C. Fawley Fjeran

LowTide Yesterday at 6:00am  ·  No filter, no problem... Similar to a baby monitor, my bird monitor has a mic dangling outside the window next to the bird feeder. The monitor was my Christmas ask last year. I had hopes of enjoying the sounds of an open window--I love al fresco, plein air, open air but the weather doesn't always permit. The mic amplifies grateful cheeps and chirping of finches, cardinals, and towhees, and cooing of mourning doves. It also picks up, behind our backyard haven, the motorcycles  on Lora Smith Road and the overhead airplanes and helicopters. This morning I flipped on the monitor to the amplified plinging of large raindrops slapping the metal gutters. It put me in mind of Jerry Lewis' The Nutty Professor Hangover Scene ( https://youtu.be/FPlua9W7H6c ). Although we get close, it seems nothing quite replicates our natural senses--the way in which our eyes balance color and light; the way our ears filter background noise and hone in on desired soun...

LowTide January 27 at 7:00am  ·  It isn't over 'til the Fat Tuesday lady sings... I love daylight. It seems a cruel joke that at a time of year when the light of day naturally decreases, we have to turn our clocks back one hour--darkness settles in for a long winter's nap. So, I don't object one bit to the early lighting of Christmas decorations to brighten the dark days. The more lights the merrier. And joyfully, Little Christmas extends the holiday into January. I leave my lights on until the last minute  of Epiphany. Then it's over? Maybe not. We hit the coast this month. Guess what? Locals are set to celebrate Mardis Gras. No need to wait until Fat Tuesday. Carnival celebrations begin as early as the feast of Epiphany (Three Kings Day). Dauphin Island kicked off the first parade of the season on the Gulf Coast. Those who live north of the Mardis Gras-Dixon line remain clueless. Carnival celebrations culminate on Mardis Gras. Riley's Irish Pub doesn't min...

LowTide January 21 at 1:27pm  ·  Now I know... Not that there were any big surprises. Everyone is doing it--spitting in a tube and mailing it off to discover what we're made of. Trust me, spitting in the tube is easier said than done. My husband keeps asking, "Why do you care?" Uff-da. "Unlike you, we haven't all been so lucky to grow up with a strong connection to our heritage." I'd like to know more about my ethnicity, and convince my sister that we're indeed part Irish. Indeed, if only 16%. Rumor has it we came to America on the wings of an Irish horse thief. It hasn't yet been disproven. For years my brother-in-law's family touted that their grandmother was 1/8 Cherokee. When he did his search there were no Cherokees--none, nada. Family legends! I was surprised to learn sibling results can vary significantly--even when it isn't due to the mailman... My sister is the one who delves into genealogy. I trust her to sort it out and let me ...

LowTide January 20 at 7:00am  ·  Just as well... It's not often that you sell your house to a friend, but that is what we did in 2000. Our friends, temporarily residing in Alaska, were ready to come home to Georgia. We lived on acreage west of Newnan and were ready to move closer to...anywhere. Every trip, whether for groceries, stamps, or doctor appointments, took, at minimum, 40 minutes round trip. And, David was finally tired of mowing. In fact, he entertained moving in 1999 after continuously mowing to  keep up with the voracious growth of the season. He settled back in when the grass and weeds settled down. At first mention of moving in 1999, I had my eye on a two-story white house under construction that reminded me of my grandmother's farmhouse. At the end of the growing season, and David's suspended interest, I shelved the thought. Once again, as mowing and weeding cranked up in 2000, we rekindled the conversation about moving. I excitedly shared the news with Ren...

LowTide January 13 at 7:00am  ·  Reflections... The Penn Center on St. Helena Island was founded in 1862 as the first school in the South for newly freed men and women. In January 2017, President Barack Obama named the Center a Reconstruction Era National Monument. The Center also served as the only location in South Carolina where interracial groups could come together during the Civil Rights Movement.  http://www.sciway.net/afam/penn.html  Martin Luther King, Jr. met at the Penn Center with other thought lea ders of his time to debate the future of the Civil Rights Movement. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/us/04retreat.html . King stayed at the Gantt cottage, which was not open the day I visited, but I caught a reflection of his portrait through the window and circled the outside of the cottage hoping to touch some of the same soil where King walked. How could I not be inspired? Gantt cottage is where portions of one of the most famous speeches in history were wr...

