Wasted LOVE

I had one of those experiences , or rather a conversation coupled with some mini-drama...with a older woman at a casual party the other day...the kind you don't forget. I am going to show you some of my last Charleston , South Carolina pictures that I forgot to include before...sort of randomly thrown in...between my recount of this love story.

So just know they are all from Charleston gardens.

Let me now tell you my sad , very real conversation I had with a neighbor of mine...about the man that loves her.

The woman I am talking about, let me describe her to you. Shorter grey hair, she is in her mid to late 70's I would say, and she has beautiful blue eyes, she is quite attractive. She lives in  a very expensive house , on the most expensive street in my neighborhood. I see her out walking her small dog often, and I also have seen for about 10 years, the man who is in love with her...out walking her small spoiled dog  too, on many occasions. He is very friendly, he told me years ago , when I first met him...that it wasn't his dog he was walking, and then he gestured towards her house...and said, " I am walking the woman's I am in love with dog.  I do anything for her."   He was balding, in his late 70's at that time, so I am guessing he is in his early to mid 80's or so now. He was pleasant and delightful. He had sparkling eyes when he smiled , that is what I remembered about him , and he smiled a lot.

Back to my conversation with the woman.
I started making small talk with her, about how I see her on my walks, and she looked at me, trying to recall me . I probably see her about 6-9 times a month, but I usually have Maxine with me, and I am wearing shorts...and I guess I am not very memorable to her. She stopped, looked directly at me again, and says, " I do believe I know you, yes. " I smile and talk about the juicy , sweet cantaloupe we are munching on, and then I point toward the man who is in love with her...as he is sitting outside at the party on a small brick wall talking to some children.

I tell her about the many times I have run into him walking her small dog, and that he said that he was walking the dog because he was in love with the owner of the dog--her.
I remember smiling at her.

She glanced over at him and smiled too, then quickly looked off in the distance again and started talking about how her husband died 10 years after they moved in to their home, she has been by herself for an additional 10 years...it is hard...and that the man who is in love with her, that he was one of her husband's best friends. That he fought in the Battle of the Bulge, that he loved children.

Then she went on for a bit about how she has been wanting to remarry for years.

I directly asked her, looking at the man in love with her on the brick wall...I say, " Why don't you marry him ? He is so in love with you. "

She answers me why , very quickly.

She says...and this just killed me, she says, " He has too much baggage, No..not him. " I asked her to explain ( I am not shy about asking much of anything ), and she goes on about some problem grown children of his , who use him . She also insinuated he did not have enough money to take care of her. This woman obviously expected to be spoiled materially , and to never worry about money.

I felt my heart grow so sad while she was talking. 

I wanted to take her by the shoulders and say to her, LOUDLY, " Listen, there is nothing, NOTHING more valuable than true love . It does not matter about the other people in his life , his problem grown children.  It does not matter if he does not have the means to keep up your lifestyle. You are both at the very, very last years of your lives...and you have been given the opportunity to have someone love you. For real, no falsehood attached, no ulterior motives , no hidden agendas. Wake up !"

But instead , I looked over at him, and let me tell you...he was watching us talk...and I could tell he knew we were talking about him. He was looking at her intently, and he was looking at her with a pleasant smile but sad, sad eyes.

It appeared not to faze her.

I also knew she was older, and I needed to be respectful to her.
I then told her that she was beautiful , and that I hope she had fun at the party. She looked at me, acknowledged that she was beautiful and said a mild thank you.

I then walked off to talk to someone else.

But that conversation, and that man's sad eyes for the woman he loved...that he will love until he dies...will haunt me . I'm certain she has made him feel, not quite good enough to marry her.

That his love for her, is not important enough to commit to him. 

That his love itself is not that important.

I am certain that he will not leave her, I see his car at her house every day.

I am certain that she has wasted a precious love in her life.
Something  precious and valuable that cannot be purchased , has no price.

I am certain that she has wasted love.

Bless you, I hope you do not waste love , I hope you appreciate the love you have, and the people that give it to you...and if by chance you are similar to this woman, and have someone that loves you madly...but you keep waiting for that special someone else to show up...just remember..they are probably right in front of you already, all along.
Wake up.

Gina

" And now faith, hope , and love abide , these three ; but the greatest of these is love. " I Corinthians 13:13

Let Me Show YOU more ANTIQUE Wrought IRONWORK from Charleston, SC

Here we go with more shots I took of antique wrought iron work from downtown historic Charleston, South Carolina. I took a little more close up pictures of some of this, and some full shots of gates and railings. The ironwork is such a staple here in Charleston, it is a element that men and women both like in their gardens and encircling their homes.

I believe there are feminine and masculine garden elements, plants, and even styles. Ironwork is one of those masculine elements , representing strength , fortitude and uppermost security.

It looks it's best with draping vines or greenery peeking through it...softening it some.

Psy. 101 lesson on masculine and feminine elements in your garden by a surely shady source...my own ever deducing brain.

Take it or leave it for what it's worth.

Ok, let me show you around hot and humid Charleston...

Upper balcony railing balustrade or balcony.

Always peeking in, that's me.

I loved this old timey bicycle behind this front entarnce gate.

I believe I showed this in my last post with the shadows, but I love it so much I'm making you look again.

I worked a bit for this shot. See the gorgeous. draping Spanish moss on the trees ? It was a hot, but beautiful morning when I was walking around that day. 90 degrees.
190 % humidity.

These were some pictures of some large gates to a bed and breakfast that I like to sneak back and look at the garden. I remember these shots, because I stopped to take a gulp of water from my plastic water bottle...and it made that silly crunchy noise that I believe cheaper water bottles make, very loud...and a man sitting under a  patio jumped reading his paper beside me.

