Architecture Wednesday: Camden

So, since I am away from home this week, and since I am a lover of architecture, I thought I'd share some of my favorite Camden homes and buildings and sights and parks with y'all.
Let's roll:

One of many town squares in Camden.

A Pink house in a  row of white ones.

The one looks like it should be on Wisteria Lane.

Even Camden playhouses are pretty.

This one is right downtown, in the Historic District,
and yet it seems a world away.

What most people--okay, maybe me--think of,
when they think of Southern homes.



These folks are not afraid of color.




One of the large houses facing Rectory Square.



The Rectory Square fountain.

A very stately home across from the Square.

A side view.

One of the few all-bricks homes.

The Bloomsbury Inn, a Camden B&B.
In winter, after a snow, this looks like a picture
postcard.

A synagogue. In Camden!
The newer one is across town.

Out front of the synagogue.

Grace Episcopal Church.
I may not like what goes on inside some of them,
but I love looking at churches.

An old brick fence and gate.

One of many....many.....Crepe Myrtles in Camden.
See, Mitchell, Alice is here, too!

Another view of the tower at Grace Episcopal.

So, there you have a small guided tour of Camden, with some of it's lovely, historic homes, playhouse, gardens and churches.
It may be a Smallville, but it 'shore is purty.'

Mad About Town

Well, since I'm away, I thought I'd offer up a little tour of Smallville [real name: Camden} for those of you--and I'm assuming that's all of you, who've never been here.

The Kershaw-Cornwallis House,
just south of town.

Camden is the fourth oldest city in of South Carolina, and is actually the oldest inland city, with a population of roughly 8,000. In total area, Camden is 9.8 square miles, of which 9.6 is land, and 0.2 is water.

Like I said, Smallville.

The Robert Mills-designed Courthouse is now
Camden's Visitors Center. Mills is most famous
for designing the Washington Monument.

In 1730--yes, almost three hundred years ago-- Camden became part of a township plan ordered by King George II, and was laid out in 1732 as the town of Fredericksburg in the Wateree River swamp--just south of present-day Camden.

Beautiful downtown Camden.

When King George III ordered eleven inland townships established along South Carolina's rivers, few of the area settlers chose to take lots surveyed in the town, choosing the higher ground to the north, and the Fredericksburg township soon disappeared.

In 1758, Joseph Kershaw, from Yorkshire, England came into the township, established a store and renamed the town Pine Tree Hill. Camden became the inland trade center in the colony, and Kershaw suggested that the town be renamed Camden, in honor of Lord Camden, the champion of colonial rights.

One of my favorite buildiungs in town,
it's now a music store.

In May 1780 the American Revolution came to Charleston, and that town was captured. Afterwards, Lord Charles Cornwallis and 2,500 of his troops marched into Camden and established it as the main British supply post for the Southern campaign.

The Battle of Camden, the worst American defeat of the Revolution, was fought on August 16, 1780 in Camden, and the Battle of Hobkirk Hill was fought by 1,400 American troops led by General Nathanael Greene and 950 British soldiers led by Lord Francis Rawdon on April 25, 1781. The latter battle was a costly win for the British, and forced them to leave Camden.

Camden City Hall.

Camden, though not involved directly with the Civil War, did send a few generals into battle, most notably a Hero of the American Civil War, Richard Rowland Kirkland, who is interred in the Old Quaker Cemetery.

After the war, in 1885, Camden became a place where rich Northern families would spend the winter. The town became associated with many equestrian activities, and is now the home of the third oldest active polo field in America. In the winter, more than 1,500 thoroughbreds call the field home. For that reason, Camden is known as the ‘Steeplechase Capital of the World’.”



The Main Post Office.

 The Carolina Cup is an annual event held on either the final Saturday in March or the first Saturday of April, with the first race held on March 22, 1930; the Cup has been held every year since, with the exception of 1943 and 1945 when a little old thing called World War Two got in the way--why we had the Cup in '44 is not known.

The races have become a South Carolina tradition, and normally draw crowds of over 70,000 spectators to Camden. as we live on the rod to the racecourse, we see most of these people driving, and walking, to the Cup.

The Cup has become a premier social sporting event at Springdale Race Course, which is also home to the Marion du Pont Scott Colonial Cup held on the third Sunday in November.