LowTide January 10 at 6:00am  ·  Learning from a grandfather... I arrived early to set up for an orientation designed for participants who are interested in delivering child welfare services. A gentleman was seated just inside the entrance, and I thought he might be a participant who arrived early. He was not. He was waiting to testify in court across the street. I laid out sign-in sheets and name tags then scuttled up the stairs to set up the AV presentation in the auditorium. Connections and remote control s were creating havoc, but we persisted and found a workaround--four minutes before the session was scheduled to begin. Back downstairs to my abandoned post at the entrance, the gentleman was still waiting for his call to court. He was kindly helping direct participants--thankfully, I often meet people who volunteer to help. After everything was underway, we struck up a conversation. The gentleman, a retired police officer, had been on the force for 41 years--a bit of a le...

LowTide January 7 at 7:00am  ·  Signals... Red light: stop; green light: go. Have we changed the law? It's been a few years since I took a driver's license test. I simply renew everytime it is due to expire. (Please, remind me to do this next year). I wonder by the way in which everyone drive's today if the signals still mean the same thing as when I first received my license. These days red lights seem only to be a suggestion, especially in the left turn lane. The shorter the green light, the less likely drivers will stop after the light turns red. And when the light turns green? The lead driver often waits to finish their text message before they move forward. Ugggh. Yellow lights have always been ambiguous. Do you slam on the break or gun it? Theoretically, signs and signals help us know what to do and when to do it. Or, in the case of communication, what to say and when to say it. Those who don't read signals risk collision. An urban legend captures the importance o...

LowTide January 6 at 12:06pm  ·  Epiphany, January 6 "Epiphany: a moment when you suddenly feel that you understand, or suddenly become conscious of something that is very important to you." (Cambridge English Dictionary) Epiphany is also the 12th day of Christmas, which commemorates the star that led the Magi to baby Jesus. "All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful" filled my year of epiphany in 2017. It's been one year since I started a year of discovery and shared my first LowTide post: VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust Like most inquiring minds, my voyage of discovery began soon after the day I was born. During childhood, I inherited an interest from my grandparents in gardening. A sixth-grade field trip to Bellingrath Gardens crystalized my interest in gardening--the Japanese Garden, filled with stre...

LowTide January 4  ·  The wonder years... The original reference to the wonder years, before the T.V. show hijacked it, described the wonderment of youth: new sights, sounds, and places. Young eyes widen at the sight of their first shiny Christmas tree or a brand new bike. Correction, brand new iPad. Youth is about discovery. Invigorating! Babies discover fingers and toes; toddlers discover how to walk and run; two-year-olds discover everything within reach. Moms wonder, "How did he reach that?!" Fast forward. My days and years are still filled with discovery. Every day, I think, "What is that about?" But now much of the wonderment is about time. I wonder how long... How many years will we have in retirement? When and where to retire? Where will other family members land? How many more Christmases will we have to celebrate with aging parents? Who will be with us in 10 or 20 years? The current wonder years. Someone recently commented that their health issues brought ...

LowTide January 2  ·  In with the new... Out with the old; in with the new? I love the old too much to oust it. I finished Celestine Sibley's memoir, "Turned Funny," on New Year's Eve eve. Celestine Sibley (1914-1999) has long been a favorite journalist, columnist, and author. Out with the old? I think not. It is unthinkable to leave her work behind. Usually, I feel a sense of loss when I finish a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I anticipate the next book will not scratch my itch. Martha Hall Kelly proved me wrong. The first sentence in her debut book, "Lilac Girls," grabbed my attention and reeled me in: "If I had known I was about to meet the man who'd shatter me like bone china on terra-cotta, I would have slept in." Often, I make a determination about an author's style within a few sentences. Kelly's style and manipulation of words intrigue me. In with the new. Out with the old? My mother reminds me that as a young girl every time s...

LowTide January 1  ·  HAPPY NEW YEAR! "Fly me to the moon...fill my heart with song"  https://youtu.be/5hxibHJOE5E Originally recorded by Kaye Ballard, "In Other Words" was written by Bart Howard in 1954. In 1963, Peggy Lee convinced Howard to officially change the name to "Fly Me to the Moon." Prior to writing this song, Howard had pursued a career in music for 20 years. Bada bing! (If you had a tough year in 2017, don't give up.) Ten years after the original recording, Frank Sinatra released his  recording on January 1, 1964--54 years ago today. Wishing you a year filled with song.