Eileen's Visit

 Well, after three tries, Eileen made it! Not only that, her timing was perfect as we had very good weather. The day after she left the temperature hopped up to the 90s and we're still trying to adjust!

Needless to say, we had a fun and busy week with lots of catching up. Our first outing was to Beaufort where we walked around the historic district and waterfront. That never gets old and is always a pleasure to share with guests. We had a leisurely day and got back just in time for Drinking Liberally! 

The next day we hit TJMaxx before having lunch at Giuseppe's, where I left my credit card! From there we went to Fish Haul Beach, which is more private than most beaches around here. Even so, it was more crowded than I've seen it. It was a perfect afternoon to sit on the beach and watch the tide come in. For some reason, I have no photos of it, though I'm sure we took some. We left in time to beat the traffic off-island and stopped at Dollar Tree, where I discovered I didn't have my credit card. I wasn't too alarmed as Capital One sends a text each time a purchase is made and I hadn't received any. So, I called the restaurant. It was there and we headed back on island to pick it up! The best-laid plans!

Thursday was Thrift Shop Day! We hit about 8 of them and Eileen came away with a blouse, shoes, and a lovely skirt. I found 2 tops (Talbots and Lauren) and the perfect Baggallini bag. I had just looked at them at TJMaxx for $30, but they didn't quite work. This one ($3) is organized just right for me! While I'm not a shopper, I'm convinced I need to thrift shop once a month. This is an area that has some great stuff out there....and thrift shops are less crowded than regular shops - a definite plus for me.

The next day was slower-paced. We stopped at Marshall's on our way to meet Tippy and Rhonda for lunch at Ruan Thai (or as we say, we Thai-ed One On!). Again, it was a lovely day and we dined outside, supervised by Junior, our favorite, young waiter! This was an opportunity for my local family to meet my Saudi/overseas family, and it was lots of fun. Tippy invited us over to her place for wine and dessert. Kieran arrived just in time for the last piece of Tres Leches Cake. It was a relaxing afternoon with friends. What can beat that?

Sign at Tios

As Eileen looks back on Saturday, I'll be interested in her comments. I think she was totally astounded that we are going through this whole abortion thing. My feeling is that when I talk to her and Ann about politics, they think I'm a bit over the top. Now that she's been here to see it all, she may be as confounded by it all as I am. In any case, Eileen was curious to spend the day as I would, so we started with an Indivisible meeting at 10AM. I really wanted to attend because I had not been able to hear Mia McLeod (running for SC Governor against our longtime favorite, Joe Cunningham) or Dr. Annie Andrews, running against Nancy Mace for the US House. They were both very impressive and confirmed my view to vote for capable women whenever possible (sorry, Joe!). ELECT WOMEN! From there we went to a 2-hour protest on Bluffton Parkway, which was part of a nationwide PRO-CHOICE protest. This was the largest turnout of any protest I've attended locally - estimated at 300 people. I was impressed by two older men who attended, one with a cane and another with a portable seat, which everyone helped him stabilize. He had made his own sign attached to a fly swatter! There were also more young people, as well as people who had just heard about it and had no idea there were local groups available. I did my thing with my sign and Eileen had lots of time to move around and socialize with everyone. We got lots of thumbs-up and honks, with only a few birds and one person yelling "murderers." All in all, a good day! From there we went to Tio's, where Annie Andrews would be having a meet and greet. By this time, we were just happy to have lunch and a good chat.

On Sunday, we're back to Beaufort to see if we can find Crystal Lake Park. Twice before (with Pamela and Chris), we've tried to find it with no luck. This time we succeeded and had a nice walk around the lake. The high point of the visit was a fish that "skipped' across the lake five times! He just kept jumping! An eagle also made a major appearance, swooping down before we knew what was happening. It really was a treat of nature. We also went to Coffin Point, which was uneventful, and Fort Fremont, before heading into town for a very late lunch. We discovered that most restaurants along the waterfront are closed on Sunday, but we did finally find a pizza place that made a great eggplant Parmesano sandwich. 

Monday, the day before Eileen's departure, was a day of hitting any shops she wanted to browse that we had not already covered. All are within a few stoplights of my house so it was easy to cover a lot in a short period of time. We had a late lunch out (Chow Daddy's) and got home in time for Eileen to pack. Reyna and the girls stopped by to wish her safe travels and Rosie doted on her, not knowing it was coming to an end.

