Gone too Soon

My sweet Mommy went to Heaven last Sunday morning. I am brokenhearted. This is the sunset on that day.

.....and the sunset reflecting in the waves. She loved the ocean so much.

And then that very night.......the beautiful and mysterious lunar eclipse. She LOVED looking at the moon so much--all her life! This night she had a front row seat. I just know she smiled!

Some bright morning when this life is over
I'll fly away
To that home on God's celestial shore
I'll fly away

I'll fly away, oh glory
I'll fly away in the morning
When I die, Hallelujah by and by
I'll fly away

When the shadows of this life have gone
I'll fly away
Like a bird from these prison walls I'll fly
I'll fly away

I'll fly away, oh glory
I'll fly away in the morning
When I die, Hallelujah by and by
I'll fly away

Always, Mommy. You'll be in my heart always.

Old Brick and Fairytale windows

Love this fairy tale window!

I love pausing to look at this amazing old church.

New Tabernacle Fourth Baptist Church

I've had the church on my blog before, but every time we pass by, I can't resist taking new pictures!

We walked by one day last week and I made pictures of the big red doors.

Pink Pretty

Faded, chippy, lovely old pink house

I've always loved this old pink house over on Queen Street. I've probably got some better pictures of it but these are what I could find quickly.........because..................

What's that old song "Don't it make my brown eyes blue?" sang by Loretta Lynn's little sister? That's what I thought when I saw this.....something came to mind like "don't it make the PINK HOUSE BLUE!!?"

The "pink house" is gone! It's now BLUE.

The Neon of Myrtle Beach

On the way home from our "back roads" drive day---

We took a quick drive through  Myrtle Beach. Fun to see all the bright sparkling neon. See some of the balconies?--decorated for the Holidays. Just a few year round residents, or people in town for the holidays.

The hotels and restaurants are pretty empty this time of year.

Tansy enjoying her cruise down Ocean Blvd.! Ocean Blvd. is nearly empty during the winter months.

Pretty purples and cheery red and greens!

Supper at one of our favorite restaurants. We always eat here when we are in the area.

It's just a FUN PLACE! and the food is great!

I've always enjoyed looking at the license plates they have nailed up on the walls, fun! Fun to search for your home state, the state where you  live, your favorite state, or just a very neat one...and a far away place.

Our table. Out the windows, the beautiful Atlantic ocean. Hard to see in the dark, but that was okay!

They bring peanuts to snack on

AMAZING STUFFED MUSHROOMS!

I had grouper and onion rings! Mr. Front Porch had a big cheeseburger!

Always fun to go for a  drive through Myrtle Beach! By now, were were ready to come home to Charleston!

Those Back Roads

Recently we took a long drive out through the countryside

Love the big tall trees and the roads that go on and on and ....................on.........

My "arm candy" for today. My Mommy gave me this bracelet back in the Fall, the one with the pearls on it. I just love it! I bought the sparkly amber looking one this holiday season, and matched 'em up!

They had a nice mural! I think this is Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox".

And an amazing old fashioned water tank! I love to spot these old things standing up on the horizons, I've made quite a collection of them over the past few years, I love to photograph them!

I enjoyed seeing the cotton fields!

We found a Stuckey's!! does anyone remember Stuckeys? We ALWAYS stopped at Stuckeys on road trips when I was a child. They had the cleanest restrooms, the most fun souvineers, and the best (and famous) fudge!

Well, I stopped seeing Stuckey's many MANY years ago and figured they'd gone out of business. The real ones that dotted the highways and by-ways and were a welcome sight to tired travellers have mostly closed down. This remaining one was in conjuction with a gas station and Dairy Queen, but still----better than NO STUCKEY'S! LOL It made my day to see Stuckey's! Truly.

Why? It one of my most dear childhood memories....all the long road trips. It was some of our best fun, as a family.

Things were different back then. Families travelled with big coolers in the trunk full of ice, sandwiches, potato salad and cole slaw, pickles,paper plates, and chips. Cold Cokes and Sprites were thrown in and iced down. Picnics were often roadside, at "roadside stops" that supplied a few concrete  picnic tables and maybe a tiny grassy area for kids to stretch and run. 
Why did they do this? There were no "drive-through's" yet! ha ha LOL
What a different world.
Us children carried our pillows and blankets into the car and we read and slept to our destination. We didn't have ANY "hand-held" games or devices, no internet, PHONES, or anything of the sort. LOL I carried stacks of Teen magazines such as "Young Miss", "Teen", "16", and "Tiger Beat", and summer catalogues and got myself settled into the back seat, eager to read the magazines I'd saved and/or bought with my babysitting money for this trip.
And we did fine. I sure read alot of great books every summer and holiday, and sometimes we would play the fun car version of Bingo, a colorful little cardboard and plastic game to find things along the roadsides. Music was whatever was playing on the car radio, up front, controlled by Mommy, haha LOL Very few stations "came in" and later on, we had an 8track tape deck, which was fun and lots more variety.

Wow, look what I found! one of my favorites. They are so hard to find nowadays. I nearly bought the whole box, ha ha LOL!

Funny because in a recent post, I'd even put a picture of a mallo cup and asked if anyone remembered them? LOL

do you spot any of your old favorites here?

Colorful things to catch your eye!

Anyone remember the little black and white Scottie magnet dogs that Stuckey's sold? Us kids could hardly wait to get ours each time, they were sold in big vending machines and the magnet dogs would keep us happily occupied in the back seat for quite a long part of the journey. We loved them. We played with those and our parents would enjoy their Stuckey's "famous pecan logs" and a good cup of hot coffee.
Yes, Stuckey's was a memorable part of my childhood.

We drove through lots of interesting little towns

We were hungry for lunch by now. I don't remember what little town this was, but all we could find quickly was a "Hardees", the little roast beef sandwiches had a good flavor but they were defineitly the TINIEST AND SKIMPIEST little roast beef sandwiches I'd ever seen! ha ha LOL Does anyone remember the old t/v commercial with the little old lady saying "where's the beef??!!" ha ha

Farming country! See the cotton all baled up?

Roadside snaps:

Little green houses and little empty businesses......

A beautiful big old white country house, decorated for the holidays

Was getting hungry by now.......good thing we bought these at Stuckey's way back! LOL

if you like Mounds candy bars, I highly recommend this candy bar if you ever run across one! It was my first one and it was EXCELLENT. Better than Mounds.

Thanks for exploring the South Carolina back roads with us today, we're SO GLAD you came along!