Our Christmas Newsletter - 2011

We enjoyed a busy 2011 together, starting off the year with a rather quiet 2010 New Year’s Eve in South Carolina.  After dinner at a local restaurant in Myrtle Beach, we enjoyed fireworks at Broadway at the Beach and then returned to our condo rental to enjoy a smooth drink of Grand Marnier on ice outside on the beach walk, while watching fireworks over the ocean from Myrtle Beach in the north and Murrells Inlet in the south.

On January 1, Paul and I moved into a lovely new condo rental at Surfside Beach and settled in for a great three months at the beach.  We enjoyed our return to the local shelling club, including a couple of shelling trips with them.  On our Morris Island trip, Paul was the envy of all, finding a LARGE Megalodon shark’s tooth.   

It was nice spending time with our South Carolina friends, Irmgard and Don. My sister and brother-in-law visited us in February and we made a trip to a Beneteau boat building factory during their visit. Although we are not sailors like them, we did find the tour quite interesting.

Paul had a birthday in February and celebrated it at his favourite new restaurant, Hannah Banana Sunshine Cabana.

 

Over the winter we enjoyed beach walks, visits to Brookgreen Gardens and making new friends.

After another great winter in South Carolina, on 1 April, we packed up and headed home to Canada.  Being in no rush to get back to the snow, which we had lots of last winter in New Brunswick, we decided to spend a week at Williamsburg, Virginia.  We enjoyed sightseeing at Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown learning details of the American Revolution period of the USA. We also made numerous trips to the Virginia Peanut Shop.

Colonial Williamsburg

 

Jamestown

Peanut Shop

After a few more nights on the road, we arrived back in Beresford on 11 April and unfortunately there was lots of snow still about.  Paul was quick to shovel off the ice on the back deck in hopes of an early spring. 

First Day of Spring!

When spring finally came, it was wet and cool which made getting our yard work done, a slow process. We did manage to dress up our side yard with a little stonework and made a small herb garden, although we did not have a great growing season.

In June we flew out to Calgary for 10 days to attend Tom (Paul’s son) and Lisa’s wedding (25 June).  Paul was Best Man for his son’s wedding and it was a lovely day.  It was nice to meet Lisa’s family and have some quality time with Paul’s daughter, Tashia. 

Paul and I also spent a few days in the Banff/Lake Louise area. It was my first time in the Rockies and we had a great time. We hope to go back some day when we have more time to explore.

Lake Louise

July and August found us close to home this year.  We spent time relaxing on our deck and doing some beachcombing down shore at our favorite beach. 

In August, Paul treated himself to a “guy weekend” attending the Dutch Mason Blues Festival in Truro, Nova Scotia.  Being away from home, he also treated himself to a “guy meal”!   

In late August, our friend Giselle visited from Ottawa.It was nice to have time to catch up on news and share beach walks with her.  Paul and I had some really great beach finds, including some rare grey sea glass and two glass bottle stoppers.

 

 

September found us making an unplanned trip to Brockville, Ontario as my Mom was taken to hospital.  We spent 10 days there visiting with her, as well as my sister.  I am happy to say that Mom is now doing very well and settled very quickly back into her Residence.   

On our return trip to New Brunswick, Paul and I travelled through Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. It was a lovely drive with the fall colours just starting to show.

The start to our fall was rather quiet.  We did our usual yard work, spent some quality time beachcombing, and attended a couple local church teas.  Also, Paul was involved with the local Rotary fundraiser event for the Portraits of Honour, a tribute to our fallen soldiers in Afghanistan. 

 

After our local Remembrance Day service, Paul and I were on the road again heading for Surfside Beach, South Carolina. 

This will be our fourth winter being snowbirds and our second Christmas at the beach.Our first couple of weeks in Surfside Beach were busy.We met up with a couple of our friends from Newfoundland whom are also wintering in the area. We attended a couple of Christmas concerts, enjoyed Nights of a Thousand Candles at Brookgreen Gardens, a few golf games for Paul, beach walks and of course, shopping. We will be blogging our adventures again this year.

Carolina Opry Theatre

  

Paul and I would like to wish you and yours a happy holiday season with a peaceful and healthy New Year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2012

Children`s Garden, Brookgreen Gardens
Nights of a Thousand Candles