edisto

if you need a dose of laid back beach living with access to lots of wild beauty,then edisto island is for you.  an hour south of charleston, it features long dirt roads with a canopy of live oaks and spanish moss, acres and acres of pristine beaches and wide expanses of marsh grass.  lots of primeval beauty, and plenty of good eatin’, too. be sure to catch a meal at po pigs barbeque on the way in it’s on highway 174, and it’s a southern food buffet the likes of which you have never seen.  it’s more variety than you can possibly eat, and voted the best barbeque in south carolina.   open thursday - saturday.also check out botony bay, a new 4600 acre state park.  it’s got a half mile walk over wild marshes to the beach, which has never been built on or inhabited much since the old plantation days.  lots of wild beauty to stir your soul.

shishito peppers

one of my favorite places to dine in athens is

the national

.  the food and ambiance is great and in the summertime, they have the best peppers on the menu.

shoshito peppers are the most perfect fry peppers.  supposedly, one in every ten peppers are spicy....i have yet to get one of those yet.   if you come accoss these little guys at your farmers market- pick them up!  they are super addictive and a simple side.

add some olive oil to a very hot pan.  toss the peppers in for a couple of minutes.  finish with some sea salt.  and enjoy!

summer's nuetrals

the other day i went to the botanical gardens for a long walk.  we have had some hot and dry days  this summer and everyone and everything is tired of the heat.

on my walk, i was  inspired by all of the expired blooms that once were vibrant and alive are now tired, dry, and muted.  i realized that i was ready for fall and all of the colors that fall brings.  this weekend, get out and take a walk.....and remember 35 days until fall.

sunset sunflowers

yesterday i caught the mexican sunflowers with their butterfly friends right at sunset as a storm brewed in the background.  the results show the mystical magical beauty to be found in the country ( or anywhere!).

reeds odds and ends

for years, one of my favorite junque stores ever has been reed’s odds n’ ends.  they are right on hway 441s, between watkinsville and bishop.  whatever you need, they have it.  i’ve about furnished my whole house and yard from there.  everything from old linen tablecloths to cast iron frying pans to barn doors, yard art, cookbooks, and anything else you might need.  check out the accompanying audio piece to hear clay bolton interview mr.reed about how it all started.

listen here!

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paul's BBQ

there’s a cute old barbeque place in lexington , georgia.  it’s in an old gas station right on 78.been open on saturdays for about 30 years.  my son and nephew and i stopped there for lunch on the way to pick blueberries, and it was really good.

vintage shoe casts

i went to reed’s odds n’ ends the other day, and they had a whole basket full of old wooden casts for making children’s shoes.so many different styles and so tiny.  they were only five dollars each, so i took some home.  don’t know what i’ll do with them.  just admire them.

stormy skies

boy, yesterday evening a big storm came up right at sunset. the clouds were amazing!  once the wind started to blow,we hurried inside to hunker down, but then is sort of blew over and only left us a little rain.