Folly Island Lighthouse

trying to keep my mind off  2 things

1. I return to work tomorrow. Eeep! I’m not ready! Summer went too fast!
2. I’m hungry. WAIT! It’s after noon! LUNCH!

Honest, I thought it was about 10:30 AM. And I’ve had my oatmeal. Bleh.

Praying I get PAID tomorrow. We scrapping left overs. We have half a tank of gas and no bread. I have 2 bucks in my bank account. It’s been worse. Earlier this year, we spent 10 days with .93 in my account. Of course, the pantry was full and I had 30.oo on a walmart gift card, so we did gas.

We are going to do something today that we’ve NOT done and it’s over due. We’re heading to the little local library. Honest, this place looks pretty dang small! So we’ll see. Spawn thinks he’s found somewhere to fix his Ninetendo 64. I wish he’d find the cords to his Supernintendo so we could play Castlevania III.

The last day we were in Charleston, we went to the City Market in historical Charleston and then trotted off to Morris Island to see the lighthouse. We’ve seen the lighthouse some years ago – I spoke to the only ghost I’ve ever encountered on the beach. I’ll talk more about that in a few.

We were here… 17 years ago. A hurricane had come through the year before and flattened the homes near the beach. I have pictures somewhere. All the graffiti is new.

Due to construction (and other reasons) we had to park what I thought was half a mile from the lighthouse. After combing a VERY SOFT beach for almost an hour – and me getting sunburnt in the process, it dawned on me that we were combing the Atlantic side of the beach and not the channel side. So we were way off.

We then forgot which walking dock we entered the beach on and went another half mile further south than we needed to. I wasn’t happy. I spent the majority of this little vacay lost. And getting a lot of steps in on my Fitbit.

Somewhere, I have the older pictures of that trip on my external, but danged if I can find it. To the best of my recollection, there was SOME beach when you stepped over the dunes. Quite a bit of beach, to be honest. Not anymore. There is none, whatsoever.

When we went in 2000, I remember stepping past the dunes and thinking – that lighthouse is leaning. It was on a visible sandbar and only about 50 yards from the beach. You could have walked to it, except you could see the undertow. I’m taking pictures when I hear – Miss? Miss? Something touched my arm and a woman said – She wants to talk to you.

It was weird because we were the only ones on the beach, or so I thought. I turn to see a very elderly woman – her skin was like parchment – wearing an aqua capri set and a matching visor. she’s sitting on a Victorian Park bench of all things. She proceeds to tell me that her uncle had been the last light house keeper and she had fond memories of playing on the lighthouse in the summer.

My son was getting to close to the water, so I asked her to hold that thought. I took 5 steps and called him back and when I turned back around, she was gone, the bench was gone and I had an eerie crawl on my neck.

When I told my mom, she said – that woman needed to talk to someone before she left this realm. I guess so.

I love gardens, but I also love desolate places and this is becoming a desolate place. This lighthouse will eventually be claimed by the sea. I tried very hard to get this lighthouse and Charleston/Sanford Island lighthouse in the same picture. You can see the Charleston lighthouse from there, but due to haze, it really didn’t come up.

 

Late Man Candy

So I go back to work Friday and I’ve not gotten a single thing accomplished this summer. My bullet arc for my Nanowritmo isn’t done, I’ve posted maybe ONE chapter of anything. I AM writing on Raising Nemo. My family room remodel isn’t done, I’ve got a HUGE hole in my garage, but when school starts, I’m going to fill it back up. I have to store my stuff before the move because the movers are only going to move my instruments. I hope. I SO hope. I didn’t make a single doctor’s appointment. At all. And we didn’t make it once to the beach.

it seems the only thing I accomplished was new brake pads, a new cvc boot and a 3 day trip to Charleston.

Such is.

Castlevania back in the studio!!! WHOOOT! Berlin Station – when does it come back? Spawn and I are heading back to Charleston Labor Day weekend – whooo hooooo! There is just so much to do there.

After a summer of yoyoing in the weight, I’m now right back to the exact weight I was when school was out, however I have lost a dress size. I’ve been power walking 5 mornings a week and somehow I need to find a time and place to continue. it’s still depressing, to be honest.

And now, some belated Man Candy.

There ya are!

 

Guylty RA Challenge – MOUNTAIN CLIMBED!

YAY! I told you I’d get it done before I return to work next Friday! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SUMMER VACAY? Last summer was soooo long and this summer went by in a blink!

