What Are You Reading?
On our most recent trip to SSI, I found myself at the beach and no good books to read. I had finished The Fixer Upper the latest by Mary Kay Andrews, an old Greg Iles book about WWII, and The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I had read Gary Pomerantz's Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn as background for an event I am coordinating at the ML King Jr. National Historic Site. After recently meeting SSI resident Reid Harris, I followed with interest his narrative on "How a Small Group of Legislators, Scientists and Concerned Citizens Helped Save 500,000 Acres of the World's Most Productive Area" when Georgia enacted the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act in 1970. There were lots of old favorites by Carl Hiaissen, Ted Bell, and Clive Cussler in our library, but I was stumped. So send me your suggestions. I still have a couple weeks before the second book in Nora Roberts' wedding trilogy comes out -- and I can only re-read so many old Martha Stewart magazines.
Everything Tastes Better at the Beach
September 9, 2009 Chill in the air making me hungry.
Cooking for families and friends is a favorite activity for everyone at the beach. Many of our guests talk about their favorite recipes and time-honored tricks and traditions for feeding a hungry crowd. Long time guests The Ivesters love the Orange Pancake recipe they found in one of the cookbooks in our house library. Our friends The Smiths have devised an ingenious flow chart that divides the cooking and carrying chores among their 16 family members without overlapping purchases. Our family must have Paula Deen’s shrimp and grits at least one night and steaks from Gary Lee’s Market another night. Share your amazing tricks and delicious recipes with us and we will post them in our new Recipes tab.
Thanks to The Ivesters for telling us about this recipe for ORANGE PANCAKES from A Taste of Heaven published in 2003 by Christ the King School, Atlanta.
SCH Guests Voted Best on the Island
It’s true. Our neighbors have unanimously told us that the families, girlfriends, golfing buddies, and business associates who stayed at the Strachan Carriage House were “the nicest renters.” We agree because, after all, we have been lucky to rent to great people who love to do cool things with their friends and families.
Among our guests this year was a bio tech CEO and his wife who discovered sea pork on the beach and saw dolphins in the wild for the first time; an architecture student from Scotland who sketched an interior view of our home; a doctor and his dad training for a bicycle marathon to the summit of Mt. Ranier; the family of a NCIS graduate (yep, the real deal, not just our favorite tv show) who came to cheer on their nephew at his graduation from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center at Brunswick; one 9-yr old boy who asked his grandfather if they could rent our home “forever” because it was the best place for a vacation; another 9 yr old boy who caught his first shark (35 inches long) off the pier; two generations of teachers who enjoyed reading their way through our library of great beach books; a delightful retired IRS grandfather who had read item by item all the materials we sent him, and a two-week old baby girl who arrived just in time so she wouldn’t miss accompanying her grandparents to the beach. And that doesn’t count all the aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings and business associates who got out of the pool long enough to enjoy great meals around the big oak table.
“Your renters sure love that pool,” remarked our neighbor Mr. Bill who walks his big brown dog every morning. We do, too, and we’re glad we can share it with the nicest people to visit SSI.
Let’s keep our reputation going. Email today to come back next year, and tell a friend about our vacation home. But….shhh!... only tell the nicest, coolest, and best renters just like you! We have a reputation to maintain.