I spent Saturday and Sunday on Hilton Head Island. To me it is paradise. What a relaxing, people friendly, family friendly island. I could live there!
I attended Mass at Holy Family Church one of two large parishes on the Island. Catholic tourists fill the church each Sunday. Hilton Head, 60 miles from Richmond Hill, sees 6 million visitors annually.
Lagoons are to be found everywhere. The lagoon where I photographed the Heron above and he was statuesque is the same lagoon that I saw a small alligator the night before. The sidewalk is right there at the lagoon. After I photographed the alligator a mother and several small children came walking toward it and I warned them to watch out. One should never feed alligators as they then associate people with food, one way or another!
The photo of Holy Family Church is from the vantage point of where I was sitting. I dislike churches in the simi-round. My natural sight of vision was not the side of the altar or the side of the ambo, but the wall directly in front of me containing the wonderful stain glass window. On top of that I was distracted by the fact I could see people's faces, the good, bad and ugly.
There is something to be said about a straight line of pews facing directly forward. I endorse this model completely.
6 comments:
My uncle lives on Edisto Island. Very bucolic and quiet. There are gators and much wild life. When we lived in South Carolina sand hills area we took the children swimming in a small lake. An old man was sitting on the bank watching the water intently. I asked him what he was doing, thinking he wanted to fish. No, he was watching for gators while his granddaughters swam. Most gators were too small to bother even a child, but still...
The state park near us had trails for cross country runners. Lots of logs to vault and large plants. Also gators and huge rattlesnakes to keep you moving. Interval training was "Run and Oh, crap!".
A Lady at Hrlburt Field used to drive her gas powered golf cart to the inlet by the golf course to feed the gators. The putting sound of her cart was unique enough the gators would swarm out of the water for her treats: condemned chicken from the local market she purchased cheap to feed her babies. We had a pet gator in the Ranger Camp, too, although I think that was illegal. Really big ones, al long as a canoe would glide along after fishermen as the sun was setting.
The Catholic Church near my uncle's house is building a new building. They have a very modern priest, late through seminary after a career as a lawyer. Nice fellow, though. If you were to visit, I bet he would let you pray one of your NO specials. People would love it.
I agree, Father! I despise the "modern" architecture of some churches. I prefer the traditional cross shaped sanctuary.
rcg, what is the state park to which you are referring---Sesquicentennial near Columbia or the Sand Hills one off Route 1 going toward North Carolina? I would suspect those two parks were the upper limit, more or less, of gators in South Carolina. Sometimes they are spotted here in the Atlanta area but often those gators are dumped into water when they get too large for pets---the Chattahoochee up here is pretty cold year-round, not conductive to gators. Not many rattlesnakes in the Atlanta area thank God---worst we generally have to deal with is copperheads.
Amazing stories I have heard over the years of Yankees moving down to Low Country South Carolina and complaining about the gators, not to mention rattlesnakes and water moccasins! Guess you have to decide whether that is preferable to snowy winters up North!
Speaking of alligators---the Obama Administration is like a pack of them, trying to devour anything in the way that stands for traditional values. Saw today the Obama Administration stood by a California requirement that all health insurers cover elective abortions, even though Catholic schools sought exemptions. There has never been a more evil, secular president---heck, Bill Clinton seems conservative in comparison (though of course he wasn't). But like my pastor up here in Atlanta said, a lot of (unnamed) bishops voted for Obama in 2008. Hopefully most of them did not make that mistake a second time. This country is slipping even faster downhill....as evidenced by our 2 main choices in November, Obama 3 (Clinton) and a Republican candidate who says he has never asked God's forgiveness and has had elastic stands on many issues. Talk about two bad choices.....
Anon: it was Poinsette State Park south of Sumter. I saw snakes and only one tiny little gator there. The herpitologist for the zoo in Columbia said SC was the "snakiest place on earth" and he had been to a few. From UK originally he had been to Africa and the Amazon (river basin, not books) and still felt that way. We had Kng and Coral snakes, too. I really liked it there.
"Simi" is a valley I California.
"Semi" is the word you wanted...
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