Needless to say, we recounted our many friends and told stories of the past. We both were touched by the kindness of friends who added to our time together. Before Eileen left the UK, Lois and Tony of the Orkney Islands sent funds to boost our wine tab. Cheryl sent a gift certificate to First Watch, knowing that's one of my favorite brunch restaurants. We used it on the morning of Eileen's departure. We were both touched by their kindness and thoughtfulness. Thank you all.

In the meantime......

Normal life intervened! The Friday before Eileen was to arrive I noticed some water standing in my driveway as I left to take Rosie for her walk. I didn't think much of it as my sprinklers come on early in the morning and I thought it just had not evaporated. Later in the morning as I was running errands, the water had begun trickling down the driveway! I consulted my neighbor for advice and we discover that the ground around the tree was soaked. I called the guy who does my yard and he dug several feet down to discover a broken pipe. He and his guys spent much of the afternoon repairing the leak. He left it exposed until the next day just to be sure the repair was complete and would not leak. Phew!

Once Eileen arrived, we discovered that the shower (in the bathroom that is never used) had no water coming from the hot water side. I think this must have been happening when Melodee was here but I misunderstood the problem. I thought it was taking a long time for the hot water to get to the shower (because there was hot water getting to the sink) when actually NO water was coming to that side. Anyway, since I like to shower in the evening and Eileen prefers the morning, we both used my shower rather than having to spend a day waiting for a plumber. I did contact one right away and scheduled him to come the day after Eileen's departure. He came as scheduled, fixed the shower, and discovered a problem in my bathroom, which he will repair when a part arrives. Hopefully, that will take care of it.

Why do I do these things?

I was getting fed up with my cell phone bill being so high, so I paid off my phone using the points/air miles accumulated on my credit card. Even so, my bill was still $60/month. So, I left Verizon for Mint, which you've probably never heard of. It's actually owned by Ryan Reynolds and several other celebrities and uses the T-Mobile network. Everything is done online and they send a SIM card with instructions, videos, etc. to help you through the process of inserting it into the phone. As you might expect, there were the usual hiccups. I had to keep swapping the SIM cards until I got all of the info from Verizon that I needed. Once I got the transfer PIN from Verizon, it was relatively smooth sailing. I kept pestering David, Tippy, and Reyna to call me to test whether or not everything was working. It appeared that they could leave a message but the phone wasn't ringing for me to answer! I contact Customer Service this morning to find out which voicemail app works best with it. He made some changes to my program and everything seems to be working fine. I am interested to see if I have the same coverage as Verizon, but that remains to be seen (though I've heard several people who switched to T-Mobile say they were happy with the service). Will keep you posted. I have signed up for 3 months of 4GB of service for $45, which was a special offer. After that, it will be 3 months for $75. Even so, I pay almost that much per month! If coverage is good and any locals are interested, please let me refer you and we will both get credits - AND I will share what I learned to make the whole process easier for you. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Getting Ready for Company!

I’m going to start by telling you a Rosie story that I forgot to tell you last time. One morning we were taking our normal walk and on our way home, Rosie decided she wanted to visit Norma and Kurt. I’m standing on the walkway in front of their house and Rosie is pulling at the leash and whining to go to the door. I’m just waiting it out for her to get tired and give up, but Kurt passes the window and sees us. He opens the door, and Rosie is off like a shot! We’re invited in and have about a 20-minute visit. The thing is that everyone (seems to!?!) gets a kick out of it and she is very loving once she gets inside. Yesterday we went to Wright Park for our afternoon walk and several kids came up to pet her and she loves it. Then she travels around and just visits people. Most people are very receptive to it and one lady said, “she looks so happy.” I hope that is the case and that she adds a moment of joy to their day.

I heard from Pamela, who lives in San Poncho, Mexico, with an invitation to visit. Her daughter had planned to visit in May but had to cancel and Pamela thought of me, which was very nice. I could definitely be tempted as I feel like I need to break out of my routine and get back into travel mode. My biggest concern is leaving Rosie! After our last Africa trip, she was so whimpery and needy when I got home. It broke my heart! Now, with being home so much due to Covid, she is that way if I go out for a couple of hours with friends. So, if I want to travel peacefully again, I have to get this figured out. In any case, I’m looking forward to Eileen’s visit on the 9^th so the timing doesn’t work, but maybe we can make it happen in the future.

