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.  :)    

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 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.        

 

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. 

Boone Hall Plantation Part 2 - The Gardens

Almost two months ago, I wrote about our visit to Boone Hall Plantation, when we traveled to Charleston, South Carolina.  I promised then to share the gardens with you, so here we are.  Better late than never.  :)  To learn some of the history of Boone Hall Plantation, you can read my previous post Here. 

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.

Brookgreen Gardens, Part Five

Since so many people in the U.S. and Canada are suffering from brutal winter weather, I felt like sharing some images that would, hopefully, warm our spirits until spring arrives.  I'm about to exhaust my stash of Brookgreen Gardens pictures; these might be some of the last ones that I haven't yet posted.  Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina comprises over 9,000 acres of themed gardens, including a sculpture garden and wildlife preserve.  It's built on four former rice plantations and takes its name from the former Brookgreen Plantation.

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.

Brookgreen Gardens, Part Four

Let's do a little armchair traveling, what do you say?  I feel like re-visiting Brookgreen Gardens to enjoy some more flowers and sculpture.  We were last there over Labor Day weekend last September.  I shared some of those photos Here.  We had previously only been to the gardens in early spring, and it was really nice to see them at the end of summer, since the flowers in bloom then were totally different than what we had seen in March.

Summer's End

Hello all!  I know most of you are probably kicking into fall mode now (I am too) but before I completely leave summer behind for another year, I want to share a few images from the beach trip we took over Labor Day weekend.  We normally go to the beach much earlier in the summer, like May for instance, but this year we couldn't manage that.

September and October are beautiful times to be at the coast, too; we've discovered that in years past.  After all the rain, rain, rain, and dismal skies we had most of the summer here, it was beautiful and sunny for the three days we were at Oak Island.

Dry Street Pizza in Southport, North Carolina

July Note Card Party

Hi everyone!  How's the weather in your part of the world?  The heat has finally arrived here in North Carolina and has joined forces with the ever-present humidity to make us feel like we're in a steam bath.  But...we have blue skies and sunshine, and for that I am very thankful.

Every summer on our local weather station, we hear the nasty D-word (drought) at least every other day.  Not so this year.  In fact, we are truly saturated.  I saw a disturbing piece on our local news last night that a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway between Asheville and Mount Mitchell is closed indefinitely due to cracks in the pavement.  The ground beneath the road in that section is completely saturated and they said the crack is five feet deep and 200 feet long.  Yikes!  Can you say sinkhole, or maybe, landslide?

Today, I've put together four pictures from some of my previous posts in order to join in with the other bloggers at Vee's monthly Note Card Party.  This month I was in the mood to use pictures of our American flag because July always feels like a patriotic month to me.  These pictures somewhat reflect the evolution of our American flag from early colonial days up to the 21st century.

"Continental Colors a/k/a Grand Union Flag"
A restored merchant's shop in Old Salem, N.C., circa 1776