I’m still pilfering through my garden pictures, as well as Spawn’s.

We didn’t make it to the Yorktown. I made a purchase the week before and I thought I put it on my credit card and instead, it went on my debit. Good thing I looked at my bank account yesterday morning and discovered that nonsense. Needless to say, after a short discussion, Spawn and I will be returning Labor Day weekend, as we’re not going to Dragoncon – boo hoo, really – and we’ll do the Yorktown, as well as a few other things. We did go to the City Market, as well as an art gallery and to the beach. I’m burned. I not only forgot my bathing suit, but my sunscreen as well. Stupid move on my part.

My computer keyboard has been acting up for a week and as of yesterday, it official decided I do not need the W, E, or R key. Nope. No amount of begging, pleading or pounding will convince it other wise. Means I need to hunt up a computer repair shop around here somewhere. The only thing I know of is Geek Squad at Best Buy and they’ll want to send it off for 2 weeks. I think my better bet is to take it down to Brunswick to Network Monkeys and they’ll have it fixed in a few days.

Means I have to part with it for a short time. My old Dell still kinda sorta works – I mean, it DOES work, but it’s slow. It’s still got that Cassandra Chromium bug thing. I suspect if I sat down and did a factory reset, that would do the trick.

As of now, I have an old keyboard hooked in. Hate it. Leaves me one USB port to work with. That sucks.

Alright, here we go! 31st and final entry – What would you like to say to RA right now!

Easy – take off your clothes  right now! I want to do this scene with you!

What? You expected something… more restrained?

Oh alright.

Dear Sir,

First and foremost, thank you for being you, your talent, your giving self. Your fans – or well wishers – are amazing. I’m so thankful for them, and for you for bringing us together. I have made some of the bestest friends in your Well-Wisherdom. Thank you for not becoming an architect.

A few requests? Not that I have the right, but I’m a pushy American, right? Please do more movies that we can actually see. I’ve watched a television show I had black-listed due to content for you. I’m trying to talk myself into watching a blood and guts movie for you. I’m not into anime, but I watched a cartoon, for you. (AND I LIKED IT!!!!) Like the majority of your well-wishers, unless you’re in my neck of the woods, I won’t ever get to see you on stage and you’d best believe that contrary to my earlier words, I’m damn jealous of those have been able to see you perform live. I know you love the stage, but it’s such a limited audience. I’m putting my son through college, so it’s not like I’m able to travel. So please. A nice movie, hey maybe a comedy? (I know, I know, Oceans 8) You are very funny and yes you can pull it off! I believe in you.

Please post more selfies. I’m not alone in enjoying that lovely face of yours. Please stop giving negative people who post on your twitter the time of day. They’re attention whores. A person can’t please everyone and not everyone is going to be oh so happy with one. So please, don’t try to protect us.

On second thought, you can come and protect me. I’ll be appreciative.

Sincerely, 

Me/

And Happy Guy Day

Claude would have loved it here

Magnolia Plantation – just outside of Charleston SC. The oldest garden in the US.

Spawn spent a little bit of time this morning, showing me how to work this camera he’s given me. Now before anyone thinks he bought it for me – quit the opposite – I bought it for him in 2009 for Christmas. He’s put a lot of miles on it. It has reached a point however, where it’s slightly out-dated, for a quasi-serious photographer and as I stated before, the battery hatch has popped. It locks kinda sorta in place, but it doesn’t shut. You can still use it. Sucker drains batteries tho. I put fresh batteries in it yesterday when we arrived at Fort Moultrie. I had to change them again halfway into our tour of the gardens. To be honest, I’ve taken almost 250 pictures…

The gardens are HUGE. We were here 5 hours and didn’t see all of them. We didn’t tour the house, or the slave quarters, or the Audubon Society or the Swamp Garden or the petting zoo. Shoot, we didn’t need to go the petting zoo. There was a peacock who was plenty friendly and greeted all the cars

He wasn’t shy.

We almost didn’t make it today. I missed my turn and ended up 40 miles north of where I wanted to be before I realized I had missed my turn.

The yellow line was where we were supposed to go. The red line is what actually happened.

You know, I needed this trip to Charleston. I really did. For me.

Before you ask, Yes. I took these. All of these.