It's a big deal in Smallville.

And so, y'all, there's a little history, and a few pictures of Small.....er, Camden.


Springdale Race Course, a 500-acre venue for racing and training.



The Cup.



We Will Resume Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

AT&T just left.
They replaced the router, and the DVR that had the living hell shocked out of them, so it looks like ISBL will be back in business tomorrow morning with a new "I Didn't Say It...."
Until then......I cannot get enough of this song!

Blogging Suspended

Bad lightning storm yesterday!
Clap of thunder, flash of light, no internet, no cable!
Whatever shall I do?


Back tomorrow.

Painter Man

Semi-Sweet and Cathedral Stone

It's hot. And sticky. And I hate it when I get all hot and sticky...well, some of the time.
The weekend is over and it seemingly just started. One minute there was a Friday night cocktail, and then it was Monday morning. In the old days that would have been the sign of a really fun weekend, but nowadays it's just a sign of Old Days. But I digress.
I'm on yet another painting binge at Casa Smallville. This time it's the living room. When we moved it, it was painted a very delicate shade of light blue, above a chair rail--do not get me started on chair rails--and then there was some sort of painting technique applied to the wall below the rail. I swear to Ellen, the people who lived here before we bought this house never met a hideous color, or an outdated painting technique, that they didn't slather from stem to stern of the house.
Navy blue sponge-painted kitchen? Yes, we had that.
A flesh colored dining room? Check!

Chair rail and stripes! Ack!

The aforementioned striping below the chair rail--which really just looks like the paint ran, and they called it art. Indeed!
A pineapple wallpaper border in the master bedroom that wasn't actually applied to the wall, but was, instead, stapled, top and bottom, all the way around the room!
Yes, I know you feel my pain.
But, back to the living room. The chair rail was removed, and the walls patched. The crown molding and the baseboards have been sanded and primed, and mostly painted a lovely shade of ivory. Now, comes the time for picking a wall color. And this is where the trouble starts.
Carlos and I never agree on color. I like something a little unusual, a little dramatic. I see the room as a whole; the paint, the art, the furniture. Carlos sees just the color of the wall. And, to be fair, he likes the freaky. He, and I'm biting my tongue here to save you all from a slew of curse words, was thinking of painting the living room lavender.
I know!
La-ven-der.
Oh-em-gee.
Luckily, I was able to persuade him that lavender wasn't really the right color for the room. You know, I said, the furnishings are mostly earth tones, in greens, golds, browns, so lavender would stick out like a sore gay thumb. And it may have been the eloquence of my anti-lavender argument, or it may have been the hammer I kept swinging in my right hand, but the idea of lavender was shelved. Lavender! I mean, we're gay, not queer. I kid. We're queer, too.

The recently painted mantle will soon match all the trim.
Chair rail down, but note the chair rail in the hall!
In The Hall!!!!

I explained that I wanted the neutrality of gray. Gray, with my ivory trim would be lovely, especially when we install carbonized bamboo flooring. But, I also I wanted an accent wall, and I wanted a darker shade of gray there. So we researched grays. Grays with blue. Grays with green. Grays with with brown. Even grays with a hint of purple, that looked, yes, lavender, Those I hid from Carlos.
And we settled on a gray with some blue in it. For about five minutes, and then it was back to the paint store for more samples. And I found it.
Gray. or, as the paint store called it, Cathedral Stone. And the accent wall in Semi-Sweet. it's like a church for chocolate. I bought sample-sized cans and came home and painted splotches on the walls. Carlos, who was working in the yard, came inside, saw the splotches, and promptly made a gurgling, hissing noise and fainted dead away, while muttering, 'Too dark....too dark....too.....'
But I think, on the one wall, covered with our collection of watercolors, the Semi-Sweet is gonna look All-The-Way-Fabulous. I even brought out some of the paintings and held them against the wall.; Gorgeous. I showed him different colors and how they looked against the gray. Wonderful. I even promised that his antique writing desk would look fabulous against a Semi-Sweet wall. But, I also promised to live with it for a few days. 
The first day, I changed my mind, and agreed with Carlos.
Too dark.
Now, I'm not so sure....I could switch the Semi-Sweet for Rugged Suede, which is a shade lighter, and then switch out the Cathedral Stone for something which might be lighter, too. Or, I could go with my gut. or i could go all Rugged Suede Cathedral Stone.
What to do.....what to do.
I hope the room is done before Christmas.
Our tree would look amazing in the Chocolate Church.

