a new normal and sad news

Greetings friends, from the sunny south! 

We are adjusting to our new life down here in coastal South Carolina. So much to explore.. the area is full of scenic views, friendly people, lots of good restaurants, great weather and plenty of places for outdoor adventures.

Here is a bit of what we have been up to lately.....

Andy tied up, waiting for us, in Savannah last week. 

Our Andy is loving life down here. He is so happy sniffing out his new neighborhood, getting wet at the beach, sticking his head out the window smelling saltwater, checking out passing boats as we cross bridges and meeting so many friendly people everywhere we go. 

Sadly, we have very bad news about our sweet soft boy. He has a growing tumor on his back between his shoulders that is quite obvious. It has been visible since last fall and was diagnosed before we moved as a soft tissue sarcoma that is inoperable. We were quite shocked as he is almost 9 years old and our other golden retrievers lived until 13. 

We are taking the news in stride and trying to have a positive attitude. We have had a wonderful time with him and given him much love. He has given us so much in return. He really has been a joy for our whole family and many of our friends and our kids friends as well.

   Resting after a big day last week.

Andy has not shown any signs of illness so far. Everything appears normal... his energy, curiosity, appetite and activity level.  But at some point things will change.  We are not going to subject him to needless tests and procedures. We are going to let his behavior tell us how to handle things. We do not need tests to determine what stage the cancer is and surgery to remove the tumor will only cause it to metastasize faster because the sarcoma is deep rooted and reacts swiftly to invasion.  His veterinarian fully endorses this plan.

There is the visible hump on this back. It is so big and a constant reminder.

So his days are numbered, as are all of ours. We are just taking it a day at a time. We are enjoying spoiling him with more treats and extra hugs and sharing our new lifestyle with him as we explore our new surroundings. 

So moving on....

 our rental home is quite comfortable. It has been fun going from a 6 bedroom large family house to a much smaller 4 bedroom house. The house sits on a pond with two families of wood ducks that I have not been able to photograph because they quickly swim away and hide among the plants every time I get close to the edge with my phone but I will keep trying.

It is a coastal style cottage with two front porches that is similar to what we will build in another area of Beaufort. I hung a pair of ferns and potted two next to the front door and planted pansies so far.

The grass has not greened up yet and the leaves are not yet in on the deciduous trees. 

There is a thicket of pine trees to the left of the house with a floor of soft natural pine needle mulch and on the other side is

 beautiful Battery Creek, a scenic waterway off the Broad River. This is our favorite spot.

I used  the Waterlogue app for one of the views of the creek....

We attended and loved seeing lots of films last week at The Beaufort International Film Festival. There were many interesting shorts, documentaries and feature films.  They were also celebrating the 20th anniversary of Forrest Gump which was filmed in Beaufort. Many movies have been filmed here, The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, The Big Chill, The Legend of Bagger Vance, and others. 

There are wonderful farmers markets throughout the area. Many will open later in the spring but the Port Royal Farmers Market is year round. 

The only local crops available right now are kale, collard greens and squashes. But there were many vendors with prepared dishes, smoked meats, shellfish, baked goods, jams and condiments etc.

There was another Andy there, in an old  Plymouth Woody! Looked just like him.

So that is all for now, we have been enjoying bike rides, walks through our new neighborhood where we are going to build our house and cooking and eating lots of yummy food but usually forget to take photos. Will try to be better. Will post soon about our day trip to St Helena Island. Until then, 

Thanks for visiting!

Cindy