This is my third trip to Charleston since 2001. The first time I came, I was hiding from my now former fiance. I was fed up with him. He was a free-loader and I was struggling to make ends meet. He wasn’t working and bringing his kids up from Biloxi for spring break. Their spring break was a week after mine and Spawn’s and he wanted me to drive with him that weekend to pick them up and back. We wouldn’t get back until after midnight Monday morning and I had to go to be at work an hour away Monday morning at 7:30. I told him no. He proceeded to lay down a guilt trip. What ended up happening is I decided to take Spawn for a quickie trip to Charleston. Now, mind you, we had next to nothing (I was supporting a slug) and supposedly, we went to see Huntington Light House. We never got there. Instead, we went into Charleston to see Folly Island and Morris lighthouse as well as the Charleston Lighthouse.

I was dragging my feet on returning, because I knew if he hadn’t left yet, the guilt trip he would lay on me for not going would be tremendous. He was good at it. I knew he wouldn’t say anything while his kids (brats) were there, but there would be another round when he took them back (there wasn’t. They were so awful, he took them home early) but I was completely stressed the entire time because I knew I needed to put that man out. And I knew I wasn’t going to Biloxi with him that weekend.

As it stood, we got home, 2 hours after he left. He had turned the AC to 50, turned on every light, opened every window and had every fan going. Did I mention he wasn’t working? We had a row about it after he took his kids back and his response was – well, next time, you’ll come with me.

There was no next time. I put his ass out 3 months later. (The reason why I waited was he FINALLY got a GREAT paying job, he worked one week and then didn’t tell me he quit. The man was a sponge.)

While we were driving around Charleston the first time, We passed Patiot’s Point – where the USS Yorktown is docked. Spawn wanted to go see, but we couldn’t afford it. I promised him someday – we’ll come back.

We came back in 2010. Spring of 2010. We had planned this little 2 day excursion since Christmas break. We were living down on the Florida/Georgia line at the time and we decided come spring break, we’d come into Charleston, spend the day at the USS Yorktown and Fort Sumter, before heading into the Interior.

However, the day before Spring Break, I was called into the office and informed by County HR and the County Superintendent, I didn’t have a job the next year. The entire music department had been axed.

I heavily considered cancelling our trip. ALL of it. I needed to conserve, to spend the entire spring break updating my resume, finding all the online teacher sites. Until I got home and Spawn was already packing. He couldn’t wait! He had taken a week off work, and was excited to see this Aircraft Carrier.

So we went and I squirmed at every dime that was spent.

When the pictures came back, he was ecstatic, so very much enjoyed that aircraft carrier. There are pictures of him in the planes, climbing the siding. He had a blast. It was really worth it. I look worn out, tired, stressed to the max because I was. To top it off, my allergies kicked in major, so I spent the entire time on Benedryl. When we returned from spring break and began testing, I came down with a full blown case of Walking Pneumonia. It wasn’t really a fun trip for me.

A year ago this past week, a man I adored with all my heart took me and my darling one to Boca Raton, where I climbed 2 lighthouses in one day and then went to a Japanese Garden. I fell in love with the garden. He promised me a romantic long weekend in Charleston. I believed him. My bad. When I realized that that trip wasn’t going to happen, I decided to go on it without him. His bad.

So here I am with the most important man in my life. It’s been a sweet, sweet trip. And again, I’ve fallen in love with a garden.

Magnolia Plantation has been in the Drayton Family since the late 1600’s, when the property was gifted to the first generation by the father of the bride. The groom was from England and one of the first things he did was plant a proper, English garden.  The British landed on the property during the Revolutionary War. Like many of the coastal plantations, their fortune crop was rice. Three homes have been built on the property and much has changed.  But there has always been a garden. And it is glorious.

I admit being a tad jealous of the box grand piano in the house.

 

 

 

Guy’s honeysuckle

As some of you might know, Manna’s Sir Guy has a thing for honeysuckle. I found a patch of it earlier today among a few other things.

Note – I take BORING pictures.

This would be Spiderman’s great great great great great great great grandfather.

Weekly…. stuff

Spawn and I are leaving within the hour to head a little up the coast for a few days vacay. He’s given me his old camera (and the battery hatch has popped again and we JUST had it repaired last summer. And yeah – due to age, no warranty! MEH!) So we’ll see how bad I really shake! LOL! We have a Southern Plantation and Gardens, an aircraft carrier and a early Southern fort on the menu. And the beach. Maybe. Rooms were either booked or uber expensive (Our cheap go-to was logging in at double!) So we’re staying an hour out. Meh. Just. Meh! It’s only 2 nights and we have a seriously full agenda to cram into 3 days.

