Wonderful Gifts!

      I've owned this piece of furniture since 1998.  In Darlington, South Carolina on Monday nights, Cole and I would go to the So-Lina Auction. It's one of those experiences as newlyweds that we still reminisce. Cole's dad dabbled in reselling antiques. So my husband, his dad, mom, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law would hop in our trucks with cash in pockets ready to burn some holes in order to furnish our new houses. I only wish I had my camera back then to document and take pictures of all the beautiful pieces and memorable people we met along the way. 

       When I bought this wardrobe, it possessed a crackled paint job, the doors were pitifully falling off the hinges, and the backside had a fearsome crack. It looked so sad that no one bid on it. My eyes saw a massive body, sturdy feet, and scrolls still intact. A vision of what it could be, thrust my green bid sign high in the air. Everybody thought I was half cracked. After winning it and taking it home, I repainted it, threw away the ragged doors, and sewed a curtain that matched the bedding of my son's nursery. 

       Two years later, I repainted it for my daughter's nursery. After they grew, my husband happily, put this piece in the pack-house. It sat in the dust and dark for three more years. Each time I went plundering in the falling down pack house, he would ask me if I wanted to get rid of it or sell it. Of course, I hit him and said,"No!"  You see there was a vision for this $100 piece of furniture. There was no way I was going to let it go. If I didn't hang on to it, I knew my husband would purge it.  Last Spring my husband brought out the bulldozer and began tearing down our old pack-house in order to clean up the farm. Running out to salvage anything of value, he helped me haul this piece out. He grumbled of course, Cole has hauled this piece and my piano about fifty thousand times. He'd like to get rid of the piano, too, giggle. (not gonna happen)

          A month ago this cabinet was hauled to my relative, James Strickland. He, lucky for me, is a cabinet maker. When I told him my plan, he quietly walked over to the piece, rubbed the top arch and scrolls, and said. "You know this was hand carved. You can see the indentations." My husband just shook his head at my cheshire grin. 

     The Wardrobe-Now Pantry has finally been restored. If it could tell a story, I'm sure we'd could sit for hours enthralled at the life it has lived. Now, it continues to live in my century old house. In it is stored the food my family has canned through the summer. It sits quietly beside the window listening to my little family as we eat dinner. If things could have a soul or voice, this pantry definitely does. In a dark, dusty corner of an auction house, I heard it speaking to me.

   Here is my husband's favorite gift from his grandmother. Young's Pecans from Florence, S.C.  This year he suspiciously has two cans. He's either special, or he stole someone else's gift!

This is a gift from Cole's dad. Last year he gave me the Foxfire books. He knows my love for the old. Even though this is a current reprinted edition, I can't wait to try out some old recipes.

One thing I must do in January is get my piano tuned. This is my last Christmas gift to myself. I've put it off for two years. I've played songs on a twangy piano to the point where my kids and husband say enough is enough. When the keys start sticking, it's time to find a remedy. After the tuner does his job, my family is in for a rude awakening. 

Music! Music! Music!

Giggle :)

    This is my favorite gift of all. A small nativity is displayed in my son's room during Christmas, but a larger piece for the den is exactly what my kids and I talked about purchasing when we were decorating the house. It just so happened that I went with Margaret, my husband's aunt, to see Les Miserables. After returning to her house, we took down her tree, because she is recovering from knee surgery. She pulled a box from her closet to give to me. Low and behold, when I opened it, it was just what my family needed most. Jesus is the most miraculously divine gift ever given. He is the most wonderful gift!

Love to all, hope you all had a marvelous, memorable Christmas.

Boykin Portraits

 Meet Piper, my daughter's little brown dog and Scout, my husband's other lady. This breed is our iconic South Carolina Boykin Spaniel. Vivid eyes and textured curls wrap them in loveliness. Their willingness to please those they love is a vibe of innocence that never alters even with the progression of age. The breed are revered bird hunting magicians. Energy discharges in every jump as they fly over reeds and grass. Their bravado is catching high mid-air birds in feats that would make professional athletes jealous. Certainly, a Boykin could be made into a lap dog, but that would be an unnatural impediment to the innate design of the Little Brown Dog. Their joy comes from the hunt, the chase, and the seizure of the game.

    Here are few pics of the Boykins and one additional old fellow. Enjoy !

