Julie and Randy: December 2009

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Cat encounter of the Calhoun kind!

The orange tabby on the Calhoun Mansion didn't live there according the tour guide. However, I think at first it interested Sabrina and then it scared her.

Calhoun Mansion Gardens

These were outside the Mansion...lovely!

The huge Calhoun Mansion was built by the grandson of the famous Calhoun. Comprised of thirty rooms and thirty fireplaces. The mansion fell into ruins after being inhabited by the Navy and turned into a multi-family lodging. The Navy painted the interior battle ship grey...even over the ornate ceiling! (Horrors!) Fifteen years and five million dollars were put in to restore this mansion and bring it back from condemnation. The current owner is an antique owner and he moved in eight semi loads of his collection. The huge rooms were absolutely packed with his collection! We were not allowed to take pictures inside the mansion but could photograph the entry and the gardens!

Old homes

Here are some old homes close to the Battery.

Old Episcopal Church

On our journey through the city, we stopped at the Episcopal Church. This church was old and the pews were walled in for each family. Very intriguing! The balcony was closed to the public but had a beautiful organ! Outside was a church yard displaying many old headstones. Unfortunately, the rain and weather over time erased or faded many of the names!

Poogan's Porch

Celebrating the date of our engagement four years ago, we went to our favorite downtown restaurant Poogan's Porch for lunch.

Poogan was a dog that used to sit on the porch while the contractors were fixing up the old house that now is famous for the delicious meals! The waitress told us that some believe the house is haunted by the old owner, but since we have heard so many "haunted" stories around Charleston, we did not

put much weight in this. Lunch was divine and was a great way to start the day downtown. We highly recommend this restaurant if you are ever in town.

Iron gates and windows

Randy and I really have enjoyed the iron work in the French Quarter. It blends beauty with function. Window into a house yard.

Gate for driveway.

Guard for a basement window.

Gates into a yard and a church.
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She sits up! All by herself!

Right around Christmas we noticed Sabrina sitting up all by herself.

We went for a walk around Charleston and Sabrina got a little cold, so it was good we had

a sweatshirt for her. A little big, but at least it did the job!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas Week '09

Hi everyone, this is Randy typing here - I have this week off, and I thought I'd give this blog stuff a try, so bear with me. Well, first of all we had a great Christmas (I think Julie told you all about that on a previous entry). But did she mention the earrings? Please see attached picture, and ask her about them when you talk to her next.

Me? I got the

Beatles on CD (score!) Anyway, after the big day had passed we drove north for about 100 miles north to a town called Myrtle Beach. A place with a long beach to walk (see pics), peppered with hot dog stands, donut shops, as well as plenty of miniature golf.

We're going back in the spring, not for their food, but for the area's state park which will give us a chance to do some hiking as well as see some birds, indigenous plants, and a semi private beach - everything the Northwesterners crave. We did have some fun on the main part of Mrytle Beach as it was not too crowded, but the temp was only about 58 F. Sabrina wore her nice wool hat, and her nice warm fleece jammies.

I know we put her in these types of suits a lot, but she doesn't seem to mind, plus she doesn't have socks to pull off.

Today (Tues) we went to downtown Charleston, and had one of the best times ever. Too bad we didn't bring the camera. We went to the "Exchange Building, and Provost Dungeon" which is one of THE main historical buildings on the east coast. A few highlights: it had an actual dungeon which held 49 pirates all at one time prior to their execution in the battery down the street from this building in 1718. Many years later this building had men ratifying the US Constitution in it, and still later, Brittish troops occupied it during the Rev. War. Also, George W. spent quite a bit of time there one weekend during his tour of SC in 1791. By the way, the dungeon/cellar was very dark and Sabrina decided to seize the moment and immediately took a nap (to the dismay of the tour guide.)

After that we meandered down the Charleston residential streets admiring the houses, and walked into a number of art galleries. During a visit to one gallery we found out this city has a quarterly "art walk" in which all the galleries stay open until 8pm on one Friday night every three months for people to stop by and add local paintings to their wish list. We'll be back...

Well that's about all for now. Julie told me today that I had accidentally deleted the first picture from our camera that showed Sabrina sitting (after getting there all by herself), so stay tuned for another pic just like it coming to this blog shortly.