So I leave you with seriously overdue ManCandy and Richard. Of course.

No Mancandy is complete without Richard.

Expect a buttload of pretty pictures (I hope) upon my return.

Apparently

the cats have decided that the boxes are special toys for them. I am having a difficult time convincing them otherwise. I suppose I’ll have to leave this one in the family room floor.

Guylty’s RA Challenge #30

And we are arriving close to the end. The end of the challenge, the end of my summer vacation. I report back in 15 days. My outline for my Nanowrit is not complete, the redecorating o my family is no where near complete. I’m going to Charleston for a short vacay and if there is money left over, I’m either going to buy the futon or curtains. I SHOULD buy curtains first – I hate when cars or buses come down the road, shining their lights in my family room. I’ve been working and unpacking my garage and it’s not near. I’ve unpacked box after box of books and all of my bookcases are now full

Please note, all of those shelves, save ONE are three deep!!

and I STILL have boxes of books and I have no where to put any more tall bookcases. I can probably put 2 or 3 short ones in my dining room and I’ve considered moving my couch in a foot and lining 3 short ones behind it, much like a sofa table. I fear, however, anything on top of them would become fodder for the cats.

I’ve resorted to this, for the time being…

Which, quite frankly, ain’t gonna fly! To make matters WORSE, I uncovered and unpacked several boxes of cross stitch patterns…

As well as 2 boxes and one milk crate of scrapbooking paraphernalia. Have NO idea where THAT”S going to go!

Seriously, I do NOT recall my habits being this bad!!!

Then again, I packed a box of rocks with packing peanuts, so there ya go!

Day 30 – Will anything ever replace RA in your esteem?

No. I mean, I’m sure the day will come when my fangirling dies away or I get lucky in the love department (won’t happen) He’s still my favorite actor and I think he’s the sexiest man on earth. Unless it’s discovered he’s a pedophile or an abusive person… naaaaaaaaah.

Here. Have some Richard.

NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 05: Actor Richard Armitage leaves the “Today Show” taping at the NBC Rockefeller Center Studios on December 5, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Ray Tamarra/Getty Images)

 

Guylty’s RA Challenge #29

I WILL finish this before I return to school! I will! I will!!!

I’m thinking Friday, Spawn and I will go have breakfast on the beach and then spend some time there for a few hours. Not long because it’s horrid hot, but I’ve not worn my new swimsuit yet and I’d like a little sun on my pasty white legs.

Ahem.

#29 – A moment that made you question if you could continue fangirling for RA.

There has never been a time or moment that I thought – Nope. No more. Not worth it. There has been times the drama in the fandom made me want to go to ground and fangirl in private. I’m sure there are those that wish I would fangirl in private. Tough Titties. There is the drama RA has intentionally or unintentionally stirred up. That’s called being human. We all stir shit at one time or the other. I have friends in recent times who have stopped fangirling for one reason or the other and I respect that. I simply appreciate his work, his work ethic, his talent and let the rest just lie. No, we don’t agree politically but hell. I have friends I don’t agree with politically and we’re still friends so I will continue to fangirl this beautiful man with what I think is a beautiful soul.

Will a day come when I stop fangirling for RA. NO! NEVER!!! Realistically? Yeah. probably, but that day is not today and I’m not seeing that day in the foreseeable future.

Here. Have some Richard.

 

 

 

OMG!

Are there only 4 episodes???? I’ve binged watched with Spawn!!!! OMG! OMG!!!!! We need another 4 episodes…. 8…. no TWELVE Episodes RIGHT NOW!

Right! Fucking! Now!!!! Yas!!!!

In other news, both shoes and one of my bras have been shipped. Should be here on Tuesday. That leaves one more bra, one dress and a pair of shorts left. The bra should be shipped on the 15, the dress on the 28th and the shorts the beginning of August. Now to pay off the credit card.

Spawn and I were NOT going to go to Dragoncon. Nope. However, one of my favorite authors is attending (Jeri Westerson, she of the Crispin Guest series) and I’m thinking… this loan will be paid off next paycheck, or was paid off THIS check. If I take a loan the very end of August, my credit card should be paid off and maybe…

The thought though, makes my stomach turn.

And now… It’s Friday…

You know what that means…

omgomgomgomgomg Trevor Belmont!!!