Hilton Head Island is part of the Lowcountry region in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It’s known for Atlantic Ocean beaches and golf courses. The Harbour Town Lighthouse and Museum marks the southwest tip. The Coastal Discovery Museum features heritage buildings, trees and themed gardens. Between the island and mainland, the Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge salt marsh hosts deer, alligators and birds.
I can think of no greater compliment to currency than to speak dismissively of it as just another day. Indeed by way of less literary interpretation it is in my experience not uncommon that, no matter where on earth one happens to be at the moment, eventually being there is favourably expressed as just another day (but always with the added ingredient that the very mundanity of the observation is what preserves its appeal). Human nature is thus at its very best terribly accommodating. The wordly stimulus is the not insignificant insinuation that, though short of spiritual elevation, the immediate circumstance is heartening, perhaps even surmounting physical restriction or evolution. All told just another day is expressive of contentment. I’m having one of those days, just another day.
We at last made it to a car wash. The residents of Hilton Head Island are well known for their adherence to vehicular maintenance. This is a social prejudice nurtured by a national history of car worship, an apostasy which I admit to embracing. Withdrawal from the perils of winter certainly helps to promote the standards of automotive cleanliness and cosmetics. Yesterday we saw a lumbering Rolls Royce wending about a traffic circle on Lighthouse Road near Harbour Town golf links.
January 29, 2024
Apartment 1917
South Beach Club
Hilton Head Island, SC
Dear Debora,
Thank-you for your email, kind of you to have written. As you mentioned, the initial stage of our drive here from home was threatened by freezing rain but we escaped the region without consequence other than an exceedingly filthy car. And, as you also quipped, the acquisition of a new painting was sternly met with fleeting disapproval from His Lordship (though naturally in the end he succumbed to both the profligacy and the superfluity). I look forward to sharing a view of it with you upon our return in March. By coincidence the owners (the Schwartz family) of our rental apartment here have demonstrably an unqualified preference for the collection of art, many and varied renditions of which appear throughout the spacious and superbly well-appointed 3-bedroom unit.
Meeting people for the first time is a lesson in both chemistry and society. The composition of the community is scientifically assured to engender limitless ingredients having a bearing upon the convention.
Chemistry
the branch of science that deals with the identification of the substances of which matter is composed; the investigation of their properties and the ways in which they interact, combine, and change; and the use of these processes to form new substances;
the complex emotional or psychological interaction between two people
The Northwesterly gusts through the open patio door off the master bedroom this morning revived whatever trace of somnolence remained after our 4-day journey here and a fulfilling meal late yesterday afternoon at the Salty Dog in nearby South Beach.
Lumberton, NC, Harrisonburg, VA and Binghamton, NY are but dust, rain and sleet in our rearview mirror. Around noon today the palmetto ferns began ornamenting the highway as we neared Hilton Head Island. We took another sharp left turn eastward in the direction of the North Atlantic Ocean, escaping Interstate 95 as though assuaging a scar with an anodyne. The land widened upon the sea marshes, expanding the horizon in the endless western sky above the vast salt water inlet. A launch motored inland from the sea. We were back. Years of memories suddenly percolated from the depths. Together we proclaimed, “There! Remember that!”. Or pointed to a landmark we recalled with gusto. Or merely allowed the serum of nostalgia to infuse our veins and settle our minds.
Today’s venture on the third of our 4-day southern descent to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina took a sharp turn left directly east towards the North Atlantic Ocean. Our overnight destination is Lumberton, North Carolina. For those acquainted with the area it’s about one hour and 40 minutes from Myrtle Beach. We awoke to 63 degrees Fahrenheit under predominantly clear skies. Judging by the proliferation of spray on the highway there had been significant rain overnight.
After a unique start at the hotel in Binghamton, NY this morning – the electrical part of a cooler set on fire in the breakfast room and the fire department arrived en tenue complète with flashing truck and sirens screaming – we recovered nicely this evening in the rooftop lounge of our hotel in Harrisonburg, Virginia with a wide assortment of tapas followed by a modest dessert of vanilla ice cream. This after a swim in the saltwater pool. All part of our on-going athletic endeavours.
The initial start this morning was obstructed by bad weather, a mixture of ice pellets and sleet and, latterly after we crossed the border, a persistent fine rain more like a spray which threatened to freeze but thankfully didn’t. With the temperature bearing down just precious fractions above 32 degrees Fahrenheit we wended our way over the glistening black roads of Syracuse, along the circuitous ups and downs, avoiding the Exit Only lanes, glimpsing the modern buildings on the skyline, then through the city to the sudden countryside with its distant hillsides and wintry lakeside scenes. We progressed slowly but earnestly ever southward along Interstate 81. There was of course the usual competition with trucks of various sizes and elongations. I was satisfied to defer whenever appropriate or even mandatory. We were in no rush.