Harrison Turns Two

Although not yet terrible, Harrison will indeed turn two years old on the 25th of August. We jumped the gun a little with a Saturday birthday party and the weekend has been made doubly special with a visit from his Grandparents.
Harrison's party was at a local park and the children quickly wore themselves out playing on swings and slides ... fulfilling Meg's cunning plan to prepare them for an after lunch nap. I am not sure if the chocolate cupcakes scuppered this for other parents, but Harrison certainly slept well.



We have enjoyed relaxing on the beach, eating great food and opening awesome gifts for Harrison that range from an incredible peacock puppet (thanks PT and Mary) to a medieval style castle (thanks Sarah and Marc).

After Harrison's nap we spent the afternoon at our favorite local spot on Cure Beach. The waves were fairly intense (possibly due to Tropical Storm Fay in Florida?) but did not deter Mary Alice from swimming. The water is about as warm as it gets.

While the adults enjoyed a few beers, Harrison decided that two years was quite long enough to live, and proceeded to lay himself down in the path of on-coming waves with absolutely no regard for his safety.

The photos may show him in only an inch or so of water, but that is only because I did not care to have camera in hand when he became more of a dare-devil. I assumed that after fishing him out from under a wave once, he would gain more respect for the ocean ... but no, I forgot he is a boy, and somewhat different from his sister in certain ways.

Charleston with Lydia

A big thanks to Lydia for coming to visit us for a few weeks in July. Despite flight delays and jet lag she was in great spirits from the moment we saw her. We decided to take a trip to Charleston, South Carolina, staying a couple of nights in a hotel right in the heart of the historic downtown.

In the past we have tended to skip over Charleston in favor of Savannah, GA, but this trip reminded us of the dynamic beauty and charm of this city. Charleston embraces its rich history and does not hide the fact that its much of its wealth originated from enslaving Africans on rice plantations.

Today street after street showcases gorgeous flowers and palm trees, cobble streets and wide sidewalks, homes with sweeping verandahs and immaculately painted railings.

After a long day of exploring the city without a stroller for Harrison (quite an oversight), we hired two bike taxis to take us to the "Battery", where fabulous homes look out over the water. We all decided that this was an excellent way to tour the city!



We chose to visit Magnolia Plantation for a significant part of one day. Situated on the Ashley River, it is one of several rice plantations in the area. Spanish Moss drapes from the trees (apparently it is not from Spain and does not belong to the moss family). As we entered the plantation we spied horses and peacocks sharing a large field. One peacock became quite interested in Emma's lunch and Harrison learnt a new word!

The petting zoo was one of the reasons we chose this plantation - lots of goats, geese, ducks, a baby alligator (not to be petted!), a pot-bellied pig or two and some rabbits. Much older children were amazed that Emma managed to catch a rabbit, and I know she felt good about handing it over to a boy twice her age.
The peacock feather display was not for our benefit, but to impress the ladies.
Later we took a "train" ride around the plantation - not really a train, and the heat became seriosuly oppressive. No-one had to imagine too hard to realize what slaves endured.

Although I was disappointed with the knowledge level of the chap who gave a "slave talk", there is a conscientious effort to restore these slave cabins using original materials where possible and to construct repairs using 19th century technology. They have already constructed a barge in this manner that would have been used to float rice and cotton on the Ashley River tide. Usually the tide would have been sufficient to carry the barge to the port of Charleston with little effort other than keeping it in the mainstream - some jobs were clearly better than others!

Whenever Harrison sees pictures of Lydia, he gets excited and announces her name - usually it sounds like "Lidja" which is very sweet. Lydia bonded so well with Meg this visit that she tends to email her more than me!

The short but sweet life of well-loved chickens

We have become rather well-known in the neighborhood for having chickens roaming freely about the garden. Not just any old chickens, these are exotic bantums - Black Japanese Silkies, distinguished by fluffy "fur" rather than feathers, and a Polish Hen, with a magnificent plume on her head. These chickens were a gift from Eddie, Emma watched them hatch, and they have been truly hand-reared and loved ever since. Here below, is Lucy, bestowing affection on one of the chicks in its younger days. Harrison initially showed a mixture of fascination and fear of these chickens. He wanted to touch them and yet always seemed to end up kicking them - quite deliberately too.

Gradually over time, with gentle guidance from his big sister, Harrison became more loving toward the chickens and pretty soon, they were both able to catch these surprisingly fast-moving chickens pretty much whenever they felt like it. Much to the fascination of our neighbors, the chickens became quite tame - except for the rooster, whose refusal to be caught and placed in the safety of his cage led to an early demise. Although Eddie was very proud of this rooster because he was a "frizzle", we found him to be a little scrawny and bad-tempered. My father noted that he crowed at 11 minute intervals from 5:30am. All in all, we did not begrudge the resident fox his supper that night.
Emma has always loved animals - rabbits, hamsters, doves, horses, peacocks and um, unicorns. She handles these creatures with confidence and that is beginning to rub off on Harrison, who can regularly be found wandering around the garden clutching a chicken.
Here is Harrison proudly showing off his favorite chicken to Lydia, visiting from England for a few weeks.Here is Taylor, who has known Emma since pre-school class together and is our neighbor ... sometimes she feels like our third child! The chickens provided endless entertainment in the garden for them.

Alas, this story does not have a very happy ending. Currently the fox is scoring 3 out of 4. Usually the chickens are put to bed safely in their cage but a sudden violent storm scared them off somewhere last week and the next morning there was just one left. Our family is quite used to adversity when it comes to pets ... Mary coped well with the eulogy of "Whiskers" the wiley hamster on her first visit to Wilmington, however, the loss of these special chickens is sad and we hope to replace them soon. Apart from keeping the children entertained, we were hoping for a steady source of free-range organic eggs.

Topsail Vacation

This is the view from our beach house. Sarah, Marc, Nate and Anna are with us as we relax in the sun. Despite liberal applications of sunscreen we are all becoming quite tanned in the intense heat. The waves intimidated Emma and Nate for a few days but have calmed down as the week has progressed.

Sarah's sharp eyes spotted dolphins from the first morning. The children do not allow for extended sleep-ins, but sunrise over the ocean more than compensates for their early habits. Donuts and "Moose Munch" coffee provided by Marc also help!

Shrimp boats regularly chug by towing nets relatively close to shore; yesterday Emma and I decided to paddle our kayak out for a closer inspection. We found a trail of seagulls and several dolphins, attracted to the fish that got through the nets. Apparently our trek off to the horizon alarmed a few mothers on-shore but we had it all under control!

Meg and Emma are expert at finding shark's teeth, following in the traditions of Isabel and Mary Alice. Nate and Harrison have been been busy collecting shells and Anna seems to enjoy the taste of sand.

Low tide reveals the best shells and sometimes leaves tidepools that become as warm as a bath and keep various cousins happy for hours.

A turtles nest hatched one evening about 9 houses down the beach. The officials watched in vain until about 10pm, I awoke at 2:30am and I think I was the first to see all the scrabbled tracks - unfortunately the crafty little chaps launched themselves into the ocean when no-one was looking. Yesterday the nest was dug out to count the shells - over 80 hatched while about 10 eggs were non-starters.

A dramatic storm rolled in last night. Marc and I decided that one lightning bolt had our name written on it so we contented ourselves with watching the drama from inside.

The children enjoyed cocktails at five ... which became quite a merry affair.

A few photos to finish out the story of this awesome vacation ...