Woodside building being covered

The third apartment house at Franke at Seaside had its roof sheathed this week and some of this hard work under a hot South Carolina sun may be seen in these pictures: (click on link) and choose "Slideshow."

Senator Edward Kennedy dies; he fought to make America fair, equal and just

For almost fifty years Senator Edward Kennedy carried the torch for Americans who needed it the most. He never lost his enthusiasm, his optimism, his core belief that America's best days always laid ahead. He was the premier Senator of the last half of the last century. He died today, August 26, 2009.

He was a rich man's son who carried the torch for those less fortunate. He never had to work for a laborer's salary but he fought always for those who did. Until late in life, he was generally healthy and robust, and he relentlessly found time and energy to work hardest for those who were sick and who depended on government assistance. He had a top-notch education himself and yet he fought to assure that "no child would be left behind" in this great nation.

Any domestic legislation in the last fifty years that benefits all Americans bears his imprint somewhere in the details. Americans owe "Teddy" a huge debt that can be repaid if we work together and remember his words at the 1980 Democratic convention: “For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”


We will miss you Teddy. God Bless you throughout eternity.

Working our way through summer

The heat and humidity in the Charleston, SC, area have been typical of August in this part of the country. Oppressive and stifling. Work is progressing on the third apartment building at Franke at Seaside despite the heat. On a recent trip to Charlotte, NC, I took this picture of a solar powered combination telephone and parking meter. First one I've seen. Interestingly enough, last night on a segment of This Old House, I watched the installation of a small solar powered water fall in a garden. One of the drawbacks is that on a cloudy day (s) the water fall won't work. The industry, however, is studying how to incorporate a battery in these solar powered garden additions at a reasonable cost. I had a pond and a waterfall at an earlier home (see photo) and ran the waterfall pump on electric power. This was an added expense to install the power line close to the pond and, of course, to run it 24/7. Solar power is the way I would go in the future. (Click on photos to see large image.)

Julie & Julia - Five Stars

This is my first five-star film rating. I don't have any standing in the world to give movie ratings but in my own little corner of this world I am bestowing ***** rating on this wonderful film which depicts events in the life of Julia Child and Julie Powell, a young woman who sets out to cook all 524 recipes in Child's cookbook - Mastering the Art of French Cooking (now in its 49th reprinting) and write a blog about the whole darn experience. And, to do it all in one year.

Meryl Streep is the dot above the "i" in this this wonderful, laughing, tear-jerking at times comedy film. She has Julia Child dead-on center.

Amy Adams plays Julie Powell, a Queens housewife living in 900 square feet above a Pizza Parlor and cooking her way through Child's culinary masterpiece (when she isn't problem solving in a government cubicle in Manhattan).

Writer and director Nora Ephron interspersed joyful events in Child's life with Powell's trials and tribulations, successes and failures, joys and triumphs. It is a masterful blending of the past and the Internet age. If it were food it could take it's place in Child's cookbook. It really is that good.

If you only see one more film this year, make it this one.