Fun with Black and White

Hi!  Welcome to SHIbuckeye! 


We just returned home from a four day mini vacation in the motor home at Hunting Island State Park.  It was  fun and only ten minutes from home!  There is no television or Internet access which allows ample time for beach walking, shelling  and taking photos.  The sunny days were beautiful , with the exception of one angry storm, and we found some great shells.  Photo opportunities were endless.  Here is a sample dozen of my eye's view in black and white.  Tip:  Click on the photo to enlarge, then click again for a super close up. 

Beauty in Erosion Devastation



Shells in Palm Tree Roots 




Palmetto Palm Branches




Is Anyone Home?



Surfer Dude



Tangles



Guarding the Beach Shadows





Foaming at the Mouth

Roots and Suds

Is  

Whose House Is This?

  

Hunting Island Lighthouse



 



A Peek from the Top



Thanks for stopping by.  Hurry back and wherever you are....enjoy your day!

A week of Finds

Hello!  Welcome to SHIbuckeye. 

Since we live on island time with no schedule, we seldom know what the day will bring.  This week has been one of "finds" and a busy and fun one.  It started Monday by going to a brunch that combined great food and "finding" both new and old friends.   What started out to be a 10:00 a.m. brunch turned in to an all day affair.  I enjoyed it so much...I forgot to get my camera out! 



Found...drift wood.



 Tuesday was a barefoot in the sand, beach treasure kind of day.  These pictures were taken at Hunting Island State Park where there has been quite a bit of erosion.  That's not a good thing...but the driftwood makes some interesting photos. 

 

Found...beach foam.

Beach foam, also called ocean foam and sea foam, is caused by the combination of  salt, impurities in the ocean and ocean turbulence.  Pretty!



Found...tidal lagoon reflections 



This tidal lagoon is a great fishing spot adjacent to the beach.  Although it's salt water, and alligators are fresh water creatures, I still kept my eyes wide open.  I've yet to meet one of those guys face to face...and that's okay with me.



Found...Eddings Point landing


The ten minute drive home from the beach turned into a little mini adventure.  We found this deep water landing and seafood company and discovered Delamo, a deep water community we didn't know existed.  It should be called Delightful Delamo.  It's a small community with beautiful cottages, great walking and biking roads.  We pulled in the driveway of one with a "For Sale" sign and gorgeous view.   I looked it up on the Internet when we got home.  I think we'll buy it...and another just like it for guests.  With a price tag of 750,000 sounds like a bargain to me!  

Found...great old louver doors

 Wednesday brought more sunshine and another play day.  We put Grace in the car and went in search of thrift and consignment shops.  What fun!  They're everywhere here!  We found a set of old louver doors which we turned into shelves and a butcher block utility table perfect for my baking needs.  Thursday and Friday were spent catching up on errands, building and painting the shelves.  We're some of the local home stores favorite people. 




Found...eye candy!


Today, Saturday, our Buckeye flag is flying and the "whirly" is out.  Now that Ohio State is the #1 team in the nation, we get to watch the game at home.  Go Bucks!!  It is a sunny but brisk 47 in our part of the low country with tomorrow's forecast calling for a temperature back up in the 50's.   Old man winter needs to lighten up!  The fans who will be in the stands at tomorrow's Steeler's game are a hardy bunch.   We'll be watching...after we spend some time with our toes in the sand.  Go Steelers!!


Thanks for stopping by SHIbuckeye.  I hope your week has been full and happy.  Wherever you are...enjoy! 

 



Chapel of Ease

Hello, welcome to SHIbuckeye.

The sunshine has been abundant on St. Helena Island for the last few days and we've been making the most of it.  It's been chilly but the sun feels wonderful and it's good to be outside.  It was a great shelling and exploring week and an opportunity to learn about our new home.  Pull up a chair and we'll explore together.

