Category: Local

Local items of interest from Greenville and Upstate SC.

The Search for Moving Water

Posted on By Tom 2 Comments on The Search for Moving Water
Local, Photography, Travel

Pearson Falls Detail

Memorial Day Weekend is always the pits, at least as far as Furman is concerned. This weekend is particularly bad. Laura has to give exams both Saturday morning and Monday morning. When she’s not giving the tests, she will be busy grading them. With Furman going onto a semester system next year, this is the last time that Memorial Day will be messed up.

Even knowing that she wouldn’t be available for exploration, I got my household chores done ahead of time this week during the evenings so that I could head out and explore this weekend. I had planned to do a bit of geocaching, but I put that on hold to take a few photos.

My first target was Freedom Weekend Aloft. Last year I stumbled onto a balloon launch from a parking lot and was able to get some great shots. I was hoping for the same this year, but I was afraid the brisk winds this morning would keep the balloons grounded. Either my fears were confirmed, or I had missed the schedule. There were no balloons to be seen. Therefore, I headed north to look for some waterfalls.

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A Day of Festivals

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on A Day of Festivals
Local, Photography

Greek Festival in Greenville

Saturday was an absolutely stunning day. The air was dry and clear, and the sky was so blue that even cerulean doesn’t do it justice. There was no way that I was going to waste this on the huge stack of chores and yard work I had waiting for me at home. So, I decided a photo drive was needed. Several communities in the Upstate were having festivals this weekend, so I decided to check out a couple of them. I was actually able to hit four festivals – the Issaqueena Festival in Six Mile, the Banjo Bonanza at Hagood Mill in Pickens, the Strawberry Festival in Slater, and finally the Greek Festival at St. George Orthodox in Greenville.

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Shape Note Singing at Furman

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on Shape Note Singing at Furman
Local, Music

Open Square Formation

Saturday morning I skipped out on a bunch of gardening chores that Laura had lined up for me and went to a shape note singing at Furman. When I arrived, there were about thirty singers already in their open square configuration, singing away.

Unlike the William Walker Memorial Singing at Wofford a couple of months ago, this event was held in a room designed for singing. The sound in Herring Hall (where the Greenville Chorale rehearses) was much more resonant, and the tunes sounded much better than they did in the dead room at Wofford.

The group started singing from the Southern Harmony, which has the more traditional do-re-mi scale. Even so, I struggled with the note names on the initial sing-through, and wound up singing “la” for most of the notes. For the second hour of the morning, they switched to the Sacred Harp, which uses the four-shape fa-so-la scale. It was much harder, and I never really got the hang of the note names. There was a break when we switched from one tune book to the other, and I had a chance to talk with several of the singers. I was told that Southern Harmony tends to be a bit more subdued, whereas Sacred Harp singing is always more raucous. Even though the notes were more difficult for me, I was up for high-energy raucous singing.

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Chasing the Swamp Rabbit

Posted on By Tom 27 Comments on Chasing the Swamp Rabbit
Local, Photography

Railroad Car B&W

I had tons of work I needed to do around the house – cut grass, vacuum the floors, and blow the pollen off the decks and driveway. Instead, I loaded up my bike and drove up to the northern end of the Swamp Rabbit Trail in Travelers Rest.

The Swamp Rabbit Trail is part of the rails to trails movement, and is named for the former Greenville and Northern Railway that used to run from downtown Greenville to River Falls in the Jones Gap area. The railway got its nickname from the various wetlands it passed through. The plan is to pave the railway from Greenville to Travelers Rest, and to eventually run trams on the path on a regular schedule.

I parked at the Travelers Rest trailhead and headed south. At this point the trail is grassy and a bit bumpy. It passes through the middle of Travelers Rest, past TR Methodist, where Laura and I got married, and through the middle of a parking lot for several businesses. From there, the trail took a route more separate from the populated areas.

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Metaphotography at Artisphere

Posted on By Tom 2 Comments on Metaphotography at Artisphere
Entertainment, Local, Music, Photography

Two concerts in as many days with as many groups. Last night it was the Brahms Requiem in Spartanburg, and today it was a concert at Artisphere with the Greenville Chorale. Laura has started complaining about being a “choral widow.” I’ve got one more bit choral weekend in a couple of weeks, then we can … Read More “Metaphotography at Artisphere” »

Ein Deutches Requiem

Posted on By Tom 3 Comments on Ein Deutches Requiem
Local, Music

Saturday night I sang with the Spartanburg Festival Chorus and the Spartanburg Philharmonic in their performance of Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem. The Festival Chorus is directed by Keith Jones, and the Philharmonic is conducted by Sarah Ionnides, who conducted this performance. The Festival Chorus consists mostly of Converse students with some additions from area churches. … Read More “Ein Deutches Requiem” »

Larkins on the River

Posted on By Tom 3 Comments on Larkins on the River
Local, Restaurants

I’m sure that Gordon Ramsay would prefer that his name be associated with the four-star restaurants where he has been chef and owner. However, most Americans know him through his BBC show, “Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares,” where he spends a week trying to save failing restaurants. So now, having a “Gordon Ramsay experience” has very little … Read More “Larkins on the River” »