Hi, cuzzins.... Lordy, has it been a busy time here in the SC Lowcountry! Last week my sister made her first visit to our home since we moved to Charleston over 5 years ago, and believe me, we kept her hopping. Going to the beach, to cultural events, to an oyster roast... We definitely kept her busy and in need of a vacation on her return to NC! But I think she had a great time, and I hope she doesn't wait quite as long for her next visit. My mom has reached a stable point in her long slow decline, so my sister can afford to take some time away. Plus my mom's daily care is changing with an onsite physician, so that frees my sister up from worrying about her day-to-day health. A good thing. The week prior to that, Susan's mother was down for a week. She is in transition, trying to sell her house in NC so she can move down here with us and build a "granny cottage" in our back yard. So we definitely keep her busy, too, with trips to the comedy improv club and other things she enjoys. And then our day-to-day doings keep us busy... grocery shopping, cooking, trips to the grocery, and keeping to our workout schedule (gotta keep the exercise up or we will balloon up, 'casue we do like to eat!). And we have been waiting with anticipation for daughter Maya to make her debut in the new restaurant in downtown Charleston. Let me tell you, we were not disappointed. Maya has been working from about 10 am to about 2 or 3 am thew past few weeks since starting with the job, and the public opening was last Monday night. Of course Susan and I went and dropped a bundle, but the food was so good and the ambiance at the restaurant and the bar were all we had expected. So Maya has been working 15 or 16 hrs a day, and we hardly see her, but at the restaurant she seemed excited and happy to see us when we were able to poke our heads into the kitchen for a brief "hi". Here is a write-up in the local paper about the opening night: http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/nov/10/husks-opening-night-seems-smooth-as-silk/ There is also a short video here: http://www.postandcourier.com/videos/2010/nov/10/1451/ You can see Maya at work for a brief moment or two when they show the kitchen. She's the only woman shown working the kitchen, and is all the way to the left wearing glasses. So things have been going at breakneck speed here. Tomorrow is Veterans' Day, and it is a state and federal holiday, so Susan and I took Friday off too for a 4-day weekend. We'll be moving our patio from the side of the house to the back of the house... gonna be an all day job, I think. Then on Friday night we'll head up to Raleigh to visit Susan's mom on her birthday. Once again, breakneck speed. Hey, that's how we roll these days :-) Hope you all have a great afternoon. Time for me to go grab some lunch! Peace, Part of the Tree, Greg