Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

We are down by now to our last day in Maine…so many places left to go, so little time…but I know I have fallen in love with Maine and all it has to offer. It might be small but it has a “plethora” of beautiful sights and delights to the eye….that has kept me oohing and aahing for four days straight!

Before I left last Sunday I walked through and around my house and yard taking photos of different Autumn decor I have used in the past, along with some new arrangements, candles and wooden plaques. Fall fills me with happiness and joy…especially homemade!

*Here was my latest homemade addition to the porch…new mums for the watering can planter.

I am so glad to be able to time travel and see fall at its peak in Maine and then be able to return home to a fall just starting to change colors. I get two falls this year…what a wonderful gift!

Here are some photos I hurriedly took before finishing packing last Monday….a taste of homemade fun, foliage, and crafts.

Before I left…the occurrence  we had been hoping/praying for arrived…small showers of rain….it wasn’t a continuous downfall…but short intervals of rain. At that point…it didn’t even matter to me…rain is rain is rain. I was thrilled and felt more comfortable leaving my garden behind with a little something to drink before I left.

As soon as you turn into Rainbow Road these days…my neighbor’s ghosts and zombies await you…but they don’t scare me…after all I’m not named BOO! for nothing! 🙂

So until tomorrow ….Keep your “spirits” up and find homespun happiness all around you!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

As a child I remember waiting all week for the Disney Sunday evening program to begin and in October that meant the return of “The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow”...along with Icabod Crane.

I always kept a blanket around me to hide under when the famous chase scene began…even though I had memorized the scenes…it still scared me as that last pumpkin was thrown from the horse and Icabod was never seen again.

Little did I know that South Carolina would produce, far back in its revolutionary history, a headless sentry from (then) Wedgefield Plantation outside Georgetown, South Carolina.

In fact today…near Halloween the headless sentry shows ups in unexpected places all over Georgetown. The poor headless sentry is guarding one of the town banks in this recent photo taken in Georgetown, South Carolina.

He disappears and then reappears at different businesses and even some homes of Georgetown residents (not sure I would want him in my front yard guarding my home- give me pink flamingos)…Apparently the sentry stays on the move since his “beheading.”

And now here’s the story behind the headless sentry…It has a famous connection  in the guise of one of South Carolina’s “favorite sons”…General Francis Marion, a.k.a. “Swamp Fox”- hero of the American Revolution!

(As far as I am concerned…the spooky swamps (headquarters for Marion and his men) in the SC lowcountry would have been enough to spook me.)

According to historians and legends, the headless sentry came to be thanks to the cunning of the Swamp Fox, Revolutionary War hero Gen. Francis Marion. His efforts helped Georgetown win battle after battle against the British.

Marion had spies throughout Georgetown and one fateful night, one of them, a young wealthy girl, whose father was a British loyalist, told Marion her home held patriot prisoners of war guarded by only one sentry.

There was another party going on that night, away from Wedgefield Plantation, and only one guard had been left to guard the prisoners of war.

Marion’s men quickly beheaded the one lone guard…thus freeing both prisoners and an eerie S.C. legend.

Some say that same sentry has haunted South Carolina since he lost his young life and head at then Wedgefield Plantation. *Usually before the ghost is seen strange noises are heard. Sometimes it sounds like the distant roar and clatterings of the hooves of many horses. This happens just before nightfall. Then the ghost appears, an awful gruesome sight to behold!

He appears in the form of a headless body of an eighteenth century British Dragoon tottering about the yard with pistol in hand searching for his head. He always frightens those who see him, and he vanishes as suddenly as he appeared. When the prelude of thundering hooves is not heard, his appearance is announced by what sounds like chains being dragged across the front porch.

Wedgefield Plantation burned but the bricks were saved and used in the new building…the club house for the present-day Wedgefield Plantation Country Club and Golf course.

