Fall Colors

As you may have guessed, South Carolina is not known for a spectacular display of fall foliage. At least not the New England variety. Here we do have a unique fall color - PINK. This is sweetgrass. Our area is famous for sweetgrass basketry. All along route 17 (which is called Sweetgrass basket makers highway) you can see stands where baskets are sold. Usually with the proprietor sitting there working on another one. The grass is ideal for basket-making. The blades are smooth and round rather than flat like most grasses. And in the fall the grass blooms a lovely bright pink. 

Here is a woman weaving sweetgrass baskets at the open air market in Charleston. This art has been passed down for centuries in families of African descent. Baskets like these were made by West Africans who continued their art after being brought to the lowcountry as slaves.  

Sweetgrass Basket History

Pretty in Pink

This is my Mom's house on Long Island - it's pink! We go up every February for her birthday and usually get a nice blizzard. Not this time. This picture is from '06. (I'm dumping the 20 part of the year - Atalya thinks we need to get over it and do the years like we used to, last two digits only. I'm with her) It was actually pretty warm. We went in to the city on Monday and ended up carrying our jackets around. Mom took me down to the beach to get some nature photos on Sunday (we forced Yeshi and his cousin Josh to come with us) and I got some nice pictures by fooling with the white balance on the camera (it was overcast and a bit dark out). Ever watch Sunday morning with Charles Kuralt? You know the end of the show where they just showed some nature footage and had no narration or music, just the critter-sounds? I always enjoyed watching that with my cup of coffee, ahhhh. This is the online version. You'll have to imagine your own critter-sounds. Get your coffee..... (oh, pink picture first for a nice segue from the pink house :)