Bruce, the Master Tempura Chef 7 '14

Battering the veggies

Bruce decided to attempt making us a tempura supper tonight.  Both of us have eaten plenty of  tempura battered  veggies at Japanese restaurants, but neither of us had ever attempted to make anything with tempura batter at home.  We do own a temperature controlled mini deep fryer ( which we had never used), and did have a package of  dry  tempura batter mix in the pantry.  And we always have lots of fresh veggies and shrimp in the house.  So brave soul that he is, he lined the counter with newspaper to catch the drips, and  wisked up some batter, started coating and frying  green beans, onions, zucchini, and shrimp.  

It was the best tempura  supper we have ever eaten.!

Cooking the shrimp.

BJ and Bernard 7 '14

Bruce decided to get all chummy with Bernard Baruch at Brook green Gardens.

  They even look a bit alike.

Brookgreen River Boat Tour 7 '14

I think I remember being told that the sculpture gardens, open to the public,  comprise only about 450 acres out  of Brookgreen's 9000 total acreage. Much of Brookgreen property is in preserve .  The preserved areas can only be viewed on prescheduled tours such as their riverboat cruise which takes you up and down the tidal creeks within the Brookgreen Preserve. 

As part of it's' Cool Summer Evenings' program, Brookgreen Gardens has extended its  boat cruise tour schedule into the early evening hours.  Bruce and I decided this would be the perfect time to see  this lesser known  side of Brookgreen , so we hopped on board  a 48-foot pontoon boat  for a hour long cruise along historic ricefields now home to alligators, waterfowl, and osprey.

Our tour guide, Don Spriegel,  interpreted the distinctive landscape of the rice plantations and helped us to understand the role of enslaved Africans in the cultivation of the rice crop.

Small Cyprus tree 

First,  the massive cypress trees were dug up by young male slaves from, what was at that time, a mature old forest cypress swamp.

Dykes  held back the tidal waters

Once the swamps were rid of the forest, the branches of the cypress were pounded into the mud to make  a dyke, and soil dug out of the swamp to build up the rice beds fields behind it. 

Trunk opening

Openings were left in the dykes  to called 'trunks'.  On the earliest plantations, hollowed out cypress tree trunks were place in these openings, with gates at either end, to control the flow of tidal water in and out of the fields. A later design looked like the Rice gate below..  

Rice Gates control water flow in and out of the rice fields

Shortly before the civil war, Georgetown county was the richest county in all of the colonies.  Except for the oaks in the residential areas, all of the land had been denuded of trees and converted to rice fields

Trees  grown since the civil war

After the war,  the slave labor force need to maintain this industry was no longer available, and the destitute landowners did not have the means to pay for the labor intensive farming.  The land began its slow  return to its natural form.  Today the Bald Cyprus and

Tupelo trees are once again reclaiming the land that was once theirs.

The hour went all too quickly, and soon we were seeing the sun playing peek a boo with the edges of the  horizon.  It was promising another beautiful sunset over the peaceful tidal creeks.

Date Night 7"14

Bruce and I at Murrells Inlet 

Bruce and I made an agreement earlier this month to have a date night  at least once a week, so this evening we decided to have dinner and watch the sunset at Murrells Inlet.

Part of Murrells Inlet  restaurant row.

It's a good place to go for dinner because there are lots and lots of  good restaurants lined up along the marsh

Sister's restaurant and marina

All of the restaurants have good views  of the marsh from the dining room, and for those that prefer al la fresco dining there are covered dining  decks with live bands playing,  but you don't have to stay inside the confines of the restaurants to enjoy the view or have fun.

BJ on  board walk

A  long board walk fronts  the marsh so you can stroll the walk listening to live music, looking at the marsh and the marina, and of course enjoying the sunset.

Murrells Inlet Marsh Sunset

Good Day for Golf 7 '14

  Bruce and I were itching to get outside today an take advantage of  the 80 degree temperature and a breeze.  The respite from humidity helped both of our games.  We were both easily making it onto the greens in two drives... now if I cold just learn to putt.. LOL!

Yahoo! Its cooling off a bit 7 "14

Look at the uplift in these clouds

The jet stream has taken a big dip  and is bringing some much welcomed  cooler  air  all the way down to the our Southeastern coastline.  Out mid day temperatures dropped  to the low eighties, which is almost fifteen degrees cooler than the previous weeks temps.  

30 Sec. later they were exploding.

The clash between the warm and cool air masses has brought on some magnificent  cloud formations.  

And 30 secs after that they were unreal!

I don't begin to have paints iridescent and /or saturated enough to do justice to the color of this evening's sunset.  

Beth Elohim Temple and Cemetery, Georgetown, SC: 7 '14

Temple Beth Elohim

This afternoon, Bruce and I decided to visit the  local Jewish Temple and Cemetary  nearest our home.   Jews arrived in the historic seaport of Georgetown, S.C. in the mid 1700s. They worshipped in each other's homes, and also at the Winyah Indigo Society.  Although the sign outside the temple says it was established in 1904,  that does not begin to tell the whole story of the importance of this Jewish Congregation in this area of South Carolina.

