Tom – Page 106 – Random Connections

The Hounds of the Basker-Ikes

March 21, 2012 Tom No Comments

My brother Houston decided that he would like to do some journaling. However, he seems to be in a weird meta-state, somewhere trapped between not wanting to sully his new, pristine, leather-bound journal, and not wanting to start a blog. He decided to test the waters with a story typed up on his word processor. … Read More “The Hounds of the Basker-Ikes” »

Happy Pi Day

March 14, 2012 Tom 8 Comments

Miscellaneous

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510 5820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282 3066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055 5964462294895493038196442881097566593344612847564823378678316527 1201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587 0066063155881748815209209628292540917153643678925903600113305305 4882046652138414695194151160943305727036575959195309218611738193 2611793105118548074462379962749567351885752724891227938183011949 1298336733624406566430860213949463952247371907021798609437027705 3921717629317675238467481846766940513200056812714526356082778577 1342757789609173637178721468440901224953430146549585371050792279 6892589235420199561121290219608640344181598136297747713099605187 0721134999999837297804995105973173281609631859502445945534690830 2642522308253344685035261931188171010003137838752886587533208381 4206171776691473035982534904287554687311595628638823537875937519 577818577805321712268066130019278766111959092164201989 Pay no attention to those Ides, 3.14 is the true March holiday for geeks. Pi has been around for nearly 4000 years. The ancient Babylonians and Egyptians knew about it, and Greek mathematicians refined the concept. Supposedly the concept … Read More “Happy Pi Day” »

Colleton Museums and BBQ

March 12, 2012 Tom No Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Travel

We had made a successful escape from Donnelley WMA. The ACE Basin was behind us, but not forgotten. We would be back, and we would conquer it, haints and curses be damned. However, on this particular Saturday, we still had lots on our plate. That phrase turned out to be truer that we could imagine.

Upon escaping Donnelley, our first objective was food. We drove through some very historical areas of Colleton County without stopping to admire them. Our target was Duke’s BBQ, located just off of Highway 15 to the northeast of Walterboro.

Read More “Colleton Museums and BBQ” »

The Curse of Boynton House

March 11, 2012 Tom 44 Comments

Photography, Travel

Boynton House sits abandoned and forlorn in a remote corner of the Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, part of the ACE Basin. It was once the main house for a vast rice plantation. Now the wooden filigree is falling apart, and bat guano fills several of the rooms. On this particular trip, we also found out that it is cursed.

Normally we do a paddling trip the second Saturday of each month with the Lowcountry Unfiltered group. This time we decided to do something different. One of our members, Rob Dewig, has a new job with the Colleton County Museum. We wanted to check out his new digs. We also planned to do a bit of bike riding in the ACE Basin.

I got up far too early on Saturday morning and drove on down to the Lowcountry. Five other hearty souls joined me at the main kiosk for Donelley. It sounded like a disciples convention – Thomas (me), Matthew, James, John, James, and a young guy whose name starts out C-h-r-i-s-t. (Christian, Jimmy’s son). Yeah, we were in for trouble of Biblical proportions.

Camera Obscura – Part 2

March 7, 2012 Tom 1 Comment

History and Genealogy, Photography

Last time I gave a brief introduction to the camera obscura, describing what it was and a tiny bit of the historical background. This time I’m going to cover my personal experience with these systems.

I started playing with cameras when I was about 9 years old. My first was a hand-me-down Brownie Box camera that I got from my sister, Glynda. Unfortunately, none of the photos I took from that era survive, but I still have that camera. That old camera wasn’t much different from a pinhole camera – just a basic light-tight box with an aperture and some sort of capture medium (ie, film.) As a teen I spent one summer making actual pinhole cameras with my brother, Houston. We experimented with various styles made from oatmeal boxes and brass shimming with different aperture pinholes. Again, none of those images survive.

While my father was principal of Gray Court Owings School, my brothers and I had the run of the place. We found an old unused closed that had been used as a changing room for basketball teams long, long ago. The room was under the stage, and had running water. It was the perfect place to commandeer for a dark room, so that’s where we set up our chemicals and enlarger. Stephen and Houston did more of actual dark room work, but I remembered that location, hidden away under the stage of the old auditorium under a trap door.

