Camellia's and Cookies

Good morning is everyone ready for Christmas.. My family will celebrate Sunday at momma's. I can't wait to see everyone and watch the little ones, their excitement is contagious. 
This time of year can be such a busy, stressful and even a sad time for some of us, so I decided it was time for a field trip to see some pretty camellia's.  I picked up momma and headed out to the Coastal gardens & bamboo farms 

to see what was blooming on the Judge Arthur Solomon Camellia Trail. The trail has grown a lot since last February so much so that momma could not walk the entire trail. 
As far as we could see there was beautiful camellia's blooming. If you are local or are coming to Savannah soon you must go .. If you have been before you must go back the entire farm has had major work and new additions just since I was there in early summer..

Here is a blog post and slideshow from my visit in February .. click here Judge Arthur Solomon Camellia Trail

this is just a few of what we saw, I will share more I promise. But first I have to get back to baking, painting and finishing Christmas gifts.

Have a few cookies and head over to
 Miss Susan's @ A Southern daydreamers
and see what everyone is sharing for Outdoor Wednesday..

hugs and Merry Christmas to everyone, Cherry

The Tall Ships stopped by Savannah

The Tall Ship Challenge brought some
 fabulous boats to Savannah last weekend.
 My girlfriend Beth and I
did the tour of the boats and it was a lot of fun.
They gave us a very nice passport style booklet
and as you boarded each vessel your passport was stamped.
Then Monday morning we headed out to
Old Fort Jackson to watch them leave
 and I have to say it was an amazing sight to see

Tall Ships Challenge Atlantic Coast 2012

The Bounty ~ my favorite picture I took of the ships

The Lynx  ~ firing their cannons at all of us at the fort

United States Coast Guard Eagle

what a beauty ~  This flag is the one you see in the above picture on the back of the boat

Dewaruci

juggling pirate, magical pirate and singing pirates

I loved the sleekness of these two sister boats from
Brest, France
The Etoile and The La Belle Poule

The Peacemaker and our local riverboat

Beth and I aboard the Lynx..
doesn't Beth look so cute in her white sunglasses ..lol 
She threw them in her grands toy box
 after she saw this picture..lol
Hey I thought they looked cute..
This was so much fun if you ever have the chance to see any of these ships you should go
I only took like a gazillion pictures so here's a few more..

Happy Outdoor Wednesday
 ya'll come join us at
 Miss Susan's A Southern Daydreamers
hugs, Cherry

It's all about beautiful Irises for ~ Outdoor Wednesday

Saturday I went out to the Coastal Bamboo Farms
 and Gardens for their master gardeners plant sale.
Which I found some great stuff at but,
the best part of my day was walking through the iris garden
 and seeing all the irises that are in bloom.

come walk with me

just yum yummy

Ooh la la and it has the perfect name.. Decadence

sweet

lovely

love, love, love

really pretty

these were awesome

hope you enjoy the walk now come join me at
Miss Susan's A Southern Daydreamer's blog for
Outdoor Wednesday

hugs everyone, Cherry

D'AWFOSKEE ~ Daufuskie Island part 2

I'm back and loving my new computer but it sure was a lot of work getting all my pictures and junk off the old one but now that it's all done I'm ready to share the rest of mine and Beth's trip to Daufuskie.

The map is from the

 Daufuskie Island Historical Foundation

as you can see the spelling is different. It is said to have been spelled several different ways over the years.  Today it is pronounced "duh • FUS • key." 
The Gullah pronounced it "das • fus • cay" – meaning "the first caye" (or "key") north of Savannah.
There is also different stories about how it was named and what the name means. The Creek Indians were the island's first inhabitants, and in their language "Daufa" means "feather" and "Fuskie" means "pointed." They joined these two words to refer to the shape of the island. Others say the island is shaped more like an arrowhead which is what I see when I look at the map above.. I tried to find the date of this map but was unable to. You can read more about the island and it's history by clicking here Daufuskie Island Historical Foundation and you can read more about the

 Gullah of Daufuskie Island, SC

in this brochure by the Historical Foundation

click here.

from the dock we saw oyster shells lining the entire banks

and lush marsh grasses with majestic ancient trees
everywhere we looked.
 Our tour started time we got off the boat we had a wonderful tour guide John, he and his wife are teachers on the island and we knew instantly that he loves sharing this island and all of it's history. He was a wealth of information and I do believe if we had spent a week there he could have continued to share new information. For 3 hours he told stories about the past and the present. I wish I could repeat them all for you but I can't so I will just share our pictures and hope that one day John will put into writing all the wonderful stories that have been shared with him and that he is sharing with those lucky enough to meet him..
Now onto some of the sights

Tabby Ruin ~ Tabby is a building material made from a mixture of ground oyster shells, sand and water. Many slave quarters were constructed of wood and have long been gone but remnants of structures made from the tabby mixture remain on the island. This would have been a fireplace.

These small buildings were used to store kerosene for the light in the Bloody Point Lighthouse

now days it's home to the Silver Dew Winery

Rice field

The church is open to all that want to come and every Sunday morning you can hear the bells ring all over the island

out back of the church is a praise house that stands in the same footprint as the original one that was built in 1823 which was years before the church was established. The slaves used the praise house not only as a place of worship but also too discuss the daily happenings on the island .. In other words if your kid did something bad you knew about before the day was done...and you handled it. Even today things are still handled island style there is no police force. If an islander does something wrong their outline is draw in chalk on the road for all that passes by to see and if a non islander does something wrong they are put on a boat and shipped away .... I love it !

There is only a few paved roads on the island and they are named for what is on that street.

Most of the original homes were built the same in other words all the door frames, window frames and other parts are interchangeable from one house to the next and the roofs are all pitched the same.

This home is being fixed up and is going to be a guest cottage that you can rent, but you will have to be willing to share your time with it's permanent guest.. it's said a few spirits call it home.

This property belongs to an 18 year old young lady from up north that is a descendent of the original property owner and because it is protected through a trust deed she can not sell the property. So there is no telling what will happen to it. Maybe one day she will come to the island fall in love, rebuild and live happily ever after.

Don't you just love the Firehouse shield ... I would love to have this on my back porch..

More tomorrow so come on back to the island with us... 

but for now let's head on over to
 Miss Susan's for Outdoor Wednesday's