Dear Reader:

There was never a more appreciated sight for all the Ya’s as when we pulled into the driveway at Carolina Corner and knew we had made it to our official  “End of the winter retreat.”Hallelujah!

We had already experienced a wonderful surprise while stopping at our favorite Georgetown seafood restaurant “haunt” and meeting a fellow Erskine classmate, Chuck Ewart. It just made our day and set the upbeat mood for the whole retreat.

What are the chances of something like this happening…but we took the God’s Wink and the wonderful cuisine as a sign we were in for a amazing gathering…and we were! (I was too excited to see Chuck to remember to take his and his beautiful wife, Jo’s, photo before they left…hate it when I do that!)

*We almost didn’t recognize our restaurant at first…they were in the process of painting it a bright cinnamon color…but it had the same good food inside!

Then, when we arrived at the beach house Libby told us that we had an invitation from another Erskine classmate, Scotty Clarkson (Libby’s sister-in-law) and her husband Skip ….to join them for Happy Hour at their beautiful scenic beach house! Our retreat was off to a roaring start…What fun to catch up and make more connections than we knew…from the past and present. Storytelling at its best.

The next morning Brooke and I decided to do some exploring around Pawleys. Brooke wanted to find a friend’s beach home she had told her about and to use the access to the beach if we wished.

So “Sherlock Holmes and Watson” started off on their first “misadventure” of the retreat. It is a good thing we can’t see into the future because we were just about to make a quite comical/embarrassing mistake.

*In retrospect I probably should have followed this ‘wise advice’ …Just keep this embarrassment to a minimum…but I still wake myself up laughing about it.

We found the beach home and followed the directional clues (we thought)…. Then we posed all over the house…on the porches, hammocks and even the beach. We thought we would send the photos to Brooke’s friend.

I forwarded the photos on to Brooke later that day so she could send them to her friend thanking her for the access to the beach and letting her know how much we enjoyed seeing the old Pawley’s beach house. Five words came back from her friend…“You’ve got the wrong house!”

(All I can think of at night is this house having a roving security camera that took our “model” photos posing all over this unknown house…What would the owners think…don’t even want to go there! Would we be thrown in jail for being “basket cases?” Does anyone even use that term anymore?)

Brooke didn’t have on her glasses and mis-read a 6 for an 8 for the address. There is a lot of difference in the two houses…too too funny. So the next day we returned to redeem ourselves and found the right house. It was an historic landmark and once had been the All Saints Summer Parsonage/The Rectory. 

The building had been constructed in 1848 and was used as the summer parsonage for the All Saints Episcopal Church for a long time. Many rice plantation owners attended evening summer services there. It was sold by the congregation in 1960 to its present owner…Brooke’s friend’s family. Isn’t that interesting? All along the side porches were remnants of the rectory’s meetings…long green pews that could seat many people running down both sides of the porches.

It had taken us to the “End of the Rainbow” but we found it! 🙂

There was a bird’s nest third story look-out on their family pier and one could see up and down the (almost) entire landscape of Pawleys. Spectacular and secluded (by brush and foliage) at the same time!

On this “mis-adventure” a gentleman (walking a dog and watching me taking photos of historic markers)…stopped to tell Brooke and myself about a secret graveyard that most people pass and never know about…He knew because it is right next to his new home and he cares for it.

*I must have another blog to tell this story, along with the Pawley’s Island Chapel story, my return to Whitmire’s Jewelers with another story on the mystery of the Pawley’s Island Shell…and a nostalgic story on the famous boathouse that lies in front of Carolina Corner.

So until tomorrow… There is more to come…a week of adventures and “mis-adventures”…the best kind!

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

(*Occasionally I found time at Pawleys to respond to some of your wonderful comments and I will begin responding again this week but wanted to let you know that just reading them makes me feel so good!)

*Squeezed in among the Pawley’s Island retreat was a surprise birthday party for Walsh by Mollie (and what a surprise it was) and some national attention to Beauty Counter…a company based on selling safe beauty/body products to customers of all ages. (Mollie is a top regional consultant for this company)

I had time to stop by and see the grandchildren coming back from Pawleys (and some friends from out of town who came to the party.) I think one day this week I will probably pull a Rip Van Winkle and just sleep a couple of days. Still it was so worth it and so much fun…I think Jo Dufford, one of our loyal readers, summed it up best with the last line:

Thank you for all the wonderful blogs we enjoyed while you were putting your feet in the ocean, feeling the sand between your toes, eating too much, laughing a lot and enjoying the best friends ever. You have to come home from such a wonderful week truly uplifted and feeling so loved. 

I do.

*Eva Cate and Eloise spent some bonding time together…my “E” granddaughters.

Vickie’s (terrific neighbor) and my time-shared rose bush is back…better than ever…here is the first rose of the season…perfect! beautiful! Something special about that first rose!