Back from the dead.

Ok.. going to give this one more try. It's been upwards of three years since I last posted on here.. been a rough and tumble few years, but it's not been without it's high points and lessons learned.

-In early '09, I and a partner opened a "green" transportation company. A step up from a taxi, but not quite as luxury-focused as the Town Car set. It was definitely a learning process, and I made lots of mistakes.. luckily, they were all mistakes I didn't make again.

-In late '09, we ended up closing the company. I was offered a "partner" position with another local transportation company.. it didn't really turn out like that, but it did help me learn what to focus on. Where I was previously putting in 50-60 hours per week, I was now working upwards of 90, with a lot of increased focus on face-to-face marketing and promotion with the downtown hotels and businesses. It definitely served me well in building a client base.

-In July '10, I opened my second transportation company, this time with an increased focus on luxury. I started with a BEAUTIFUL Jaguar XJ8L.. the car made quite an impression on my clients, and was very popular. I found it surprisingly easy to keep my days filled with reservations and marketing work. Another year of 90 hour workweeks.. definitely kept me busy! Unfortunately, the Jaguar's continuous breakdowns ate up a good deal of the profits I realized.. and the business missed during the repairs ate up the rest. This brings me to today.

I have officially reached my "Fuckit Threshold". I closed up the limo biz as of last week, and the Jaguar is up for sale. Damn car is nearly brand new at this point, so it should make someone a lovely grocery go-getter. I'm moving out of the downtown apartment this month. Where to? One word for ya..

Liveaboard.

I'm moving on board the Sea Witch, a 30' S2 sloop (actually it's a 9.2 meter.. measures out to 29'11"). I lived onboard an old Columbia 34' sloop several years back for a year, and loved every minute of it, so I'm really looking forward to getting into it again. There's a certain indescribable something to living on the water.. there's a beautiful liberation to the simplicity of it. No more shelves full of stuff, no more closets full of clothes that might get worn once a year. Sounds nice.

Anyway, I'm going to be renting the boat at first, while I save up to make the purchase official. After she's bought.. well, I dunno what I'm going to do. I've got a wander-demon in the back of my brain that's telling me the Keys aren't really that far away, and if I can pull off sailing to the Keys.. well, the next thing on the bucket list would be the Bahamas. I've got plenty of time to think about it.. and maybe make some plans. We'll see.

Highs and lows..

It's been a hectic few days around here.. preparing for Hurricane.. no, TS... maybe hurricane? Nope, still TS Hanna.. it's kept me pretty busy. And just when I get the last couple of jugs of water frozen, the last pieces of loose outside trim secured, the last bit of anything loose around my house cleared out.. Hanna's going to miss us. Meh. At least it's done in time for Ike. Hopefully that one will miss us, too, because it's looking NASTY. Fingers crossed.

Went out crabbing with a friend last week, for the first time! Absolutely wonderful time.. we took his two daughters for their first crabbing trip, and watching those two little girls learn about these Carolina blue crabs was almost as much fun as learning to crab! We put the boat in the water in a small town called Rockville, near Seabrook Island. had an amazing day, and caught a couple dozen heavy, beautiful blue crabs for dinner.






























Later that weekend we put the boat in the water and crossed the harbor so I could take a few photos (well, really so we could have a chilled adult beverage at Red's on Shem Creek). Honestly, we barely made it there. It was a beautiful day, but Hanna had sent 3-4 foot swells into the Charleston Harbor, and they kicked the shit out of us. We pulled up to Red's looking like a couple of drowned cats. I damn near sprained my knee trying to stay on my feet in the boat! The moral of the story is: PAY ATTENTION when you hear about a small craft advisory!!

Semi-yearly update!

Apparently, I'm so uber-slacktastic that I can only update my blog every few months.. hopefully nobody's been holding their breath! Lessee.. Cliff's notes version:

Sold the Harley, paid a few bills, bought an old pickup truck. Apparently it's called a "pickup" truck due to the fact that every time I drive it, I have to call someone to come pick me up. Blech. The upside is, the women in my life are talking to me again since selling the bike. I must admit, I'm a bit confused.. Dad bought my Harley, and Mom still talks to him. I don't know how he gets away with it.

Picked up part time work driving limousines in the evening downtown. Interesting! The chauffer's license was a bit of a pain to get, but the work is worth it. Lots of time to listen to my audiobooks, and the occasional celeb in my Town Car. Beats sitting at home reading the TV Guide!