So until tomorrow…While listening to ghost stories, legends,  histories of past spirit sightings…enjoy the stories but remember to keep your head on your shoulders…in tact! 🙂

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

The new cycle on the Confederate Rose bush has started again…beautiful white blooms to re-tell the soldier’s legend into the future.

Dear Reader:

While you are reading this…we are into our second day in Maine…we have several planned spots (on our itinerary to visit)…but we have decided to just let the stars, metaphorically, guide us. If something catches our “eye” we might just detour and head that direction. It is such a feeling of freedom to let nature guide us and not time.

Grandmother Wilson, while consoling any of us grandchildren, used to say to us that she wanted to see that “twinkle”  back in our eyes again. Don’t we all want to see that in  our loved ones? The “twinkle” of fun, mischievous secrets, or just a revelation of someone’s love for life twinkling  through their “windows to the soul.”

In the favorite classic childhood nursery rhyme, “Twinkle, twinkle little star…how I wonder what you are“…Don’t we still wonder why some people never lose their “twinkle” for life as evident through their twinkling eyes?

“What” is in some people’s stars in their eyes that make others smile just looking at them?”

Poppy, always comes to mind, when I think about twinkling eyes…he had the cutest twinkle in his beautiful blue eyes…like he knew something that was especially funny and he just might let us in on it…or he might not…

I vaguely remember an old legend Grandmother Wilson told us at bedtime about the connection between eyes and stars. I can’t exactly remember how it went…but this poem I found the other day comes pretty close to the central idea.

“You’re a Special Person in God’s Eyes” 

Desiree Derosier-Kaczor

On the day you were born…

God held the stars

within His hands

And watched as they twinkled

and shined.

He tried to find two

of the best He observed, 

But He couldn’t quite make up

His mind.

Then suddenly two of them

danced in the air;

And the rest of them

took to the skies.

On the day you were born,

You were blessed with the stars

that were chosen

To shine in your eyes.

…………………………………………………..

As much as I would love to prolong every minute of this adventure the reality is …that in the “twinkling of an eye” it will all be over. (The adventure…but never the memories.)

So instead of always randomly snapping photos…it is important to stop and take mental images of the sights I fall in love with…accompanied by the smell, taste, and touch of the moment. The five senses, associated with new sights, cements our sweet memories permanently inside our hearts and minds.

So until tomorrow…We must never forget that the past beats inside each of us like a second heart…let’s plant good memories from the past for the future days of remembering.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

While browsing through one of my favorite books, The To-Be List, co-authors, Randall and Walter, selected “Be Wild” as one of the “being” categories of feelings we should experience in life.

The message wasn’t suggesting everyone live on the wild side of life with poor choices of harmful  drugs, relationships, that prove devastating to yourself and others…but more about taking chances…having adventures where we open up ourselves to new experiences, risk, and challenges. Maine offers that and more for me…as Anne and I fly out today.

There is a lot of “wild” in Maine to be enjoyed…the wilds of Acadia National State Park, the wilds of rocky cliffs along turbulent Atlantic oceans waves crashing against the rocky coast line, wild blueberries for the picking in season, wild moose, wild foliage, wild fir and spruce tops.

“Be Wild”  (from the To-Be List)

Our roots are wild, We are descended from explorers, trailblazers, hunters and foragers, pioneers, and people who worked the land, faced down challenges, and never heard of insurance.

It’s easy to forget that when you’re sitting in an air-conditioned office on a padded chair with only mental stimulus and your ready-made supermarket dinner waiting in the fridge at home

Society wants to keep us tame, manageable, and easy to predict. But something in us cries out to be wild- to be out in nature, to get muddy and not care, to feel our blood really pumping, to yell and shout and just let go.

Being wild could be dancing in the rain, running as fast as you can on the beach or through the park, saying what you actually think instead of what’s politically correct, breaking the rules occasionally…getting in touch with your primitive, intuitive self. 

