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Category: Family

Welcome, Jack Marshall!

Posted on August 21, 2013May 16, 2014 By Tom No Comments on Welcome, Jack Marshall!
Family

One of the reasons we headed to Washington DC last week was to see my niece, Katie, who was expecting her first child early September. Well, little Jack wouldn’t wait that long. So, welcome to the world, Jackson David Marshall, born August 20 at about 3:30. Mother and baby are doing great. Jack was 7lbs … Read More “Welcome, Jack Marshall!” »

Multiple Mountain Meanderings

Posted on August 3, 2013May 16, 2014 By Tom 1 Comment on Multiple Mountain Meanderings
Family, Photography, Rambling
Blue Ridge Parkway-1
Devil’s Courthouse

Three times this week I have made treks northward, crossing the Blue Wall into the mountains of Western North Carolina.  Two of those trips covered similar ground.  Only one was in the new Mini convertible.  All three covered ground I’ve traversed recently, so some of the photos may look a little…familiar.

Monday – Picnic at Davidson River

Last weekend Laura’s sister and mother were with us.  The weather looked good for Monday, so we decided to take a trek up to Pisgah Forest for a picnic.  We had done this trip with Laura’s cousins a couple of years ago, and her mom had loved the sound of the Davidson River rippling past our picnic area.

For this trip we loaded everyone into the Subaru and first headed up Highway 25 toward Hendersonville.  We took a brief detour through Tuxedo, then turned toward Flat Rock.  At Flat Rock we took Little River Road toward Crab Creek westward, toward Brevard.  The weather was clear and spectacular, with large fluffy white clouds and blue skies.

Read More “Multiple Mountain Meanderings” »

Fourth in Florida

Posted on July 7, 2013July 25, 2013 By Tom No Comments on Fourth in Florida
Family, Paddling, Photography, Rambling, Travel

Been a busy week. We headed down to Florida to Laura’s sister’s house for the Fourth holiday. The days at Amy’s have been spent on day trips, but mostly paddling out on the Indian River. I have fallen woefully behind on blogging. I’ve got a couple of ghost town reports and other write-ups to finish. … Read More “Fourth in Florida” »

Remembering John Ellenberg

Posted on July 1, 2013July 25, 2013 By Tom 15 Comments on Remembering John Ellenberg
Family

Last night I got the call from my brother. Our first cousin, John Ellenberg, had been killed in a plane crash in Alaska on Friday. John was 74. He was flying with his fiance, Laurie Buckner, who was also killed in the crash. Here’s a link to the news report from one of the local … Read More “Remembering John Ellenberg” »

Dark Corner Ramble

Posted on May 13, 2013 By Tom No Comments on Dark Corner Ramble
Family, Rambling

Shiloh Methodist Church-005

This was a Second Saturday, and I was supposed to be joining my partners in crime at Lowcountry Unfiltered for a jaunt down to Harris Neck Wildlife Area. However, due to lots of factors I won’t go into now, I wasn’t able to join them. Even though I couldn’t make that trip, I was still in the mood for an exploration, even if it was a short local trip. Houston came up from Georgia, joining Laura, Glydna, and me for an excursion into the Dark Corner.

It was Houston who had proposed the venue. He had looked a map of Upstate South Carolina recently and saw lots of spots that he had never visited. We decided it was time to erase those deficits.

We first took a quick detour by Jungle J’s Hats and Knives. We could have wasted most of the afternoon just trying on hats and looking at knives. As it was, I still came away with a new hat. I tried on several that looked really good, and it was hard to choose just one, but I behaved.

From Jungle J’s our route took us through the back roads north of Taylors and Greer. Eventually we took Milford Church Road to Highway 101. Since we were close, I decided to head down to Gilreath Mill. There we encountered a wonderful surprise.

Read More “Dark Corner Ramble” »

Christmas Gear

Posted on December 26, 2012 By Tom No Comments on Christmas Gear
Family, Gear, Photography

Christmas 2012

This year we spent Christmas in Greenville. Instead of traveling to Florida like we usually do, Laura’s sister and mother came up to visit us. The foggy Christmas morning was spent opening gifts and relaxing.

Since I’ve been so obsessed with time-lapse lately, I decided to do one of our gift giving routine. Here’s a short video…

The entire video was created on an iPad 2. I used the iMotion app shot a 1 frame every five seconds. I used the Garage Band app and an Akai LPK25 keyboard to record the music, and I used the iMovie app to add titles and mix everything together.

Read More “Christmas Gear” »

Busy Birthday Weekend

Posted on December 16, 2012 By Tom No Comments on Busy Birthday Weekend
Family, Miscellaneous

Been a busy weekend – explorations on my birthday, recuperation on Saturday, and a day full of music on Sunday. Saturday’s explorations were so involved that I’m breaking them into three separate blog posts. Writing those up, along with all the links and research, will take some time. I may be done with that mid-week. … Read More “Busy Birthday Weekend” »

A 25th Anniversary

Posted on October 20, 2012 By Tom 3 Comments on A 25th Anniversary
Family

Tom_Laura

It was 25 years ago this weekend that Laura and I met. Hard to believe how fast time flies. It was Furman Homecoming Friday night, and we were both there under unusual circumstances. Here’s the story…

The Friday night of Homecoming Weekend students begin constructing floats on the mall. Well, not really “floats” in the technical sense, but displays. The alumni come back to wander along the mall and party with the students. There was always music and free food, and at one time there were even fireworks.

At that time Laura lived just around the corner from Furman. She had just given a big chemistry test that week, and had just celebrated her birthday. She was tired from staying up and grading papers, but couldn’t rest because of the noise from campus. She decided she would head over and at least enjoy the music in person.

Read More “A 25th Anniversary” »

Rambling in Western Virginia

Posted on September 8, 2012 By Tom No Comments on Rambling in Western Virginia
Family, Rambling, Travel

Mabry Mill with Texture

After a successful wedding we had a couple of days to spend in Roanoke. I got no sleep because of coughing, but I still wanted to make the best of our mini-vacation.

We started with a fantastic breakfast at the hotel, then spent the rest of the morning helping Glynda recover. We got the wedding gifts and other paraphernalia packed away, and got her checked out of her hotel. I drove Aaron’s car, Glynda drove hers, and Laura drove our car up to the hotel where Houston and Lynda were staying, and we got together with them and Chip, Anna, and family for lunch.

Having just married off her daughter, Glynda was exhausted both physically and emotionally. She is normally one of our heartiest ramblers, but that wasn’t going to happen today. She stayed back at the hotel, while Houston, Lynda, Laura, and I set off to see what we could find.

Read More “Rambling in Western Virginia” »

A Virginia Wedding

Posted on September 5, 2012 By Tom No Comments on A Virginia Wedding
Family

Katie and Aaron

This weekend Laura and I traveled to Virginia to see our niece, Katie, get married. Katie and Aaron had dated on and off for ten years, and had decided on was better than off, and decided to make it permanent.

We left Friday afternoon and drove part of the way up, spending the night on the road in North Carolina. I had been fighting a cold all week and coughing badly. I let Laura drive a good bit of the way, and it was a good thing we stopped for the night.

Saturday we drove on into Roanoke and checked into the Hotel Roanoke. My brother, Stephen tapped my shoulder as we were checking in, and we made plans for lunch.

Hotel Roanoke

Read More “A Virginia Wedding” »

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