Just started another part time gig designing "social networking" pages.. MySpace, Facebook, etc. The work is fun and a bit challenging, offers a LOT of creative license, and can be done from home. If only I could do it full time, I'd have happy feet!

Not much else going on.. I do have some ribs on the grill right now though, so I'm going to tend to them.

Gots me a HAWG!!

Well, I finally broke down and did it.. I went out last week and bought a Harley. I've wanted one my whole life, ever since riding on the back of my Dad's Sportster back when I was 5 or 6. We were living in Italy at the time, and that Harley was bigger than most of the cars out there. Hell, our family car was an old Fiat 126 (594cc engine).. Dad's Sporty was nearly twice that size! I remember being so proud, in a 6-year old way, when we'd ride down the road and Italian mothers would jerk their kids (the very same kids who'd beat me up because I was the only blond haired kid on the block!) out of the streets in surprise as we rumbled by.

Now I've got my own Sporty.. a 1997 XL1200 Custom. Bone stock, dark purple (for some reason I want to play lots of Prince on my iPod now..) with plenty of room for customization. I've been suburned for a week straight, and you couldn't pry the grin from my face with a crowbar.

Put yer knuckles to the wind!

37 on Saturday..

This is the first time ever that I've felt shitty about my birthday. I don't know if that's the cause of the shitty feelings, but damned if it isn't on top of me, and at the forefront of my thoughts. Another birthday. A birthday alone. Fuckin yuk.

Depression doesn't fit the ordinary soul. It doesn't fit ANY soul, truly.. but at least with the creative, the glamorous, the literary elite.. there can be a glossing over of its true nature. Beautifully melancholy, if you will. A state of artistic martyrdom, a necessary burden that is tied to creative beauty. It's all magnificently heartwrenching, if you can make yourself believe what is seen on prime time tv. For the rest of us, however, it's just ugly. The loss of purpose, the replacement of free thought with obsessive self analyzation, the smiles that feel so heavy you can't even bear to think about them, much less fake them.. it's all truly ugly. Unnatural. And damn near impossible to swim your way out of. I'm sure it's the same for the everyone, from the inside.

A little gloss would be nice, at times. I'm just sayin'.

I'm suffering from a vitamin H deficiency, I'm afraid.

'H' stands for hustle, in this case. I swear, I feel like a rube surrounded by hustlers sometimes.. it even runs in my family. The ability to turn gripes into greenbacks is awe-inspiring to me. Sadly, I was born without the gene. I share the hustler's burning passion for a good deal, but lack the killer instinct needed to score such a deal most times. I usually stumble around hoping one falls in my lap, which does happen every once in a blue moon. The folks in my life, however.. look out. They are always on point.

My closest friend is a born hustler. Now, keep in mind I don't mean this in a bad way whatsoever. He just has an innate talent for turning a deal. He does it with everything.. vehicles, real estate, boats.. his father's the same way. They have a knack for seeing the possibilities in a given item, and using them to turn a profit. My girlfriend operates in much the same fashion. She turns stuff into gold. She's got a head for business that's beyond belief, and a dozen ideas in the works at any given moment. Damn near everything she touches scores a home run.. frankly, it boggles the mind.

My uncle, now.. he tops them all off. He operates as an under the table loan shop in a small town upstate. Everyone just knows if they need cash, go see him.. but take something of value. He's got a warehouse full of stuff, and an inventory in his head that's as accurate as an Excel spreadsheet. If he can't turn a buck with it, he won't touch it. Hell, he was even talking a deal on a Mercedes at my grandmother's funeral. With one of the other guests! If it were anyone else, I'd have been mortally offended.. since it was my uncle, about all I could manage to do was grin and shake my head. After all, you don't invite a lion to dinner and then cry when he eats your dog.

I wonder if I could find a vitamin H supplement...

Mixin things up..

It's a good thing. I've been feeling a bit stagnant, feeling like I need a little change. I can't afford to move yet, so I painted! Two days to paint one room.. yeah, I'm slow. So what? It looks great! I think it looks great, anyway. I liked parachute pants, too, so taste may be in question.

The job wasn't without its hazards.. I suffered random losses of balance and some vicious attacks from fire ants that were living in the ladder that I used. Made it through without any serious mishaps, though. Hard to believe I did this for a living without causing myself permanent injury.

I went with three different colors.. a deep chocolate brown is the main one, with a sandy beige at one end of the room and a medium gray-blue on the other. All in all, I really really like the result. LOVE my new living room.

