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!