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Month: June 2013

A Week’s Busy Activity

Posted on June 27, 2013July 25, 2013 By Tom No Comments on A Week’s Busy Activity
Miscellaneous, Paddling, Photography, Rambling

Supermoon (6 of 7)

I’ve gotten behind on my blogging. It seems that living life is taking more time that the documentation thereof. It’s an ironic consequence of having available time. When I do sit down to write, I tend to fall asleep. So, here goes a bit of catch-up…

Saturday Evening – Super Moon

Saturday’s full moon was a “super moon”. That’s a relatively recent term, meant to generate more interest in astronomy. A super moon occurs when the moon reaches perigee at full moon. Since it’s at its closest point to Earth, it is supposed to appear larger. Of course, this only works if the moon can be placed in context, near the horizon. The lensing effect of the atmosphere automatically makes the moon appear larger.

The trick is to find a good place to take a photo with a clear view of the horizon. I decided to try Bald Rock. I’d had success up there with sunrise shots, why not a moon rise?

I got to the location well before sunset. There were a few other around, but it wasn’t crowded. As I set up my camera and gear a woman nearby asked if I was there for the super moon. I said that I was. Another photographer set up nearby. Soon, others were joining us on the rock.

Supermoon (8 of 8)

The sun was setting behind us, so there wasn’t a good shot of the actual sunset. I did take a few photos of the Piedmont through the evening light.

Read More “A Week’s Busy Activity” »

Cokesbury Tour, Tabernacle, and Ninety-Six

Posted on June 26, 2013July 25, 2013 By Tom 1 Comment on Cokesbury Tour, Tabernacle, and Ninety-Six
History and Genealogy, Local, Photography, Rambling
Cokesbury-086
Old Cokesbury College Main Building

It finally happened. As many times as I’ve been here and photographed the exterior, I was finally able to get inside the old main building at the old Cokesbury College. This weekend is Greenwood’s Festival of Flowers, and as part of the event they were holding an open house at the historic location. While in Greenwood I hit a couple of other locations I had been wanting to photograph. I was joined by fellow explorers Mark Elbrecht, who alerted me to this year’s tour dates, and Alan Russell.

I had tried to do this last year. Mark was able to go down on a Saturday, but I had to delay until Sunday due to a paddling trip. Even though their website said the event would be Saturday and Sunday, when we got there Sunday morning everything was closed up tight. We never got into the building.

This year it would be different.  The Chamber of Commerce had even used one of my photos of the old building on their promotional website.  I was going to make sure that we were there on the correct day.  So, Mark, Alan, and I headed down and arrived at the site at about 10:30 am.

Read More “Cokesbury Tour, Tabernacle, and Ninety-Six” »

Leaving Charleston – Strawberry Chapel and Childsbury

Posted on June 21, 2013July 25, 2013 By Tom 2 Comments on Leaving Charleston – Strawberry Chapel and Childsbury
History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling, Travel

Strawberry Chapel and Childsbury-007

We had a great, wildly diverse weekend in Charleston, from swamps to beaches to city church yards. When planning this trip, we intentionally stayed an extra night into Monday so that I wouldn’t think about work at all on my first official day of unemployment. That meant that we could take our time coming home, and we did just that.

Laura and I love taking the back roads to and from the low country. Our plan was to drive northeast out of Charleston, then turn north through the Francis Marion National Forest. There was at least one ghost town along the way, and I was sure other interesting places would present photographic opportunities.

As we headed north on 17 I mounted the GoPro to my windshield. I wanted to get video as we crossed the the Cooper River Bridge. The video itself that interesting, but I got a couple of interesting stills. Never mind the reflection of my GPS and XM radio on the dash.