Tough tiddlywinks for him, as I had to go back and see this garden again...and I was thirsty.
We all need someone to wake us up now and then.

 Problem was for Mrs. Tough-T...many people were back there enjoying their breakfast still...so I retreated and left them to listen to the birds and drink their coffee.

Out past the man I scared earlier and back to hunt down more ironwork.

 These photos were all taken off the Battery by the way. The really, REALLY expensive area of town.
Anywhere is pretty pricey in downtown Charleston though.

My beloved blue plumbago peeking through some iron. Feminine, masculine elements in perfect harmony.

A porch railing.

Very Victorian don't you think ?

Outside of a church.

More hearts.

What a stunningly artistic shot ! I really like this one.

Hey...see the heart at the very top ?

All of this old ironwork makes these gardens complete...I also like vintage woodwork around gardens. Picket fences are terribly charming.

I just realized this is too long of a post, so I will do another one tomorrow with the last of the ironwork , some statuary and some more of Charleston, SC.

At present, I need to go finish cleaning up around here and preparing a Father's Day dinner for my dad and my husband. For all you cooks and chefs out there that include recipes in their blogs....I am not going to include a recipe, as I know you all know how to make this meal.

But I will tell you my simple menu for the dinner:

Father's Day Dinner

Grilled marinated Italian

chicken ( I'm always the griller-barbecuer lady here )

Strawberry-spinach and pecan salad

Homemade potato salad made last nite and chillin'

Chocolate cake for dessert

( courtesy of my oldest beloved daughter )

Sounds good right ?

Happy Father's day to you men , bless you and your families,

Gina

" Therefore if any man be in Christ , he is a new creature ; old things are passed away ; behold, all things are new. " 2 Corinthians 5:17

Wrought IRON Shadows from CHARLESTON, South Carolina

We went to Charleston , SC...one of my very favorite places in the world, if you have followed my blog before. If you are a newer follower, a warm welcome. Or a hot one as it was 95 degrees in Charleston , a city with possibly the highest humidity on the face of the planet. I was in an artsy type of mood , melancholy...contemplating -my- life type of mood for the last few days ( wait, make that a good couple of decades ), but it is more profound of late.

That in turn has caused Mrs. Profound-over-thinker to notice even more than I already notice, which is too much for my own good.

But here , I will show you the shadows of some gorgeous, heavy, chunky antique wrought iron gates and ironwork I noticed reflecting  on the ground in the early morning sunlight of Charleston.

I hope you enjoy these pictures...

 I love the heart in this gate. I saw many hearts in gates here...once I stopped and looked at them more carefully.

 See...lovely shadows.

Artwork outlines courtesy of God and His sunshine.

I will throw in this shadow on a sidewalk that I was walking down, I loved the crape myrtles draping heavy with their blossoms, creating outlines for anyone who could truly notice. That morning I walked was full of birds singing , clip-clopping of horses hooves from the carriages that give tours, and lots of going around construction crews renovating homes.

I did not have my headphones on this time, as I had to bring water it was so hot, and I had my camera and key as well.

A gal only has some many hands right ?

The evening before I got caught in a torrential downpour about a mile from the hotel, with way too much to carry and to get damaged if they got wet.
I went under someone's porch for awhile, but did not want to appear to be a vagrant...a wet vagrant...so I made my way out into the rain again.

I looked like a drowned rat when I walked back to the hotel.

So this time, I edited my carry-on items for my walk.
Not in case of rain...simply to make my walk lighter.

That afforded me the added benefit of Charleston's own daily sounds.

Nice.

 The sun started to get too high overhead, which meant time was passing and I had to head back to our hotel.

 Here is me and my love-bug  later, getting ready to go out for some dinner at a restaurant that had a live jazz band , and then off to walk around Charleston at dusk at the water park. It was still 95 degrees at 6:30 PM.

Our son's favorite thing at this hotel was racing up the elevator to beat me, who always takes the stairs here, to get to the room first.

I won 90 % of the time . Only because it was only 1 flight of steps up, and he had to wait frantically pushing elevator buttons, the joy children derive from elevator buttons !

I have more entries I will post with many more pictures of wrought iron accents , and some gardens and miscellaneous shots around Charleston.

More later,

Gina

 "Be still, and know that I am GOD. " Psalm 46:10

Sights in Historic Charleston, South Carolina

I love historic Charleston, South Carolina...and since I can drive there in under two hours...I try to go as often as I can. I went there yesterday and after a three + hour trek through the downtown neighborhoods, from the Market area ...all the way to the Battery....I took many pictures of wrought iron fencing, gardens, door knockers , and the massive wooden doors of homes. I enjoy doing this as I am a gardener and I get much inspiration from this beautiful city. I hope you enjoy some of these pictures.

This is St. Philips Church, built in the 1700's, and is usually the spot where I start all my walks in Charleston. Look at the gorgeous wrought ironwork gates.
To the upper right is the Calhoun mansion with the god Mercury statue in the front gardens. The garden is perfectly manicured and one of the best in downtown Charleston.
To the upper left is the middle garden of the Calhoun mansion.

At the top is the back huge three-tired fountain at the Calhoun mansion. It has some lovely cement antique statues of birds on the edges.
At the very top is some heavy , wrought iron gates in downtown Charleston.

Check back , I will be showing more antique original sightings from Charleston. Save this blog if you like, Gina




" Finally brethren, whatsoever things are TRUE, whatsoever things are HONEST, whatsoever things are PURE, whatsoever things are LOVELY, whatsoever things are of GOOD report: if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. " Philippians 4:8