Friday's Fave Five, 7/20/18

Beach Version 2018

LINK to Friday's Fave Five Host Blog

1. We spent July 7-14 in a house at Pawley's Island, SC.  The opportunity came up rather quickly.  We just wanted to go somewhere, anywhere, to breathe different air for a few days.  I was scanning the internet when a sale popped up for this property.  A cancellation had occurred and the owner was offering a 20% discount to re-rent it.  We snapped it up and had a great week in a creek/marsh-front house, only a few houses from the north point of the island - easy to either boat or walk to the point, from which we could see marsh on the left and ocean to the right.  

View from walkway to the dock

View from our back deck down to our dock

2. Both our children and their spouses, as well as Mike's sister and husband, spent the first couple of days with us.  Brother-in-law then left his boat with us for the week - a great treat that led to some good fishing opportunities.  Our daughter-in-law proved to be the best fisherman in the group - she caught enough for us to have flounder for supper one evening.  We really enjoyed using the boat.

Daughter and daughter-in-law both love fishing.

Mike catching a flounder - having a good time even if it did have to be thrown back.

Flounder, fries, hushpuppies, corn, and slaw.  Great beach meal!

3. Wonderful opportunities to observe birds - the best in years.  We constantly saw shorebirds from our house - several kinds of herons and egrets, other shorebirds, songbirds, and more.  We also took several trips to Huntington Beach State Park, about six miles from our rental, which is known for premier birding on the U.S. east coast.  

Great Blue Heron on a sandbar as seen from the boat.

Little Blue Heron (immature) at Huntington Beach State Park.

I call this one "Praise Jesus!"  :-)  It's an anhinga, and they like to
dry their wings out this way.

A marsh hen (Clapper Rail) as seen in our back yard.  These are very secretive
birds, but this one peaked out often looking for food before scurrying back
into the marsh.  We got many good looks at this bird that is usually heard
rather than seen.  We also got good looks at. . .

. . .three Clapper Rail chicks who sometimes came out with their mother,
but always hurried back into the cover of the marsh.

Roseate Spoonbills.  Lifers for us.  For some reason there is a large invasion of these
into the Carolinas this year.  Note that the end of the bill looks just like a spoon.

Black-crowned night heron, another secretive bird.  Mike spotted it first.
Another lifer on our lists.

Painted bunting, singing its heart out from the top of a tree.
 I believe it is an immature due to the yellow wash on its breast.
An adult male bird would be solid red in that area.

Mixed flock at Huntington Beach State Park.  I call this picture "Church Potluck."

Tri-Colored heron in the marsh behind our rental.

4. After family left, we had a few days to ourselves, and then dear friends came for a couple of nights.  So it was a great vacation, save for one thing. . .

5. A diagnosis.  On Sunday of the vacation, I "face-planted" onto the dock while getting out of the boat.  It was a really hard fall, and rather awkward with the whole family looking on in horror thinking Mom has killed herself.  I had pain in the chest area for the rest of the week, but for the most part it was mild and only affected me with certain movements and bending over.  It seemed to be healing over the course of four or five days, and by the time we got home I didn't even feel it, and forgot about it, until about three days ago.  This Tuesday the pain came back with a vengeance, incapacitating and much worse than during the vacation.  Went to the dr. yesterday - I have a broken fifth rib, not displaced, which means it's not nearly as serious as it could be.  Dr. said I probably bruised it last week, and then some normal movement caused it to crack this week.  So I am learning how to deal with the pain of a broken rib.  BUT - it still goes on FFF because I am relieved to know what is wrong and that it can be managed with rest, ice, and some pain medication.

Thank you for putting up with all my bird pictures!!