Tippy and I have gotten into an occasional habit of meeting for breakfast on Sunday mornings at First Watch, which we both like. On April 24^th we changed it up a bit and Chris and Kieran joined us at Frankie Bones for lunch and then we all went to a play by the Lean Ensemble – Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf: A Parody! It was a quick-paced, clever, and humorous script whose characters were well-known characters from American literature – Willy Lowman (Death of a Salesman), Balance DuBois and Stanley Kowalski (A Streetcar Named Desire), Martha and George (Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), and the stage manager from Our Town. You can imagine the dysfunction and humor that ensued. It really was cleverly done and provided lots of laughs, which were much appreciated.

Felix, close to me but looking at the door

Maria and Mark across the street had guests for three days and had a full day planned in Savannah. Mark came over that morning and asked if I’d check in on Felix and let him out in the (fenced in) backyard, which I was happy to do. So, Rosie and I headed over around 1PM and I was amazed and saddened at how subdued Felix was! The sprinklers were on and I sat on their patio until they stopped and Felix just stayed close and kept looking at the door. It was like he was just waiting for Mark and Maria to come out and join us! Rosie enjoyed sniffing around and I did get Felix out in the yard. He wiggled around in the grass a little and got a tummy rub, but then he was ready to go inside. It really broke my heart to see how much they miss us when we are away.

Eliana, Rosie, & Felix, saying goodbye!

Another neighbor, Deanna, who has 4 special needs doggies emailed me to say that they were going to have to put Eliana to sleep on Friday (4/29). She asked if I’d like to say goodbye as she knows I’m one of Eliana’s favorite people – I always have a pocket full of treats! We met up the next morning on our walks and were joined by Mark and Felix. Eliana was in her carriage and I brought some special treats for her, which she fully enjoyed. She has/had the kindest face and was so sweet. I will certainly miss her. Even so, she could no longer walk, was incontinent and, even though she was eating, continued to lose weight. Deanna certainly did everything she could for as long as she could, but that is such a difficult decision. I felt for them all. Not an easy time.

Groups (Liberal Ladies’ dinner) and committee meetings (LCAH and Blues social groups) continue, but last night Chris, Deborah, and I met with Melyssa, our “young friend”, who has recently and suddenly moved to Asheville. Melyssa organized us for a monthly gathering for years until Covid came along and made that difficult. It was always nice to get together with someone of a different general and share ideas, beliefs, and outlooks. We always had lively discussions and lots of laughs. Suddenly – or what

Deborah, Me, Melyssa, and Chris

seemed sudden to us – we saw on Facebook that they had moved to Asheville. Luckily, she was coming down to finalize the packing and we were able to get together for a farewell dinner. It was exciting to hear about their adventure – Melyssa will be able to carry on in her current job and Danny will be working at the famous and gorgeous Park Grove Inn. It was wonderful to hear and see the enthusiasm at the beginning of a new chapter in their lives. I hope we will continue to be in touch in order to share their experiences and we all wish them well.

Then, as in the trump years, I arrived home from our fun gathering to the news of the leaked Supreme Court opinion. I am 75 years old, never had an abortion, and not sure I ever would if the situation had arisen, but it angers me to the core for other human beings to think that they are God. They know what is right for everyone else, especially in a dire situation. Maybe I’m a simpleton, but I can’t begin to imagine what might bring one to consider an abortion, but I can’t help but think that maybe they need care and compassion, not white, male, authoritarian judgment. I’m also smart enough to know that I will never be able to fully understand their circumstances in the most private and personal decision of their life, and it does not require my (or anyone else's) input. It’s strange that those who want “small government” are perfectly willing to tell everyone what to do in their most private life! And let me also say, it angers me that some women are perfectly fine to let this happen to other women – and don’t think they won’t consider abortion if something happens with their child. They will just do it quietly, on the sly, and get away with it, all the while judging and betraying other women (and don't think this is the end of it. ...birth control, gay marriage, etc. This is only the beginning). I am PRO-CHOICE. I want women to be able to do what is best for them and the ones they love. It is not my business and it is certainly not the government's business. This is not the country I thought it was. It is not the country I thought I would grow on in. Sad....and mad!

I’m just trying to squeeze this in before Eileen arrives. on Monday The rest of the week will be cleaning and cooking. I hope this finds everyone safe, well, and enjoying the summer. Much love.