The Charleston Real Estate Search.com

Flower Power and old houses

Underneath the boards is a solid brick house with good bones

Yesterday afternoon I met a series of contractors at a run-down house on James Island that I’ll be putting on the market soon. When I say run-down, I really mean it.  Windows were broken, the front door had been vandalized, the appliances stolen or sold for scrap.  My first thoughts were less than enthusiastic. 

As I waited for Jimmy, the termite inspector to crawl out from under the house, I ventured into the back yard to remove a long chain of plastic flowers from the fence. To my surprise, they were not plastic at all.  In fact, they were very much alive and so full of colorful blooms that I hardly believed my eyes.  Immediately I rang up my friend Jerry Weise so she could identify this prolific plant.  After my brief description she confirmed that the flower was Bignonia capreolata, native cross vine.

Bignonia capreolata, native cross vine - A hummingbird magnet

This bountiful plant covered 30 feet of fence line with hundreds of flowers.  Oddly enough, once I saw these flowers my thinking shifted. I looked closer at the yard and began noticing other plantings.  Yuccas, daylilies, boxwood, juniper and palms dotted the forgotten landscape.  It occurred to me that someone once loved this house.  I envisioned a young couple buying it new 38 years ago, maybe raising a family in the 3 bedroom home.  I could picture kids chasing a dog around the fenced-in yard, being sent to their bedroom with the pink carpet, or splashing in the bathtub with baby blue tiled walls.  I imagined wonderful smells emanating from the eat-in kitchen into the living room where the family watched the evening news.

From a distance these flowers are so colorful they look plastic

As Jimmy crawled out to tell me that the crawlspace looked solid and termite-free, every other problem seemed less daunting.  Windows could be replaced.  A new front door could greet potential buyers. Appliances were easy to come by.  A little bit of paint and flooring could transform this neglected structure back into a home. Like a plain jane all it needed was lipstick and rouge.

Amazing what a little tiny bloom can do to transform your thinking. That’s flower power.  

Happy Day

 If you have vision, this home would be a great investment.  It will hit the market for around $100,000 (including new windows, front door and termite bond) and all you’ll need to do is add your own “lipstick and rouge.” If interested, give me a call.

Posted in Picture of the Day | 1 Comment »

Oak Catkins and Pollen Perspective

Oak Catkins are so named because they resemble cat's tails hanging from the trees

A few weeks ago I cursed the leaves that fell from the oak trees until a friend reminded me that until they fell spring would not arrive.  Next I cursed the caterpillars who parachuted down to attack my tender vegetables until I witnessed countless birds scooping them up to feed their nestlings.  This weekend I cursed the oak catkins that rained down to cover my corner of the world in yellow pollen.  This was the hardest curse to reconcile since I suffer from allergies that bug out my eyes and fill my throat with froglike sounds.

Did you know that 1 pound of pure pollen is worth approximately $30,000.00?

But even this could be neutralized with thoughts of bumper crops of acorns and happy, bountiful bees that will pollinate our local farm crops.  When seen in this light the inconvenience of allergies transforms into a harbinger of prosperity.  Nothing has really changed except my perspective.  I still sneeze and wheeze.  I still get sore from raking up mounds of debris and spend hours working in the yard when I would much rather plant more colorful flowers or watch a movie or spend time with friends.

Spiritual maturity requires responsibility, an ability to respond maturely.  If given a choice between seeing the good or dwelling on the bad, we can choose the good. Infectious positivity is a muscle that must be exercised every day all day long.  It cannot be saved for major tragedies like financial hardship or disease or death.   If  every tragedy breeds opportunity then the key is learning how to see it in everyday little things so that when the big things happen your heart and your head are aligned and ready to use the positive muscles you have honed over time.

 “Oh that we have eyes to see and ears to hear.”

Happy Day!

Posted in Picture of the Day | 4 Comments »

Enabling

If I have to pay taxes at least that means I earned money last year. Thanks to all of you who contributed to my income. I sincerely appreciate your business!!!