I Didn't Get Raptured As Much As I Got Sangria'd...

...which, in my mind, at least, is a much better thing.

Our Second Annual Cinco de Never Again Party was quite the success. The name of the party, Cinco de Never, comes from a few years back, when a group of friends had gathered somewhere and Carlos announced to the group--without my knowledge--that he wanted to have a Cinco de Mayo party and make some traditional Mexican food. Everyone was keen on the idea and then....it never happened. Carlos simply forgot all about it.

Cut to the following year and someone asked me if Carlos was going to come through with his Cinco de Mayo party and I replied, "Make it Cinco de Never cuz it's never gonna happen." And a tradition was born.

The first CdN was last year and quite successful, and this year was more of the same. I loaded up on Tequila and beer and wine and Tequila, while Carlos made Tamales, Pollo con Poblanos and Marinated Flank Steak with Grilled Onions. He also made Coffee Flan and Coconut Flan. I made a Pinto Bean and Corn Salad with Cumin-Lime Vinaigrette, Salmon Ceviche with Peaches and Jalapenos, Shrimp Ceviche with Spanish Olives and Capers, and, together Carlos and I made 75 Chalupas with Chorizo and Queso Fresco.

It was crazy, er, loco.

And then I found a recipe for Sangria, which called for Hibiscus Water, which is a traditional Mexican beverage and something Carlos had as a kid. You take dried Hibiscus flowers and boil them into a kind of tart--think really tart lemonade--beverage. You add sugar and drink. Well, I added sugar, six bottles of Chardonnay, a bottle of Brandy a half bottle of Triple Sec and some orange juice and it was nirvana. It made so much and I worried about having too much, but it was the drink of choice on Saturday.

It was, yes, I'm gonna say it, rapturous. All in all, rapturous.

We had nearly thirty people at Chez Smallville, out of the deck and scattered throughout the house. A great blend of good friends who all know one another, and some new friends who fit right in. It was a Sangria-Tamale-Chalupa kinda day. And it was spectacular.

I had such good intentions of taking pictures of the food and the friends and that rapturous Sangria, but then I got Sangria'd and Tamale'd and Chalupa'd and Ceviche'd and forgot all about it. Maybe next year, at Cinco de Never, Numero Tres?

Light Posting Ahead

Carlos and i will be having our Second Annual Cinco de Never party this Saturday, so posting will be light, and preplanned, for the next couple of days.

We have Chalupas to fill, and Ceviches to make, and Guacamole and Salsa and Green Chile Salsa, to prep. There are Margaritas to make--and my special Bob-a-rita, too--and Sangria to create, and Flan to bake. There are rooms to clean and dishes to set out and flowers to get and music to ready.

Plus, there's that whole Rapture thing set up to ruin the day. I friended God on Facebook, and sent him....her[?]...a private message asking that the Rapture be put off for a while since we had planned this day long before the announcement of the End Times was made. I mean, had I known, I would have had the party last weekend.

Anyhoo, I may not get much of a chance to comment over the next couple of days, but I will play catch up after the weekend.

Happy Cinco de Never, y'all!

Overheard At Work

Co-worker: Did you see where Oprah interviewed James Frey again today?
Me: No. But didn't she ream him for lying in his book, and, more importantly, making her look bad, over four years ago?
Co-worker: Yeah, but then she had an epiphany.....
Me: You mean 'ratings ploy'.
Co-worker: Whatever. She said she was in the shower and she heard a voice telling her to interview him again.
Me: That wasn't a voice. It was Gayle, scrubbing her back.

And................................scene.

All The News From Smallville

Well, Carlos' birthday festivities have finally wound down. Like any good queen, he doesn't celebrate just once, but often, for several days, each passing year.

Last Wednesday, the day before his actual birthday, Round-The-Way-Gays, Neal and David, took us out to dinner to celebrate. A fabulous meal, some great cocktails, and the usual rip-roaring conversation. I had made Carlos a birthday card that said, on the front: Happy Birthday........Now Back  To Me....and gave him grief, when David and Neal presented him with a gift bag, er, bag'o'gifts, saying he wasn't allowed to open it until his birthday.

