In the afternoon, Ina Sue and I took the babe and drove over to Aiken for some shopping Ina wanted to get done. We had a successful trip and got home before 9:00, in time for a early bed time.
April 23, 2005
| Sunday morning breakfast
|
We all rousted ourselves out of bed around 6:30 Sunday morning. Mother had us a quick breakfast of hominy & puddins then Nathan and the van picked us up for the trip back to SC. We missed the morning service in order to get everyone back home in time for the evening service. We left at 7:30 and arrived back in Govan right around 3:00pm. We had fun talking and playing Password on the way down. After we got unpacked we were able to take a little rest before the song service in the evening. Ina Sue sang in a special singing group with about six of the other church ladies. After we got back home I whipped us up an Orange Julius (I think I pretty much have the recipe perfected) |
| Maria & Carolina playing boat |
Ina Sue ran me up to Byer's tire Monday morning to pick up my car. She went on to get gas and washed the car then came home and started on the laundry. As if that wasn't enough to occupy herself, she also swept out the car and cleaned our small shop/storage building. I had a busy day on service calls but was able to get home around 5:30 and hauled 3 more loads of pine straw and spread it. I also rolled a final coat of paint on our front patio floor. Ina Sue worked on getting the invitation ready for Suzanne's shower. Jennifer & Julie Heatwole and Audrey Dickerson came over later in the evening to look on the internet for airplane tickets. |
| Observing crabs at the Beaufort Oyster Co. |
Tuesday morning found us driving a vanload of high-schoolers on a field trip. We had the honor of helping chauffeur the field trip down to Bluffton & Beaufort. Carl Heatwole & Robin Brubaker had lined up the event. First we went to the Bluffton Oyster Co. in Bluffton for a tour of their facilities. It was really interesting seeing how they managed their crab catch in order to catch the crab right after it molted its old shell. The new shell hardens within a couple hours and they need to take them out of the water while they still have their softshell. Unfortunately, the ladies that normally shuck the oysters by hand were not in this day for some reason so we didn't get to see that process. From there we went to a really old (early 1800's) Episcopal church there in Bluffton. |
|
Our guide met us at the National Cemetary |
From there we drove about a half hour to the National Cemetary in Beaufort where we met our tourguide for the rest of the day. The national cemetary there was instituted by Abraham Lincoln as a cemetary for soldiers killed in the Civil War. It is still being used today as a national cemetary. Our tour guide explained some of the history of the cemetary and of Beaufort before taking us to the historic Episcopal church there. It was a large and beautiful old church that had once been used by the Union Army as a hospital for officers. From there he took us to his church's dining hall where we were served dinner from Maryland Fried Chicken. (compliments of one of Carl's friends) In the afternoon we saw the historic Baptist & colored Baptist meeting housed and heard many more interesting stories. On the way back to Govan we stopped at the ruins of the old Sheldon Church. It was burned by the British in the Revolutionary war, then rebuilt and burned again by the Union army in the Civil War. We got back around 4:00. After a short rest I worked a while on mowing the back yard. |
|
The High & Jr. High in Beaufort's historic First Baptist Church |
Wednesday was another normal day for me at work. I came home to a delicious supper of grilled hamburgers & fresh lettuce salad (from the garden). Ina Sue spent the day taking care of a fussy baby, washing windows, & cleaning the screen porch. In the evening we went to prayer meeting. Dale Dickerson led a discussion on the passage in James 5 dealing with anointing and healing. |
|
My ladies in the ruins of the old Sheldon Church |
I got up about 6:30 Thursday and went outside to work on leveling out some dirt where we pulled out our old red-tip stumps. I got most of it done but had to rush off to work. Carolina Sue is teething and really gave my wife quite a workout. I mowed some more of the yard after supper and Ina Sue worked on some more cooking for the weekend. |
| A friendly gold finch (actually just stunned) |
Friday I took off work for our big day with Papa's family. Actually, they didn't get here until about 5:00pm but we certainly stayed busy the rest of the day getting everything ready. I spent most of my time finishing the mowing, cleaning up the garden, and misc other work outside. Ina Sue cleaned the house and finished making food. Papa & Mother Showalter along with all of Papa's six siblings & spouses arrived in a big maxi-van right at 5:00. It was a beautiful day but after talking a while in the yard a storm started to blow up. When it started raining we all headed inside. I started grilling our catfish for supper while the ladies helped Ina Sue in the kitchen. |
| Papa played the chauffeur |
For supper we had the catfish, strawberry/spinach salad, baked broccoli, french bread with butter & garlic, and sour cream mashed potatoes. I thought it was all delicious and they seemed to like it too. For dessert Ina Sue had pecan pies and ice cream with potato chips. After supper I went along with Papa & the uncles on a tour of area dairies. By the time we got home and visited for a while then distributed our guest to their different places of lodging it was getting close to 11:00pm. We lodged two couples in Wendell Heatwole's trailer, two at James & Brenda's house, and two over in Daryl Brubaker's cabin. Papa & Mother stayed here with us. By the time I got back home from dropping everybody off, Ina Sue had already hit the sack. |
| Papa's brothers & sisters |
We got up around 6:30 Saturday morning and
started fixing breakfast. We served breakfast pizza and orange
juice, then had fresh strawberry shortcake for dessert. Everybody
kinda wanted to sleep in a while so breakfast was not served until
9:15am. After a leisurely breakfast they piled back in the van and
we led them in to Barnwell to pick fresh strawberries to take back to
VA. Altogether we picked about 10 buckets. From there we
drove over to our school building and we gave them a tour of the
building. From there we all said our goodbyes and they all headed
back to VA around 11:30am. The visit was a fair amount of work but
we really appreciated them coming and enjoyed their time here with us.
In the afternoon, Ina Sue and I took the babe and drove over to Aiken for some shopping Ina wanted to get done. We had a successful trip and got home before 9:00, in time for a early bed time. |