This, That and the Other

Yeah, so my friend Carolyn tells me I’m not blogging enough to suit her. happy I’ve written a lot of posts in my head. None have made it onto paper or the computer. It seems like there would be a lot to say, and yet there is so much of it for which there are few words. Be it the sudden and unexpected deaths of friends of friends, the few weeks that another family had to absorb the fact of an aggressive brain tumor in their wife and mother before she was gone, or the election and the implications of that, to just living with the consequences of a fallen world. 

There are bright spots too, a weekend of sharing with friends, a delightful weekend camping with my church family, the births of two beautiful babies to families in my church, a wiener roast around the fire with my family, the pleasant change of weather which is so different from the previous 6 months of summer, and I know I’m forgetting some things. 

So here are a few pictures for you to enjoy despite the very brief post. 

Sunrise on St. Simons Island

A dream vacation home, eh?

 

I was at the Shrimp and Grits Festival on Jekyll Island in September and came across a booth where they were selling orchids in old pots. “Beautiful”, I said, “but the shuttle makes it difficult to to take one back with me.” I also said, “I bought an orchid a few weeks ago and promptly killed it.” I heard a snort behind me. “Do you have any tips on taking care of orchids.” The proprietor said the most common problem was over-watering. The just don’t need much water. The instructions say to water when the moss feels dry. Well, goodness! The little pot is so small and moss DID feel dry!!!

Well, I bought another orchid from the same place. It was blooming beautifully and I thought I’d better take pictures while it was looking robust.

Yeah, and it’s a good thing I did, because within a few weeks the blooms all fell off.

But I think it will be okay, because the leaves still look fine. They did not turn yellow and fall off like the first one did.

They’re just super-sensitive to light changes and all that good stuff.

Oh, and while fall is the season for pumpkin and such like, we had corn in October. The 13th to be precise. Fresh. Local. Delicious. I’m so sorry you didn’t have some too.

 

The Air Up There

was clear one day and cloudy the next.

Some of my family was here over the weekend so we took the opportunity to climb the lighthouse on St. Simons. As often as we have been to the island, some of my family doesn’t remember having been there before. Shame, shame. I guess we have been so often we kind of assume our frequent guests/family have seen it. We certainly didn’t allow enough time to see much, Saturday being the first day of a long weekend and we were too busy relaxing to make plans very quickly.

The lighthouse is pretty much like any other you can climb. It has a spiral staircase that will leave you (some of us, anyway) feeling just a little funny by the time you get to the top. Then you step out into the sunshine and see life 100 feet behind you and you don’t feel any better for a few minutes. Interestingly enough, putting the camera to my eye and seeing only a small amount of the view brings things back in to focus (pun intended) and the swirling brain calms down.

The gentleman who came up a few minutes behind us had a harder time. He didn’t have a camera to block out the view and he had a death grip on the rails as he made his way around. He was a good sport and we got to chatting with him about it all. We offered to take his photo as proof that he made it. I told him about one of my friends who had fainted as we were about to descend on another excursion I had made to the lighthouse. He was sure his wife (who was waiting for him at the bottom) would have done so.

 

My mom who had been waving at us from below:

 

There are often weddings going on here and this day was not exception.

 

On Labor Day, my nephew who got his pilot’s license this past summer took us up for rides around the area. It’s been more than 20 years since I’ve been up over my home area. It is fun to see everything from this angle.

As you can tell, there was great delight and excitement at going up!

Goodness, we were just playing tag and kickball with all these kiddos not many years ago and here they are flying away into the sky!!

 

Finally it was my turn to go up, along with my mom. I love this next picture! Derrick was the only niece/nephew who grew up around here, and my mom would take him out on excursions when he was young. I believe she took him to Savannah so he could see the “hareplanes” as he called them, “yittle” ones and big ones. Of course, this was before 911 so they could go out to the concourses. I think they were able to board a plane so he could see what the inside looked like.

Now here he is a pilot.

 

Our house in hidden in the trees.

 

Getting out to the area where our church is.

For the locals, you can figure out the rest. happy

 

The lake where I often go to take pictures. It’s amazingly swampy at this end. The other end has a fair amount of boaters on it when the water is high enough.

 

The business where I work:

And back again all in one day. Or less.

 

As we were waiting for the last ride to come back in, a big bird came in.

