Stairs

Charleston has many interesting and intriguing  staircases. 

This one leans just a little bit.

Hopefully whoever lives upstairs is still very young, fit, and with good knees! ha ha LOL

Peggy

The "peggies" are back! And I am so glad!

Every year, I look forward to these fluffy bright pink roses that twist and twine themselves up and down the shaggy palm trees at the Rutledge pond. They are stand-outs and I photograph them every spring.

Why are they "peggies"? Here's the story--Peggy is an avid gardener in Louisiana. When the destructive Hurricane Katrina came to call in 2005, Peggy's home and her garden, and even a boat, I think?-- were under about twenty feet of salt water for two whole weeks! Peggy had one plant, a crinum survive.....oh, and her beloved pink roses that she had begun herself by collecting clippings from friends. I don't know HOW these hardy roses survived, but survive they did. So they are called Peggy Martins, after Peggy.

I just happened to have on a pink sweater and my big chunky fun pink ring! I like happy little coincidences like that, don't you?

Hope everyone is having a nice week so far, glad you came along to see the roses with us tonight!

Old neighborhoods, Old houses

One of my readers named Jacqueline over at :butterstoneatwhiteoak.blogspot.com  asked me the other day if I walk by the house that is being restored on a show called "This Old House". I was happy to walk over and make these pictures for you, Jacqueline!

 I don't watch the show, so I don't know how far they are on the work, but this is what it looks like right now. There was a pile of pretty pillows and things for staging or decorating and there were already nice plants on the front piazza, and the lanterns were on.

can you see the little window at the very tip top on the front of the house?--wonder if that's a bedroom?

The house is located in one of our oldest neighborhoods---many of the the homes were built back in the 1700s.

see the two big fans on the upstairs piazza?--those are so nice on a hot summer day! Not only for cooling down---but they deter the dreaded mosquitoes!

Hello up there!!!

the chimney

...............other scenes around the neighborhood............

Have y'all ever picked these? ate them? made loquat marmelade or jelly?

this dog was enjoying his ride on the wagon!

a lovely way to see Charleston---a carriage ride

Beautiful blue house! Doesn't it look cozy?

I enjoyed taking you around around a neighborhood in our city today and hope y'all had a good time! Come back again!

Walking for Water

Last month, on St. Patricks day, we participated in the Walk for Water.

Riverfront Park was the location for this year's Walk for Water event.

a nice park with some pretty scenes

There is a global water crisis and we often just take for granted that when we go to the faucet....we will turn it on and have water. Water for washing, for cooking, for bathing and drinking, even for recreation. So many people in other countries lack safe water. (over two BILLION people, can you believe it!?) In many places, they have to walk several MILES and carry buckets to collect their water. Often the water they collect is not clean, and waterborne illnesses are frequent. So in the Walk for Water, we carry buckets to symbolize this. We fill our buckets about half way and then carry the water back to the big pool and dump it.

The walk is over three miles....these young kids didn't have any trouble with that!

Lined up.....ready to go!  Four countries and twenty seven states were  represented and we had over 4,000 walkers this year!

There were over 300  volunteers

The Walk for Water raises funds to support  life saving water and sanitation solutions in countries around the world. People shouldn't have to die because they couldn't get clean water to drink, to use for sanitation, and to simply wash their hands but I read that over 2,000 people die each day because of the lack of clean fresh water.

This dragon was very entertaining!

Colorful and fun to watch!

I loved listening to these lively drummers!

They sounded great!

 There were lots of fun St. Patricks outfits! I decorated my St. Patricks hat with flowers and little dolls!

Keep on walking.........keep on walking...............!

Over $290,000 raised this year! The money goes to building and implementing safe water, sanitation and hygiene solutions for people in developing countries as well as emergency and disaster situations.

These dogs were thrilled to participate in the walk!

We walked to raise awareness and we walked to raise funds. It was a beautiful day for a walk!

Water mission helps people in over 50 countries.

Spring green--abundant everywhere!

Loved hearing the bagpipe music!

This pup was looking glamorous in her green boa!

About half -way through, they had plenty of cold water for us to drink!

Filling our buckets to carry!

Afterwards there was music...and food....and drawings....and door prizes!

dirty water turns to clean

This beautiful dog was enjoying the day outside!

Kids had a rock wall to climb!

Hungry picnickers after the walk

This used to be the old Navy base, before it closed down in 1996. The base employed thousands of people and  provided training and  repair services to United States submarines and ships. 

Worn out at the finish line but glad I did it!

After a walk like that, THIS LOOKS like a real good idea, right!?

Thank you for visiting today! It's time for the weekend!