Embrace the raw, instinct-driven side within. Listen to those gut urges and what nature is telling you. Get out of the office, leave the comfort of home occasionally and just be wild. Have fun!

So until tomorrow…Let’s leave reasoning alone at certain periods in our lives and fall back on instinct…that gift of nature given to every living creature. We all know when something is right without actually having to know why. Be instinctive. Go discover something new today. (*I promise I sure will and return home to share it!  🙂

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Mother Nature gave me a great send off yesterday…a light rain fell watering my thirsty yards and garden….a wonderful gift and start to a magnificent adventure…leaving the outside satisfied and happy too!

Dear Reader:

While flipping through a magazine in one of my medical appointment waiting rooms…I came across an article talking about a style of life / decorating known as “Wabi-Sabi.” It is a Japanese term/expression that encourages “us to appreciate and elevate what’s humble, impermanent, and earthy.”

As I read the article and thought about my own home…I realized that this approach has always appealed to me. When I got home later and gazed around my “Happy Room” I began to see why I related so well to the article…I love having  “earthy” around me…especially in this beloved chair found in a barn after my Uncle Harlette’s death. (title photo)

I took it to a shoemaker to repair the bottom that was torn and tattered….today I have an original rustic tin duck candle-holder from the Pine Forest Inn (Honey gave me) filled with dried hydrangeas from last season on it. Simple but beautiful to me.

Pine Forest Inn Summerville, SC

I don’t want anything “matchy, matchy” any more  in my home…instead I want pieces that have stories attached to them….where they can stand alone. This old antique tattered up-holstered chair Aunt Eva gave me is another example of something old and frayed…remnants of what used to be ….still beautiful in its own way.

“Wabi-sabi embraces the chaos of the everyday happenings and objects we so often try to hide and instead says, “Yes, I see loveliness there too.”

This centuries-old-concept embraces the truth that life is fleeting, fragile, and always changing. It inspires us to surround ourselves with things that reflect the perfectly imperfect...objects that are odd, aging, or seemingly incomplete. (Resource: “Wholeness at Home”-Magnolia Magazine)

So until tomorrow…Let’s place the simplest objects around us…the ones that have a story to tell.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Vickie has made Gertie so comfortable…turned her cage into a five-star chicken coop!

Luke and Chelsey will be by this afternoon to pick up their girl (Home from Iceland)… she has shown a lot of spunk and fun this week back on Rainbow Road. She is a rebel…searching for ways to “fly the coop”…we can see why she survived the dog attack when her sisters didn’t. 🙂

This cool weather must have triggered the color mechanism in the grandchildren’s Japanese Maples…they are starting to turn colors.

Tommy and Kaitlyn met her Aunt Becky and Uncle Tim in McClellanville for dinner before they went on to Pawleys…they are so much fun and I know Tommy and Kaitlyn had a wonderful visit over fried seafood with them.

Walsh and Mollie went to Asheville over the weekend to help celebrate a friend’s 15th wedding anniversary…a lot of Walsh’s high school friends were there…great weather…cool sixties for highs. Congrats Robertson and Abby! 🙂

Dear Reader:

I was  happy to see an unexpected vine dangling a gorgeous cobalt-colored morning glory’s petals (the other morning)… down from the top of the fence. It looked like an artist had added the beautiful bloom at the last minute to the Summerville Sweet Tea window painting … how bright and cheery it looked!

I love the word “plethora.” We don’t hear or use it much any more, a rather antiquated word…. but the writer of  this article on Summerville (I randomly came across) couldn’t have found a better-suited word to describe our beautiful home town. It means a “large or excessive amount of (something)” ….in our town…petals is always a good choice…and sounds enticing next to the introductory word.

Angela Shoultz writes: “A Plethora of Petals”

“Just north of Charleston, you’ll find Summerville, SC—an almost secret sanctuary where three centuries of stately Southern
homes sit perched on tree-lined streets, hidden by an abundance of green foliage. And like most quaint towns of the sort, private and public gardens play a large role in the community.