 Just think, today we get to send money to Uncle Sam and hope that he spends it wisely….Ha Ha Ha!  Of course, with my warped sense of humor paying taxes makes me think of the term Enable. 

Recently I’ve learned that to enable someone is to do something for them that they should or could do for themselves.  Most of the time we disguise this help as an act of love but if we were truly honest with ourselves, we would begin to see that sometimes we help others for the wrong reasons. We help because we think that they cannot do it themselves, because we don’t like the way they do it or because we want to feel needed.

Examples:

• Doing the dishes that your husband promised to do because you don’t like the way he stacks them in the dishwasher and you want them done now.
• Loaning money to your daughter because she spent all of hers on a new outfit and now can’t pay her car insurance.  After all, she’s just getting started paying her own bills and may need your help until she can stand on her own feet financially.
• Putting away your neighbor’s trashcan.  After all, it’s no trouble for you and they may leave it out there for days before they remember to put it away.
• Cooking breakfast for your grown son because his wife is too lazy to lift a finger.  After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
• Fixing the copy machine at work because its easier for you to do it than have to explain for the umpteenth time how to reload the paper. After all, not all of your coworkers are as smart as you.

Isn’t it funny how we rationalize our “good deeds” with reasons that seem logical.   In fact, many of you may be reading this and asking, “what’s the big deal?”  Chances are that we’ve all done one or two of these things at one time or another. Used to be that I would be the first one to rush in to “help” all the while thinking that I was doing a good deed.  But now I know better, or at least I try to do better. Now I am more honest about the function of my behavior.

Now I understand that if I do someone else’s job it’s not usually because I want to help.  It’s more honestly because I do not like the way they do the job and I am making a choice to do for them out of judgement. I am judging another person’s actions and deeming them unfit for my preferences.  Wouldn’t it be better for me to simply accept that their system is different than mine?  It would certainly save me from having to do everything. 

Guys, you might think that women have a much harder time with this, but my experience has been that men are just as bad.  They simply choose to direct their enabling actions in other ways.  I know a guy that calls himself Mr. Fix-it.  Got a problem? He’ll fix it!  Even if it’s not his problem in the first place.  Even if it means that you will never learn how to fix it yourself.

Enabling someone is like the old proverb of fishing.  “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” 

Except that the modern version of this proverb goes more like this:  “I have to give this poor sucker a fish because he’s too messed up to provide for himself.  I don’t have time to teach him how to fish because I’m too busy to trying to feed everybody under my care.” 

At some point, if we’re really lucky, we exhaust ourselves trying to ”feed everybody.”  At that point we begin to realize that feeding others is not our job and that we only did it because we wanted to feel important, we needed to have others see us as good samaritans or because we really wanted to control the way other people did things.

Whatever the reason, if we can instead remember that what goes on outside of ourselves is really none of our business, we may begin to take better care of ourselves and mind our own business.  Of course, it all starts with recognizing when and why we enable in the first place. 

When a friend told me that enabling others was robbing them of the ability to learn how to do for themselves, the light bulb went on. I then began to notice how often I was jumping into other people’s business under the guise of help and love.

Just for today, try to notice how often you jump into other people’s stuff.  Then ask yourself the following questions:

Am I doing this because they are truly helpless?

Am I doing this because I think they can’t do it “right?”

Am I doing this in order to look good?

Am I doing this because it’s easier than watching them struggle to learn how to do it themselves or teaching them how?

Are my actions really helping or just keeping them needy?

Food for thought. 

Happy day,

Posted in Picture of the Day | 3 Comments »

Organic Soap Box

This morning I discovered that my long-awaited eggs had finally hatched….

My Camellia nursery

No, I’m not pregnant. I’m just the proud foster mother of thousands of tiny little creatures all over my yard. Those of you who know me well, know that I LOVE creepy crawly little creatures: spiders, squash bugs, caterpillars.  Okay, I draw the line at cockroaches and flies only admiring them from afar. But walking around this morning I literally ran into a half dozen caterpillars parachuting from the oak trees.  It’s no coincidence that they hatch right now.  Every bird in Charleston is nesting this month and will begin the search for hundreds of bugs per day to feed their nestlings. They are all welcomed in my yard.

