Happy Halloween From Charleston

Happy Friday everyone!  Are you looking forward to the weekend?  Today is officially Hal's last day in the working world; he was initially scheduled to retire at the end of September, but his boss asked if he would work until the end of October to help get his replacement up to speed.  So here we are -- one of those big milestones in life, that when you're young, feels like it's light years away.  Oh how the years have flown!  I'm hoping that since he's worked from home for the last year and a half, that will make this transition somewhat easier for him.  Also, he may be called in next year to do some consulting work there, if he's interested, and I think he probably will be.  😉       So, Sunday is Halloween, and I'm posting some more pics from our Charleston trip last week.  There were some creative Halloween scenes around town, and we took pictures of our favorites.  I realize some people don't like Halloween, but we've never taken it too seriously; it was all in fun when we were growing up, and the same when Will was young.  I hope you find some fun with the pictures, and no offense intended.         

         

A Busy Fall

Hi all!  I'm finally getting a chance to write another post for October.  We returned on Friday the 22nd, from a four-day trip to Charleston.  I know it seems like we go there a lot, but we always seem to find something new to do when we visit.  We didn't go anywhere last year other than a long weekend at Oak Island, so we had this trip to Charleston scheduled for May of this year.  Sadly, we found out Duncan had cancer at the end of April, so we cancelled the trip for May.  My mom was able to get a room for us in October, and we were glad to get away.   

      

July Already!

Wow, is this year ever flying by!!!  I'm just trying not to get left behind.  😳  Before I forget, I want to say "Happy Canada Day" to my dear blog friends in Canada!       For most of this Fourth of July week, I'm planning to share photos we've taken over the years in the summertime.  A lot of them have the American flag in them, and some are just images featuring red, white and blue.  I love those colors together -- have you ever noticed how many countries have flags with red, white and blue?        

       Southport, North Carolina
  

First Post on New Blogger

Hi there and welcome to my blog.  I'm glad to see you!  I'm running out of time to get acclimated, so I'm just taking the plunge and trying a post on the new Blogger forum.  Like most folks, I don't think we'll be doing any traveling this summer, although I hope we'll get to spend a few days at my in-laws' beach house.  I imagine they'll be putting it up for sale before too long, and we need to spend some time there, if possible.  We have so many good memories from our times there.      For this post, I thought I would share some links to places we've visited in previous years; if you happen to be a new visitor to House at Forest Manor, you won't have read these posts.  I imagine we'll be mostly doing armchair travel this year.  :)    

Charleston Favorites in 2019

Photos on Canvas

The weekend is here -- are you ready?  We actually have a forecast for a sunny day tomorrow, yippee!!  It will still be cold, but the sunshine will be most welcome.  It's sunny here today, too, and that's what made me decide to take some pictures this morning.  I want to share something Hal gave me for Christmas this year.   

Magnolia Gardens in Charleston

When we went to Charleston back in April of this year, we tried to see some new (to us) places on this trip.  On one of the days there, we visited Magnolia Plantation and Gardens.  For us, the highlight of this spot was the gardens, more so than the house.  

 

Charleston's Unitarian Cemetery

This is the second part of a post on the Gateway Walk of Charleston, which Hal and I did back in April of this year.  Today I'm sharing the last of three cemeteries that were part of the Gateway Walk.  You can find the first post here.  

     

The Gateway Walk of Charleston

Happy June everyone!  How are things in your part of the world?  The sun is finally shining in a blue sky here, and I'm a happy camper.  :D   

The Beauty of Charleston

Just six hours away from our home in North Carolina, we can visit the city of Charleston, South Carolina, and it almost feels like being in another country.  I say this because the old historic part of Charleston has a very old-world look and feel to it.  We usually hear at least one foreign language spoken while we're there -- often French, sometimes German, Japanese, and the King's English, spoken with a British accent.  😉   

April in Charleston

Hello everyone!  How was your week?  It's been a while since I've posted, but we've had so much going on here.  We had some tree work done, which I'll write more about later.  We got back home yesterday evening from a four-day trip to Charleston, South Carolina -- one of our favorite places to visit.        

