Tis the Season

Tom Chinn's drop in....






Geeezzz. Its nice to get invited to parties but after 3 or 4 in one week I'm about done!
It started with a "Drink the Tree" party.












Then Harriet's vodka shot party....


































Heidi & Stuart hosted the last Christmas party on Tomaka.










































Wrapped up the week at the Forest Acres Reunion Party.










































It has been great to meet new people and catch up with old friends!

Rock Fish/Dance

Dec. 2005 I was in Sokoto, Nigeria.
Leaving my then 13 yr old daughter with family and friends a couple of weeks before Christmas to go to a VERY far away land to do a job that would be challenging to say the least.....tough decision. We were hoping to get back about 3 days before Christmas and I was hoping to get some shopping done while there. right.

Sokoto is licked by the Sahara and is dotted with hundreds of mud hut villages.
We were guests of one village that is home to a sacred site where the famous jihadist Usman Dan Fodio did battle. Fodio spread Islam to North/West Africa in the early 1800s.
We were treated to a festival and reinactment by it's musicians, dancers, camel and horse riders.
At one point we were shown a large bowl with fish whose slippery scales looked incredibly prehistoric. Thought for sure it was gonna be our lunch. The night before we'd had a bowl of fish soup that contained a very similar finned creature.

Watch the video to see the fish that can live in a rock for up to 3 years!
After that crazy moment some dancers encouraged me to dance which I of course obliged thus the major shakey cam at the end of clip!

The Mansion

I was fortunate enough gain an invitation from Harriet Green to "The Mansion" at Isle of Palms for the weekend.




It was Gwen Boykin's birthday weekend. (I think she's 27)

I didn't really know who was on the guest list but I knew it would be a blast.
Chuck LaMark hitched a ride with me on Sat. and was a pleasure to get to know. He came to Columbia from Florida to help redefine and bring new life to the Cultural Council. His past work with children is impressive and his passion for the arts is apparent.
Harriet gave us a tour upon arrival and from the 2nd floor balcony I looked down to see Marcelo Novo content & smiling in the crystle blue pool with the magnificant Atlantic ocean beyond.


Some of us shot some hoops (short white girl made her share), played some ping pong, poker, enjoyed the view and conversations and ate and drank to our hearts content with no where to go but the various sublime settings within "The Mansion."




Marcelo & beautiful, charming wife Saadia prepared a delicious dinner Sat. night of beef and noodles and a delectable green salad with strawberries.















Red wine and red roses adorned the tables.







Kai Buster and the girls entertained us with an Egyptian style dance (Sig Buster was so proud!) while Chuck & I played a little jembe.


I challenged the debonair Charles Raine to a game of pool and he proved to be as lousy a player as myself!




An almost full moon rose clearly and lite a path across the water. A pink and yellow saturated sunset melted and mirrored off the sand and sea.




It was a delightful time.
A treat to hang out with such a sophisticated and absolutely rambunctious crowd!