The Little Boy Pout that ensued was precious. And annoying.



Peanut Butter Cake
with Chocolate Icing



I told him that I'd had to order his gift online, and that it hadn't arrived in time for his birthday, and his little gay heart almost crumbled. But a little calamari, some Brie, a martini, and a chocolate tort, and all was forgotten. Until the next morning--his actual birthday--when I surprised him with some gifts. He squealed like a girl and tore open the packages, and it set the tone for his birthday.

It was all about him!

Pork Loin and Pesto

I had planned on taking him out to dinner on Saturday night, but since we'd had such a lovely meal with The Gays, I chose to go all Martha Stewart and make him a lovely dinner myself. He had to work on Saturday, so while he was gone I baked him a Peanut-Butter cake, with Chocolate Icing, a Roasted Pork Loin rubbed with Gremolata and served with Homemade Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Pesto, Grilled Asparagus with Prosciutto and shaved Asiago, and a Red Potato Salad with Fresh Mozzarella, Vine Ripened Tomatoes, Scallions and Basil in a Pomegranate Vinaigrette.

Potato Salad



Oh, but I did. 

Asparagus with
Proscuitto and Asiago

I also found a lovely bottle of Toasted Head Viognier, and the weather was so nice in Smallville that we ate on the back deck in the cool evening breeze. A lovely relaxing day, and a fine end to the Days Long Festivities celebrating the Birth Of Carlos! 

Afterwards, the weather turned ugly and rainy and there was talk of tornadoes and violent thunderstorms. We got hit by hail a couple of times, and worried that the sunroom skylights might break, but it was all said and done by midnight.

Dinner is served!

Sunday we did housework. There was a plan to mow lawns, but with all the rain Saturday night, that was put on hold. When we bought Case de Smallville, the mailbox was one of those ones that looks like a little barn, only it was gray, and old, and ugly. I've wanted to replace it, but Carlos decided he wanted to paint the body of the barn red--of course--and the roof of the barn brown. I again told him I'd like a new mailbox.

So, we broke out the red paint, and the brown paint, and painted our little barn mailbox. We also got some very cool silver house numbers, and some Black semi-gloss enamel to paint the post--we'll do that once the wood dries out from the rain. I was surprised that it didn't look cheesy. but actually looks very nice.

All in all, Carlos had a lovely birthday festival; three days of good times and gifts, and one day of barn paintintg. And now he's a happy camper.

Until next year.

That's Right B*tches!

I have been named, drum roll please, The Official Dustbunny Of The Day for March 17th, 2011!
My Irish Grandmother would be so proud. Now I simply must call The Smallville Times so the news can make the afternoon edition!
Read it and weep, HERE

Weekend Tidbits

What a gorgeous weekend in Smallville.

It was almost eighty degrees yesterday, and with that whole Spring Forward--which sounds like an old Jane Fonda Aerobics move--it was almost like summer.

It was also errand day, with groceries and so on, plus a stop at the Homo Depot, which was just packed with a bunch of other DIY-wannabes cruising the aisles.

We checked out cobblestones for Carlos' Garden Path Project, as well as paint colors for the living room and the wet bar--yes, don't hate, we have a wet bar in the living room....it's like a time capsule to the 1960s--as well as cabinet hardware.

Of course, the hardware I liked was about $30 each and I need about ten or eleven, so, just as I was about to change my mind from cabinet hardware to piece of string, I looked online and found the same pulls for just over $6 each. Seriously. I'm down from $300 bucks or so, to sixty. It's good.

We also installed filters in the rain gutters along the front of the house. We are literally surround by trees of all sorts and need to clean the gutters quite regularly, but these new sponge-like filters will keep the leaves and pine needles out of the gutters and on the ground where they belong.

Until i have to rake them up.

Leaves-and-Needles: One; Bob: Zero.

And because it was such a nice day, Carlos grilled some salmon on cedar planks while I popped the cork off a nice Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand--well, I didn't pop the cork so much as I unscrewed it, since so m many wines are becoming screw tops these days--and we ate a long leisurely dinner on the back deck.

