Anita planned a big Myrtle Beach family reunion Sunday to Sunday, June 10 - 17 (her birthday & Father's Day). I work Frankfurt trips once a week as a transatlantic flight attendant, so Joe and I came Tuesday - Saturday.
We left Charlotte Tuesday morning and checked in that afternoon. A group of us walked to Pier 14, where Joe and I ate lunch around 4 p.m. outside -- Joe had a great hamburger and I a delicious clam chowder. We all ate supper there but this time inside the restaurant, 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. In between I had a short swim, which seemed way too long, as a tremendous stinging in my swimsuit soon became unbearable. No one could swim long.
Wednesday the tropical storm Allison was coming through. Late afternoon I wrestled the ocean three hours, jumping / swimming forward while getting swept backwards in knee to waist deep waves whipped by warm rain and intermittent howling wind, a fierce sea white with foam. It was the best swim of my life. Joe came out under an umbrella to call me in for supper. I wanted to swim after supper but it was 7:25 p.m. then and Mother said people would be coming to our room for devotions at 9:00. So I wouldn't be dripping wet from the ocean when people started arriving, we went for a walk on the beach instead. We had devotions in our room 9 - 10:30 p.m.
Thursday morning I swam to the pier, about ¾ of a mile upstream, encountering a jellyfish which left red residue on my hand, then avoided two other submerged red ones the size of dinner plates. Walking back, I found a little sea animal washed up on the shore near the pier. I picked it up and found it was still alive. I tried to see if it could make it back to wherever it came from in the ocean, carrying it out to see if it could still swim. It didn't do too well, rolling over onto its side and drifting backwards. I had never seen anything like it before and tried to help it live, but finally gave up, meanwhile blistering my back nearly an hour in the hot midday sun. That evening at Diane's friend's lovely home we all wolfed down a great supper with grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, then had devotions, our last time all together, as Joy and David Kahl were leaving on their mission trip to Nicaragua. Josh Kahl and Jacob Baum leave in two weeks for their mission trip to Central America.
Friday morning I took a swim, my scorched back swathed in suntan lotion and covered over with a tee shirt. Diane's brother Alan had invited us all over for an afternoon of hiking his nature trails, picking blueberries and blackberries, swimming in his pond, playing ball in his expansive back yard, rambling through his beautiful home, followed by a grand barbecue dinner and bonfire. We had devotions planned for the bonfire but moved them up, as dinner got served about 9 p.m. Diane made a superb potato salad and George prepared gallons of homemade ice cream with fresh strawberries and cream. Alan and Diane's mother got ready fixin's like peas and baked beans. Mother and Daddy brought lettuce from their garden in Brevard. A big bowl of cantaloupe would soon disappear, and after dinner a box of 48 Toffifee® hazelnut caramel nougat chocolates I bought in Frankfurt. Alan has to be one of the world's best cooks. He figured 1½ pounds of meat per person, and what little was left of the ribs, eye of round, roast beef and pork after our crowd of 21 devoured everything set out for us with help from Alan and Diane's parents, and neighbors Josh and Robert, Alan made care packages for us to take back. I considered politely insisting he keep the leftover meat but heard myself thank him gratefully. If it were possible, the meat tasted even better the next day in sandwiches.
Lisa, like a sweet sixteen-year-old, had ridden with us, arriving in time to get first dibs at driving Alan's golf cart. Alan gave us a tour, past his garden just coming up and over nature trails on his five acres, pointing out a nest with nine mallard eggs almost ready to hatch; after that the mother duck stayed sitting on her nest. He showed us a blueberry patch near his pond, lined with smooth gray clay (great for mud fights). Neighbor Josh, Lisa, and I went on a walk, where we three times saw a mother turkey with young. Alan's awesome air-conditioned workshop is also equipped with the fastest computer I've ever seen, a stocked refrigerator, etc. Out back he smoked meat four trays high for four hours on an elaborate grill while the energetic boys had fun playing ball. Lisa gladly drove everybody around the nature trails. Others walked trails, finding azaleas covered in fragrant white blooms; ladies' tresses; swamp iris; clusters of pink and single stalks of orange flowers in full bloom; three groups of little pitcher plants and later some big ones in bloom, finally spotting a knee-high group. Jaws agape, we initially walked over a related carnivorous plant, lots of tiny sundew sending up slender stalks with pink and white flower buds above its leaves covered with sticky hairs.
I tucked my jeans into my socks and sprayed with bug spray. But did anyone besides me suffer from bug bites?
Saturday Joe and I went out with other family members for a calm morning swim. John and Cindy drove home with their four children and after that Joe and I headed back to Charlotte at 6:30 p.m. At 10:00 p.m. we caught glimpses of gorgeous fireworks over the Charlotte Knight's Stadium, then pulled into our driveway at 10:15 p.m. Before bed I did laundry and got ready for working my trip over to Germany the next afternoon.