Carolinas: The Whole Biscuit

05/30/21 • 0 min

The Carolinas are puzzling, especially the coastal areas along the barrier islands. Everything is shifting, impermanent – even the things that are set in stone.

Every aspect of the weather, culture and geography has a flip-side. For every expanse of glistening turquoise beach, there's an impenetrable mysterious swamp; for every perfectly cinematic picnic beneath a blooming saucer magnolia, there's the threat of a tornado, copperhead or tick; and for every outrageous hissy-fit there's an earnest casserole apology.

And when that dense, muscular summer heat takes up residence, backing you into the cool corner of the porch where you and your computer submit to a cane lounger to try to attend to some urgent work ... the ceiling fan, with that low thrum, conspires with the booms of a distant thunderstorm to lull you off into the best nap of your life. Then, you wake up, wipe the drool off your chin and mumble, "I needed that" to no one in particular. But that's what I'm talking about. Contradictions abound.

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The Carolinas are puzzling, especially the coastal areas along the barrier islands. Everything is shifting, impermanent – even the things that are set in stone.

The post Carolinas: The Whole Biscuit appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Previous Episode

Campground Review: Jekyll Island State Park – Jekyll Island, Georgia

This post – Part 3 of 3 – wraps up The Navy Brat Tour of 2021.

In the interest of nostalgic self-care which the experts say is actually good for us these days, Jim wants to watch me rediscover the places I lived as a child. I'm supportive, but not much help.

At fourteen years-old I had already moved sixteen times. Memories of those first eight years are mostly learned from my sister Deborah and from Dad, and also from Mama who passed on several years ago.

And, as they say, "Time is like the Mississippi. It flows in one direction and never takes you back."

My early childhood is like a sweet southern ambrosia – a slurry of innocent moments, suspended in heaps of that fluffy stuff dreams are made of – absent of schema, montage or terra firma.

Which brings me to Jekyll Island!

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Next Episode

Beauty: Our Retirement Un-Plan

This six-part monthly series, From Beauty's Doorstep, is based on five-years of full-timing, aka LIB (Living in Beauty)

This felt different, thrilling, and just slightly criminal – like being on the other side of the law, but in the right.

Light reflections from the sun-drenched alley streamed across the floor of the open four-car garage newly emptied of our lifetime accumulation. The ghosts of our old stuff lingered, reluctant to move on – the ladder, the old dog stroller, the pinecone wreath. Yet, within moments, the house keys would change hands and our get-away plan would be complete. We would walk away from our island bungalow, into the bright April afternoon to begin a new life, in Beauty.

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