Such a lovely Sunday.

Then, to cap it off, we ordered "Love & Other Drugs" off the DVR--it still shocks me that you can click a button on the remote and have a new movie play on your TV. That and microwave popcorn will make a sloth outta me yet.

The movie was good, if predictable. The old playboy meets girl who has a terminal illness and they hook up, and break up, and then get back together because the playboy learns there is more to the world than just his penis and the girl learns that there are actually people, well, men, who will think of them before they think of their penis....or at least think of them equally.

But, or should I say butt, there was a nice bit of Jake Gyllenhaal nekkidity, which raised the movie up--pun intended--for us. Jakey has a cute little behind, I must say.

Four stars for Jakey nude; two stars for story.

That was our Weekend of Domesticity, Sauvignon Blanc, Gutters and Naked Jake.
How was yours?

It's A Paint-A-Thon

Casa Smallville--Before



Casa Smallville--After

Well, another painting project down, and still a few more on the horizon.

As I've said before, when we bought Casa Smallville, we loved the house. We did not, however, love the choice of paint colors used by the former owners. The kitchen was dark blue......sponge paint. I know! And the master bedroom; ah, what a thing of beauty. The bottom six feet of the walls were painted a deep dark, murky blue, while the top two  feet were painted a shade of blue I will call battleship. Bridging the gap between hideous and hideous'er, was a wallpaper border with pineapples and fruit cornucopia on it.


 

The Hannibal Lecter Dining Room

 I.Know!

The day we moved in the house, I decided to see how much trouble it might be to removed the pineapple border. I saw one edge, near the door, had lifted up, so I gave it a tug. Imagine my surprise, when the border began pulling away from the wall with ease. It pulled away from the wall all the way around the room.

Why. you may ask? 

The former owners had simply stapled the border to the wall.

I.Know!


The Nursery Dining Room


The dining room, well, it was flesh colored, with some sixties, or early seventies, brass-and-glass light fixture in it. And since I am neither Hannibal Lecter or a Time Traveler from the past, I opted to make that my second painting job--after ridding the kitchen of the Navy blue sponge paint. 

And I didn't want a red dining room because it's been done. So, I opted for blue. I selected a gray blue, called Oxford Blue, because it looked far different from the kitchen paint I'd just hidden away, and I instantly painted the dining room Oxford Blue.

And it looked plain.

So, I taped off stripes, and purchased some Oxford Blue in a satin finish, and went at the dining room again. I painted the wall below the chair rail the same color as the trim, so it might look better. And it did....until that first family dinner.


Aaaah, Green!

 I sat at the head of the table, looking at my Oxford Blue, matte and satin striped walls, and thought, Hmmm, we need to get a changing table and a crib in here.

Yes, it looked nursery.

Time for a change.

I went from Oxford Blue to a deep dark Forest Green, and when we bought the new dining table and chairs--in a color called Ginger--along with a new lamp, it looked beautiful, except....

Tape It Off.

I missed the stripes.

So, rather than buy a gallon of Forest Green in satin, I did some research and discovered I could use something akin to Polyurethane, called PolyCrylic, which came in satin, to achieve my matte-and-satin stripe-age.

Well, furniture was removed, measurements were taken, pencil lines drawn, tape applied, and then i hit it with the PolyCrylic; two coats. It gave every other strip a slight sheen, and gave some added detail to walls I already loved, because they were no longer flesh colored, or looked like a Little Boy Blue room.

Aaaaah, now on to the living room.

Now, to be fair, Carlos had his own painting project.

Shortly after we moved in, we had pot lights installed in the kitchen, a new fixture over the island, and one over the kitchen table.

With the removal of the old fixtures, the ceiling had to be repaired, and Carlos took that on. It had to be re-textured and then repainted. He did the re-texturing in record time....about six months.

The repainting? Well, that took a bit longer.

Three.Years.

Then, this past Sunday, out of the blue, he got out a ladder, some sponge brushes and paint, and painted the kitchen ceiling.

Three.Years.Later.

I couldn't figure out why he decided to do the ceiling, until I leaned the next day at Post Apocalyptic Bohemian--thanks Stephen--that Sunday was Michelangelo's birthday.

Now it all made sense.