What’s up with the neighbors?

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Cindy

So, my neighbors – not the ones we are close friends with, the ones on the other side that we are cordial to in passing – are home safe and sound from some sort of mini-vacation that begun last Wednesday or Thursday and lasted until Monday.

I had worried about their welfare since the morning I heard them (or someone else sinister-like) packing up their family vehicle with stuff at an incredibly odd hour of the morning).

It was dark and I couldn’t see through the bushes well enough, but the dark shadows just didn’t look like Rupert and Jan. No one spoke as several trips back and forth from the house and to the car were made.

Then, the vehicle roared to life and it was gone. After daybreak, I noticed that the neighbor’s house looked forlorn. Quiet. Jan’s car stayed parked – not even in her usual spot – even after she normally left for work.

My mind struggled to recall details of what I had seen in the morning, something that might hint if they were making a trip together or if something more sinister had happened to them.

Brian said he was sure they had just gone away for a few days. I asked, “How do you know? Maybe someone invaded their home last night while they innocently slept and once startled, the culprits killed them and loaded up Rupert’s car with body parts and such.“

Brian accused me of a vivid imagination. I guess I’m watching too many ID (Identification Television) programs – ‘On the Case with Paula Zahn,’ ‘Dateline on ID’, and ‘Who the Bleep Did I Marry?’

So, I knew I was being silly, but just the same I kept my eyes and ears open for anything strange going on over there, half wondering if I’m not being too silly after all.

And, later, I purposely drove past their store in town, slowing down to read the sign – Be Back Tuesday.

Ok, so there it was. Rupert and Jan must just be on vacation!

Unless.

Unless, the perpetrators stole the key to their business, robbed the place blind, and put a note on the door to throw authorities off.

So, I kept my eyes and ears open for a couple of days and this morning, very uneventfully, they came home from wherever it was they were.

This ever happen to you?

The Scarecrow and me

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Cindy

Several months ago, I created four new headers for this blog. I thought them pretty clever in depicting my life out here in the woods of South Carolina. I have them randomly display at the top of my blog.

This one cracks me up.

From left to right: Sam Dog on his first boat trip on Lake Marion, our first scarecrow, my first try at oystering, and a plate-sized hibiscus. It was a complete accident that I placed a picture of our scarecrow next to the one of me collecting oysters near Folly Beach.

Coinky-dinky, isn’t it? We could be twins.

(And, on a side note, just in case you hadn’t noticed, sometime during the day on April 10, 2012, my blog topped 30k visitors. Woohoo!)

Keep moving forward

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Cindy

I guess I have to say that I do have a New Year’s Resolution for 2012 after all.

Keep Moving Forward.

Everyday. No matter how large or small the steps.

That’s it.

I think it came to me because of my current employment situation. If you don’t know, the company I worked for closed on June 30, 2011. So, I am unemployed. In the past six months, I’ve had two potential positions that, in the end, didn’t work out for me. Funny thing is, I’m pretty cool with that. At this stage of my life, I really don’t want to find another job working for someone else. I’d much rather spend my time and effort working for myself. So, for the first few months of unemployment bliss, I tried to come up with an action plan that would lead to self-employment, while looking for potential outside employment. I stumbled, floundered, pretended to be working on a plan, vegetated, worked on a few house projects, played on the computer, read, planted a fall vegetable garden and found myself not moving forward in any productive way.

It was getting to me. I knew I should be more productive, but just couldn’t find my way. So, after a lethargic few months the heavens of inspiration finally parted and I find myself with so very much to do!

One, is my gourd art. (I grew several hundred gourds on our back forty a few years ago and have kept them for some future projects.) The next step is to add a page to Cindy’s Country Corner and offer them for sale! I need to set up a ‘shopping cart’ and my paypal account on my website to make it easy for gourd lovers to buy them. That will happen in the next couple of days. In the meantime, if you are interested in having a gourd of your very own (they will go fast and make great gifts, btw), comment on this post and I’ll reserve the one you want! Prices range from $10 to $25, plus shipping.

Here are some photos.