ISLAND SCENES

I hope everyone had as nice a Thanksgiving Day as we did. Tourists were out in force because the day was gorgeous. Not too hot, not too cold. We met several interesting people. One couple had traveled from Colorado to spend the holiday on their sailboat. Once in Charleston SC  where it was docked, they sailed down to our little island and were having turkey and dressing next to us at Barbara Jean's. After overeating, we waddled--er, walked around the island.

A few interesting sights:

This is the highest point on the island. The airport was built on the highest place, but this mountain of ground-up debris from the hurricane aftermath must be a height record. You can tell it's almost as tall as the airplane hangar beside it.

Mounds of the ground-up tree branches, trunks, roots, and other leftover debris are constantly being piled up and moved around by the tiny scraper you see at the bottom right. I'm not sure what the white thing next to it is. It may have something to do with the loading. But even though truckloads of the stuff are constantly being taken away, the pile doesn't seem to get any smaller. And we still have debris to be picked up. The worst part is that the lack of rain dries it up and the winds send the dust swirling through the air. Some people are finding it hard to breathe.

Further on our walk, we came across a tree blown down in the storm and recycled by the imaginative homeowner. For Halloween, a ghost hung from the top branch. This week, it's decorated for Christmas. See the Santa cap on the top ball?

Someone must be an artist to see such potential in felled timber!

And finally, here is our own lovely lemon tree. The lemons look like Christmas ornaments, don't they?

Now if I had an artistic streak in me, I could make this into an outside Christmas tree! Except that we're probably going to pick the lemons and have a pie before Christmas! Yum!

MEMORIAL DAY PREPARATIONS

The island is preparing for its Memorial Day weekend. We always have a nice ceremony to honor the memory of those who lost their lives serving our country. Here are a few shots:

This is right after they fixed the flag. I'm not sure what was wrong with it, whether it was hung up on its lines or what, but they worked an hour or so to get it right.

This is the trolley that takes tourists over the island, snapped before its departure scheduled at eleven o'clock. It left a few minutes early today, so it must have filled up fast. The people have already started pouring in.

This is a view of the pier. You can't see her, but an artist is set up behind the two people going onto the pier, with all her paintings laid out for view and purchase.

These are a couple of other people on the pier. The man is playing his harmonica and serenading the lady who's watching her crab baskets.

And we ourselves had guests this week that we really enjoyed. This little girl was one of them!

Hope everyone has a lovely Memorial Day as we remember all those who died for our country!

AUTUMN

It appears autumn has finally come to the island! Guess this last cold wave made the trees decide it was time to change.

This tree met us on the way out of our subdivision yesterday. Doesn't it look fine in all its glory? Makes me kind of hanker for the mountains.

But that's during leaf season. Not this time of year. Definitely not! I know some of you love the snow but I've had enough of it in my lifetime, thank you very much!

So I'll admire the little tree and enjoy the sunny weather!

AROUND THE ISLAND

It's been kind of damp so we've had mushrooms popping up everywhere. These are part of a bunch we passed on our walk last week, begging for little girls to make a fairy village out of them.

And here are a couple of pix of our historic inn. It looks very cozy and quaint though I've never stayed there so I can't attest to its comfort.

And here is one of the last pics of our tiny airport terminal before the bulldozer got it. A new terminal is going up, one that will be connected to a new hotel. Visitors can get out of the plane and walk into the hotel, register, get a rental car, and see the island. It'll also be handy for pilots and plane crews, I'm sure.

WALK

Finally resting up after our travels to the wedding last week, we've begun taking walks again. Here are a few pix from them.

This one is down in the village, looking out on a surly sea. You can see a couple of small boats if you look carefully.

This one was outside the airport. You can see some of the hangars beyond the fence. What I wanted to get was the wildflowers blooming between the road and fence. Scads of little purple and yellow with a few white ones. They don't show up very well here, but they were very pretty.

And these cute little fellows were nestled alongside the road, just sitting there when we walked by from the Village. Their pond was at a condo complex behind us so don't know why they came out to the road.

We have some pretty scenery and cute wildlife around us.

FLY-IN ON THE ISLAND

Two or three months ago, I blogged about a fly-in event on the mainland. Today I'm blogging about a fly-in we had here on the island sponsored by AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association). There were scads of planes but the most interesting to me was a B-17 bomber.

It gave some veterans (who had been inside one during WWII) a ride when it first arrived Friday which I thought was very nice. Yesterday, people could tour it for a small fee, and even ride in it for like, four hundred dollars. It carries about ten at a time so shared, that doesn't seem too bad.

Here it is in the air during one of its flights:

A closeup:

And these are just a couple of the others attending. There were planes lined up on both sides of one our island airport's runways!

