Rested And Thankful

I just returned from a little vacation to the home of my best friend of 40-plus years.  I was able to spend some quiet time sitting on the patio beneath a pergola overlooking a waterfront alive with egrets, mallards, swans, turtles and fish.  The turtles and fish were an item of interest for the next-door neighbor’s black lab, Skeeter, who regularly leaped into the little channel and swam around chasing them to her great amusement.

During my visit the temperatures ranged in the mid-70s with clear, blue skies.  The weather was perfect for a couple of rounds of golf at the Burning Ridge Golf Club adjacent to Myrtle Trace Retirement Community where my friend lives and we moseyed over to the horseshoe pits and bocce ball courts for a little outdoor fun with some of the other homeowners of Myrtle Trace.

We took a road trip to visit Atalaya Castle at Huntington Beach State Park and then enjoyed an extraordinary dinner at Folly Beach’s BLU Restaurant and Bar.  I selected petite Charleston crab cakes with a Cajun remoulade, barbeque jumbo shrimp wrapped with bacon, grilled swordfish with creamy polenta, summer vegetable gratin, a strawberry salad with candied pecans and a honey and fig vinaigrette dressing and a truly delicious 2005 Trimbach Gewürztraminer Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre wine. 

We lingered at our table watching pelicans by the dozens as they flew by the massive windows that offered an unobstructed view of the ocean and concluded our dining experience with a raspberry and white chocolate bread pudding.  We were so full we had to be rolled out of the restaurant.

Later in the week I did a little shopping at Tanger Outlet and visited The Christmas Mouse at Barefoot Landing where I purchased a “Sprinkle of Magic” Snowbaby and a whole host of ornaments intended for the new Christmas tree I plan to buy this year.

My friend and I joined her son Ronnie and his “current” girlfriend, her nephew Cole and his squeeze Erin at Buffalo Wild Wings to play Team Trivia.  We were angling for the $50 prize.

The “Ronald McDonalds” were in First Place the entire game until the final question.  Teams were asked to arrange in the correct descending order the following:  What was Clementine’s shoe size?  What is Shaquille O’Neal’s shoe size?  How many points are on Kermit the Frog’s collar?  Crystal is given for which wedding anniversary?  You could wager up to 15 points and that’s just what we did. 

Correct Answer:  Shaq’s shoe size is 23; 15^th anniversary; 13 points; size 9

We didn’t have the correct number of points for Kermit’s collar so we lost, but we had a blast testing our trivia knowledge.

After packing up the car and putting Sophie in the front seat to ride shotgun, I said my good-byes to my friend and headed back north for Hendersonville to buy some Appalachian-grown apples.  I stopped at Coston Farm.  Coston’s is a 4th generation family-owned farm and apple orchard and its pet friendly.

I bought a bushel box of Honey Crisp apples, four ginormous pumpkins, some Indian corn and some fall decorations.  I enjoyed an apple cider slushie as I sat in a white rocking chair on the porch of the gift shop.  Sophie was the only pup there and everybody wanted to pet her.  She got spoiled from all the attention she received from customers and staff.  We hung around for about an hour stretching our legs and headed home.

Apple News: We have no more Ginger Gold, Honey Crisp or Gala apples for the season. We do have apple pies ma... http://t.co/S6wFmwIvJG
— Coston Farm (@CostonFarm) October 13, 2014

It’s good to get away but it is by far better to be home again.  Sophie is glad to be home so she can snooze on her own sofa once again.  Now, I’ve got to get busy baking a poopload of apple pies, homemade chunky applesauce with cinnamon and canning some apple butter.  I have everything I need to churn out the goodies except a bottle of Dr. McGillicuddy’s Apple Pie Schnapps for the apple butter.

Proof, proprietor of Proof Positive and co-blogger here at PCP, was kind enough to keep the motor running while I was vacationing by putting up several posts.  On Saturday, October 4th he posted “Powerful Ad Running Against Mary Landrieu” .  He followed that up with “There Goes The Neighborhood”, “The Return Of Ten Buck Friday”, “Panthers Vs Bengals” and finally, what has become a Monday regular favorite for the menfolk, “Flowing Curves Of Beauty”.

I thank him for taking on the task.  He’s a good guy when “his muse strikes so long as his muse is not on strike.”