Text Box:   Myrtle Beach

Text Box: Smith Family Newsletter May 2009

Text Box: This newsletter is quite late, as I have not been well and actually had gallbladder surgery in early July.  Will tell you about that later, but will have to catch up right now.  This may end up being a one page letter this month in an effort to get up to date.   Right after the rally, Bob & I headed back to Myrtle Beach and Briarcliffe.  We needed to follow up with our medical doctors which we did promptly.  When we arrived our friends John & Barbara were there.  Also there, were Paul  & Angie from our HR Chapter 400.  Once again, coming back to Myrtle Beach is the closest thing we have to feeling like we are home. This being my birthday month, I picked a place for dinner and invited our friends to join us.  This year I picked Italian.  Chianti South was originally owned by the people who owned Chianti in Newburgh, NY, where we lived.  They have since retired a second time and sold it to the Chef.  Excellent food!  See picture below.  During the course of this stay, John & Barbara decided to join us in our move West to Missouri and together we would do some touring this Summer. Thus, much of our chatting centered around planning for this trip.  Then there is our volunteer job on Saturday mornings with Roger & Pat!!  As soon as they heard we were in town, we found our place on the list of volunteers.  We even got to pick strawberries at a local farm one Friday morning with them. Then Barbara and I discovered that the resident swans in Barefoot Landing had a nest with one egg, and one hatched chick!  What fun! It is Spring and there are babies every where; swans, ducks, turtles, rabbits, and birds.  When the bike rally came to town, the Swans disappeared in the thick marsh land.  Can’t say that I blame them.  See the proud Daddy Swan checking out his youngster!  Then there is the Briarcliffe resident cat, Nicky!  We met him last year when he was making his rounds through the campground welcoming new arrivals.  He is the sweetest cat!  I naturally invited him to dinner on a regular basis, which he accepted.  I call him Nicky because of the v cut in his left ear.  Other than this our stay was quiet.  We left on May 26th and headed to meet up with John & Barbara.  They had left Briarcliffe a couple of weeks earlier. .        .    .