 One large public garden is Azalea Park. Beyond its entrance is a relaxing and well-kept city garden complete with picnic tables, pathways and plenty of shade. It’s a delightful place to stroll any time of year, especially when the azalea bushes spring magnificent blooms, turning the lush, green landscape into a sea of pink, purple and white petals.

But it’s not only the inherent beauty that
attracts flocks of flower fanatics—Azalea Park hosts a variety of annual events every year, including the Flowertown Festival, Taste of Summerville and Sculpture in the South. A stunning specimen of nature all by itself.”

A couple of weeks ago the annual Sweet Tea Festival in downtown Summerville took place.

I was so “bummed” that it was the same weekend as Jake’s and my birthday parties…Fall brings so many fun festivals crowded in together.

Every year ( for the last 8 years now) the festival has grown. *And our Guinness Book of Records largest sweet tea mason jar  has been affectionately dubbed “Mason” by its birthplace of citizens.

The latest mural shows off Summerville’s pride in this historic event.

Now we have even added a Sweet Tea Trail for visitors to follow through our hometown.

We are trying hard, like so many other  small southern towns, to maintain the “small town charm”… while, simultaneously, Summerville continues to grow in leaps and bounds. As more schools are built…more subdivisions spring up…can retail stores, restaurants, franchises of every kind… be far behind?

The answer to the question is answered by visitors and tourists as soon as they pull off Interstate 26 into Summerville. Shops, shops, and more shops…to the right…to the left until you finally reach the historic “little town” we older residents remember.

Summerville has even expanded across the interstate with more stores, shops, restaurants, and communities. We are definitely experiencing a growth boom that is redefining the perimeters of Summerville.

So until tomorrow…For me, however, no matter the growth, Summerville, my adopted home where my children were raised, should always be described with the first word spelling “PLETHORA”  because it has so “many” of all the things that make a town a “place to dream and stay”…The secret to the charm of Summerville isn’t just in its many gardens, festivals, history, and memories….but its people!

‘SUMMERVILLE- A PLETHORA OF AMAZING PEOPLE’!

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

I got home from Mt. Pleasant yesterday to a cooler day than I left on Friday for sure. As of this writing Saturday afternoon…Mt. Pleasant has seen some rain showers but so far it hasn’t made it inland to Summerville yet…we are still praying though it will.

Jake had some minor outpatient surgery Friday so I went over to meet Eva Cate’s bus and keep her until Jake was released. All went well…but the  anesthesia really did a job on his emotional confusion when he got home…distraught and upset. But children are so resilient…by supper time he was wolfing down spaghetti and ready to play cars with Boo Boo again and watch movies with Eva Cate.

The Turners are getting their house decorated in the Halloween mood…too cute…Jake and Eva Cate love the colorful flying ghosts

All’s well that ends well…a big hug and now Boo is home and writing blog posts for when I am gone next week and adding a rain coat to the suitcase…no snow…but a chance of some rain. No matter…rain, sleet, or snow…on we go! With prayers for some sun…here we come!

The cool weather that greeted me when I got back home yesterday produced the most beautiful surprise of all…The Confederate Rose was covered in huge pink clusters of beauty.

From the nineties to the seventies…”Life is deliciously ambiguous!” (Gilda Radner) Now if we can just get some rain…fall will be back in business…beautiful as ever. 🙂

Dear Reader:

When I saw these three pretty purple Mexican petunias blooming one morning I thought about the three guiding principles in my own life…Spirit, Faith, and Heart. The spirit of God leads me every day through tests of faith with my heart beating to the rhythm of life that keeps me rising each morning to new opportunities… to share the day with others traversing this planet in our own special time and place.

It has taken me a lifetime to find my special “more” when people, throughout my life, would advise me with the familiar axiom….”There’s more to life than...”