ISLAND TO BE INUNDATED

Big headline on yesterday's local paper -- "Study says Ga. coast vulnerable to flooding" -- scared me to death. Yes, I know a hurricane will one day hit and cover the island, but I feel we should have plenty of time to get us and the cats out. However, the article was about global warming.

It seems that with the seas rising (I guess from the arctic and antarctic ice melting), we are in extreme danger of being flooded. By 2100, the model predicts the oceans will rise 3.1 feet. The article gives lots of percentages for different scenarios (hurricanes among them) but the main thing I get is that, by the end of the century, we may be in trouble. I am horrified.

Down at the pier this morning, we sat in rocking chairs at the Casino and looked out at the rain on the ocean. And I'm thinking, could this be the one? Could this be the storm? How much water will it take?

I'm quite upset. Now, besides killer bees and alligators and the sun fading, I have to worry about rising waters. My nerves won't take much more.

My one consolation is that not that many years ago, everyone was predicting another ice age and warning temperatures were going down, down, down. Maybe in another couple of decades, scientists will come up with something else I can worry about.

COMPANY

If any of you have been wondering where I've been the last few weeks, I've been crazy!

Yep. We've had three different sets of company from the beginning of July. The last ones left this week and the house is so quiet, I can hear all its creaks and groans.

It may have been a little hectic at times, but it's always so nice to see people we love that it doesn't matter. And once they're gone, we really miss them.

Anyway, that's where I've been.

Some pix from our walks around the island with our visitors. Here are a couple of ducks who wandered away from their pond and out to the sidewalk:

And here is the new playground at Mallery Park just before it opened. They also cleaned up the older playground beside it and left it so kids can enjoy both. Our county does such good work on things like this!

COMPANY NAMES

We have a lot of landscaping companies here on the island. Most flaunt names like "Island Landscaping" or "Coastal Landscapes" or "Island Designs" or something similar. Some try to add a little flair: "Island Scapes" or "Almighty Tree Service" or "Coastal Greenery." Some go a little further: "Grounds Keeper" or "Pine Straw Man" or "The Lawn Ranger."

But this morning I ran across a new one. "Guess Who?" Yep. That was the name.

I said, "I can see this dude doing our lawn and coming to get paid, saying something like: 'Guess Who's finished with your yard,' and me guessing, 'Island Design? Coastal Landscaping?"

I laughed pretty hard at my own joke.

My guy said, deadpan, "I'd say: 'Guess who's going to pay you.'"

Guess his scenario's a little funnier than mine.

WEATHER

Doesn't seem like Christmas here on the island. We had a couple of cold snaps, but currently it's 73 degrees and a beautiful sunny day. That's supposed to change tomorrow. Rain and cooling off. Christmas Eve low will be  (shudder) 38 while Christmas Day will be 50 for the high!

But it seems I have some bright spots in the yard. Thank you, former owner! Below is the Christmas cactus, blooming despite my attempts to kill it this summer.

And in a secluded corner is a poinsettia. Flowered all by itself without my doing a thing, thank goodness. I'm not known for my green thumb. I always thought you had to put them in a dark closet and mutter incantations to make them turn red. Guess not.


Here's a blossom close-up.

And here's the whole bush.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas!

HORSES

Been busy for the past couple of weeks with company and a virus. Finally got back to normal this weekend and visited the local stables where a friend boards her horse. We didn't get any photos of the stable itself but maybe next time. It's a lovely, well-kept place.

But here are some of the horses:

This pretty guy??? gal??? was curious when we came up and looked out to welcome us.

When we went over to check out the training rings, these people were just coming in from a trail ride. Looks like fun, doesn't it?

And this handsome fellow was getting hosed down by his owner after they'd had a hard training lesson. He wasn't too fond of the water but he behaved like a gentleman!

A very nice day!

LOCAL SCENE

We've been under the weather a few days. Ventured out today but didn't walk down to the Village. Instead, we drove down, sat in the sun, and walked around the lighthouse before driving back.

When we got there, the new tour trolley was sitting waiting for customers.

For years, there was only one tour on the island. It's been around for years. In fact, there's a quote on its side from Eugenia Price: "I highly recommend the ... Trolley tour." And she's been dead forever!

Well, a year or so ago, it got some competition. Now there's one you can call and reserve, that a lot of wedding parties use. And just recently, we got another one. The Colonial Island Trolley tour. This one bills itself as the only air conditioned, wheel-chair accessible trolley tour on the island.

