At the start of writing this blog, our plan for the coming week was to be vacationing at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina with good friends Jim and Debbie. Sweet! When I looked up Sweet Carolina to get a picture for this blog title, I discovered that Sweet Carolina is a sweet tea flavored Vodka, a barbecue sauce, a novel, and the name of several restaurants. Who knew?This blog title was also a play on words from the song Sweet Caroline - and thinking of the lyrics, "Good times never seemed so good... Hands, touching hands, reaching out" and me thinking of hugging, dancing, and of all of us being together again.
Friday 1/1 - New Year's Day. Everyone was posting salutations, resolutions, and well wishes for the new year. I especially like this photo one (author unknown).
I was up at 1:30am, after four hours of sleep. I sat here at my computer reading salutations, well wishes, and resolutions; and then I played some Curio games. This was not how I had planned to start the day and the new year. But things don't always go as planned.
After a short nap from 6 to 7am, and a third cup of tea, I then became productive, and actually got many things done. I started this week's blog post, looked up information about our up-coming vacation and got really excited about it, and started a packing list.
It was a very dark, cloudy, rainy day so I sat by a fire to begin my daily devotional book that Cathy gave me. Then I wrote nine thank you cards. I was still dragging a bit from lack of sleep and took another very short nap on the floor in front of the fire. I was woken, before ready to wake, when Monita knocked my glass of water down on me.
The afternoon was spent taking down and putting away the rest of the Christmas decorations, except ones I would leave out a little longer and use for next year. Shirley gave me a great idea, to have a 'little Christmas' decorating bin. In past years, it seemed kind of futile to put up all my decorations, which takes several days, and then leave before Christmas and not return until the second week of January and have all this stuff to then take down and put away. So in future years when we will be gone for a few weeks over the holidays, I will just do a small amount of decorating.
In order to put together my 'small Christmas' bin (actually I will end up with two bins) I re-decorated to decide which things to keep out and what to put where. These will be left up until after we get back from Sweet Carolina.
I got two place mats (a dime for both) at the thrift store and put one on the china hutch and the other in the center of our table. Snowmen make a good winter theme all season long.
The evening ended with cutting cardboard. I was using
the old box from our 55" flat screen TV to make a 'curtain screen' for
the sun room sliding door I leave open a crack for the cats to come and go in and out of our bedroom. I wanted to block the light from my
computer that enters our bedroom so I don't disturb Joe's sleep
when I get up so early. I left space at the bottom so cats could come
and go through the doorway. The strip of cardboard is narrow enough to store under the
couch during the day. I also made a larger table cover for when we have the leaf in
the table to work bigger puzzles. And I re-vamped the cover in front of
the bench seat that prevents the cats from 'shredding' the wicker box
files by my desk.
Saturday 1/2 - I had a fairly good night's sleep but was still not real energized.
Here is a photo of two of the cardboard sheets I had cut the night before.
My late morning workout at the gym started slowly, and with difficulty. I usually seem to gain momentum as I go, so was feeling good by the time I was done.
My birdwatchers, watching birds, and a chipmunk. From left to right - Monita, Babe, Stevie, and Styx.
I ran to Food City on the way home from the gym to pick up some foodstuff for our vacation. I heated up a frozen dinner for a late lunch, needing some protein, and finally got to the barn at 3:00. We had beautiful blue skies and sunshine, 53° temperature, but a strong breeze. Patty had Zorro out front grazing.
Once tacked up, I joined Jan, Polly, and Babs out in the pasture and arena across the street. Later I rode some of the trail, including just the top part of the Holly Trail. It was quite wet and muddy in most places, so we didn't go faster than a slow gait.
I didn't get home until after 5:30 dark and was falling asleep at my computer after dinner so went to bed at 7:30 with lights out 30 minutes later.
Sunday
1/3 - Well dang, I woke at 1:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. I sat
at my computer just over three hours before taking an hour nap on the
couch. So my day started again about 6am. I was done computerizing for
the time being and got to work on leaving for vacation. Checking off my list - laundry, pet
care note, clean dog bedding and pack up Maggie's things, get a
couple of gifts wrapped, and pack up non-refrigerated food and drink. Monita took advantage of the dog bed up on the table while the cover was in the laundry.
I did some house cleaning, cause I like to return from vacation to a clean house, or if I should not make it home, my kids won't have to deal with a messy house.
I
made a quick trip to the barn to pay board and give Amiga a Prevocox
before shoeing. Then I dropped all the dog stuff off at Patty's. She
sent me this photo shortly after I got home. Her kitties were claiming
the dog bed as theirs.
It is a good thing I took two dog beds to Patty's. LOL
Stevie supervising me while I worked at my little travel laptop.
After a dinner of stuff left in the refrigerator that needed to be eaten, I finished packing my suitcase and then loaded everything in the SUV, which you can see barely fits in the garage with the door shut.
I had even loaded the cooler because it was going to be cold enough out that stuff in it would stay cold.
My new labtop is not for travel. It is too big and I don't want it to get damaged like my last one had. I was transferring photos and my note file and making sure I could blog on this little lap top.
Monday 1/4 - I was up at 4:30 working on my little travel laptop at the dining room table. The cats just know when something is up, and were all being a bit clingy.
My car had been parked in the driveway so I had to preheat it to get the frost off the windows so I could be on my way to the barn at 6:40.
KP was a little late, and then once he got started working, he had to stop to warm his tools because they were freezing his hands.
I had fed Amiga part of her feed and she stood fairly patiently while KP worked on her feet. I had dropped her lead rope to take this photo, it is not attached to the hoof stand as it kind of appears to be.