I bet you can help me fill in lots and lots of words behind the three dots. Just off the top of my head I remember these bits of advice along my path….”There’s more to life than studying, playing, money, work, a career, a relationship, physical looks, school, childhood, adulthood, traveling, stability, schedules, meetings, appointments and even church (if it is used only as a refuge to hide from life or challenges.)

(* If you remember some advice from your parents, friends, peers, family members, etc. please share… I would love to hear some more.)

People are quick to tell us “There’s more to life than...” but no one ever tells us what that “more” should be. What is the secret behind “more?”

It hit me one day that this very question is the secret of finding our way in life. “More” is different for everyone. At some point we have to ask….’What could we not live without doing’….besides just breathing each day…what is it that makes us want to get up in the mornings and start the day filled with anticipation?

Writing.

I had to go through several life cycles within my life…to finally realize that it is the written word that pulls and draws me to daily happiness and long-term joy….to completion and fulfillment of who I am under the skin.

I will never be a Pulitzer Award Winner or pull in a million ‘hits’ a day on my posts….but then there’s “More” to life than recognition or awards….it goes back to the original three words in my post …”The Spirit shows me my path, I stay faithful to the path and my heart soars with  a sense of personal fulfillment. I live for the daily satisfaction of writing…to release feelings and thoughts trapped in bondage waiting to be shared in the universe.

I am just one lone voice, among the many voices of the past, and the ones still to come…but it is the present voice that tells the world that I once was alive and  breathing out stories day and night…with all my might.

So until tomorrow….Words provide food for the mind and  light for understanding.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

The Confederate Rose had one dark rose color on it and a new white bloom below it symbolizing life and death together.

In fact all the buds on the Confederate Rose are blooming life starting at the top of the tree working down….breath-taking.

Dear Reader:

A few days ago I read a most wonderful, thought-provoking article on the power of sharing…using corn as the example. I will never look at corn exactly the same again. (Resource: Awakin Weekly: “My Neighbor’s Corn“…by Naren Kini

“There was once a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best corn. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seeds with his neighbors.

“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.

“Why sir,” said the farmer, “Don’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”

So it is with our lives. Those who want to live meaningfully and well must help enrich the lives of others, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. The quality of response and joy depends on the quality of thoughts and love we share and spread.

And those who choose to be joyful must help others find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.”

*Christopher Columbus brought corn to the Americas. It was Native-Americans who then taught the first settlers how to plant and grow it….especially Indian corn.

Don’t you just love the simple but extraordinary metaphor in love and sharing through the corn story? Isn’t this what Jesus taught and talked about over and over in his parables…we are all connected and as such we pull each other up when we give of ourselves…together we stand upright and stronger through unity.

So until tomorrow…

***Lassie and Susan…thank y’all each so much for your benevolence… creating the possibility of eating lobster rolls in Maine….a photo action shot will be heading yall’s way soon!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

In the excitement of getting ready for my Maine trip I find myself scattering thoughts behind me like squirrels randomly scattering acorns.

I have started  several different endeavors- getting halfway through them before starting something else like…half-packing my suitcase, calling in to order and then trying to find time to go to Charleston to actually pick up more medicine, rising earlier to beat the heat while trying to water everything in the yard and garden…while squeezing in a kick-off Maine adventure lunch with Anne and an afternoon out with Gin-g and Sue Anne to finally see Downtown Abbey….absolutely loved it.

When things do calm down somewhat between calls, visits, texts, and emails…my mind is filled with reminisces…..I remember October is breast cancer month and fond memories  of our annual family Race for the Cure warms my heart while still making me a little sad that it changed so drastically to the point where the timing no longer worked.

Mandy told me yesterday little Jake got to wear a pink shirt instead of his normal blue uniform shirt to school because the Fire Truck was coming and they were combining fire safety with breast cancer month….a great idea. (I miss seeing the big PINK firetrucks at the race each year.)

