A week away

My sweetie and I had some time share points--a bunch of them--about to expire, so we sat down one day a couple of months ago and figured out how to spend 'em.  Labor day weekend in the NC mountains, a couple of tickets to Cirque de Soleil's Kooza in Boston for my son and daughter in law, and this wonderful week we are in the middle of right now.  We lucked into a little one bedroom condo in Isle of Palms, north of Charleston SC, the barrier island just north of Sullivan's Island.  Yesterday we bicycled from our condo to the south end of Sullivan's Island and back, mostly sticking to the oceanfront.  The huge number of for sale signs, more it seemed on IOP than Sullivan's, wasn't a big surprise, but what I found amazing was the number of homes being rehabbed in some way.  Tons of remodeling projects along our journey.

Today we put the bikes on the car and drove into Charleston and spent the day riding around downtown.  Such a glorious city.  It's hard not to fall in love with the spectacular homes along the Battery, or on Meeting Street or any of dozens of streets.  And those ubiquitous courtyards, seemingly a requirement of any home no matter the size.  Again, lots of for sale signs and again many, many rehab projects.

This gorgeous home is one of literally hundreds of such homes that  we enjoyed riding past today. 

Mid-afternoon we had the good fortune to duck into a gallery to avoid a brief shower and I discovered a wonderful fabric artist.  from her website "Karin Olah works on canvas, linen, and paper, creating her signature collage paintings as a way to connect with America's quilt making heritage. Using fabric, often antique textiles, the artist works in a manner that mimics the flow of paint from a brush."  I don't know when I have been more excited and pleased by an artist's work.  Great stuff--here's a link to her site:

http://www.karinolah.com/ver1.0/index.php

The artist herself was sitting the gallery when we were there so I also had the the good fortune to meet and talk with her, and tell her how much I enjoyed her work.  I suspect she might have been happier if I now owned a piece or two, but I feel fortunate to have "discovered" her. 

Crazy week on Wall Street, etc.  It has been nice to have the diversion of Charleston to allow me some moments of denial.  Of course back at the condo, we are glued to CNN, CNBC, MSNBC etc.  A subject for another blog--catch you later.