By 1800,  Jews were a small but important portion of the population. Although proportionally only 10% of the white population, Jews have held a disproportionately large role in civic life as evidences by the historical markers below.

As you can see from the SC State historical signs, the Jewish cemetery in Georgetown was established in 1772 and contains the graves of three of Georgetown's Jewish mayors.

The cemetery is  roughly a  city block  in size, which relatively small compared to some we have visited in the Northeast.

But it is well maintained, and both Bruce and felt it to be the most peaceful cemetery we have ever visited.

In part that is because there is a sense of continuity and belonging here that one does not find in the larger more anonymous cemeteries.   Whole families, with names like Cohen, Moses, and Solomon are buried side by side here for generations .

 The oldest grave we found was 1772  and the newest 2010. The oldest graves were often the saddest because they told of how hard life was for the early colonists, many of whom lost child after child, or died in childbirth trying to give life.

But seeing the graves  of so many generations also tells a story of commitment to family and community that is sorely missing in modern society.  

 For more on the history of the Temple Beth Elohim Congregation check out:

http://www.jhssc.org/Georgetown_Temple_Beth_Elohim_History.html

Day 3 Visit with Kathy Campbell: Brookgreen Gardens 7'14

We had originally planned to take a river boat tour of Brookgreen Gardens' rice fields, but  changed our minds (along with our clothes ) after getting soaked to the skin on the Georgetown tour.   Instead we went out for a good ole southern meal of sweet tea and fried chicken at Hog Heaven.  By the time we finished eating, the skies were clearing, and we felt fairly confident that we would be able to watch the historical out-of-door drama, Aaron and  Theodosia,  being presented at Brookgreen Gardens, without risk of drowning.

Actors in 'Aaron and Theodosia"

This historic drama was written for Brookgreen Gardens and is  being presented this summer with a new character, expanded dialogue, period costumes, and furnishings. The play is based on the letters between Aaron Burr, our nation's third Vice-President, and his brilliant and beautiful daughter, Theodosia Burr Alston. Theodosia lived for 10 years at The Oaks Plantation, one of the four plantations that make up the Brookgreen Gardens property today and was married to Joseph Alston, an early Governor of South Carolina. Insightful and thought-provoking, it provides a glimpse into their lives, the daily life on a plantation, and political events of the day.

Brookgreen Garden's "Pegasus " sculpture.

The play ran from 7 pm to 8 pm  leaving us with just enough daylight  in the evening sky to do a quick tour of some of the sculpture and botanical gardens.

'Sunflower girl' sculpture in the Children's Garden

BJ and CC

Then it was time to say, goodbye.  It was a great visit, Kathy, which went all too fast.   Stay safe and enjoy the rest of your trip.

Day 3 Visit with Kathy Campbell Pawleys Island and Georgetown 7'14

Pawleys Island Beach

Wednesday  we took Kathy over to the  Pawleys  Barrier Island.  Unlike the larger Pawleys Sea Island which we live on, this narrow strip of sand is only one block wide,  It acts as a barrier  for the marsh and sea island  against  tropical storms.   AND it has one of the best and cleanest beaches on the eastern seaboard.  We spent a couple of hours walking the beach, collecting shells, and enjoying  the warm water.

CC and Kathy in Georgetown

Then we headed over to Georgetown to take a jeep-pulled  open-air wagon-tour of the town's historic district.  The bad news is that those puffy white clouds in the Pawleys Island photo had turned into a serious thunderstorm that landed right on top of us.   We all got drenched  to the skin.  Needless to say,  photo taking was out of the question without risking the loss of my camera.  The good news is that the rain was warm, and we all found it to be  a great travel tale.

Day 2 Visit with Kathy Campbell Charleston 7'14

Bruce and Kathy  in Carriage House

 No trip to the low country would be complete without a tour of Charleston, and what better way to see this historic city than  on a horse drawn carriage tour.

Our tour guide

There are five carriage tour company's operating in Charleston, each with multiple carriages,  giving hour long tours. To keep the more popular areas from being overwhelmed, the city  has been divided into five distinct routes; before each carriage departs, they must stop at a city managed tour station, which randomly assigns that carriage one of those routes.  As a result, one can never know in advance what one will see on these tours.  

Rainbow row

We lucked out and drew Rainbow Row and all the beautiful historic homes along  The Battery.

A Charleston House in  the Battery Area

Next, we stopped for sweet tea and  lunch at Poogan's Porch, before going on a self directed walking tour  to take a closer look at Charleston's

courtyard  gardens

window boxes and

cobblestone streets 

and the historic architecture of the "Holy City"

Day 2 Visit with Kathy Campbell Shem Creek 7'14

Shem Creek Marsh

Our next stop on the tour was Shem Creek  so that we could walk the board walk through the beautiful Shem Creek Marsh.    It had started raining rather hard when we left the Buckshot Campground  and we had been a little worried about the weather limiting our rest of our out of door activities, but as soon as we arrived at Shem Creek,  the storm passed, and the sky turned intensely blue with beautiful cloud formations

Ravenel Bridge  as seen from Shem Creek

Kayakers on Shem Creek

We watched the kayakers and dolphin parading up and down the creek.

Shem Creek Shrimpers

And of course  took a look at the colorful shrimp boat fleet.