Beach Days

We are currently sitting on the beach at Litchfield by the Sea with Johanna's friend Sarah who came into town for a visit on her birthday. The first full day of summer is beautiful, though the notorious southern heat has already reared her head.  The beaches are packed, families of all types gathered in a sense of communal worship of the ocean. Many writers have gone on much more eloquently than I to describe the allure that continually draws us back to the water. But I have always found the attraction of water to a land based species quite intriguing. The land that makes up the beaches of the Grand Stran was once considered worthless except for the timber. Now lots sell for a million dollars. Is our love of the ocean a success of tourism marketing? Or has something deeper been there since the beginning of mankind? 
A coworker's son died this week much too young. He was the type that always lived free. Whether pursuing his dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail or traveling the country finding work to support himself but always leaving the door open for the next adventure. I think it's his life that shows why we find ourselves time and time again at the water's edge. It is the horizon just beyond our visual expanse. It is the belief that something larger than us is at work, something that offers endless possibilities. 

Southern Snow and Ice

The last several weeks have been a roller coaster ride of weather. It can be 70 degrees and sunny on the weekends, and by Tuesday we have freezing temperatures with frozen precipitation. Round 1 and Round 2 were almost night and day storm systems, resulting in drastic differences.

Round 1: Snow and Ice, January 21-22

This was a nice little winter weather storm, even though the roads were a little icy. There was minimal damage in the area. No power outages at our home. No limbs down. 

 First Snow in our new home

 Little Icicles

 Beautiful bare fig tree

 Some long icicles

 The only snowman to be found

Frozen!

Round 2: Freezing Rain & Ice, February 11-12

This was just gross. It has been so cold, rainy, and wet. As the day progressed, the trees got coated in ice and the rain continued to fall. Limbs of trees began to fall. Power flickered at the house and at work. Trees and power lines were down on our street and in the country club. We were lucky to just have some limbs fall, but our poor storage shed fell victim to a brutal blast from a falling limb.

 Our driveway covered in fallen limbs

 One of our oaks snapped into our neighbor's yard 

 Little shed was not as lucky :(

 Frozen fig tree

 Pelican icicles

 More limbs down - smelling the fresh scent of pine 

Live oak touching the "Loop"

Thankfully, through all of this, we are safe and came out mostly unscathed. Our cars were not damaged. We didn't lose any trees completely. We have consistently had power and heat. We think ole Punxsutawney Phil was right in his prediction of six more weeks of winter! We have definitely been experiencing the "winter blast."

Wedding

We wanted to thank everybody for making our wedding truly special.  It took a year of hard work and planning to make it all happen, but seriously it seemed like the day passed in an instant. We had such a blast and hope to have many more to share with you in the future.
-Ben & Johanna

TPLO

I should probably count myself fortunate.  We made it 10 years with no serious injuries, no tennis balls swallowed, no daring leaps that resulted in broken bones, no drinking tasty chemicals, or any other accident that always seems to be looming on the horizon with creatures that don't seem to think for themselves very well.  However Dakota, master of faking leg injuries to get treats, has finally become his own boy who cried wolf.  I began noticing the slight limp in the right hind leg and the shaking after we walked a couple months ago.  I attributed this to his impending 10th birthday - 70 years old!  The door bell rang one evening and Dakota jumped up in a fit of excitement at this chime that announces the arrival of another member to his pack, and more importantly potential treat opportunities. I knew immediately something had gone wrong. He pulled his leg up in a very tight ball and wouldn't put it down at all.
The vet confirmed my fears, Dakota had torn his Cruciate Ligament (same as ACL in humans).  The procedure recommended was the Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO). Actually it's a rather ingenuous procedure where they cut the tibia bone, re-orient the geometry of the bone, and bolt it back together with a plate. Once healed the knee no longer needs the cruciate ligament to function properly.
We had the surgery done on July 31.  Dakota stayed overnight at the vet's office.  Picking him up the next day he was beyond pitiful with the large cone on his head, shaved leg, and square shaved in his back.
The first couple days having him at home have been quite challenging.  Just because he had knee surgery certainly didn't change his personality.  We have tried to contain him to the living room, but naturally he still wants to hobble around the whole house.  The coffee table is sitting on the couch to prevent him from trying to get up there, and he is having to sleep in his crate at night to prevent him from thinking he can still jump on the bed.  If the surgery wasn't several thousand dollars, it would be kind of amusing to see exactly how a three legged dog would jump on the bed!
His ankle joint has swollen up badly, but I'm told this is normal and a cold compress can help help reduce that. Continuing his physical therapy, which consist of flexing his knees for 15 minutes. Anybody that knows Dakota well, knows that 15 minutes of touching is way too much for his aloof attitude.   I caught him this morning testing his foot on the ground which is a positive sign.  Hopefully a full recovery is only 8 weeks away!

Happy Flag Day...and Bourbon Day?

June 14th is Flag Day, and I have enjoyed driving by the multitude of American flags waving in the breeze through the median of Litchfield Beach today. Something about seeing so many flags waving creates an overwhelming sense of pride for my country. Go USA!

But...today is also Bourbon Day!  Now, with my Kentucky roots and Ben's love of bourbon, this sounds like our perfect holiday.

Garden & Gun published an special section on Bourbon in their February/March issue in 2010 titled "The Bourbon Renaissance."