There are a few more pics on my Flickr page.

Goodbye, Nana..

My grandmother, one of the three most important women in my life, passed away Saturday morning, Nov. 3. My parents, uncle, and myself were all there with her, holding her hand, until the very end. I was entirely unprepared to lose her, and fought against accepting the inevitability of it despite my grandmother's assurances that she was at peace and ready. Life moves along, and one must grieve and cope as best they can. It's taken me some time to come to grips with the fact that she's not with us anymore, and to come to terms with the sadness I've felt this past week.

Along with the grief, however, there is joy. Joy that I had such a wonderful person in my life for so many years. There is gratitude that she loved us all enough to pass on her wisdom and advice to us. And there is love. There will always be love.

Thank you, Nana, for teaching me respect, for teaching me to care for others, for showing me right from wrong. Thank you for your quiet confidence and pride in me.. in all of us. Thank you for believing in me when I didn't believe in myself. Thank you for a lifetime of caring and support.. we love you and miss you so very much.

Mary Nell Chesser Glass, 1924-2007
Sleep peacefully..

Doodoo.

In a word, that describes the day I've just had. Blech. Some days are just stinkers, you know?

When I walked out the door today, it was beautiful.. sunny, cool, blue skies. One the way to work it clouded up, and before too long I was driving into a thunderhead. Pulling into the parking lot in the rain, I made a bad joke about hoping this morning wasn't some meteorological metaphor for the day I had ahead of me. Boy howdy, did I call it.

An employee benefits meeting this morning put me behind in the day's prep work, which put me behind getting out the door and to the hospitals I was due in today. I had to skip lunch, and had to work late tonight and cancel the dinner plans I had for this evening with my girlfriend to celebrate her birthday.

Also, I was shat upon during the last patient placement of the evening. Joy.

Face the floor and find the narcotics..

It's been a hectic couple of weeks since coming back from Texas.. I got sick right off the bat. Some sort of chest bug that beat me down over the course of a week. I finally went to the doc last Thursday and was prescribed some antibiotics (I'm sort of against the way antibiotics are prescribed so quickly.. but the God's honest is I was feeling so cruddy I'd have taken dog food if the doc wrote me a script for it) and some narcotic cough syrup. Oh, yes. Cough syrup with hydrocodone in it. Twas good, indeed, but was consumed all too quickly. I felt wonderful for two and a half days though. I'm still feeling a bit rough, but light years better than last week.

Had an intenesly interesting day at work today.. was part of the delivery and setup of a fairly advanced proning therapy bed to a patient in cardiothoracic ICU at a local hospital. It's a fascinating piece of equipment, and pretty effective as well. After we placed the patient and he was proned, his oxygen saturation level went from 72% to 96% within just a few minutes. I can't help but think that it must have been a real smack-yourself-in-the-forehead moment when it was discovered the pulmonary benefits simply turning a patient over has. Fascinating stuff.

Not much else going on in my world, with the notable exception of dinner with my girlfriend to celebrate her birthday tomorrow night. I've been looking forward to it all week long, and cant wait to begin our evening together. I'm on call this week though, which is the only shadow on the horizon. Hopefully I won't get called out for a delivery in the middle of dinner. Fingers crossed. Toes too.

You may all go to hell, and I'll go to Texas...

So sayeth Davy Crockett. So sayeth.. well, Davy Crockett. I admire the attitude.. sad thing is, all those politicians that Mr. Crockett so eloquently expressed that attitude for back in Tennessee were still alive and kicking after the King of the Wild Frontier lost his life to Santa Ana's men.

Believe it or not, I really enjoyed visiting the Alamo. I've had a great time getting out and about in San Antonio, and I'm a little sorry that I'm only going to be here another week. Classes have been interesting, if a bit grueling.. lots of technical minutae to memorize. I'm feeling that it's been well worth the trip at this point, even though the company is trying to feed us to death. I've never eaten so much over the course of seven days in my life. I think I've put on ten pounds since I got here!

I went out tonight to La Hacienda de Los Barrios.. my friends
Jamie and Maggie had both said that they'd read about the puffy tacos the restaurant is famous for and suggested I poke my head in for a taste. Good call, y'all.. they don't look like much, but those were damn good. Everything I had there was, as a matter of fact.. so good that I'm going back for more before the week's out.



