Tag: crowds

Hey, It Rains on the East Coast

Yep, it’s lush, green, and moist here in coastal South Carolina. I enjoyed watching the rain and being out in it, even though it made us have to delay fun outdoor activities.

Rainy skies

We got a bunch of groceries at a Publix, which is like a tourist attraction for me. So much lovely and fresh food! Plus we got to see large flocks of annoying birds, including grackles, crows, and Canada geese. Sorry, no grackle photos, so you’ll have to imagine groups of black and brown birds descending on patches of grass.

Fish crow, I think
On our balcony
Canada geese
Always multiples
Pooping away
Heedless of traffic
Mourning dove
Pigeon

Our drive took us by some nice parts of Myrtle Beach, away from seedy tourist areas and run-down businesses. It looks like a lot is being done to make this a more pleasant area. There is lots of affordable housing in good condition, and that makes me happy. There are so many people working at restaurants, hotels, and attractions—and they need good housing, too.

This hardly conveys how crowded it is.

I did get to spend some time walking on the beach in the afternoon, and Lee and I walked on the boardwalk later. I found some plants, of course. I didn’t get many beach photos because it was incredibly crowded (I heard so many languages!) and the water was scary so I had to pay attention. Those rip tides try to suck you in!

Yucca flowers
Large-leaf penny wort
Painted leaf (Harrisina americana) a poinsettia
Trailing fuzzybean
Grape leaf skeletonizer moth (Harrisina americana)
The moth at left eats the fruit of this, Virginia creeper

I gave myself Beach nails and that’s about it for the day. I’m still a little tired. Tomorrow will feature activities!

Why This Non-gambler Gambled Last Night (Introverts, Harken!)

We had our own sign!

My dear spouse is the incoming president of the Cameron Rotary Club. Thus, it was sort of his duty to attend their big yearly fund-raiser, a casino night. We never went before due to a strong dislike of crowds and an equally strong dis-interest in gambling. Heck, we never gambled when we had to go to those real estate things in Las Vegas!

But, we had already bought a bunch of tickets to contribute to Rotary. And we were also a corporate sponsor, as we try to get this business going. So, we psyched ourselves up, buoyed by a surprise visit from nephew Chris (Kathleen’s birthday is next week, and this was a GOOD present). We brought along our assistant, Meghan, too.

Eek, a crowd.

The idea was to chat people up and let them get to know who our team is. It became obvious really quickly that the bland snacks were not going to entertain us all evening. I told myself that I might as well do something to pass the time, so we three women took all our pretend money and got coins for the slot machines. A kind woman told me how slot machines work (really, I don’t gamble).

Well, here we go. I can’t say I never gambled anymore.

We ended up having a lot of fun, especially when we were joined by our fellow business owners, Courtney and Jeremy. We lasted way longer than we thought we would, because we kept winning, dang it. It also helped that Chris kept sneaking more coins in our buckets. He is a good supporter of charitable organizations, I guess.

I finally could not take any more dinging and scooping up of germy coins, so I bravely made my way to the nearest gambling table. The dealer had pink hair, so I hoped she might be fun. She was.

Continue reading “Why This Non-gambler Gambled Last Night (Introverts, Harken!)”