New Arrival 01/16/2014

Check out our winter "Blues -tone"!

Come check out this beautiful load of irregular flagstone. Our full color irregular bluestone is one of our most popular items. If you are planning an outdoor patio in your backyard in the near future this is the perfect product to use in your space. The wonderful shades of blue, green and brown make it a natural fit in any outdoor landscape. Bluestone is used mostly commonly because of the large pieces they are able to pull out of the quarry. Come in today and tag your stone.

Gaillard Center's Big Year

The Gaillard Center Renovation is bound to be the talk of 2014.  It has many Charleston residents awestruck with the elaborate design, detail and planning involved in the $150 million makeover.  Robert Behre wrote in the Post and Courier, "It may be the most expensive building ever built in Charleston that is not technically speaking, a building."  One of the most important factors in this project is going to be time.  They have already estimated that set backs could cost the city up to $2 million in extra costs.  The amount of time that the BAR spent in the review stage set back many of the timelines from the start.  The city has faced other obstacles since then, finding human remains dating back over 250 years, delaying the project for several weeks.  A new turn of events in the weather is not going to help the cause.  The Granite on the base course of the building is being produced by a company in Quebec, Canada where the temperature is hovering around -5 degrees.  The overall building's facade is a mixture of limestone and stucco.  The limestone is being fabricated by a company just outside of Bloomington, Indiana called Bybee Stone that has faced blizzard conditions for over a week and struggled to work.  Bybee Stone Company has been contracted to furnish over 26,400 cubic feet of Indiana Limestone.  That is approx. 2000 tons of natural stone that all has to be hand crafted material.  Bybee has half a dozen of its 71 employees working on the project.  These stonecutters are operating lathes, air hammers, chisels and finishing tools to crave the intricate design elements seen in the image above.  They are currently working on a piece of stone at the main entrance that weighs over 12,000lbs.  I have included some pictures of the limestone fabrication in my blog.  Hopefully, a break in weather will assist in their progress.  I will continue to blog about the Gaillard Center Renovation as the timeline continues to unfold.

The Death of Santini

The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son by Pat Conroy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love spending the holidays sitting back to relax and spend some much needed quiet time with my nose buried in a book. Luckily for me, my family must also, because they continue to fill my Christmas stocking with wonderful books year after year. A newly released gem by our very own Lowcountry powerhouse Pat Conroy was released in November. “The Death of Santini,” is the sequel to a previously released best seller called the “Great Santini.” Although, this new release is not his best book to date, it certainly delivers what Pat Conroy worshippers (like me) want to read. Essentially, the memoir retells many of the stories that Conroy fictionalized in his greatest works. He recounts them in depth and gives the reader a glimpse inside how each story made him feel and impacted his life. The largest subject in the book was Conroy’s father Don. Portrayed in the movie “The Great Santini,” by Robert DuVall, the mere thought of Don Conroy in real life brings back feelings of hatred to his son Pat. This book is different because he attempts to forgive his father and the rest of his family for their shortcomings and admit many of his own. The title of the book is not the only journey the reader receives. Conroy delivers a strong message about the death of his brother, his dysfunctional sister and his up and down relationship with his mother after her divorce. I enjoy reading Conroy’s books because of the language. As you read you can feel the effort and devotion he puts toward selecting each and every word on the page. These words connect with the reader in a unique fashion. As Conroy works his way through the characters in his life you start to believe them as your own. The book really has no plot. A shortcoming that will keep it from the bestsellers list, but the reader will walk away with a better understanding of themselves. I am able to resurrect my own childhood memories while reading his stories. A constant juxtaposition of hope, depression, hate and fortitude make Conroy’s novels worth the read.

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