The only thing I'm bummed about so far is missing out on some really neat local Dio De Los Muertos art work.. I passed up the purchase in hopes of finding a larger/less expensive selection elsewhere in the town. I'm hoping I can get back out for another chance to buy some before I have to head home. I'm missing family and friends, and looking forward to getting back to Carolina.. but since I'm down here for a few more days yet, y'all may go to hell.. I'll keep eating in Texas!

Texas bound..

In about 24 hours, I'll be leaving Chucktown for San Antonio, TX. I'll be out there for two weeks, attending product training and procedure classes for work. I'm excited and a bit nervous.. it's supposed to be some fairly intense classroom training. The past few days have been an absolute whirlwind.. trying to get some required prerequisite training out of the way in time for the trip, my travel advance and paycheck came in late.. I didn't get either until late Friday afternoon. Mad rush to get by the bank, and now I'm in a mad rush to get everything else done. Laundry, packing, washing the dog (my folks are going to be looking after the wondermutt), last minute bills. Urg. I'm just ready to go, already. Luckily I'll have a laptop with me, and free wifi at the hotel, so I'll still be able to feed the internet monkey that's on my back! I've got one single day off while I'm there, so I'm hoping to get a little sightseeing done then. I've heard the Riverwalk was nice, and it might be against the law to visit without seeing the Alamo, so those two destinations are a given. I'm hoping I can dig up some more interesting stuff in the next few days..

iPhorgot about the iPhone...

...as soon as I saw the Neo 1973. It doesn't look quite as slick or refined as the iPhone, but it offers TOTAL freedom in regards to service providers and software. Me likey. It's a product that fairly screams "hack me!" and I'm down with that in a big way. Here is the Neo Advanced kit that has me drooling like a Great Dane at a cookout. "If you can't open it, you don't own it."

Right on.

New job, new shoes, new outlook..

New job, anyway. I recently accepted a position as a service consultant with a company that manufactures and provides critical care equipment to area hospitals. I've got to say, it's turned out to be much more interesting than I had expected. I've been dividing my time between intensive product and procedural training classes, diassembling and sanitizing equipment at the warehouse, and popping in and out of ICU/CCU's to deliver and setup this equipment. It's enjoyable, lets me get out and about the lowcountry, and satisfies my inner "tinker demon". And, it feels good.. like I'm helping folks in a small way. Also.. profound respect for health care professionals.

On the other end of the emotional spectrum: lonely. I went to the grocery store today, and noticed that they've begun decorating for fall already. I snatched up a cinnamon broom for my wall (I'm a sucker for them), and the scent made me think of the holidays. Generally, that brings such a pleasant nostalgia.. but this year I felt anxious. And a bit empty. And I'm not ready for any holiday cheer. I suppose it's because of the relationship struggles my girlfriend and I have been having. Blech.

So, tonight I've got a pot of chili on, some Pink Martini (I love Sympathique), and a shiny new bottle of Nassau to help sanctify my soul. If I'm stuck with the melancholy, at least I can shoot for a pleasant state of melancholy. Also, upcoming travel plans to make.. I'm being sent to San Antonio for more training for work in a week.. two weeks in Texas! I've never been to any points west before, so I'm really looking forward to the trip.

Letting go of Richard White.

The end of last week was good.. I talked with my girlfriend, I mean really talked, we had dinner, we spent some time together. I took a day trip down to Tybee Island, GA, with a good friend on Saturday. I spent the afternoon with my family on Sunday. It ended this morning, when I learned that my biological father, Richard White, had passed away. 10 months ago.

Now, let me say that I really never knew Richard very well. He and my mother split up when I was a toddler, and I never really met him until I was in my early 20's. For whatever reason, that side of my family never contacted me until then.. I met Richard at my parent's high school reunion. I learned that he was happily married, with two strapping sons and a beautiful daughter. I learned that he had a brother, whom I met and liked very much. I visited his home and family a couple of times after that, but we never really stayed in touch. We'd talk on the phone every couple of years.. that dropped off altogether back in 2001. I learned in 2005 that Richard had suffered a stroke, and I spoke to my grandmother a few times after that. His stroke was of such a magnitude that he didn't remember anyone and was unable to talk or walk. I wanted to visit, but couldn't quite bring myself to. It brought up such an odd combination of emotions, a flood that I never quite understood, and was unwilling to face.. and I just didn't.

My Dad (mom married him after the divorce from my biological father, and he adopted me) had told me on several occasions.. more like insisted, actually.. that I try to talk to Richard as much as I can. He tried to emphasize the importance of knowing your parents, of talking to them and spending time with them. He lost his own father to WW2 when he was very young, and I think he always felt the loss of not knowing him. I think I'm just beginning to realize what he was talking about. I think I'll know much better as time goes on.

