FOR THE GAME LOVER
Turning a den or garage into a game room might be the perfect retreat for your home. Make it fun for the entire family by starting a weekly game night tradition! A game table set is for the person who loves card games, backgammon, roulette or even chess. These tables can covert into several different games and have plenty of storage for cards and chips. Game tables come in a variety of wood finishes to complement the décor of the room. Mahogany is a popular finish but a honey finish also looks elegant. A game room wouldn’t be complete without your favorite games, such as pinball machines, arcade games, foosball tables, dart boards and even board games.
For the golf lover, set up a small putting green. Practice your putt right in your own home! The race car enthusiast can get the feel of driving a real race car with the Virtual GT Racing Simulator. Check out virtual-gt.com to become a race car driver with your own “personal racing simulator” without ever leaving the driveway!
Dirt, not love, makes the world go round. There is more to dirt than meets the eye, but the most important thing to know is how to distinguish good from bad dirt and then maximize the good. And although it is not brain surgery, there may be a bit of bio-chemistry involved. Before you let that scare you away, what follows is simplified (maybe over simplified), but should be easy to read and heed. Almost certainly, native soils encountered by the Lowcountry gardener will be sandy and acidic. Your decision to move to the coastal plain and plant a garden does not automatically guarantee perfect conditions for your aspirations. It doesn’t take long to learn this.
Looking out on the reeds and oyster beds poking out of the solid sheen of the May River in Fred Mix’s backyard, it’s easy to see why this Bluffton resident wanted to keep his new dock ‘green.’ After all, the May is one of a kind; a rare chemistry of salt water rushes up and down her banks with each tide in a delicate balance upon which so much rests.
Janus, the mythological Roman god whose profile faces left and right simultaneously, signifies endings and beginnings, including the year just past and the year to come.
In an age where everything seems to be mass produced, the design and craftsmanship of custom woodwork is a rare beauty – even a fine art – that few modern homeowners have the luxury of possessing. And the craftsmen at Hilton Head’s Marshland Millworks and Cabinetry, true masters of custom woodworking, take their art very seriously.
Green causes and high-tech advancements seem to go hand-in-hand these days. In the following pages, we look at some technological advancements designed to ensure that the home of tomorrow will exist on a clean planet.
In the garden and elsewhere, so goes the season.
Transplanted gardeners from colder climes are consistently frustrated in their attempts to translate their beloved northern gardens to the relatively inhospitable environment of the Lowcountry. But in spite of all evidence and advice to the contrary, they usually persevere in their efforts until experience convinces them that it is not to be. And it is understandable because northern plants are lovely and lush indeed, thriving in the temperate, (at least in spring, summer and early fall), climate of southwestern New York state, particularly Chautauqua, whence these garden thoughts float in late July.
PQ R – Hello! Although P and R are well represented in horticultural circles, Q has fallen off the page. Research reveals that there is only one Q represented on a half page in Alan Armitage’s comprehensive 516-page Manual of Annuals, Biennials and Half Hardy Perennials. Quisqualis, (Latin for who? what?), indica also bears the common names of Rangoon Creeper and Drunken Sailor. It is a tropical vine that can reach 70 feet, fair warning that we should not invite it onto our premises.