 

And the family from out-of-town returned to their homes and we had a quiet evening, thinking we should catch up on some sleep! happy I love nice, long, holiday weekends, especially when family comes to visit!

Shrimping Georgia Style – Wednesday March 9, 2011

Last fall we took our parents out to the coast for an interesting excursion. There is a family there who built a commercial trawler to be able to handle passengers. You can either buy tickets on their scheduled days, or you can get a private charter for your group. Included is all-you-can-eat boiled shrimp and trust me, you aren’t getting any farm-raise shrimp. Nope, only the best – Wild Georgia Shrimp!

It’s interesting seeing the marsh from a different perspective.

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On one of the beaches on Jekyll there are signs to stay off a certain place because of oyster beds. You really do not want to walk there. The beds are razor-sharp. [see beds below]

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And then there’s the tall bridge that we drive over quite frequently. People llike to use this for running/walking. It’s the only place in southeast Georgia that’s not flat!  There used to be a draw-bridge there and if a boat or ship was coming through you had to wait close to 45 minutes for the whole process.

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On our way out they put the 15-foot net down for the first run.

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Some trawlers have nets up to 75 feet long. Others have 2 smaller nets.

Bringing it in:

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It’s good I got these pictures the first time through because the next time there were many heads crowded around the table!

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Hmmmm. I bet you just declared you’d never eat shrimp again!!!

First they take the more dangerous creatures out before they let you have free access to playing with what’s left. This young man did a great job of explaining what each creature was.

A snapping turtle:

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A hammerhead shark:

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There was also a small sand shark in there. We’ve caught those in seines [pronounced sanes] before on the beach. They are actually very good eating! And they are too small to do you any harm.

A group of boys was along for a birthday outing. I love this Norman Rockwell expression. He is not so sure about the blowfish!

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Meanwhile the boat is still moving through the marsh toward the area where the SSI lighthouse is.

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We passed another trawler who was moored for some reason.

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Looking back into the sun.

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The men below have a seine, they each have a pole and there is a net between them. They drag it along for a while and then onto the beach. It looks like they are on their way in here. You can use a seine up to 100 ft without needing a permit.

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Our church use to have a seine back in the early starting up years. We would go out for a day and then have a cookout with our catch.

More SSI scenes:

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There was a wedding going on here but the lighthouse museum. What a lovely evening and site except the no-see’ums [aka sand gnats] were bad. I usually am the first one to get bit! They are attracted to sweet people, so I’ve heard. Somewhere. Maybe in my imagination.

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Meanwhile back at the ranch boat, there was more shrimpin’ bein’ done.

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I felt so sorry for this little nearly translucent fish stuck in that net. They looked so …. pitiful.

Though the blowfish is shaped like a volleyball, it does not a good volleyball make.

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The kids got over their sqeamishness.

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And we all returned, safe and sound and full of steamed shrimp!!! I love being out on the water!! Except on days when it’s so rough you have to tie yourself down.

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Of Sand and Salt Water – Saturday August 16, 2008

Thank you so much for your response! So glad that you are seeing the lake site. The other one doesn’t really work. I also figured out the only time that I access that layout is when I follow the link to my site from my subscription emails. Any other time I get the new layout.

Last night Lois, Wendy (our new school teacher) and I went down to Jekyll Island for the express purpose of getting some full moon pictures. Unfortunately it was too cloudy on the horizon and we didn’t see the moon until it was well up into the sky.

We enjoyed a delicious BBQ supper from Sonnys, eating at a pavilion looking over the dunes toward the water. It was quite humid but breezy. Of course the breeze stayed until we started playing putt-putt and then it was just humid. Real humid. So when you see these pictures, try to think of them in that light.  Not all is paradise here.

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The sea oats are in their prime. The are beautiful as well as functional. The plants help keep the dunes from blowing away. It is illegal to pick them as well as walk on the dunes.

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Here is a place on the island that is not protected by rocks or dunes. The oak trees at the northern end of the island are dead, their root systems washed out by the water. This area is called Driftwood Beach.

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The lighthouse from St. Simons is in the center O of the picture below.

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There was a beautiful red sun but by the time we got to the other end of the island the sun was behind the clouds.

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Except for when it became vaguely visible before it dropped over the horizon.

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