I'm not sure what I feel right now.. it's hard to separate one thing from another. I do feel grief, and loss, but I'm having difficulty discerning exactly why, when we were never close. I never even called him Dad. And I'm angry that his mother (my grandmother) never called me to let me know that his condition had worsened, or that he had died.. and I'm not sure why, because I certainly made no more effort to keep in touch and check on him on my own. And because of that, I'm guilty. And I'm so sorry that we didn't talk more, that we didn't visit.

I love my family.. but I didn't love him enough when I could have. Now I've got to try to let go of someone I never made much of an effort to hold onto in the first place.

Pedalers and pushers..

The only people movin's gonna be the sailors, just castin' their fate to the wind..















I ran across a recording of this unreleased Buffett tune on an old mix cd of mine.. I think he performed it a few times back in the early seventies. It almost applies now!


They're running out of gas for your automobile
The only way to get it gotta learn how to steal
Or push your car home til' your back starts breaking
I'm sorry now, kiddies, that's too much to take and

Chorus:
I wanna be a pedaler, not a pusher
I can't wait til' they find a new gusher
Skinny tires and wires get me where I wanna go...

There won't be gas for campers or trailers
No, none for big yachts, or even Boston Whalers
The only people movin' gonna be the sailors
Just castin' their fate to the wind

Repeat chorus

And I hope this record won't be my final,
But the company is just about to run out of vinyl
Maybe they'll go back to plastic on paper,
Or even punchin' holes in vanilla wafers..

Hell, now people you have heard my warning,
Better get up kinda early this morning
And get yourself down to the bicycle dealer
Pick out a one, maybe two or three wheeler.

I wanna be a pedaler, not a pusher
Don't wait around, there ain't gonna be a gusher
Skinny tires and wires get me where I wanna go...


I wanna get a greasel...

Ebony and ivory..

Sorta. Living in perfect harmony. All up in my front do'.



What I'm referring to is yet another invasion of widow spiders, both black widows and brown widows. The black widows are black, of course. The grown brown widows had these light tan backs with dark scribbles on them, like some sort of ancient scrimshaw. Anyway, I killed them. All of them, I hope. I only noticed a single spider at first, high up in the corner above my

door, but after going through this last year I knew that there were most likely more hiding out. Once I dosed my doorway with spider poison, they came scurrying out of the cracks and crevices of the wood trim. Five BIG fat adults, and six or eight immature ones.

Normally, I don't mind spiders so much. Even creepy ones like garden spiders(or banana, or "writing" spiders as we called them as kids).. I prefer to let them be. I even think the little fuzzy jumping spiders I see on occasion in my kitchen are cute. But widows.. something about their hunched, spindly appearance.. the way they hide so well in plain view.. the speed with which they do move when disturbed.. it just freaks me out. Sort of like a bunch of evil little befanas (yeah, I know she was a good witch, but she still scared the bejesus out of me when I was five) lurking around my cottage door. So, now I have to spray the rest of the house.

Feeling seriously nostalgic for the keys today. I've been sifting through some pictures I took when I lived there, and I surely do miss it. I need to plan a road trip. I need some Tiki time. Some Marley music and a deliciously touristy frozen pain-in-the-ass. With a 151 float. Hells, yeah.

Long time no sea..

And I mean it. I need to get my feet into some salt water, and I mean soon! It's shameful that I live so close to the ocean but never spend time in it. Also, it's been a while since I posted, obviously. Sorry for the cheesy play on words, but folks come to expect it of me.

The past nine months have zipped by ridiculously fast. I helped a friend out by letting him stay with me for a few weeks.. that turned into 6 months. Much awkwardness and no hilarity ensued. My mother was diagnosed with Celiac's disease, and my grandmother with COPD, nonsmall cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the lung, and stiffening heart valves. They're both doing ok for the most part, all things considered. Dad and my uncle are in relatively good health.

Lil' Mama's Red Pepper Squirrel has closed their doors since my last post.. the owners have a bit too much going on and have decided to sell it. I've been having some issues with my girlfriend over the past several months, a good part of which is due to my own inherent instability. Or maybe it's fear of commitment. Or maybe I want too much and am not willing to give enough. Bottom line, I'm trying to be a better person. Hard. To. Pull. Off. Mainly because being a shit just comes easily. But I'm trying, and progressing, I think.