A chapel of ease is what we would now call a satellite or outreach church. Ruins from one are about two miles from us.  It was built in the mid 1700's to accommodate plantation owners.  Indigo and later sea island cotton was grown on the island and the plantation owners from Beaufort spent summers here to avoid malaria, keep cool and enjoy the coast.  There were no roads or bridges to Beaufort where the main church was and the trip was too long for families to attend church. 



Chapel of Ease

 It is built of tabby, which is a mixture of shell lime made from burning the shells, oyster shells and water.  It was used because bricks were in scarce supply.   Wooden forms were made and the tabby mixture poured.  Once dried it was durable and long lasting as long as the outer "skin" was kept in good condition and the internal timbers were intact.  

Close up of Chapel of Ease Tabby Wall

 The Federal Army gained control of South Carolina's sea islands early in the Civil War.  As a result the plantation owners abandoned their land.  The church was used by several freedmen groups until it was destroyed by a forest fire in 1886.  It  was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.  As often happens with ruins, folklore and spooky tales abound about the site.  There are some very interesting videos on youtube.com.  Just search for Chapel of Ease.



Outside Looking In

It was a beautiful, sunny day when I took these photos and although it is definitely an "eerie" place, no ghosts made their presence known.  That's a good thing.

Credit to sciway.net, wikipedia.com, youtube.com  and other Internet sites for doing the research.

Thanks for stopping by SHIbuckeye.  Until next time...wherever you are...enjoy!

Beach Treasures

Welcome!  I'm so glad you're here.  Happy New Year!

Christmas seemed to be over this year before we knew it.  The tree is down,  the decorations inside and out are put away and it's 2011.  The "kids" have gone home and little beach house is way too quiet.  While they were here, we had a great time laughing at Sparky's antics in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" for the twenty something year, modeling this years PJ's, shopping and golfing.  I should add eating too much to that list. Our brother and family was vacationing on Hilton Head Island and visiting with them was an added bonus.  The visits ended way too soon.  We hated to see each of them leave and are looking forward to the next time.   

The weather here has been "unseasonably" chilly but sunny.  Yesterday, Jerry, Grace and I took advantage of a beautiful day and went to the beach.  It was cool but sunny and beach treasures were lying everywhere.  We are such shelling novices that when we checked the shell poster at home we discovered we left several goodies for someone else because we didn't know what they were.  A pocket shell book is on my immediate shopping list.  Jerry was lucky to find a knobbed whelk and a rough pen shell.  Both are large and in good condition.  My finds were tiny treasures except for a stinky sponge.  Believe me, it is stinky!  I'm hoping lots of fresh water and sunshine will help it.  Jerry made a couple of end tables with glass tops that we are rapidly filling with sea goodies.  Stinky sponge will have to improve quite a bit before he's allowed in the house, let alone in a display table.

  

Sand dollars were abundant!  Dead ones were lying everywhere.  I found some huge ones and put them in a plastic bag. They were way too fragile for that and all of them broke.  These are two of the ones I found later.  Live ones were dug in so thick we had to be careful walking.  The beach was huge!  I've never seen such a low tide or as many tidal pools. 

A group of female equestrians was just leaving as we got there.  I can only imagine how much fun they had!  Still on the beach  was a family of three boys playing "bike" football.  They were having a great time and Mom was right in the middle of the fun.  They left shortly after we arrived and the beach was totally ours except for an occasional walker. 

We hadn't been there for a few days and we were surprised to see how much it had changed.  Hunting Island Beach experienced bad erosion in a storm that sat offshore too long a few years ago.  As a result the beach had tree stumps and a lot of debris in some areas.  It is now stump free and a beautiful uncluttered 4 mile beach.  Grace and I walked almost all of it and it was like exploring a brand new area. 

The winter beach with all of its abundant surprises and treasures is an exciting, awesome place.  Maybe more so than the summer one.  Beach walking in freezing rain doesn't sound like something I'm likely to do so it may be a day or two before I get back........thanks to Mother Nature who could definitely use an attitude adjustment!

Thanks for stopping in.  It's been fun!  Wherever you are...enjoy your day!