Happy Spring

Happy Easter!!!!

House Guests

 We have had a busy week.

 Our granddaughters have been visiting from Boston

&

we have enjoyed every minuet of it!

A Little Bit Of Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Tiny Spaces (part 1)

 I am a big fan of the Tiny House Movement. There are a number of great blogs out there devoted to the tiny house. Here are just a few that I have come across: 1 2 3 & 4. 

 Charleston seems to be ahead of the curve on this movement though. There are so many adorable small homes & businesses to be found in this city.

 It would literally take forever to document all of them, there are so many. 

But I have been enjoying taking photos of the ones that I happen to pass.

And it turns out I already have quite a collection.

I especially love the ones with a second story. They are so tiny it is hard to imagine how they have fit in a staircase.

 These long low dwellings, which are not but one room wide, are very typical country cottages in the South.

There are also the ones that go straight back & are often called shotgun houses, because you could fire a shotgun straight through them.

But most are called Freedman's Cottages & were believed to have been built after the civil war for freed slaves to live in.

I especially love this tiny two story house tucked in between much larger & grander homes in the heart of downtown Charleston.

The House & Other Things

 The house continues to be a bit of a construction site, although there is very little to show for all this work in progress. 

Well, we have put in some closets in the bedroom

& work in the kitchen continues at a steady pace.

Sometimes in all this chaos, the best thing for me to do is go for a walk & just get out of the way.

Here are just a few details from a walk around the neiborhood this week.

 In spite of cool temperatures, spring is really starting to pop out all over.

Had I mentioned that the ceilings of the early piazzas were painted 

" haint blue" to dispel evil spirits. The theory being, that the sky blue color would fool the offending spirits into believing that it was indeed the sky & that they would move on along without entering.

Everywhere one looks, there are so many aging & crumbling details of a time gone by.

In what was once Wilhemenia's, is now one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants, Five Loaves 

....on Cannon Street. Another favorite is Butcher & Bee (not pictured), which is also in easy walking distance. They both offer great vegan & vegetarian options.

 Charleston is a bicycle kind of town. Everybody rides bikes here.

 Although many trees are still bare, spring is surely on its way.

Hope you have enjoyed yet another walk around the neighborhood in Charleston. 

Porches, Verandas, Piazzas

By whatever name you may call them, Charleston is a city of porches....

....or verandas

.....or piazzas, which is in fact the preferred term here in Charleston.

Wether grand or humble, it seems every home here in Charleston has a porch.

In my walks around the city I like to see what people have on their porches.

You see a lot of colorful bikes parked on porches.

  

Because, these piazzas or porches offer real out door living space, they are often furnished like another room of the house.

One thing is certain they all provide a comfortable place to relax. 

Some have curtains, lamps, & candelabras, as well as furnishings  for  outdoor seating & dinning.

While for others, a simple rocking chair is all that is needed.

 The one that brings back fond childhood memories for me, is the old fashion porch swing.

 I did not grow up in Charleston with its elegant piazzas & stately verandas, but I did grow up in the South, where sitting peacefully on a porch to enjoy the afternoon breeze was a treasured way of life.

You never know what you will find on a Charleston piazza, perhaps some freshly washed laundry for example, but what is undeniable is that the life of the porch lives on here in Charleston.

If you are interested in knowing more about the piazzas of Charleston here are a few links: 1, 2, 3 & 4

Enjoy your weekend everyone!