We are speedily moving from the Lowcountry winter into the Lowcountry spring which brings with it “yellow” snow. Our pollen season here is pretty awful and even people who have never experienced allergies before are suffering. This year seems even more intense than in years past. John washes his car and within a few hours you would never know it had been washed. There is yellow dust all over everything outside. It runs in rivulets when it gets caught in rain. Outdoor furniture is almost useless unless you don’t care about your clothes. We still try to sit outside when we can and to have a window open when possible but it permeates everything so we tend to shut the windows against the onslaught of the yellow dust during the day.

On the flip side, the azaleas are absolutely gorgeous, the pear trees, magnolias, camelias are all blooming. This is an island paradise except for the pollen and around dusk the gnats. This picture is of the 16th hole, par 3 on our Cotton Dike golf course aka Dataw’s Amen Corner. It is truly beautiful all the time but especially at this time of the year and this is our view.

Making Walking Fun Again

I’ve admitted before that I sometimes get bored with walking unless I have a goal. Walking the dogs is a goal and one that I really, really enjoy. It is social and a pleasure to be outside with my pups. However, I need more and so I set a goal of 100 miles a month. Then I realized I needed more so two weeks ago I found the half-marathon training program. I committed myself to continuing with the 12 week training program and managed to get four days in this past week. The program forces me to be focused in a way I usually am not. This week consisted of a Long Walk where I set my pace between 15:30 and 16:27 per mile. It was supposed to be the last walk of the first week but because of my travel I had to move it to the beginning of this week. Thus I started Week 2, Day 4 on Wednesday with an Easy Walk with a pace of 15:48 to 17:02. In the middle of the week was Day 5 and a Tempo walk where I started at 16:00 for the first mile, went to 14:45 and finished at 15:42. In the middle of those miles I saw my fastest segment yet with a 12:50. That is really pushing it when you are walking and at this point I can only do that as a burst. Normally I take Sunday off but because I was a little behind, I did go out and get in the missing day and finished the week or started the next week depending on what day of the week is the first day and completed The Long Walk which was a 40 minute walk. My splits were pretty good, it’s not supposed to be a flat out, hit my stride at 15:35 – 16:30. So all in all, a pretty great week. Now for week three the program moves into four training walks a week. So if I miss a day it’s going to be fun to fit it in. Ah, just another challenge!!

Golf for the Younger Set

Monday and Tuesday around here was rather fun. We hosted the Adidas College Invitational Golf Tournament. The men played 36 holes on Monday and the women played 18, then both groups played 18 on Tuesday. For the overall single men’s winner it was a three-way tie so they had a 9th hole playoff to decide the winner. It was very exciting as all three players were on the green in two. The first two hit par but the third to play was able to make a birdie and take home the trophy. The energy these young people bring to our island is just wonderful. Many folks on the island host members of the team and their coaches. We had two women and a coach with us from Ohio Wesleyan and thoroughly enjoyed having them visit. It is just fun to watch them play and to have the hustle and bustle that goes along with a tournament. It is also wonderful to see how many parents follow their student around the course. We enjoyed meeting many of them and finding out where they were from and sharing our island with them.

Beach Walking with Friends

We went to the beach with our friends and everyone had a great time. Bean and Wyke are very comfortable with the routine and enjoyed introducing their friends Nala and Winslow to the fun of running around in circles and in and out of the water. I learned that Nala just refused to walk anywhere the next day, she had too much fun at the beach. It hasn’t exactly been beach weather but then we aren’t going swimming, just walking along while the dogs have a good romp.

For your next Brunch – A Yummy Breakfast Casserole

John found a wonderful recipe for a breakfast casserole that we made and took out to a brunch that we attended that just happened to be right on our favorite beach. The dogs came with us and waited patiently in the car while we enjoyed absolutely delicious food and good camaraderie with our friends. The recipe is from Tastes Better from Scratch

The sausage in the casserole was given to us by John’s cousin who actually went hunting, got the hog, butchered the hog and made the sausage himself. It is extremely lean and deliciously spicey. We were surprised that there was no fat to drain off after we cooked it. I am sure it will be equally as delicious with any good quality sausage but for me this made it possible to eat it without any concerns at all. I eat very little meat but when I do I want to know where our food comes from.

Here is the recipe for you to enjoy.

Ingredients
2 pounds pork sausage (We used Pat’s)
12 eggs
1 cup sour cream (light or regular)
1/4 cup milk (We used half/half)
salt and pepper (We didn’t add any extra)
4 green onions (We used 6)
1/2 green bell pepper , diced (We used the whole pepper)
1/2 red bell pepper , diced
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (We used a mix of shredded cheese)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13’’ pan with cooking spray.

Combine the eggs, sour cream, milk, cheese and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Mix on low speed with electric mixers, just until combined.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and cook until browned, breaking it into small pieces with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Drain most of the grease and add the sausage to the bowl with the egg mixture. *We had none to pour off

Add the bell peppers and onion to the same skillet the sausage was cooked in and sauté for 2- 3 minutes. Add to the bowl with the eggs and stir everything to combine.

Pour mixture into greased 9×13’’ pan and bake for 35-50 minutes or until the edges are set and the center is just barely jiggly. We transported it to the house and kept it warm until it was to be eaten. We left two small pieces for our host and hostess to enjoy the next day. It was a success.