The thing is, this latest one comes into the Village right before the old trolley. We got there after ten, when the new one is supposed to leave. It was still waiting. Here is is:

Then, we saw the new trolley come wheeling in. Look at the end of the cars on the right and you can see it:

It's supposed to come at ten thirty and leave at eleven. Anyway, it parked in its place and waited for customers:

But the new trolley had scooped up a bunch of people and was off. I bet the old trolley owners are steaming at having business stolen out from under them. Today it wasn't too bad. There were several people who waited especially to go on the old trolley. But I bet some days, people get on the new trolley thinking it's the only one.

Ah, the woes of small business owners.

DANGEROUS WATERS

A sandbar runs alongside our island. At high tide, it's invisible. At low time, it entices tourists to go out with umbrellas and beach chairs to enjoy the ocean.

What they don't know is that when the tide turns, the sandbar becomes a trap. The tidal pool they waded through or the wet sand they walked on to go out onto the sandbar, quickly changes to a rapid current of water when the tide comes in, a current that can carry strong swimmers away. Unfortunately, it's happened several times in the few years we've lived here.

Like a fourteen-year-old girl in 2010. Her mother and young sister made it to safety, but she didn't and was lost. And last year, a soldier and his family were out on the sandbar. He got them to shore before being swept away, though his body was later recovered.

Now it's happened again. As I wrote Monday about the lovely beach and how we enjoyed living here, searchers were out. A teenager who'd been out with a couple of his friends to play in the ocean had been washed away. This time was a little different because the tide wasn't coming in. He simply stepped off the sandbar on the ocean side into a drop off and never resurfaced. That happened Sunday. His body was retrieved a couple of days later and his funeral will be tomorrow. His friends, fortunately, were rescued by a kayaker who gave them life jackets and towed them to safety.

Strangely, the police chief was already on the County Commission's agenda for last night, to ask for funds to post warning signs and put an emergency response center beachside. It passed, of course, as it should have after another tragic drowning.

What I don't understand is why it's taken so long to get this done. There are lifeguards between certain hours, but there is nothing to warn people that the sandbar isn't safe, that the tide is unpredictable and dangerous. I remember a proposal to put red flags out whenever a rip current threatens, but that never happened. I wonder if it's because the authorities were afraid of discouraging tourists?

So we've lost another person, a fine one from all accounts. He would have been a junior this year and was in the Navy Junior ROTC program. Everyone agrees he was a quiet, likable young man whose too-young demise leaves his family and friends griefstricken. My heart goes out to his mother.

Maybe he would have stepped off into the ocean anyway, even with a series of signs and in full knowledge of the dangers. But maybe he wouldn't. I find it hard to understand why it's taken so long to get warning signs and a rescue station set up.

TREE FACES

Our island has someone who goes around and carves faces in suitable nodes on trees. I like them. They're kind of interesting.

But when we started walking the streets around our new home, I spotted this tree face. No carving. I think it's sculpture fastened to the tree. Pretty neat!

FIRST DAY OF SPRING

It's official! Spring is here! But we've been suspecting it for some time now. Here are some random pix of the flowers and budding trees around the island for all the poor people suffering up north. I hope your snowstorms will soon be over!

MORNING WALK

The weather -- with apologies to the northeast -- is perfect down here! Temps in the sixties, mostly sunny! We rode around the island yesterday with the top down.

This morning, our usual walk took us out of the complex. See the azaleas at the street? All over the complex, they're blooming. They must think it's spring, but I'm afraid they're going to be surprised in a few days!

So then we walked on down by Mallery Cafe, through the Village, and down to the pier. No big ships in sight but the tide was near high. Took a couple of shots of water dashing on the Johnson rocks. There was practically no wind today, but since the highest point on the island is nineteen feet above sea level -- the average is nine feet -- it's kind of scary to imagine what some really big winds would do to us.

And if you're wondering why they're called Johnson rocks, it seems that they were brought in during President Johnson's administration to keep the beach from further erosion!

WEST NILE VIRUS

We have West Nile virus on our little paradise island. And it's close to us.

Every morning when we walk to the Village, we go by the park where mosquitoes were found bearing...yes, the dreaded virus.

Now I'm indecisive. Do we continue to walk and hope we don't get bit? Do we stop walking and gain weight? Do we walk but avoid the park area, thus adding far too much distance for my comfort? Do we spray with OFF (which I'm convinced I'm allergic to) and hope for the best? Do we walk only at the times mosquitoes won't be out? And if so, what times are these, pray tell?

Oh my. What to do.

Can you tell I'm freaking out?

Visitors

We had visitors while we were at the island. Here they are on the pier.

 

And here are some more visitors, playing on the whale in the park. There's a nice playground right beside it but for some reason, kids gravitate to the whale!