Banana Spider Hatchlings under the camellia flower - Pretty soon these little guys and girls will be all over my yard helping control mosquitoes and flies

You see in my yard I do not spray for bugs or caterpillars or spiders.  Nature is given free rein to achieve balance.  Living an organic life means accepting the inconvenience of walking through a spider web now and then, or having to relocate caterpillars from my veggie crops. Because along with those inconveniences I get to enjoy the bounty of honey bees and bumbles.  I get to spend hours watching banana spiders weave their orbs in the eaves of the porch. To watch wrens and bluebirds, thrushes and thrashers routing through the leaf litter.  I am rewarded by the sight of bluejays feeding their fledglings along my fence and squirrels chasing each other up and down the oak trunks. Occasionally I find an extra special treat like a parula clipping a spider from her web or a robin feasting on the worms in the compost pile.  But best of all, I get to eat healthy nutrient rich organic foods right from my own backyard and share them with friends and neighbors. 

I do not worry that I am consuming genetically modified corn or Round-up ready wheat.  You may think that living this way is inconvenient.  But I ask you, if given a choice between eating good wholesome foods that you grew yourself or putting unknown chemicals into your body that cause all kinds of disruption to your own natural balance, which would you choose?

 These days, it’s not good enough to read the labels.  Apples don’t come with labels that tell you what’s been sprayed on them to make them pretty and shiny.  Corn isn’t labeled as grown in fields sprayed heavily with Round-up and genetically modified to be tolerant of such harsh salts. Sure the EPA says that all of these things are safe.  But didn’t they say that about DDT at first too?

 Everything is a choice.  Choose wisely.

 If you’re not convinced to go organic and stop using Round-up, read this

Posted in Go Green, Picture of the Day | No Comments »

Mystery Photo

Good day,

Hope you had a great holiday with family and friends.  I spent the whole weekend planting the spring garden and have a happy, sore back to prove it.  (Thank God for yoga!)  Anyway, today’s mystery photo was discovered in my yard last weekend.  A highly sought-after native ground cover, this plant is often mistaken (and misnamed) as an edible.  The weird flower you see here hangs under the heart shaped leaves. 

The flower is about 3 inches across hanging under heart shaped leaves

Thought for today:  Just because it’s edible, doesn’t mean it tastes good!

Happy Day,

Trish

BTW, even though the tax credit ends this month, there’s plenty of bargains out there in the housing market.  We’re just beginning peak buying season.  If you know of anyone who needs a great realtor, I’d appreciate the opportunity to assist them.

Posted in Mystery Photos 2010, Picture of the Day | 4 Comments »

April’s Fools Day

Thought for today:

Give fool’s their gold and knaves their power.

Let fortunes bubbles rise and fall;

Who sows a field, or trains a flower,

Or plants a trees, is more than all.

            John Greenleaf Whittier

 

Happy Easter to all you funny bunnies out there!

Trish

Posted in Permission to be Silly, Picture of the Day | 1 Comment »

Countdown to Stimulus Money

Time to build your own nest

We are officially on a 30-day countdown to the expiration of the stimulus package for buying a home.  If haven’t locked into a contract by April 30th, you will not have another opportunity this year to get the $6500 or $8000 stimulus money. 

Need help? 

Give me a call….

Posted in Picture of the Day | No Comments »

Plant it Pink!

Saucer Magnolias will showcase pink blooms for about 2-3 weeks

The National Garden Clubs Inc., the largest non-profit community service organization in the country, has issued you an invitation this spring.  Plant it Pink! 

All over the country, you will begin to see large community plantings of pink in honor and dedication to all women (and men) who have been challenged by breast cancer.  Although this will not foster a cure, it will do something just as important.  It will send a message of love and faith to those who are affected by this modern disease.

According to the American Cancer Society’s most recent estimates for breast cancer in the United States for 2009:

• 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer
• 40,170 deaths from breast cancer

Other than skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer.

