SPARTINA ALTERNIFLORA: SEABROOK ISLAND, SC

We wonder how much of our bias toward Charleston as a wonderful city to visit and perhaps to reside, is influenced by getting to hang out for two weeks with my delightful pal and cousin Ed, on Seabrook Island. South Carolina went from drought conditions before the month of February with only 2 inches of rain for the season, to 5 inches of rain over average season rainfall by the end of February.  Ed’s house is such a wonderful place to be pinned down with wintery weather.  Here is our view from the “tree house”, when we awaken in the morning with intense birdsong right outside the window.

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We eat breakfast, read the Wall Street Journal (Saturday rocks!), drink coffee and gaze out at the marsh and creeks extending from here out to the ocean as you can see in the featured image. Lety likes to hang out with Ed as he is a writer that works at the kitchen table; she keeps a close watch on the critters in the marsh and creek, perhaps hoping to see rogue dolphins that swim up from the ocean on occasion. The marsh grass Spartina is prevalent on the Atlantic Coast from Canada to Northern Argentina. It changes color with the seasons and looks like the tall grass prairie in the Flint Hills of Kansas…and just as flat.

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Flat is great though for relaxing bike rides through the shady, canopied lanes to Spinnaker Beach where the Coastal Bottlenose Dolphin reside. We saw one today, leaping out of the water and landing with a splash, part of their fishing behaviors. The Dolphins here also have another unique way to fish that is not found anywhere else in the world, strand fishing. They work as a team driving the mullet to shore with sufficient speed so that the fish hit the shallows and flip out of the water onto the sand. The dolphins roll up out of the water and onto the sand to catch and eat them. Smart critters!

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Ed is the family genealogist and historian. He has compiled notebooks on our grandparents and great grandparents including their sports awards (my grandfather held the national college record for the mile) and their letters…and these folks really wrote letters. In our speedy e-mail world, perhaps we have lost some depth to our communications, trading for efficiency. It is just so wonderful to visit distant family, and leave with deep and enduring friendship established. It just requires having sufficient time and place to chat for hours about our lives, our families, our travels and our dreams, to share some dirty jokes and limericks, and add in some political discussion. We chat while preparing food together, eating at Ed’s favorite “Cheap and Cheerfuls” (ethnic, hole-in-the-wall restaurants), going to the movies, visiting his sassy girlfriend Linda, a popular Charleston actor, just chatting our way to greater closeness….always a pleasure in a new friendship, but extra sweet with a family member.

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It helps that we all love to cook…and eat. The new Sunset Magazine came yesterday and we had a “Palio Meal”, that would be hunter-gatherer foods like….meat and potatoes! We cooked a Vietnamese inspired meal with roasted sweet potato, brussel sprouts and pork roast infused with lime, chile, honey, garlic, ginger, fish sauce and cilantro. Yummmm! The 2002 Dry Creek Petite Syrah was syrupy and rich with legs as long as Tina Turner’s! Tonight we will cook the asparagus and shrimp recipe from a Sunset Magazine feature on a Vietnamese Restaurant in Seattle called Monsoon.

We talk a lot about  Ed’s deceased mother Alice, and my 84 year old mom Diane, their close friendship over their entire lives, and appreciate our common ancestry, especially its’ roots in cooking and eating.

 

 

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About Sally

A Studio Artist and painter trained at Stanford university, Sally has since then graduated from a long career as an Attorney with the Public Defender, and returned to painting. Living in Mexico with her son for a year, they adopted a feral dog, Lety. Sally's son left for college and their dog adopted her new best friend, Steven.

6 thoughts on “SPARTINA ALTERNIFLORA: SEABROOK ISLAND, SC

  1. Karen Bellows

    Hi, Sally & Steven:
    I’ve been loving every one of your posts and you’ve brought each place so alive through your vivid, “living color” descriptions. Both of you write beautifully. My only complaint will be if you don’t actually stop by the Flint Hills (and my house) during your travels… They’re still as amazing as ever and I’ll take you on an incredible day-hike there, if you come visit.
    Keep enjoying discovering this big, beautiful world in which we live!
    Love,
    Karen B. in Kansas

    Reply
    1. Steven

      Hi Gal! Thanks for your nice comments. I went to the Flint Hills at your recommendation the first time, after a great visit with you in Topeka. I hope we can visit you there or if not, perhaps we can visit Sarah in NYC at the same time?
      Love, Sal

  2. Ricki

    Did one of those limericks have something to do with dynamite?
    We love your posts, so much fun to visit these places through your eyes.
    Travel safe, lots’o’love,
    ~RRR

    Reply
    1. Steven

      …and a woman named Lil’….yep, we are having fun. Thanks for your kind comments and following us on the blog.

      I will meet Jacob in Boston for his Spring Break next week while Steven does a watercolor workshop near Chapel Hill. Then we will go to Wash DC to see family and begin heading north with the other snowbirds. Hoping for Spring conditions sometime soon!

  3. Jane

    Hi Sally,
    My name is Jane and I’m with Dwellable.
    I was looking for blogs about Seabrook Island to share on our site and I came across your post…If you’re open to it, shoot me an email at jane(at)dwellable(dot)com.
    Hope to hear from you soon!
    Jane

    Reply
    1. Steven

      Hi Jane. Thank you for your interest in our blog. Please do not publish our blog in Dwellable. We do not want it used for any commercial purpose.
      -Sally and Steven

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