Another part of American history disappears...

A good and interesting, though somewhat long read, another part of American history is gone...

She sits there, dangling her legs over the edge, struck by how people from earliest antiquity have tended lights, "for the purpose of guiding vessels safely into harbor, or as warnings to stay away from hazards. This to me, is a kind of miracle."

The Last Lighthouse Keeper in America

by Dorothy Wickenden

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/06/the-last-lighthouse-keeper-in-america

W

Christmas Eve Conway 2023

 Had nice stroll with Marg this evening, through downtown Conway and along the river walk. We even found some snow...

City Water Tower

Santa's village

City Hall decorations

Main street

Snow in South Carolina?

Bridge coming into Conway over the Waccamaw river

Merry Christmas

W

Oldtimers test results

 can sometimes be discouraging to say the least. 

Well, today I passed with slowly flying colors...

The test,

You look at your most used clock to know what time it is. The trusted clock shows 10:40am. How many seconds/minutes does it take to realize there is something wrong? Then how long to find out what time it actually is from first looking at the dead clock?

Test scale:

• 5-30 seconds = awesome (plenty of wiggle room)
• 30-45 seconds = okay, could use some improvement though...
• 46-60 seconds = well let's see now, what can you blame the lag time on?
• 1-2 minutes = you forgot what you were doing
• 2 + minutes = you need some serious help, why are you waiting this long to figure out what time it is? Who cares at your age, really...
• Your original thought was that it was 10:40 pm = you are toast! Time for the padded cell.

When I looked at the clock and it showed 10:40 am, my first thought was; "how did I get all this done so quickly"? then my second thought was that the clock had stopped, only a handful of seconds to realize this possibility. Next action is to look at another clock, oh shit, I can't read that clock from this distance, then the old reliable look at the micro. All in less than 15 seconds. 

All is well until the next time.

W

Down to the bayou

  Today's exploration in our area. Down to the bayou, or Bucksport Marina, SC.

It is a launch point for boats onto the Waccamaw river in SC., a huge river coming down out of NC.

Anyway, Marg & I walked the marina looking at various boats and met a nice lady that lived on their 50' sailboat with her husband and 2 children.

She was very nice and wanted to share her story, a story of raising children, home schooling, her husband, and how they survive on their boat.

She told us of their trips from the northern Atlantic seaboard to the Keys of Florida.

They use solar power to recharge the batteries, have a generator as a backup, and she raises Quail for their fresh eggs. She even gave us one of the fresh eggs as a gift, wow!

Their cat has never lived on land, and was obviously enjoying the day on the boat.

Nice person Marcia is, not of the same beliefs that we are, but one that we will look for in the coming weeks.

She opened her home, a 50' sailboat to us and gave us a gift, real people.

Nice to meet real people living the true struggle of life, and not judging you...

W