The chance of a woman having invasive breast cancer some time during her life is a little less 1 in 8. The chance of dying from breast cancer is about 1 in 35. Breast cancer death rates have been going down. This is probably the result of finding the cancer earlier and better treatment. Right now there are more than 2½ million breast cancer survivors in the United States.

Posted in Gardening Tips, Picture of the Day | No Comments »

Spring Landscaping in Charleston

Magnolia soulangiana - The Tulip Tree or Saucer Magnolia

It’s official.  At long last, spring has arrived in Charleston. But don’t blink!  The bradford pears are already trading their gorgeous white mantels for light green leaves. By the time you know it, summer heat will be here. Instead, grab your camera and get out there.  It seems like the entire world is bursting into bloom. Plan a picnic, take a walk in the woods, visit your favorite plantation or just walk through your favorite garden center.

Spring is a perfect time to decide what flowering trees and shrubs you want to add to your landscape.   But rather than me telling you the best choices, it’s time for you to tell each other. 

Send me a photo of your favorite tree or shrub in bloom – even if you don’t know what it is.  

Every time I help a buyer purchase a home, we celebrate the event by buying a tree or shrub for their yard.  The most popular with my clients are flowering trees like dogwoods, saucer magnolias and redbuds.  Occasionally, we also purchase Japanese maples whose weeping habit and lacy leaves lend texture and color to the landscape all year round.

For townhouse and condo dwellers, flowering shrubs are preferred.  Depending on the amount of light available, we usually opt for Lorepetalums, Indian Hawthornes or the ever popular Camellias. 

Your turn.  What’s your favorite?

Posted in Picture of the Day | 2 Comments »

Falling leaves in springtime

Reflective audience

No matter how long I live down here I still cannot adjust to leaves falling in the springtime. I find myself resisting the urge to yell at mother nature and tell her that her timing is way off track!  I imagine a silly dialogue.  A Taoist lesson if you will…

Me: “Leaves fall in October, not March!”

Mother Nature:  “Oh yeah. Says who?”

“Says me!”

“And who are you?”

“I am a little peon who thinks she can control the universe with my opinions.”

“And why is it so important to control the universe?”

“Because knowing what to expect keeps me safe from harm, allows me to plan and be productive.”

“In other words, you are a simple person who needs the structure of logic to live a happy life?”

“Yes.”

“And if I upset your logical order, you can no longer function?”

“Well, if you put it that way, I can but it’s much harder.”

“So when logic fails you, you cannot trust something bigger than yourself?”

“Like what, God?”

“Maybe…or maybe just something bigger than logic, bigger than emotions, bigger than you.”

“So if I’m not in control of the universe, then what I am in control of?”

“Your response to the universe.  That’s it. Nothing else.” 

“And that’s supposed to be enough?”

“Yes.”

“But what about my plans, my hopes and dreams, my vocation?”

“You are only here to experience life as a human being with all of its foibles and all of its wonderful encounters.  To love and hurt, to laugh and cry, to experience the full spectrum of what is available to you and to accept that everything that happens is…

“Is what?”

“Just is….”

“I think it’s easier to curse the leaves…”

“Sure it is.  But you are bigger than that. You can do more than that.”

“Like what?”

“Like laugh at yourself when you want to curse the leaves, or rush the dawn or push back the night.”

“In other words, accept what is and keep going?”

 “Yes, that’s a start.  Then your whole world will change and you will begin to see things differently.”

 “Like how?”

 “Well once you really accept that you cannot stop the leaves from falling you will learn to enjoy them as they fall.” 

 “Savor what I have you mean?”

 “Enjoy it without wanting to possess it forever.  Enjoy it as you have it knowing that you will only have it for a brief moment before that too ends.” 

 “But that’s so painful, enjoying it knowing that it’s going to end, to go away.”

 “The pain depends on what you are trying to keep, the happiness those things bring or the things themselves.”

 “I don’t understand.”

 “No, but you are beginning to…”

 “How?”

 “Just by having these conversations….”

Posted in Picture of the Day | 5 Comments »