Heading South Where it's Warmer

We HOPE! Last year there was a snowy event there in February. I took many nice photos to remember the excitement of it. May and June are nice for taking flower pictures. September and October are great for the fishing efforts of so many friends. "If you're lucky enough to have a place by the sea, you're lucky enough!" YES!!

Every year since 1999 we have traveled to our alternate home and back THREE times - to the beach in SC. It's a 38 foot park model trailer permanently set up in a campground ON THE BEACH! There are lakes within the park and gorgeous live oak trees and cactus and plantings at the individual homeowner's sites and wondrous wildlife! The campground has been in business for over 50 years. It's GREAT! I can explore and perhaps find more "treasures" both visual and touchable. Our dog, "Pal," and so many other family pets are welcome there and seem to enjoy the change of scenery as well.

I certainly intend to do some more exploring with my camera. (After that I will go to the indoor heated pool and whirlpool.)

The campground has Wi-Fi available but I DO NOT take my large table model computer and don't have a laptop or ipad either. It's a break from exercising my head and switching to body work!

Now I have to notify all of my e-mail buddies that they will need to hold messages until we return in April. That will take some time, but I send out the good news so all can anticipate some relief from my meanderings and such. They get a break too!

Hmmmmm.......there is just something about the salt air!

(The photos here are all my very own photomanipulation "creations.") The shark didn't get to eat my husband - so far!

Put My Boots On

When I woke up this AM it was snowing lightly and, even though it was the start of a cold and dull winter day, I was inspired to trek along the unplowed road to see what magical art could be created and captured with my camera.

I'm always befuddled as to how to protect both the camera and my eyeglasses from wet drops so both were tucked into my sweat jacket and extracted as I saw something to shoot. Cardinal red pants tucked into high black rubber boots, and uncombed mop were a wacky sight to behold for any onlookers in the area.

The results weren't as awful as they could have been, especially since my fingers grew very numb from the 20° air and weren't functioning properly.

The good news is that the snowplow didn't appear as I took over the roadway on my approach and retreat for the project.

Ah! Winter!

Persimmons Payoff

This September caper happened in a campground by the ocean in the state of South Carolina.

You would have loved to see me go to the one and only (that I could find) persimmon tree every early morning for two weeks to sit on my golf cart and wait for a persimmon to fall! Let me explain: There were many already on the ground, but they were bruised, rotting and bitten. The squirrels get to them first, leaving remains of seedless fruit everywhere - even on the picnic tables and electric hookup fixtures at the campsites.

As soon as I would see or hear one fall, I gathered it, put into my plastic cup and waited for another. After gathering about 5 each morning, I went home, washed and put my treasures in the refrigerator. One morning I even took a straw broom with me and whacked at the branch but none would release and fall! After I had two pounds of them, I had a friend find a persimmon jelly recipe on the internet and made jelly! (I went to another neighbor to weigh my fruit on her bathroom scale to be sure I had enough!) Looking back, I guess everyone knows by now that I'm harmless.

What a mess this project made with my meager kitchen equipment when making the pulp. It was sticky and gooey stuff everywhere, but I was determined. After the jelly had cooled and I tasted it, I didn't like it! Too sour. I added some more honey, took a roll of Pillsbury biscuits, flattened each out, put a glob of jelly in the middle, topped it with another flattened dough piece, pinched all around, dunked in sugar and baked TARTS! Now THEY were delicious! I shared with my assistants - researcher and weighmaster, who also agreed wonders will never cease.

The end of this story is that another neighbor told me she has tubs of the stuff frozen at home in NC and will bring some to me the next time. Well, she did and then proceeded to share her persimmon pudding that she baked for me to taste. It's really a cake and delicious. I now have her recipe and will share it. She also will bring me more tubs when we're both at our beach places in South Carolina so I don't have to make my own pulp again! Whew!

The Tree Stump Carving

Part 6

For four months the stump aged and then time was found to create "James."

The carver is my friend. His wife was one of my 4-H club members 35 years ago!

I have kept touch with her through the years and they have 4 kids. The oldest (daughter) took over a large Arabian horse farm nearby us a couple of years ago. Our daughter took lessons there for several years when she was small and one of our mares was boarded there to foal because she was accidently bred already when I bought her and she gave birth in January. She and I camped out in the tack room and saw the foal born. The carver's wife worked at that farm then and still does now - for her daughter!

Small world! The past sometimes returns - in a different way at a different time. I guess the saying, "What goes around, comes around." is true.

The carver has done all our tree work here and for that, I'm grateful. He works a full time job, does the hay for his daughter's farm, trims and cuts trees AND sometimes carves! He's also a great father to his other son (17) and his twin sons (13). I'm privileged to know them all.

I gave him full artistic license to let the stump talk to him and carve as he determined. The large bleeding knot on the right side of the stump was the deciding factor in what way "James" would face. How wonderful the result!

I call him the "Guardian of the Cabin." His likeness resembles my great-grandfather, James Marshall.

The Tree - Part 5 - Remembering More

The woman owner of the cabin took many photographs of her surroundings and family. Many years later, I believe she must have taken them so her memories could live on through others who now enjoy the images she so carefully composed.

Autumn was the perfect time to show her love of earthly beauty.

The photograph below was taken before the tree was planted.

Ah! SWEET REFLECTIONS

The Tree - Part 3

Only a stump remains.....

A VERY TALL STUMP

There WILL be a future for the tree's stump and it will stay, where the entire living tree once stood tall and majestic, as the perpetual guardian of the cabin.

ALL WILL NOT BE LOST.

The Tree - Part 2

A decision was made. It was the end of time for the tree.

The "tree man" and his sons came one early morning.....

Branches were removed and chipped.....

The final climb.....

Topped.....

The trunk is bare and ready to be felled.....

The Tree - Part 1

It was presented as a gift to the owners of Cabin Tranquillity (yes one "L") and planted by family members back in the early seventies. The cabin was built in 1961 as a quiet summer retreat in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania. The lakefront property was originally purchased by the owners from the wife's cousin, who constructed the 47 acre spring-fed lake. This was a dream which came true. The Blue Spruce tree flourished.

Over the following years, all four of the children and many grandchildren came to the cabin for swimming, horseshoes, campfires, camping, ice skating,

hunting and many other activities, thoroughly enjoying the experience of family and adventure and recreational opportunities.

Time went by and the tree grew and GREW! It survived hot and dry summers and hundreds of snow events. The family changed, too. The original owners left,

taking their memories with them.

The only son, the twin daughters and the eldest daughter all now resided in the area near the cabin. The tree remained.

Year 2005

The eldest daughter and her husband now reside in Cabin Tranquillity. The tree has by now had several haircuts, lower limbs removed for easier lawn mowing and ventilation.

One day in year 2010 it was noticed that the needles were thinning in extremes. A regional forester was called in to diagnose the problem.

It was heavily infested with tree mites! Its roots were impacted under the concrete foundation. It was dying! The invasion of the mites had started many years ago and went unnoticed.

Too late.