Wednesday, November 4, 2009

First, the photo of the two young ladies in yesterday's blog is of Eleanor and Olivia Winston, Paul and Mirtica Winston’s children. We were first introduced to the Winston’s at St. Luke’s. Paul works for Deere & Company and was transferred/promoted to Waterloo from Coffeeville KS. He was later transferred to Moline, then Raleigh NC. On December 1st they will be leaving for China for one year. What an experience that will be for the whole family. I really got to know Paul when he came out to our shop several times to make furniture for the girls. The Winston’s are great people and we hope that maybe they will be transferred back to Cedar Falls/Waterloo after the China tour.

The weather was great today. We went to Camden, SC and the Revolutionary War site of two battles. The house pictured is called the Kershaw House. Cornwallis used the house as his headquarters in 1780-1781. The British won both battles that were fought here. We’re told that there were more Revolutionary War battles fought in SC than any other state.

Congaree Swamp National Park is 24,000 acres of oldgrowth bottomland hardwood forest. It’s the largest in the US. The trees average over 150 feet tall and there are many trees over 200 years old. The trees are loblolly pines and cypress. The photo is of a cypress tree and their ‘knees’ pushing up out of the ground. We think that the knees help to anchor the trees in the muddy ground.

More later.