Patty arrived to handle Zorro when it was his turn, and because I was 'running a little late' with Amiga, she offered to hold her while KP finished with her, so I could be on my way.
I rushed home, changed into my travel clothes, and we were on the road at 8:30, after struggling with our electric garage door that would not close until we unhooked it and pulled it down manually.
The 7½ hour drive went quickly and without a hitch. It helped that we listened to an audio book, 'A Murder In Music City,' which is based on a true story and had lots of history and information about Tennessee.
We arrived at Marriott's Ocean Watch Villas, oceanfront resort at Grande Dunes, located on the shores of Myrtle Beach, SC. This photo taken from their website.
Jim met us at the gate to let us in and then helped us haul our stuff up to the 9th floor of the Maple building, where the time share condo they had for the week was located.
Our building was not ocean front but our view from the 9th floor balcony was spectacular.
Once all our stuff was unloaded, we went for a little walk to stretch our legs and tour the grounds.
The Marriott oceanfront resort is a beautiful place with numerous pools, walkways, gardens, hot tubs, and even play areas for kids and adults. But it was a bit too cold this time of year to enjoy many of these activities.
This photo was taken looking down from our balcony at one of the many courtyards of pools and gardens.
We had libations, a light snack, and eventually beef brisket with potatoes and salad for dinner.
Before long, the bridge game began.
We played later into the night than I would normally have done, but the cards were hot and we were having fun. It was also just darn good to be together again.
Tuesday 1/5 - A beautiful sunrise occurred shortly after I got up, which was later than usual because I had been up so late.
I was moving slowly and distracted so didn't get much blogging done. But I enjoyed a lazy morning.
Our morning walk started out enthusiastically, but when we got sprinkled on, that dampened our spirits.
Joe goofing off as usual. Photo taken just before he flipped over and onto the ground.
Joe tried out the hot tub, but the rest of us thought it was too cold out. It was also overcast most of the day.
Bridge, TV time, chatting, naps, and snacking occurred through out the day.
Another pretty sunset was enjoyed as was dinner, carryout from Outback.
We were keeping an eye on the Georgia election while trying Euchre for a change in pace.
A selfie with the sunset behind us. You can either see the sun or us, depending on the focus of my camera.
Bridge was played late into the night.
Wednesday 1/6 - It was a much sunnier and a tad warmer day. We had a morning walk on the beach and a little later, Joe and I went to the gym for a short workout and then hot tub. We were the only two in both rooms.
It was warm enough out on the balcony to eat lunch outside. Then we headed to downtown Myrtle beach and the boardwalk.
The Ferris wheel caught our eye so we walked over, paid (each of us getting a senior discount) and were soon loaded into our passenger car.
I can't seem to figure out how to get rid of the big space below, in spite of everything I have tried. 
A look south at more of Myrtle Beach.
Off the Ferris wheel, we continued to walk around the boardwalk area and then headed home to the condo.
This statue was part of the boardwalk section of Myrtle Beach.
When we got home, we heard and watched the shocking news of the siege of the capital building.
Naps and hot tub time preceded libations and bridge, while the spiral ham finished baking and we continued to watch the story on Capital Hill unfold.
This photo is by Leah Millis/Reuters.
I went to bed with a sad and heavy heart.
Thursday 1/7 - It was another lazy morning with a pretty sunrise as I sat at the dinner table in front of my little travel laptop and looked out the window.
We continued to watch news of the Capitol riots and other crazy things happening in its aftermath.
It was a brisk early walk on the beach. But the fresh air and sunshine was enjoyed.
We had driven a mile north to take our walk and then continued up the coast to Calabash NC. We went into this one shop that was a whole long strip mall type (emporium) building. I loved the Christmas section with Christmas music playing.
Back at the condo we had carryout barbecue pork from the Marriott restaurant. We went with a movie (Shackleton's Captain) rather than an episode from the series 'Your Honor' which we had been watching.
Friday 1/8 - I was trying to keep up with this blog post, but either the travel laptop, or the internet, or both were extremely slow. So I was getting farther behind.
We went for a drive to go downtown again, and look at art work at two museums. There were some beautiful and interesting pieces.
Then we stopped at a driving range to hit some golf balls. This black squirrel actually had a white face and belly. But I could not get a good photo of it.
After lunch we napped, the boys hit the hot tub, we chatted, and then before dinner and dark, we went down to check out the big waves. Here we are going through one of the courtyards.
This is the usual way we went to get down to the beach. Notice we are fairly bundled up.
There was a shrimp boat not too far off from the beach. And the waves, created by the wind, kicked up a frothy foam on the beach.
We had a light rain shower during the day and then it started up again after dinner.
We played bridge before dinner, which was leftovers, and then watched the movie Red. The three bridge players behind me, while I am taking a selfie when I have the dummy hand.
Saturday 1/9 - It was our last morning at the condo and started out slowly. The day started out cold and overcast. Debbie had overdone it the day before and was feeling very tired. Joe had gotten up too early so took a morning nap so just Jim and I went for a walk on the beach.
We played bridge before lunch and by the time we were finished eating, the sun came out.
This photo was taken looking straight down from our balcony at the pool below us.
Football filled most of our afternoon time. I was still trying to finish up this blog but it was going frustratingly slow.
We made it to our Best Western in Columbia South Carolina at 7:30, grabbed a carryout dinner at the Italian restaurant next door, and settled into our room for the night. Joe watched football and I finished this blog post.
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