If I May

Andrew's floral gift cheered me for many days

The pirate reckons that before April is over, she should tell you about her March.

Because it's almost May.

We had an eventful March. Not only all of the birthdays, although there are plenty of those.

Starting with mine, which falls on the seventh of March every single year.

It is rare that TG and I don't take a wee trip for my birthday, but this year we did not go far. I chose Charleston.

Charleston in March is a great idea because unlike most of the other months of the year, it will not be hot.

And this time it was actually on the chilly side, due to not only the temperature, but the windiness.

Joyland in Charleston is kitty-cornered from the Francis Marion Hotel

This would be a multi-layered trip but the first part was to leave the house after lunchtime on the day before my birthday, and head for Charleston. We arrived in the mid afternoon.

We parked our car (that's expensive, ugh) and walked on King Street for several hours, just being tourists.

I made a few small purchases, but nothing major. One of our other March birthdays is Audrey, and I found something for her at H&M, to go with another thing that I'd already bought for her.

One of my primary goals in visiting Charleston was to eat at Joyland.

I'm not sure how I became aware of this relatively new hamburger chain. (Online, no doubt.) All I knew was that there was a Joyland in Nashville, and for the latter part of 2024, I knew that one was set to open in Charleston.

So I kept a weather eye and sure enough, it was open in time for me to hang out there on my birthday trip.

Happy on the inside and happy for your insides

I'm not sure how this works for pirates on the bounding main but I love a hamburger and fries so much that it may in fact be my favorite meal.

Joyland had caught my eye because of their signature burger, called The Original Crustburger.

The reviews were rave so I was determined to partake. Even so, when TG and I walked in and I approached the counter where you order, I asked the lady: Is this crustburger all it's cracked up to be?

She nodded sagely. We sell a lot of them, she affirmed.

OK let's do it, I said.

The crustburger goes like this: They start cooking the patty and in due time they smash it to within a inch of its life. It gets all flat, with lacy edges. I mean really flat. With really lacy edges.

The sky was glorious in Charleston for my birthday

I am inordinately fond of those lacy, crispy edges.

THEN they take the bun and turn it inside out. Yes! They put the insides of the bun on the grill, then put the flattened patty on the outside, with cheese, and assemble the hamburger.

Then they flatten the whole thing until it stands no more than a half inch high.

I know it sounds crazy, hence my slight hesitation upon entering the establishment and preparing to order.

My ideal hambuger is well done, with ketchup, mustard, diced onion, and extra pickle. And that's all.

I don't always have the onion but as I said, that is my ideal burger setup.

Rhett was just glad to be out of the car

Joyland did itself proud. Alongside a generous serving of just-right crinkle fries, The Original Crustburger was extraordinarily delicious.

I could get in my car and drive the two hours to Charleston and get one of those right now. If only the parking weren't so expensive.

Another interesting thing to observe about Joyland in Charleston is its location.

For our honeymoon nearly 46 years ago, TG and I drove from Atlanta to Charleston. We stayed at the Francis Marion Hotel on Citadel Square.

The Square is like a smallish park. I think that for a long time it was known as Marion Square and that originally it was on the site of The Citadel. TG Class of '74. That's 1974.

The day after our wedding, we walked across the park to Citadel Square Baptist Church and attended the Sunday morning service.

Dagny got in on the flag-lowering action

Later that day we had a nice meal at S&S Cafeteria -- if you know, you know. That S&S location is long gone but there are still S&S Cafeterias in Charleston.

BUT the interesting thing about Joyland is that it is across the street from Citadel Square. And as TG and I approached it, we were walking parallel, about 75 yards away, to the path we walked on that long-ago morning from our hotel to Citadel Square Baptist Church.

(Which is now called Citadel Square Church, so as, I suppose, not to offend anyone with the non-inclusivity of Baptist.)

I glanced to my left and thought I saw that oh-so-green 22-year-old bride and her groom on that sunny June morning -- Father's Day -- but I could not be sure.

It was a different world, The Year of Our Lord Nineteen Seventy-Nine. That IS for sure.

After that remarkable repast at Joyland, of which I thoroughly enjoyed every last crumb, TG walked back to where we'd parked our car and then drove back to retrieve me, and we repaired to our hotel.

And she got in there to help fold

It was the last early-dark weekend of the spring and it was getting colder and windier, and we enjoy those quiet evenings in our hotel, propped up on pillows in the king-sized bed, looking at our respective devices while Forensic Files plays in a never-ending loop on the TV.

It is what it is and don't knock it until you've tried it, and any/all other appropriate cliché material that springs to mind.

The next day -- my actual birthday -- was going to be eventful because Audrey and Dagny and Erica and Rhett and Elliot were joining us for the day and to spend the second night (they had rooms in the hotel beside ours).

While still drinking my coffee on the morning of my birthday, I got a text from a florist. His name was David and he wondered if it was okay to leave some flowers on my front porch near the door.

I responded that no, that wouldn't work and would he mind taking them next door to my neighbor?

He said of course he wouldn't mind, and a little bit later he let me know that my flowers were safe with the folks who live next door.

She is diligently homeschooled and it was a field trip

I knew they were from our Andrew and I knew they were very pretty because the florist sent me a picture of them. I looked forward to seeing my bouquet in person and meanwhile I hoped that our neighbors would enjoy babysitting it.