Then….deja vu….I was driving home and had gotten to Five Points at the long red light…a police car was in the right lane next to me…the policeman had his window down and nodded…I nodded back and then I recognized the pink ribbon icon on the side of his car…I pointed to it and took a picture…he smiled, honked, and with two thumbs up…turned right onto Main Street leaving me smiling all over.

Then I had to giggle when I drove past my neighbor Jane’s yard yesterday (nobody was home) …her yard had been “flocked for funding” for breast cancer month at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center! 🙂 I was able to give to this organization…worked out perfectly.

The hardest part for us women, of course, is trying to decide what to take and what to leave…I keep packing and then re-packing as I change my mind about a pair of pants or not taking heavy shoes or a heavy jacket to weigh down the suitcase….so many things to consider…including all my medicine bottles that take up a lot of room.

I am sure I will have completely exhausted myself by the time we leave…but it will all be worth it when the plane lands in Portland, Maine and new sights, smells, and tastes await. My heart is way overdue…yearning for new experiences…along with  people, places, sounds, and surprises!

Each evening by supper…I am so tired… so I light my candle, admire my garden flowers, and remember Sue Anne for the adorable white pumpkin. Then I take a deep breath and let it out slowly….life is so good!

Today when I looked up at the tip of the Confederate Rose bush…the original white bloom had turned a deep dark rose color….a magical bush interlaced with history.

So until tomorrow….”Anticipation of pleasure…is a pleasure in itself.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Yesterday I got this birthday card from Marcia…and it had the perfect  message inside…a good reminder to all of us:

Birthdays aren’t about counting candles, but about counting every happiness in your life.

The more I thought about the statement, the more I realized just how much happiness my life has given me, to date, and how fortunate I am to still be living that happiness every single day.

Dr. Jeter, my oncologist, told me about a restaurant in Portland, Maine that Anne and I plan to visit after we land next Tuesday around lunch time. Dr. Jeter warned me that the lobster rolls could run about 25 dollars…she remembered thinking that was way too much to spend on one lobster roll in something that looked like a hot dog bun. She began talking herself out of getting one…

…But then her husband told her she was worth it…How many more times would they have this opportunity to return without three small children in tow? So Dr. Jeter passed on her husband’s advice to me…Get whatever I  wanted to eat and don’t blink about the cost…“This is your adventure…you have earned it!” Such sweet advice! I intend to do just that!

If we think about it… each age is only a  reflection of an accomplishment we have been subconsciously working for in each and every moment of our lives. One day all our opportunities to get out there, grab life with gusto, while, simultaneously, building memories, will be washed away in the tide of eternity. But not today… So let’s go for it! 🙂

One new thing I have discovered on this benchmark birthday is how I now re-define peace. At a certain age I think we all yearn for peace in our lives. But now I realize that peace isn’t a substitute for noise, craziness, and busyness…instead it is a feeling of calm in my heart in the midst of everyday noise, craziness, and busyness…in other words…peace in daily life. (My gift to myself this year)

Look what brought peace to me yesterday…against the blue azure sky…There it was …the first white bloom on the Confederate Rose bush (more like a tree in height.) The first bloom, in spite of the drought…a miracle…and especially to be located at the tip top of the bush…higher than the roof on the potting shed.

In quick summation…the Confederate Rose legend is based on a Civil War incident in which a Confederate soldier was shot and slowly died over an extended period of time. Each day the first bloom is white…symbolizing the soldier before the shot is fired at him, then pink as his blood begins to spill…ending in a dark color to represent the last of his blood spilled on the ground where he fell.

Each day this cycle repeats itself…over and over so eventually the huge bush is covered in white, different shades of pink and dark rose colors….exquisite. I will keep taking photos as the cycle begins…perhaps tomorrow?

So until tomorrow….

Look at these new lovelies blooming in the garden…much better than colorful balloons or ribbons on presents…my garden knows what makes me happy on my birthday!

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh