South Carolina – The Future is Open

July 4, 2011

Happy Fourth

We are still enjoying the heat and near constant sun. It’s a nice change of pace from our home where we have long periods of overcast and cold in the winter. I’ve long enjoyed South Carolina dating to the late 1970’s when I first experienced their abundant warmth and hospitality. I had hoped to squeeze in a couple of side trips but family must come first. We’re all getting older and time together is more important. I’ll have to schedule another trip to get in my other sightseeing. It’s 95F here today and that heat can be oppressive if you don’t move slow I’ve always loved being near the water and spending the last few days lakeside have been a treat. I’d like to canoe or try a small sailer like the one crossing the cove just now. I’ve written often lately of being refreshed by still waters and Lake Murray is part of that journey.

Wednesday will see us heading home but I’ll carry these memories with me for a long time.

July 1, 2011

A July Morning

I am sitting on the porch and looking at Lake Murray. It’s very still and quiet. A restful time for all of us. My Mom is 84 and last night as we arrived and gathered sharing stories across generations. Mom stood up with tears in her eyes and said she was glad we could all be together. Mom’s brood are all in their 50’s. Our own children are mostly twenty something. We’re still cubs in Mom’s eyes. We’ll have some time together, a few days to enjoy each other and share.

August 9, 2009

Lake Murray

We’ve been spending the last few days in sunny South Carolina thanks to the hospitality of my brother and his family. It’s been thirteen years since our last visit to Lake Murray. It is a lovely lake and a wonderful experience heightened by the fact that it’s something we don’t get to do as much as we used to. Eleven us of sharing the same home, waterfront, dock and water-craft. We’ve spent an entire summer in Western New York where we’ve been hard pressed to have two consecutive days of sunshine. Here the sun is present everyday and the air temperatures hover in the mid-ninety’s and water temperatures in the high eighties. Mom is with us too. We’re all getting older but Mom is the oldest at eighty-two. She’s been a little sick and she’s getting frail. We spent many summers at the ocean as youngsters and Mom was there swimming and watching us to make sure we didn’t wander too far into the Atlantic surf. Now we her children watch her to make sure that her needs are met. It’s great to have her along. It’s great too to be with our immediate family. It’s been a half-dozen years since we were on a family vacation. Our family, my brother’s family and my sister and her husband too. This is a special time and one that I’ll remember for a long time.

April 17, 2009

Spring Break

I’ve been on the road this week. I work in public education and one of the frills is these nice breaks we get every spring. I’ve spent mine traveling all over hell’s half acre. I left home early Monday morning headed for Clemson, SC. I got there in fourteen hours, spent the night at a Sleep Inn there. I drove eight-hundred miles only to awake to rain and gray skies. There’s a bit of humor in that for a guy who lives in one of the grayer spots on earth. I did make lemonade with the lemons that day and spent part of the morning and early afternoon trying to visit the campus of Clemson University and the South Carolina Botanical Gardens. They are beautiful and though I had to dodge quite a bit of rain I did get to see some of them.

I left Clemson Tuesday afternoon and drove toward Charleston and the South Carolina low country. Among other things I wanted to visit Mepkin Abbey at Moncks Corner, SC. I spent the overnight in Summerville, SC at another Sleep Inn and had lunch with some old friends who live in Summerville. It was a treat to meet our friend Michelle and her husband Mac. After lunch at Panera Bread in North Charleston, I made the trip to Mepkin. Having never been to the Abbey I didn’t exactly know what to expect, but I was left without words to describe the beauty and the peace of the surroundings there. I left Mepkin after spending most of the afternoon there and headed north toward Virginia but exactly where I wasn’t sure. A call to my wife convinced me that I should stop along the way in North Carolina and so I spent the night at a Microtel Inn at Wilson, NC. Yesterday morning I rose early had breakfast and headed north on Interstate 95. I hadn’t driven but ten miles when I saw a sign for Cape Hatteras National Seashore. I had heard of Hatteras, Nags Head and Kitty Hawk but never been there. I’m glad I made the trip. It’s beautiful there, but yesterday it was extremely windy. Maybe it alway is. I visited Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers Memorial and took the tour and then headed north on US 158 and later NC 168 toward the Virginia border. I connected with Interstate 64 and drove to Williamsburg, VA where I am now. Williamsburg is one of the constants in my life. I started coming here in 1961 with my parents and though I’m here alone this time it is a family favorite yet. My wife couldn’t make the trip and I miss her and the children. Coming here at 56 years young and alone is different, but I still love the flowers and the smells that make Williamsburg a special place in my heart.

I got up early this morning and attended a prayer and meditation meeting at the Parish House of Bruton Parish. I walked from the hotel where I am staying the nearly mile and a half to Bruton. It was a lovely morning for a walk as the sun rose and the birds were flying and singing. It was great to be alive this morning in the quiet peace of early morning in Williamsburg, VA.