 

Photos on Canvas

If you read this blog regularly, you know that Mr. Forest Manor and I like to take pictures.  He is a much better photographer than I (he's much more diligent about practicing).  I'm really appreciative of all the pictures he takes for me to use here on my blog.

Last summer, Hal decided to get a photo put on canvas to give as a gift for his mom and dad.  This is the picture he chose, 

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

It's time for another (nearly) wordless post.  :)  These pictures were taken in the French Quarter of historic downtown Charleston, South Carolina. 

The French Huguenot Church in Charleston

Today I'm sharing a bit about the church we visited while in Charleston a few weeks ago.  We didn't attend the service there, but we were walking by snapping some photos, and I noticed the front doors were open.  We walked around to the steps and were met by two church members who greeted us and invited us to go into the church.  They said we were welcome to look around and also welcome to take pictures.

Historic Boone Hall Plantation

Hi folks!  I hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day yesterday; I know I sure did.  We are so blessed to still have both of our moms with us, and I'm so thankful to be a mom myself.  :)

We just got home Friday evening from four days spent in Charleston, South Carolina.  What an amazing city -- full of elegance, grace, mystique, hospitality, history, and good food.  If you've never been, I encourage you to put that on your list of places to see.

While we were there, we made a side trip to Mt. Pleasant, where we toured Boone Hall Plantation.  I believe I went there as a child with my parents and sister, but I really didn't remember it at all.  We spent the afternoon there, and it was a fascinating visit.

Charleston Part Five, Doorways and Courtyard Gardens

Hi folks!  I'm still here, just can't seem to find much time to post (or visit) at the moment.  Life has been quite busy with our family, our home, and our Duncan.  ;)  When I first started my blog almost four and a half years ago, things just weren't as busy around here as they are now.  But -- I still look at all your blog posts almost daily, and I will still be visiting, it just might take me a little longer to get there.

Wow, it's really hot here now!!  It's not even the middle of May, and already temps. are in the 80's and very muggy.  I would love to have had a few more weeks in the 70-degree range, but we have to take what we can get.  It was about this time last year that my husband and I took a short trip to Charleston, South Carolina -- what a wonderful and unique city!!  Charleston is famous for its courtyard gardens, and we saw lots of pretty ones.  Those serene and shady gardens are beckoning me right now, so come along with me for a tour.

Charleston Part Four, The Gardens at the Heyward-Washington House

I'm in love with American colonial gardens.  

Steeples, Gates, and Window Boxes -- Charleston Part Three

I can hardly believe this is the last week of May; time just flies by faster and faster every year!  So much has been happening around here, making it difficult for me to blog.  If I find time to write, edit, and publish a post, I don't seem to have time to visit others like I need to and want to.  If I pay a lot of visits and leave comments, there's no time left to write a post.  I'm going to have to find a better more efficient way of doing this.

Charleston, Part Two

Continuing with our tour of Charleston, I'm sharing the rest of the interior of the Heyward-Washington House.  I wanted to go ahead and do that before I get busy here with other things and too much time passes.  You can see the first part of the house Here.  In this post, I'm focusing on the rooms on the second floor of the house.

I'm so excited to show you the rooms on this floor; there were two bedrooms and two withdrawing (or as we are used to saying) drawing rooms.  The bedrooms were on the back of the house, and I'll share those first.

Charleston, South Carolina

I was so happy to be able to spend almost three full days in Charleston this past week.  You see, Charleston is the city where we spent our honeymoon 27 years ago today.  We were married on the 23rd, and we arrived in Charleston on the 24th of May, 1987.  At the time, we had said we'd try to return for our tenth anniversary, but as the saying goes, "Life happens;" so 27 years later, we finally made it back to Charleston.  It was a quick, but wonderful trip.