With all of the rain that we had gotten over the past couple of days I figured the local waterfalls must be running at maximum. In fact, I’d already seen photos on Facebook of Reedy Falls with tremendous amounts of water. I decided to check it out.
Even though I haven’t been able to finish my explorations of the Tobacco Trail, I haven’t been sitting idle. Once the rain stopped we had some spectacular weather, and I decided to get out and about. I hit a few spots in the upstate, so this is sort of a miscellany wrap-up of the week. This is part one of about a three-parter. This first part actually took place last week, before the deluge…
The photos from Columbia have been astounding. The level of flooding is beyond anything we might have imagined. I have close friends that have been directly affected by the flooding, and getting back to normal will take months.
Here in Greenville we got lots of rain, and there had been some localized flooding, but nothing to the scale of the mid-state. Our area is almost back to normal.
There’s a reason I named this blog RandomConnections. The URL RandomThoughts was taken…but that’s beside the point. Time and time again the idea of “random connections” has proved itself to be the more appropriate title, as tenuous threads appear that seem to bind disparate ideas together. Such was the case this past week.
I got a forwarded e-mail from my brother, Stephen, with a note that a historical convoy would be passing through our area. The convoy would feature vintage military vehicles, and I thought it would be a cool photo opportunity. Little did I realize how closely this event would tie right into my recent research and explorations.
Our television gave up the ghost. While it was a fairly modern hi-def LCD TV, by today’s standards it was quite small. We still hold to the old “TV as furniture” ideal, and kept it in a cabinet in a corner. This was actually a design decision, as we have picture windows overlooking our back yard and lake, and didn’t want a large TV interfering with that view. Perhaps it got jealous of the big new TV in our newly remodeled basement. Who knows? The upshot is that on Wednesday I found myself heading out to buy a new one.
I was looking for something to do for a Friday night. Laura was out of town, and I didn’t just want to sit around the house. Then my friend Mark Elbrecht reminded me about an event over at Taylors Mill. Not only was it a First Friday, which meant open art studios all around town, but the mill was having a “50 Years Later Relaunch Party” to commemorate closure of Southern Bleachery in 1965, and a reopening of many of the studios to the public. I decided to check it out.
NOTE: I’m just now getting around to completing this post. This has been a very busy week.
Gallabrae – rhymes with Gallifrey, for the Whovians out there. It’s a made-up Gaellic term that’s supposed to mean “bold and daring” and “beautiful highlands.” It’s also the name that has come to symbolize the Greenville Scottish Games at Furman University. This year was the tenth anniversary of the games.
I hadn’t planned to attend the games this year. However, Laura’s plan for the day was to relax and read at the house. She needed the down time, but I’d been working around the house all week. I decided to head on up to Furman for the games.
Memorial Day Weekend in Greenville means that the Scottish Games are once again coming to the Furman University campus. Last year we participated in the Great Scot Parade downtown in our Mini. This year we not only did the parade, but I made it over to the games themselves.
Paul Wagenknecht had a confession to make. He and several other Furman professors had been making regular treks out to the Greer Dragway for their Thursday “Practice and Grudge Night.” He invited me to come along and bring my camera and audio recorders. How could I possibly refuse?
Saturday was one of those busy days where I needed to be about five people. Between potential paddling trips, Artisphere, Furman graduation, and other local festivals, there were lots of choices. I decided to head over to Furman for the 2015 Nan Herring Shape Note Singing.
The Nan Herring Singing is held each year on “the Saturday before the Second Sunday,” using the parlance of the singing community. This year and last year the date conflicts with Furman Graduation. This was not the case before Furman went on a semester system and graduation was in early June. The last time I came to this singing was in 2008, before the change, and we were able to use Herring Hall, where we rehearse for Chorale. This time, due to conflicts with the Furman Singers needing their home space, we held the singing on the stage of Daniel Recital Hall.
