide Thorn Fiske to Captain Andrew MacCallister is occasion for the families and others to come together for a grand ball.  Adelaide is cousin to the Wildman's.  Along with her brother Julian and their mother Augusta Thane, Adelaide has been staying at Chilham Castle for some time before the wedding.  It is the ball celebrating Adelaide's marriage to Captain MacCallister where events leading to murder begin to unfold.

The Pilgrim's Way, the road leading to Canterbury, is the dividing line between Godersham and Chilham.  Pilgrims on a journey to Canterbury to see the final resting place of Saint Sir Thomas a Becket, frequently travel this lane.  Typically, they may be travel weary and look the part.  In addition to this main path, there is a side path that joins the main.  This side path leads to a small family church (where Elizabeth is buried).  On this path is where the murder victim is discovered.  Initially, he is believed to be merely a tradesman, just another pilgrim cut down on his way.  As he is discovered by a shooting party, it is feared one of their shots may be the means of the man's death.  Very soon, however, he is identified as the assumed-to-be-dead husband of Adelaide MacCallister.  Thus begins the real untangling of the great web woven several years prior.  No fear, Jane is at the ready, prepared to assist her brother Edward, now acting in his duty as magistrate. 

With the reading of this novel, I am now caught up in the series.  Starting back in January of this year (2011) with the very first, Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor (I love the use of "unpleasantness" in that title-how very proper.  Of course murder would be most unpleasant for the victim!), I have observed the changes in Jane as she lived and learned life's tough lessons.  She has seen loved ones depart this world, her economic circumstances fluctuate, made new friends and acquaintances and developed her sleuthing skills (as well as writing a novel or two).  All of these experiences have profoundly effected her views and attitudes on life.  Those views and attitudes are reflected in her very real letters.  The questions about Jane's life arising from those letters are given answers by Stephanie Barron through this series.

I hope it is not a long wait for the next installment.

Another summer,

another Mission Trip. As in the past, it was hot, hot, hot!  And humid!  We had one day with the heat index around 115 degrees.  I cannot remember having ever experienced heat like that.  It really zaps your energy.  One group was working to replace a roof.  They had to stop working by 10:30 a.m.  I sure appreciated the air conditioning and cold water that day!

Our trip took us back down to coastal South Carolina, just south of Charleston on the Sea Islands.  This year our base was in Hollywood, S.C. at the Wesley Memorial Methodist Church.  Rural Missions, Inc. is the agency that organizes the mission groups that go to the area to serve.  What a blessing the people of Rural Missions are to those residing in the region.  Some families wait a long time for repairs to be made to their homes (or in some cases, a whole new home), but when it happens, they couldn't be happier. 

Our work assignments found groups painting indoors and out, prepping window frames for new windows and as mentioned above, replacing a roof.  The first work day had us all getting rained out (except the indoor paint job).  Unfortunately, the roofers already had a large portion of the roof exposed and ending up replacing drywall the next day!  We saw first hand how quickly a downpour will create a lake around a home.  The water table is so close to the surface, it doesn't take long for water to build up.  The home I was at quickly became an island itself!

We were successful completing most of the work this week.  The roofers went as far as they could-it was a large roofing job.  The homeowners praised God for our willingness to stick out the heat and humidity to help them.  I am just so glad that God continues to gives us the means and the strength to serve Him in this way. 

Priming

Scraping

Painting.  That's the final color.

Recycling salvaged hardwood flooring.

A little down time at the beach.  It's not ALL work.  We do get some play!

A bit of sanding before painting.  Messy job!

Maybe a little too much fun....?

Our group minus 2 (they had to leave us a day early).  What a great bunch of people!!  Glad to live with all of you for a whole week!

JANE AND THE MADNESS OF LORD BYRON

Being the 10th Jane Austen Mystery by Stephanie Barron. Jane meets up with another rogue, only this one is hardly a gentleman. Lord Byron and Jane cross paths and despite the initially disturbing circumstances, Jane finds him alluring. Byron is quite handsome and captivating. His way with words makes him all the more appealing and fascinating to Jane.

Jane and her dear brother Henry come across Lord Byron as they travel to Brighton (that place where Lydia Bennet escapes in Pride and Prejudice). The two are in search of some time away from responsibilities and mourning following the death of the beloved Eliza (after a painful illness-sounds like cancer). Brighton is not exactly a quiet, out-of-the-way place, but decidely an Eliza kind of town. It is along this road to Brighton that the infamous encounter with Byron occurs.

Byron, the scoundrel, has kidnapped a young girl from Brighton, binding her hands and gagging her mouth. This beautiful young maid later turns up dead at the inn Byron has recently vacated, in the very bed he slept in, no less. Her death is immediately blamed on Byron. Jane, however, believes the man to have been framed and sets out to find the truth.

Jane, not being one of the aristocratic class, relies on Henry's banking connections to gain access to those who will have the answers to her queries. With her admittance to the social events of Brighton, we learn that Byron is not the only rogue in town. Perhaps not even as much as a rogue as first impressions lead us to believe. Other men of the ton are vying for most roguish character alongside Byron.

In a previous post, I expressed my sadness that the series may be ending sooner than I would like. Jane's encounter with Lord Byron takes place in spring of 1813, just 4 years prior to Jane's death. The books have been a real treat. I pick up the next as soon as I complete one. At some point, Ms. Barron will reach the end of Jane's "journals". Having read her other works, I am sure she will find more inspiration to keep us reading.