A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
Paddling conditions have not been ideal lately. It’s been rainy and cold, not good weather for kayaking. Finally we got a forecast for clear skies with favorable tides. I knew I had to hit the water. I decided to try another fairly close venue, Padilla Bay.
This past weekend marked the 2017 Artist’s Studio Tour in Anacortes. Laura and I decided that we should check it out. We had a couple of other spots in the area that we wanted to explore, so on Sunday morning we headed in that direction.
I lost two of my mentors this past week, one from high school and one from college. Both inspired me as instructors, and both had an impact on my career as a Presbyterian church musician
Read More “Remembering Musical Mentors – Ramon Kyser and Anne Sheppard” »
I’ll admit it. We like just about all things Bigfoot. Amy and Laura are huge fans of the show Finding Bigfoot, and we like stuff with the imagery of Sasquatch and tales of sitings. So, when we saw that David George Gordon was going to give a talk entitled “Sasquatch: Man-Ape or Myth?” at the Mount Vernon library, we knew we had to attend.
I take a TON of photos. Sometimes these don’t fit into a cohesive blog narrative, but they still wind up in my Flickr stream. I decided that I’d just post a few of these all along with a caption. These aren’t necessarily in any order nor are they meant to convey anything. I’ll be doing these all along as I come across weird things out here.
I was still on a quest to find a good German restaurant. The Schweinhaus in Bellingham had good sausages and sauerkraut, but was missing some components (like a roof.) After expanding my search area I came across Gretchen’s Delights in Lynden. Laura was busy with Furman work, so I decided to head out to see if this would fit the bill. TLDR; version – It didn’t.
As we’ve been settling in Laura and I have been going through some of her parents’ things here at the house. It’s a huge task, and will take both Amy and Laura deciding what to do. For now, though, we’re just making a preliminary survey of what’s in the house. We’ve come across some interesting things, but the item that captured our imagination this past week was a small locked case. It was a mystery.
It was a Saturday night and we were ready for a date night. After considering the many possibilities, Laura made us reservations at the BowEdison.
It’s the middle of October. By this time I’ve usually headed out with either Ken, Keith, Glynda, or some combination thereof for a good meal of German cuisine and celebration of Oktoberfest. I have long complained about the dearth of good German food in Greenville, so I was hoping for more options here in Washington. I did a quick online search but, sadly, didn’t find many options. One place did hold promise, so I set of in search of the Schweinhaus in Bellingham.
NOTE: I’m about a week behind in my blogging. I’ll try to catch up on several posts over the next couple of days.
It’s been a week of tragedy. The Las Vegas shooting and the disasters in Puerto Rico weighed heavily on my mind, as well as the ineptitude of the current administration’s dealings with these. Then there were the closer, more personal tragedies. Two friends lost their spouses suddenly – one younger and one older, but age has no bearing on grief. There was the passing of a Facebook acquaintance and classmate and another friend lost her close sister. I learned that a respected colleague and mentor was quite ill and had entered hospice care. To top all of that off, we were still dealing with Laura’s mom’s estate. It seemed that death was all around us. If ever I was in need of some quiet respite in a kayak, this was that time. This was one of those days where the weather was perfect, but the tides were not cooperating. I decided to head into the mountains and explore Baker Lake.