June 10th: Leaving Yesterday's Dream for the summer and heading to the Murrays on Edisto Island

 

Emily and Jay

I had ten days back in Florida before I left for the summer. Fortunately, Mychael is again staying on Yesterday's Dream and continuing with some work. 

I finally had the opportunity to get my first water color painting lesson from my boating friend Emily before I left. Emily is an amateur painter but does beautiful work. Here are some examples of her work.

I was telling her how much I appreciated her work and she said, "Why don't you try it? I have everything we'd need to get you started."

First I needed to pick a picture I would like to paint. I selected one of my favorite pictures. My daughter Rebecca took a great picture of a tree frog that hopped into het hand. Emily sketched it for me so I could paint it.

Next we both painted our own copy of the picture and I tried to follow her example. We mixed the paint to get the colors we chose. You can see them on the side. It was harder than it looked but I enjoyed it. We painted for 4 hours which flew by very quickly. 

Steve's painting left, Emily's right

We stopped for the day. Unfortunately, her father had an emergency the next day and she needed to fly home. I will finish my painting when I get to the Lake house on Lake Temagami in Canada.

I left Yesterday's Dream confident that Mychael would take good care of my winter home! 

Picture from a Canadian trip - From left to right,
Cheryl, Steve Lois (Cheryl's Mom) Peter, Jim Murray 
and Linda Murray

I decided to visit Jim and Linda Murray in Edisto Island, SC on my way to St. Louis for my great nephew's graduation. We travelled a good part of the loop and other trips in Canada with the Murrays. We remained good friends ever since. They are the epitome of "Southern Hospitality". It is always wonderful to visit their plantation home.

One year Linda and I stopped at their home with our trawler on our way to Florida. It was three days before Thanksgiving. We planned to stay one night. They absolutely insisted that we stay for Thanksgiving, especially because only one of their grandchildren's family would be in attendance. We finally agreed. It was quite the Thanksgiving. We wanted to stay on our boat. Easier for them, no bedding, towels, etc. They made it very clear we were staying in their home, on the second floor of a beautiful old plantation home. 

Wednesday, for breakfast, Linda made shrimp and grits with homemade biscuits. Then on Thanksgiving Jim deep fried a turkey in the garage. It was fabulous. Of course that wasn't enough! For dinner they did a Southern Shrimp boil. Corn on the cob, chicken, shrimp, sweet potatoes and I can't remember what else. It was delicious. 

Then on Thanksgiving Jim deep fried a turkey in the garage. It was fabulous. Of course that still wasn't enough! The next day we had a traditional oven baked turkey dinner with all the traditional trimmings. My Linda and I said "We need to get out of here before we explode!" Between the food, the plantation home, the live oak trees and Jim and Linda's hospitality we felt like we were in Gone with the Wind. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

View toward the house from the marsh area behind the house

We shared many stories from the past and of course remembered Linda's superb ability to drive Yesterday's Dream. Bringing our boat up a small winding creek in order to dock at their home was truly a challenge.

Jim asked if I'd like to take a ride up to the old cemetery on the plantation. The plantation is roughly 450 acres and parts of it are actively farmed. The small cemetery was quite old. Some of the gravestones dated back to 1801. A short time ago Jim received a call from someone who was researching and restoring old cemeteries. He asked if he could come and see this one. With Jim and Linda's permission he is currently working to repair and restore the old gravestones. It is a very specialized process which prevents further damage to the markers. The gravestone to the left was broken but he has the pieces back together. Next he'll fill the cracks.

The gravestone to the left was broken but he has the pieces back together. Next he'll fill the cracks.

We took a short drive to the Botany Bay and Plantation Preserve Nature preserve. There was plenty of evidence that the waters are rising. The beach is littered with the remains of trees that were formerly growing on shore. Here is a nice link.  Preserve info

It was wonderful to be able to visit in person after three years. I only wished Linda could have joined us in person but I believe she was there in spirit. There is an organization that is maintaining historical records of the plantations. Here is a link to the Murrays' plantation, Cypress Trees Plantation, that give the history and current use of the plantation.

Cypress Tree Plantation

Next stop, St' Louis for JP Torack's graduation.