There was a long lull while music, college, rock climbing, and river running (somewhat in that order) took precedence over photography. 16 years after building my first pinhole camera, I found myself teaching a unit on light to class of gifted 7th graders at GCO, and I figured the best way to convey some of the concepts was through photography.

Read More “Camera Obscura – Part 2” »

Camera Obscura – Part One

March 6, 2012 Tom No Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography

One of my favorite websites is Atlas Obscura, a self-proclaimed “compendium of the world’s wonders, curiosities and esoterica.” Last week they highlighted a similarly named location, the Camera Obscura of Santa Monica. At that point it all came flooding back to me, my obsession with the camera obscura and my nascent photography interests. So, of course, you know what that means – blog posts on the subject – lots of them.

So, over the next several posts I’ll look at the history of the camera obscura, including my particular history with the subject, We’ll take a look at some locations that feature cameras obscura, and I’ll even try to built and photograph one of these beasts. We’ll see how it goes.

Read More “Camera Obscura – Part One” »

Ghost Town Request

March 6, 2012 Tom No Comments

Uncategorized

My spring break is coming up the first week in April, and I’m hoping to spend some of it hunting ghost towns in South Carolina. I’ve got a list of potential targets, but I need some more suggestions. Here’s a list of the ones I’ve already visited… Old Pickensville Pinckneyville Lone Star Fort Motte Kingsville … Read More “Ghost Town Request” »

Hymnal Blasphemy

March 5, 2012 Tom 10 Comments

Music, Rants

I’ve mentioned before that I collect hymnals. I prefer older, antique hymnals, but I’m just as interested in newer versions, particularly if it’s from a congregation with which I’m not as familiar. One of the first things I’ll do when visiting a church is grab a hymnal to see what they are using.

On occasion I’ll Google the term “antique hymnal” to see what comes up on eBay or other sites just to see if there are some interesting hymnals available. Recently these searches have found something that really makes my skin crawl. I think the phrase is “Antique Hymnal and Ephemera Crafts” and I’ve come across this blasphemy most often on that bastion of bad taste, Etsy.com. No, I won’t be posting any links because to me that would be just like posting a link to porn.

Crafters are using old hymnal pages to create all manner of evil, from wreathes…

…to roses…

…to gift wrapping…

I’ve Seen Fire and I’ve Seen Rain

March 3, 2012February 20, 2020 Tom No Comments

Local, Miscellaneous

It’s been a rough night. It started in the afternoon with storms sweeping across the Midwest and into the Southeast. Laura came home to find her mom in her raincoat with purse in hand, heading down to our basement. She heard “tornado warning” on the radio, and not knowing the location of counties, etc., thought it must be for our area.

Friday is usually our “date night”, and we had planned to go out that evening as well. Once we had reassured Laura’s mom that no bad storms were headed our way, we were able to go ahead with our plans. We had a very nice leisurely meal at The Lazy Goat, then headed on home just in case any storms were on their way.

When we got to our street we noticed a deputy sheriff’s car up near John Knox church. As we turned onto our street, this was the scene that greeted us…

Remembering Priscilla

March 2, 2012 Tom No Comments

Miscellaneous

Last week I learned of the death of one of my former choir members. Priscilla Johnson was one of the first people I met when I came to McCarter Presbyterian Church back in 1990, and she was on my interview committee. Priscilla was also a dedicated choir member, singing alto in our small group during my tenure at the church.

My time as choir director at McCarter had its ups and downs, but Priscilla was the one steadfast rock I could count on in the congregation. She told it like it was, and fortunately (for me) we saw eye-to-eye on most issues. I last saw her several months ago in a local restaurant, and was delighted to have one last good conversation with her.

Yesterday afternoon a memorial service for Priscilla was held at McCarter, and I made a point of attending. It was great seeing old friends, and seeing how the church had been remodeled and expanded since my days there. Even with the changes, much remained the same.

Read More “Remembering Priscilla” »