Cooper River Bridge

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A Day at the Beach

Posted on June 20, 2013July 25, 2013 By Tom 2 Comments on A Day at the Beach
Travel

It’s been years since we just hung out on a beach. We were definitely going to make it a part of this trip. Laura grew up just a couple of blocks from the Pacific Ocean, so any time that we get within range of an ocean, she has to see it. After leaving our Governor’s … Read More “A Day at the Beach” »

The Churchyards of Charleston

Posted on June 19, 2013July 25, 2013 By Tom 3 Comments on The Churchyards of Charleston
History and Genealogy, Photography, Travel

Circular Congregation Church and Cemetery-012

Charleston has long been known as the “Holy City” because of huge number of historical churches. Since we had some time in the city after our Governor’s School reunion, I wanted to check out a few of these. Specifically, I was looking for some of the signature grave stones that I’ve spotted in historic churches all over the state. Most of these sculptors lived and worked in Charleston, so I expected to find lots of them. I was not disappointed.

Charleston Unitarian Church

Our first stop was sort of spontaneous. On our way back to the College of Charleston from the restaurant where we had our reunion Cathy Ardry suggested a shortcut through the Unitarian Church yard. The passageway connects King Street through to Philips Street, and provides a shady respite from the Charleston Heat.

Path to Charleston Unitarian

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Governor’s School Reunion

Posted on June 19, 2013July 25, 2013 By Tom 2 Comments on Governor’s School Reunion
Miscellaneous, Travel

Governor's Scholars from 1978

For our first post-retirement getaway, Laura and I decided to head to Charleston for a reunion of my class from the Governor’s School from 1978. The reunion was to be that Saturday, but we decided to make it a four-day weekend in the Holy City so we could get in as much as possible.

35 years seems like an incredibly long time ago. I was a junior in high school, and the Governor’s School was my first real escape from home. At the time it was a six-week program during the summer at the College of Charleston. My area of concentration was geology, but I also did quite a bit with music, performing at the Dock Street Theater at one point. I also had opportunities to to do things I’d never otherwise be able to do at home, such as crewing an Olympic-class sailboat around the Charleston Harbor.

To say that Governor’s School was a life-changing experience would be an understatement. It was the first real view I had of life beyond the limited confines of Laurens County. People in my community had preconceived notions about me, and if I tried anything beyond what was expected, ridicule was the order of the day. At GS I opened up, and was willing to give just about anything a shot. Nobody there cared about preconceived notions.

Governor's School Geology Class
Ersatz Mafiosi

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Playing Catch Up

Posted on June 19, 2013July 25, 2013 By Tom No Comments on Playing Catch Up
Music

We had a great reunion/escape weekend in Charleston, but several things have kept me from updating my blog. Internet at our hotel was horrible. It was taking forever to upload the boatload of photos I took over the weekend. Add to that the fact that the blog got hit by a spam attack, and I … Read More “Playing Catch Up” »

Another Spam Injection Attack

Posted on June 15, 2013July 25, 2013 By Tom No Comments on Another Spam Injection Attack
Rants

Well, looks like this website has been hit by another spam injection attack. Links to stuff apparently are being added to the posts and comments in RSS feeds. So far I’ve only seen it in one post, so this posting is a test to see if it happens again. I remember the last time this … Read More “Another Spam Injection Attack” »

A Tale of Two Mugs

Posted on June 14, 2013July 25, 2013 By Tom 1 Comment on A Tale of Two Mugs
Miscellaneous

I’ll admit it. I’m a creature of habit. Ritual governs a large part of my daily activities. These rituals range from choice of clothing colors to the order of my morning routines. Often the ritual is a statement of what I believe. One of my most firmly established rituals involves my choice of coffee mug. … Read More “A Tale of Two Mugs” »

Retirement Playlist

Posted on June 12, 2013July 25, 2013 By Tom No Comments on Retirement Playlist
Entertainment, Music, Uncategorized

So, tomorrow (Thursday) is my last day in Spartanburg Five. It’s been a long, strange trip, and it’s weird to think that this part of my career is over. It seems only fitting that I go out with an appropriate playlist. But what to include? I think I’ll skip the obvious “Take this Job and … Read More “Retirement Playlist” »

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