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Bernie and Ann Dunn have been spending the week in Myrtle Beach. They have had a couple of days off from the activities, so they dropped down to Hanahan to pay us a visit. They arrived in time for a nice late lunch at one of Charleston's many fine restaurants. Below is a picture of their arrival in front of the Holly tree that the cedar waxwings haven't found yet.
After a few minutes, we hopped into the Jeep and headed down to East Bay Street and the Blossom restaurant. It is an elegant little place where local seafood constitutes almost all of the menu. Below is a picture of the front of the restaurant.
Here is another street scene that is typical of East Bay.
Even though it was a lunch menu, there was a wide variety of choices...if you liked seafood. Below is a picture of my seafood stew.
Ann had a fried oyster salad and Durelle had a smoked salmon club sandwich that was good. I tasted it. Stepping out to his own drummer, Bernie had a cheeseburger. We had a pleasant visit on the drive down and back and during lunch. When we got back, Bernie and Ann had to join the evening rush hour traffic and head back north to Myrtle Beach.
There has been an Eastern Bluebird gracing the back yard recently. My hip spoils the alacrity needed to hop up, grab the camera, and get into position to get a shot. So, as in many other of my previous responsibilities, Durelle grabs the camera. After a couple of tries, she has settled on taking the shot through the screen of our porch.. It is not optimum, but opening the door scares it away.
This, of course, is a male in full plumage. Our bird feeder is fifty feet from the house. Pictures through the window suffers because we have that 3M film on the windows to knock down the afternoon sun. Of course our yard is on the southwestern side of the house. I need to get a tripod and a remote shutter, and I could get some excellent pictures.
Speaking of pictures...in the last blog I included a picture of Durelle and I from 53 years ago. To continue that theme, here's one from 60 years ago at our junior prom.
What do you think?
Happy Valentines Day!
No new pictures, so how about an appropriate old one?
Is this one old enough? It's some 53 1/2 years old but appropriate for Valentines Day. You can tell that there is not much going on when I have to go back this deep into the archives. We have survived the TWO ice storms of 2014 and presume that there won't be any more.
Some good news on the medical front. The hip surgery has been rescheduled for the 2nd of April and the cataract surgery is a week from Tuesday. I had incorrectly assumed that the Plavix (blood thinner) would preclude all surgery, and I was trying to get them both scheduled during the Plavix-free window that the cardiologist, Dr. Rieder, would permit. Well, cataract surgery is so bloodless that Plavix is a non factor. The real reason it was cancelled in January is that I was in the hospital. The six weeks between now and 2 April will go slowly. I'm tired of the cane. Durelle, of course, is healthy enough for two people.
Well, I have returned from the cardiologist. The big question, of course, is, "when can I safely take a break from the blood thinner Plavix so that I can have my overdue hip replacement surgery (and my cataract surgery for that matter). The answer was a very imprecise, "April". I'll take him at his earliest word and schedule the surgery. Of course, the orthopedist won't go ahead without a release from the cardiologist, but at least I'll get things started. The hip is NOT getting any better.
We sat out back this evening watching the southwestern sky change colors. We are conscious of, and sympathetic with, the folks in the northeast who are not enjoying the winter season as much as we are. Here's another one.
Our next door neighbor, Tom Galton, took a few "on the run" pictures of a coyote walking along the back edge of our retention pond next to the woods. It's the same area where I have taken the pictures of the deer. They are a bit fuzzy as might be expected with an excited, hand held shot, but it is definitely a good sized male that looks as though he hasn't missed many meals lately. I'm sure of the gender because of the second picture.
Given the size of the piece of wildlife habitat behind us it comes as no surprise that there would be coyotes back there. Hopefully I can get a better shot, but this is the first time they have been seen here. Durelle has to bring in the bird feeder at night because, if she doesn't, it is pulled down and the contents scattered. I can't picture a coyote eating bird seed. I assume that they are carnivores and that a raccoon is the culprit.
