Lizard's WHAT?

It’s been a while between postings and for that I do apologize. Life’s been pretty hectic and it doesn’t leave much time for running around on the town or writing about it when I do snag an evening out.


So I’ll be catching up with a few fun activities for you this week. To begin, during the last week of February I spent a hectic week down at my parents home closing up their house since they are now staying** with me. When I packed up a few of their belongings and them and brought them home last November, it was uncertain about whether they would be able to return to their home or not. At this point it seems unlikely that they’ll ever be on their own again and so some decisions had to be made about their home and all the things that go with it.

Suffice to say that with the help of some very kind neighbors, I spent a frazzled four days sorting through the house and clearing it out for the future. Bins full of trash, a patio full of things for yard sales, cars sold, and paperwork packed up for reviewing, took a mental toll on me that I wasn’t expecting.

However, the fun part of the trip was the drive home in Dad’s 1993 Cadillac Deville with two of the best people I know, Grant and Lynn Murphy. Grant and Lynn had been planning a trip to Florida to visit their daughter and her family and they kindly offered to drive home with me. Well, OK, I sort of begged them to help, but they were gracious enough to say yes without too much whining on my part. Bless them both!



The menu board at Lizard's Thicket in Columbia, SC

COLUMBIA SOUTH CAROLINA

We had great weather for the trip, which we broke into two days of about 9 hours driving each. With a stop in Columbia, SC overnight, the trip was not too difficult, especially with three of us sharing the driving. We had rooms at the Hampton Inn, Columbia which were comfortable and clean. The front desk gal recommended we try having dinner across the street at the Lizard’s Thicket.

My chicken dinner with
fresh potato salad.

With a dozen or more locations in the Columbia area, we found this to be an interesting place for local southern cooking.  The menu is a laundry list of "pick 1, 2 or 3 meats" and a huge assortment of sides, including fried okra, sweet potato casserole, and mac n' cheese. 

Grant's pulled pork with Carolina BBQ

Lynne ordered the chicken and dumplings, Grant had the Carolina BBQ Pulled Pork and I ordered the fried chicken.  The food was all very good and we shared a blackberry pie for dessert.  Even the biscuits were good!  I was a little disappointed because I had really been hoping for some good BBQ on the way home, but the meal here was good enough to let that slip my mind with not much concern.

In any event, the overnight stay was fine, the remainder of the trip was uneventful and I arrived home to find everything in order. 
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**Staying....
Even now, I hesitate to state that my parents are living at my house, not just "staying".  Neither of them are really aware that they are now here permanently so I don't say it out loud often at all.  The other day Dad told someone that they were visiting with me here for a while and I think if that makes him feel better that it's OK.  I know that they both have moments when they are aware that they've left a house somewhere and all of there belongings and it breaks my heart that they cannot grasp that things have now changed.   

For now, we make the most of our situation.  I'm learning patience and hopefully some tolerance for things not going the way I want them too.  If dinner is going to be mushy broccoli and a bowl of dry cocoa rice cereal, then we try to make the best of that.