Hampton Park

The Girl

Emma doesn't really like her picture taken, so I'm happy when I can get one I like, even if it's slightly fuzzy because she turned her head.

The Boy

Must be Spring ...

The pine pollen is here. Hampton Park duck pond, March 2010.

Eight-Year-Old Bliss

Joseph woke up at 4:20 a.m. - he was so excited that he hounded me out of bed at 6.

Alternate Universe

Roy is pitifully confused. He's only 3, and has never seen snow before.

Winter Volunteer

We have a compost pile, but during the fall and winter we also do lazy composting by throwing vegetable peels/scraps directly onto our garden plot. Every once in awhile, we're rewarded with a surprise. The other day, I noticed a discarded piece of broccoli stem had regenerated itself. Spring must be on the way.

2 p.m. in the Garden of Good and Evil

Ever since I was a child and we lived right down the road from All Saints Episcopal graveyard near Pawleys Island, I've loved to visit cemeteries. We have plenty in Charleston - this afternoon we walked up to Magnolia Cemetery, stopping off at the Jewish cemetery and St. Lawrence Cemetery on the way. We didn't see any epitaphs to rival my and Emma's favorite so far: "She made good gravy." (All Saints, PI). We did find a name (Whitemarsh Seabrook Smith) to rival our current favorites, Obadiah and Czarina Brown (Morgan County, OH). I guess if you have a name like Brown or Smith you can get the urge to break out with a creative first name. I also spotted what is by far the most unusual child's grave I've seen, along with rows and rows of Confederate soldiers' grave markers. One thing I'm still waiting to find is a gravestone that says "Suffer in Torment" instead of "Rest in Peace."

Eat Your Heart Out, Martha Stewart

Or maybe cover your eyes. I'm not sure. I'm too much of a slacker to have taken "before" pictures, when this was a tiny little bathroom between the kitchen and basement. Awhile back, we had the plumbers take out the fixtures, and this weekend we finally got around to setting up a pantry. And when I say "we", I mean my husband. He refloored the section where the hole from the ex-toilet was, and set up the shelves. Now I get to use it. Yay. My first idea was that I'd paint it some cheery color, but my ingrained slackerness came to the fore, and I persuaded myself that was a complete waste of time.

Post-Christmas Cheer

No, we haven't taken the tree down yet. It's kind of cheering me up during the cold spell. Yes, if you look closely, you will see that the tree is set tastefully atop a moving blanket. Thanks for asking.

January Blight

I think the tomatoes have finally given up the ghost.

Back in Time

For New Year's Eve, we drove over to Walterboro for the day. My first job out of college was for the weekly newspaper there, but I hadn't been back in at least 25 years. Here are Joseph and Emma outside the house where I had my first apartment. Hampton Street doesn't look too different, but E. Washington Street is now Antiques Row. I loved the Artisan's Center.