Today is Sunday, January 18 and there are only 27 days until Valentine’s Day.  If you have not already gotten a card and a gift and other treats for your special someone you had better get moving.  Warning to guys – DO NOT buy some type of appliance or kitchen utensil for your wife or girlfriend.  Unless, of course, you are hoping to spend the balance of the day alone.  Today we remember the birthdays of Alfonso Ferabosco, Jacques Gregoir and Yehezkiel Braun.  On this day in 1535 Francisco Pizarro founded Lima, Peru, in 1777 San Jose, CA was founded and in 1943 presliced bread sale was banned to reduce bakery demand for metal parts.  In Tunisia it is Revolution Day, in Virginia tomorrow is Lee-Jackson Day and in the US tomorrow is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

The lovely Elaine and I have become quite the gadabouts lately.  I mentioned last week that we had just returned from a trip to New Orleans.  Well, a couple days ago we returned from a short trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Our friend Pat’s daughter Kate got us fantastically low airfare and the four of us took off on an adventure to the south.  We discovered a number of things while we were down there.  One was that our hotel was a haven for senior citizens from up north who go down to avoid the snow and cold weather for a couple months.  There was a fairly sizable group staying at our hotel and it was like being at our local senior citizen center, only with an ocean outside and free breakfast inside.

Another thing we found was that “–ish” was implied for many things.  Signs announced how many miles to something, except that they were not always accurate.  It was more like “Outlet Center 2-ish miles.”  Stores were casual about their opening times, opening at 10-ish.  We also discovered that Myrtle Beach is loaded with mini-golf opportunities, with over 30 courses across the Grand Strand.  Unfortunately they were all closed at this time of year.  I also realized that if all the Waffle Houses and pancake places there closed at the same time, unemployment levels would increase drastically.  It seemed like there were at least two pancake restaurants in each three block stretch, everywhere we went.

I was surprised by the size of the beach down there.  I guess we are spoiled by our beaches here at home.  Considering the number of hotels in the area, I do not think the beach could adequately accommodate everyone there during the summer.  If all the people in all the hotels went to the beach at the same time, they would not have room to lie down, especially if the tide was in.  They would have to stand or, maybe, sit if they got there early in the day and staked out a space.  We stopped at one section of beach in a town south of Myrtle Beach to see if the size of the beach was the same.  It was actually smaller.  What made this location more interesting was that there was a drainage ditch running out onto the beach.  As we approached the walkway to the beach, we saw a sign that read, “Attention!  This water contains an unusually high bacteria count.  No swimming within 200 feet on either side of this stream.”   I can let you know the name of the town if you need it so you can check on rental availability.

I am not a seafood eater myself, but the lovely Elaine, Pat and Kate thought they had died and gone to heaven.  We went to an area called Murrell’s Inlet which is known as the Seafood Capital of South Carolina.  We found a couple restaurants that had great seafood dishes and the ladies were able to satisfy their aquatic culinary desires quite nicely.  We also had a great meal at a local BBQ place. 

On our first day there, we had the opportunity to go to a great sculpture garden.  The place was quite big, but everywhere we went there were sculptures, displays and fountains.  It was quiet, pleasant and interesting.   It rained on our second day so we went to the outlet center.  Fortunately, we were restricted by luggage room and weight, or that day could have been far more expensive.  On our third day, we had no particular plan and just drove around to see what there was of interest.  We drove to North Myrtle Beach and back, making sure that we sampled one of the ice cream stores along the way.  We were diligent in our efforts to sample the various ice cream offerings each day we were there.

On our final day, we drove around looking for things to do to fill the time until we had to be at the airport for our flight home.  We went to a city called Conway and walked around a little.  We went to an art museum and saw some interesting exhibits.  Then the lovely Elaine suggested that we go to Pawleys Island.  She had read about it in several books and thought it would be interesting to see.  Generally, it was not.  On our way back, we saw the place where the original Pawleys Island hammocks were made.

We decided that we should stop there to see the hammocks.  We walked through a store and saw a number of interesting things.  Again, the weight and space restrictions of our luggage prevented us from purchasing anything.  I would have bought a hammock and had it shipped if I had a good place to put it at home.  Unfortunately, I do not.  There was a building that was where the hammocks were made and we could go in and watch them work.  That was very interesting.  While there we met a man named Marvin, who was making a hammock.  The process was very interesting and I could have just stayed there and watched him work.  

Marvin stopped working on the hammock to chat with us.  He decided to make a souvenir for the lovely Elaine and Pat.  He also warned Kate that she should pay attention because he was going to have her make her own when he was done.  He then proceeded to take a length of rope and make a ring.  He then took 9 pieces of rope and wove them into an intricate design that could be used to create any number of decorative pieces.  The interesting thing was that while he wove the nine pieces, he was looking at and talking to us.  He was explaining what he was doing, but he was not looking at the piece.  It was amazing!  Even more amazing was that Kate was able to duplicate the piece with very little assistance from him.  Pawleys Island turned out to be better than we thought it would be. 

 

Our fact this week tells us that the glue on postage stamps contains from 2 to 8 calories.  With all the cards we send out that would explain my weight gain around the holidays.  Now I have to work hard to lose all that stamp weight.