So it was that, after coffee and other preparations, TG and I set out for Liberty Square, from which you can take the ferry to Fort Sumter. 

Despite having lived in South Carolina for 23 years, I had yet to take a tour of Fort Sumter. I thought it was high time.

We had tickets for the twelve noon ferry. The girls and their children had got up early and were making their way towards us.

Then we hit a snag. As in, Audrey let us know that they had encountered a significant traffic jam and, even though they took the recommended detour, they would not be there in time to take the twelve noon ferry.

I went to the ticket window and prepared to go through something unpleasant in order to get all of that straightened out.

The elusive Elliot a/k/a Skippy would not look at the camera

But to my complete delight and to-this-day awe, the window was being worked by a truly extraordinary young man.

First, he listened patiently while I told him the problem. That we had tickets for the twelve noon ferry to Fort Sumter but that the rest of our party, who also had tickets for the twelve noon ferry, would not be there on time. Due to circumstances beyond their control.

He smiled. He went to work. And within five minutes I was holding new tickets for TG and me, for the two forty-five ferry to Fort Sumter, but also Audrey's and Erica's and the children's tickets for the same time.

I told him he could not have given me a better birthday gift than to have handled that potentially ultra-stressful situation with so much professionalism and courtesy. He seemed pleased.

Then I called Audrey who I knew would be in a tizzy. I told her that we had all new tickets, and they needed to just get there safely and we'd hang out until time to get on the ferry.

Sighs of relief all around. They did arrive, and we all tooled over about a block to the original location of East Bay Deli -- on East Bay Street -- for a snack.

Our table was huge and the light was more than a mere light

It was TG who wondered aloud as we walked towards East Bay Deli on East Bay Street, whether it was indeed the original location of the restaurant.

And he was correct, and as I found out a few minutes ago while researching it, the restaurant opened on September 11, 2001. Can you imagine?

At any rate we love East Bay Deli and we enjoyed some time there while noshing and relaxing before our Fort Sumter tour.

It was another sunny but chilly and windy day, and we shivered while waiting to board the ferry, but once aboard Audrey bought us some coffees and we sipped those while crossing Charleston Harbor to Fort Sumter.

Once at the fort, we could roam at will. I enjoyed looking through the small museum. I came back out into the sunshine to see that Dagny was engaged in helping lower and fold the flag that flies over the fort during daylight hours. 

Then there was a delightful visit to the gift shop. TG and I found t-shirts and I got a fridge magnet and also a gift for Rhett which I'm saving to give him on his fourth birthday in July.

Dagny and me on my sixty-eighth birthday

There was time for a few pictures before boarded the ferry for the trip back to the mainland.

After that, it was time to get the girls checked into their hotel, and to regroup in preparation for my birthday dinner.

There is a restuarant, a well-known tourist gathering place, in Charleston named Poogan's Porch. It's named after a long-dead dog.

We did not have my birthday dinner there. The reason being, it's right downtown, and would have been extra busy on a Friday night, and we'd already paid enough for parking for one day. In our case, two days.

So I chose an offshoot of Poogan's Porch called Poogan's Southern Kitchen, situated a fifteen-minute drive north in Summerville.

It was fabulous. We sat at a huge round table with an art-installation type light hanging above it. I had shrimp and grits and it was so delicious that I have dreamt of it almost every day since. 

My little girl and her little girl

I think I may ask TG to take me there again on our anniversary.

I'm not sure what everyone else ordered except I think that TG had Mee-Maw's Meatloaf and I know that Audrey had the chicken and waffles.

Then I opened my presents, and in due time we headed for our hotels and a nice rest.

The next day was Saturday and technically we were on our way home, but we had a few stops to make. First up was the Charleston Tea Garden or as some call it, the Charleston Tea Plantation.

It's the only place in North America where tea is grown and processed. The kind that ends up in tea bags in boxes labeled Bigelow, and eventually, if you are a tea drinker, in your cup.

Summer is tea-harvesting time so there was not much going on, but we took a short tour and then made our way around the large gift shop, where one is invited to sample all manner of cold and hot teas.

Then we sat on the wide front porch and had a snack before getting back into the cars and making our way to the last destination before home.

And that was to see the Angel Oak, the iconic Southern Live Oak that has stood for nearly four centuries on Johns Island.

Pretty cool if it's your cup of tea

It is the largest Live Oak east of the Mississippi.

We took pictures of one another, as one does at such a place, and marveled at the tree's branches, supported as they are by any number of boards and lifts and cables lest the tree topple from its own weight and age.

What a study in quiet longevity. I haven't been too quiet but I hope to achieve longevity. If I haven't already.

At the very least I hope to live long enough to tell you about another birthday.

When we returned home, TG went next door and retrieved my flowers. They were splendid and I enjoyed them for the next ten days.

Good thing I had them, because the next day I came down with what I first thought was a cold but which turned out to be a most unpleasant flu-like virus.

Dagny beneath the Angel Oak

So my flowers cheered the sickroom for the next several days, and of course I recovered and all is well.

But I had been sick with strep throat only a few weeks earlier, around Valentine's Day, and I was beginning to worry that it was a trend.

I'm no longer worried. I'm feeling great and we're getting ready to set out on another grand excursion.

About which I will tell you in due time.

And that is all for now.

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Happy Monday