  "Piper"

"Piper"

"Scout"

Dogs that know commands are a breeze to shoot! Thanks Cole

"Scout"

"Coot"

Sunflowers & Southern Girls

     Every Summer the girls do a self-produced photo shoot. Last summer they put on their sundresses and started their antics under the pear tree, which led to them throwing pears into the road from a safe distance for the cars to squoosh. 
  This time for their attire they chose cut off bluejeans, a staple in our kids wardrobe. Tess let half-pint Kate wear her's. She was saggin', but they didn't care. It was nothing a ribbon around the waist couldn't solve. Notice they added that rule to the list. As you can tell, the girls came up with their own wardrobe. Dressing up is a part of the girls usual imaginative play. I grab the camera, grab a few props, and tell them to hop on the John Deere Gator so we can head for the Sunflower field.  

Here are a few rules one must learn to be a Southern Belle:

......We have lots to learn...I  think in a future post I will write their opinion of what they think the rules are for being a Southern Belle. That should be interesting. Stay tuned and Enjoy

Cucumber

     This fruit of the ancients has been cultivated for over 3,000 years. The cucumber is a hydrogen machine. Remember the simile "as cool as a cucumber?" It takes root from the fact that a cuke is 10 or more degrees cooler than the outside temperature. When placed on the skin, the cooling properties of a cucumber render a beautiful, healthy complexion. Just ask companies like Bath and Body Works whose staple is the Cucumber Melon product. In "Reclaim Your Life" by Carolyn Levett, she explains how to blend a cucumber to extract and create a heavenly facial juice. This tonic can clear your complexion and fend-off breakouts. 

     

   Are you truely a health conscious person? Then mix tenacious cucumber into a meal as it nutritionally can offer 12% of your daily source of fiber requirements. According to the world's healthiest foods.org, cucumbers contain cucurbitacins which scientists believe are capable of blocking cancer causing cells therefore reducing one's risk of developing future cancers.

  

   When it comes to planting vegetables, old timers say to wait until after Good Friday to plant. I don't follow that tradition with most of my garden plants, like string beans and squash. Instead, I've seeded my garden a couple of weeks earlier for several years. In the past, too much of my time and money has been spent irrigating during patterns of drought, heat, and humidity. I've learned to get a good crop in before the mid-June heat scorches everything in the garden,  Taking my chances, I followed the signs of the moon and had my seeds in the ground before the last light frost. The only plant that wasn't planted was the cucumber. Cucumbers need temperatures around 75-85 degrees to flourish, so it was best to wait until the end of April. Green squash plants were swelling before I dolloped the cucumber seeds in the mound.
 

       Lady Luck laughed as she laced the ground with a late frost in May. I held my breath, not sure if anything in the garden would make it. Thank God it all lived. My cucumber seed buds weren't hampered. The plants peeked through dirt and made a grandstand in the mild, spring weather. I must say we have been surprised with lots of Pre-Summer rain spurred by an early arrival of tropical storms. With around 4 or more inches of rain in a day and a half, I was a little upset thinking everything would sog and rot. So far, the rains have actually given the plants just the amount of hydro they needed. 

   
    Thus we picked cucumbers from the vine in barefeet, rolled-up pants, and mud past our ankles (sorry, no pictures of that! Giggle! missed opportunity) and this week we are pickling cucumbers that are soaking in a crock.

Underneath is the recipe my grandmother passed down to me. I'm not sure where she may have gotten it. I know that this is what my family uses. It's quick and easy. She didn't go into much detail. I guess she figured she taught me enough about cooking that I could handle the fine details. I've tried 14 day pickles, recipes on the Clemson Extension website, and some in the above book Preserve It!

 I keep coming back to Grandma Reba's. 

  
 

thanks folks, ksg

Dowling Wedding @ Wachesaw Plantation

"It's harder to untie a wet knot than a dry one"

Shooting at a scenic venue like Wachesaw is  what a wedding photographer loves the best. Winding roads, ancient moss adorned oaks, and the meandering Waccamaw River directly behind the bride and groom is about as perfect a scene as it gets. God had another plan last Saturday when the rain began to pour in buckets at 2:30.  My sidekick Darlene and I quickly worked with Carolina Entertainment owner Kyle Gore, the Wachesaw Plantation wedding coordinator Charlene, and the wedding party to modify our plan. When the Wedding coordinator began telling me that she only had two weddings rained out in the past 8 years, I laughed. I truly believe God was testing us just to see what we could handle. We were drenched, but we didn't break a sweat. In the end, the disks were full, the food was out of this world, the crowd was fantastic, and I even kicked my wet shoes off and danced. We were drenched, but the knot is tighter!!