What's New

                                         The promised beauty of Swan Lake Iris Gardens in Sumter, South Carolina lured me out from my long Covid isolation last week, and despite the surprises of the sudden gas shortage and an especially hearty rainstorm, it far exceeded my expectations. It’s promised to be “ home to some of the nation's most intensive plantings of Japanese iris” at https://www.sumtersc.gov/community/swanlake . To my surprise, all eight species of Swans inhabit the gardens.  I was ecstatic to discover that some have already hatched, like this little cygnet and its Black Swan parents who brought their newborn out to get acquainted with it's new home. Judging from all the nesting birds and a bit of fowl canoodling that I witnessed this past week, visitors can anticipate seeing more new things emerging than the beautiful flowers and Japanese Iris that appear to be right on schedule to bloom abundantly any day.                                          This nesting M

        Sometimes a hat is just a hat. Sometimes however, a hat is more than just a hat.   Sometimes a hat has a story to tell, it just needs a little help telling it. I sent this hat to Alex along with this story, and his mom sent me these great photos.  He is clearly having a ball bringing life and a story, giving this floppy piece of mundane cloth meaning and purpose. Dear Alex,   This particular hat belonged to your great grandfather.   Again, there’s a lot more to the story than just who it belonged to and that you are related.   Your mom told me that you love to cook so I wanted you to have his hat, because you are very special and this hat was very special to him as well. You’ll understand better when you are older, but people very often find jobs that will be best for supporting their families financially, but have nothing to do with their happiness or fulfilling their own dreams.   Here is the story this hat would tell you if hats could talk, and hopefully inspire