After reading the article, Ben was then on the hunt for a bottle of the above pictured Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve, 15-year-old Bourbon. This hard-to-find, small-batch bourbon is only released twice a year, and if you are lucky to find a bottle, you would be advised to purchase it on the spot.  It won't be there tomorrow.  Luckily, Ben was given a bottle, and he enjoys it very much, only drinking it on special occasions.  I think Bourbon Day is a good enough reason to break out the Pappy and mint julep glasses!

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!

On this sweltering day with our first temperatures peaking over 95, I am looking for any excuse to cool down.  If I could skip out of work to head to the pool, I would.

This delicious recipe for a Rasberry Basil Limoncello Cocktail sounds like the perfect way to cool down after a hot day and wind down on the backporch in the evenings.  Plus, it doesn't hurt that it has a beautiful presentation!

This recipe came from Style Me Pretty Living, and it looks and sounds delicious.  I plan on making some of these as soon as I can get my hands on all the ingredients:

Raspberry Basil Limoncello Cocktail

PREP TIME 5 Minute/s

COOK TIME

TOTAL TIME 5 Minute/s

Ingredients

• 2 lemon wedges
• 4 basil leaves, roughly torn
• 6 raspberries
• 1/2 tsp. superfine sugar, optional
• 1/2 ounce limoncello (preferably homemade!)
• 1 ounce lemon vodka
• champagne
• ice

Instructions

1. Add the raspberries, basil and lemon wedge to a high ball glass.
2. Muddle until raspberries are pureed and basil has been bruised.
3. Fill glass with ice.
4. Add limoncello, lemon vodka, sugar and stir until sugar is disolved.
5. Top with champagne.
6. Garnish with a single raspberry and lemon wheel, if desired.

http://www.stylemepretty.com/living/2013/06/13/raspberry-basil-limoncello-cocktail/

Asheville: A City We Love

We have taken a hiatus, but we are BACK! It's tough work planning a wedding, fixing up a house, and overseeing conferences.  As we slow down {some} moving into the summer months, we aim to be better bloggers.  This post from Garden and Gun {one of our favorite magazines} was the inspiration for today's post:
http://gardenandgun.com/article/city-portrait-asheville-north-carolina

Last August, we traveled to Asheville, North Carolina for a long weekend.  I've been to the Biltmore and the Grove Park Inn previously during the holiday season, but I had not been to Asheville's downtown, explored it's surrounding areas, or STAYED at the Grove Park Inn.  I was looking forward to checking out all that Asheville had to offer, and I had a great guide to show me around.

We arrived mid-morning on Saturday and set out on the streets of downtown Asheville, pursuing the eclectic mix of boutiques, antique stores, and other novelty shops.  We stopped for lunch at Lexington Avenue Brewery, sampling one of the many local breweries in the Asheville area.  We sat at the bar, ate our lunch, and enjoyed the delicious beers as we people-watched.

After lunch, we milled around downtown awhile longer before jumping in the car and heading to Highland Brewing Company for the Brewery Tour and evening concert in their tasting room.  I had done a little research prior to our trip, and we had planned on going to visit the brewery of some of our favorite beers.  We highly recommend working this into your itinerary if you are going to be in the Asheville area, because you are able to tour the facilities, see how their beers are made and why Asheville is such a great place to brew, and taste the beer!  They even have special, small-batch brews that they only serve in the Highland Tasting Room.  You can get all the info here:
http://www.highlandbrewing.com/

Adjacent to the Highland Brewing Company is the Troy & Sons Distillery, which makes moonshine.  After our Brewery tour, we were able to go through the Distillery Tour.  We enjoyed seeing how moonshine is made {not in your bathtub} and sample the different varieties they have.  I opted out, but Ben enjoyed them. The guys working there said they are starting to market to local restaurants and establishments to offer the moonshine as an alternative to Vodka or Rum in mixed drinks.

We stayed at Highland Brewing Company a little longer to listen to the local bluegrass band that was playing in their outdoor park area, appreciating the cooler mountain air and a break from the steamy, humid temperatures at the beach.  We left to check in at the Grove Park Inn, and we were so fortunate to be able to stay there since Ben's conference was taking place at the Inn.  We were assigned a room in the "old hotel," which you have to take an elevator nestled in the large fireplace that is manned with an attendant at all times.  When we stepped off the elevator onto our floor, it was like we had stepped back in time to the 1920s.  Much to our surprise {and delight} there was a plaque on our door identifying it as part of the suite that F. Scott Fitzgerald stayed in when he visited the Grove Park.

That evening we headed back to downtown Asheville for dinner at Barley's Taproom & Pizzeria, meeting up with some of the fellow South Carolina-LEED Conference attendees.  Barley's offers a wide assortment of beers, and the pizza is delicious.  You can even order by the slice!  We made our way back to the hotel to enjoy some music in the Great Hall, overlooking the twinkling city skyline before turning in for the night.

Ben had given me a special surprise a few weeks before our trip with a massage and day pass at the Grove Park Spa.  I had been looking forward to this experience, but I was a little nervous, as it was my first massage and first spa experience.  But let me tell you, it was incredible.  The massage was wonderful and something I desperately needed, and getting to lounge around all day at the spa was just what I needed to unwind.  If you can make plans to go, the Grove Park Spa is worth every penny! And yes, it is just as magical as it looks in the photos:
http://www.groveparkinn.com/the-spa

The remainder of our trip was full of Ben's conference activities, but it was a great get-away for both of us.  Asheville is a fun city with lots of things to do and see.  We hope to make it back there soon to explore more that the city has to offer...and try out some more brews!

Tell us about your favorite spots in Asheville!