Moody -- and friends -- celebrate a full year with a new heart

It is hard to believe that a year has gone by since George Moody received his new heart. Many of us were gathered last year at Myrtle's watching a video of George sitting up in his hospital bed right after his surgery. I am happy to report the old boy looks marvelous and is full of beans. This is of course due in no small part to George's darling wife, Maury, and their many special friends.

• The University of Georgia Aquarium on Skidaway Island is part of the Skidaway Marine Science Center. It has 14 exhibit tanks, which hold 200 live animals representing 50 species of fish, turtles and invertebrates found along the Georgia coast. The Waddell Mariculture Center here in Bluffton raised and donated the center's cobia, in fact. The aquarium is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Call 912-598-3474 for information.

• South Carolinians now have the chance to purchase a new dolphin license plate. All of the money raised from this project goes to the EarthEcho international program, which helps protect ocean environments, freshwater systems and wild dolphins. The grandson of famed oceanographer Jacques Yves Cousteau, Phillippe, founded EarthEcho with his mother and sister. This might be one thing we should all look into when our tags next expire.

• The Lost Ladybug Project was launched last year at Cornell University as a means of discovering why native ladybugs species were disappearing around the country. The project recruits citizen scientists, mainly children, to search for ladybugs and send in photographs of them. The nine-spotted, two-spotted and transverse ladybugs are three of the native species that have greatly declined over the last decade. To find out more about this interesting project go to lostladybug.org.

Babbie Guscio is the social columnist for The Bluffton Packet. She can be reached at The Store on Calhoun Street.