I talked to a really good friend of mine from way back this afternoon, and that was really refreshing. It's nice to have the sort of friendship that maintains like that.. seems that no matter what's happening in either of our lives, when we talk it's just like it was back in the day. And that sort of stability speaks volumes. He's got a local band together that gained a lot of popularity, and I couldn't be prouder of that. I'm proud that he's pursuing his talents, and I'm proud that he's found a way to express his beliefs in a way that can touch so many folks. Check out www.solidgroundministries.com sometime.. you won't be disappointed.

While I'm still thinking about music, I'll mention that I may have a little something developing around here. I've been in touch with a local guitarist about possibly putting together a small group, and I couldn't be happier. I've loved playing music for over twenty years now, and I've been really jonesing to find someone with similar tastes to practice with. Hopefully we'll be able to hammer out some tunes.

In other news, I'm stopping painting pretty much altogether. I'm sad about not working for myself in that aspect (did I ever mention on this blog that I did interior/exterior contract painting?), but it's probably for the best. I never really made much money at it, and I blew out my knee today for the last time while stepping off a ladder. No more climbing for me! Really, I haven't been taking many contracts lately, so it won't be a huge change for me I suppose.

Move on.

Culinary nirvana!

Forget Halloween, yo. All those neighborhood candy fiends had to get their fix with my neighbors... I was at the opening of the Red Pepper Squirrel. I'm at home now, and I'm still visualizing the plus-sized serving of heaven that was on my plate tonight. Allow me to give you a brief rundown...

I met my friend Kristi out at the Squirrel for dinner. I'd have loved to have been able to chat with Beth all night, but she was husslin' her tail off in the kitchen, cooking for all the hungry townies. I had a couple of Yuengling drafts, Kristi jumped on a glass of Purple Rain MD 20/20. I wish I'd have had the testicular fortitude to order a glass... I'll work up to it eventually, but right now it brings up too many memories of teenage hangovers, and the less appetizing occurences that generally preceded said hangovers.

Kristi started with the garlicky cheesy spinach artichoke dip (I've had that before at Lil' Mama's, Beth and Seana's other restaurant. Gooood dip.) with toasted pita wedges, and I had the brushetta topped with tomatoes, fresh basil, roasted garlic, parmesan and balsamic vinaigrette. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Beth also brought us out some toast rounds covered in the most delicious pimiento cheese in the world, all melty and hot. For the main dish, I had a spinach and goat cheese ravioli in a fantastic roasted red pepper marinara; Kristi went with a huge steak quesadilla. Man alive, my ravioli got better with every single bite! That marinara had zing! I'm going to have a hard time not ordering it the next time I eat there.. there are so many other things on the menu I'd like to try!

I had such a great time out there... the restaurant is beautiful inside, thanks to the art work of a local graffiti artist. Such a fun, funky place. Congratulations, ladies! You've done a wonderful job with the Squirrel. I'm going to be thinking about tonight's meal for days to come...

Recovery sux.

Monday morning... why couldn't I get better on a Wednesday? I was down for the better part of last week with a bad stomach flu. I know it's not really a flu, but that's what everyone calls it. Aside from the fever, chills, and setting up camp in the bathroom, it wasn't a bad week. Got a lot of reading done. Got my satellite tv fixed. Watched some DVD's. And now, when I'm feeling 110% better and able to really enjoy goofing off, I've got a full week of work to look forward to. Damn the luck. Ah well... at least I have the work.

Last week actually put me pretty far behind on the house I'm working on right now. It's a huge house, waaay out in the country. I was hoping to finish up this week, but it'll be another ten days for sure now. The scenery is amazing... a little spooky, even. The house is on a tidal creek in the marsh, with half-dead live oaks draped in spanish moss all around. Fitting for a Halloween workweek, no?

In other news, tomorrow is opening day for the Red Pepper Squirrel, Beth and Seana's new restaurant in Mt. Pleasant! I'm hoping to be the first one thru the door.. if I can't do that, I'll be the last one out! I'm pretty excited for them. They've closed Lil' Mama's, their gourmet pizzaria out on Folly Beach for a few months.. partly because the traffic drops off so drastically at Folly during the winter, and partly so they can concentrate on getting the Squirrel up and running. Lil' Mama's last night open was Saturday, and I understand it was a very emotional night. Lots of folks, especially regulars, came out to wish them luck and show their support, and quite a few even stayed to help them close up. Such great peeps out on Folly. I've got a feeling these girls are going to take Mt. Pleasant by storm...