A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
0
This past weekend Laura and I attended the 30th reunion of my high school graduating class. It was the first time that I had seen many of these folks since we had graduated. It was great re-connecting with these folks.
About 100 people attended the event – that number including both alumni and spouses. You could pick out the non-alumni spouses very easily. They were usually the ones sitting in a corner off to a side, while the rest of us laughed and caught up.
Our cat Misty now has a new friend. Yesterday we adopted a little yellow fluff ball of a kitten, seven weeks old. This kitten was from a litter of four, and is one of the friendliest kittens we’ve ever encountered. On the way home it curled up in Laura’s lap and wanted its chin rubbed. … Read More “New Addition to the Family” »
This morning I got a call from Laura that I didn’t want to receive. She had taken our old cat, Shadow, to our vet. We had feared the worst, and those fears were confirmed by the vet’s prognosis – complete kidney failure. The only humane thing to do was to put him to sleep. Shadow … Read More “R. I. P. Shadow” »
It was pure serendipity. We were making the long drive from Greenville to Laura’s sister’s house in Florida, and I had downloaded several podcasts from NPR’s This American Life to listen to along the way. At random I selected the episode “Leaving the Fold”, and was treated to a story that has many parallels with the story of Gov. Mark Sanford’s fall from grace.
The first part of the episode tells the story of Jerry Springer. If people think of him at all, they know him as the host off the off-beat TV talk show where idiots yell at each other about ridiculous things. The truth is, he was a very promising politician in the Democratic party in the late 1960’s, working with Robert Kennedy’s campaign. It looked like he had a bright political career of his own ahead of him. That was all brought to a crashing halt by an indiscretion similar to Sanford’s.
This week RandomConnections.com was the spotlight blog for Sound Off South, a website from WYFF-TV that showcases blogs from Upstate South Carolina. Early this morning I headed down to the WYFF studios for a live interview with Kelly Coakley for the 7:00 am Sunday morning newscast. I would be doing two short segments, one during … Read More “Sound Off South” »
It’s been a good spring for the Wright sisters. Earlier this spring Amy won the Outstanding Research Scientist Award from Florida Atlantic University. Laura was able to go down for the awards ceremony. Last night Amy was able to return the favor. At commencement ceremonies for Furman University, Laura was given the Meritorious Teaching Award. … Read More “The Wright Stuff” »
Lots happening, and not much time to write about it. Laura and I discussed this, and we blame Furman. Since they have gone on a semester schedule their term is ending much earlier, and that’s thrown us off completely. I think, “Oh, Furman’s commencement is next weekend, so my school must be winding down” when we actually have a month more to go. With the compressed schedule, it seems like more is happening each weekend, and this past one was no exception.
As Laura put it, it was a weekend for puttering, not for heavy lifting. We started with some yard work Saturday morning, raking, blowing away pollen, spreading mulch, planting flowers, and even taking a few photos of said flowers.
I had gotten a message from my blogging friend Laura Llew that John Boyanoski would be signing copies of his books, Ghosts of Upstate South Carolina and More Ghosts of Upstate South Carolina, at Poor Richard’s Bookstore in Easley. I thought it might be fun to meet John, and to finally meet Laura L in person, so we headed out that way.
On this Earth Day, 2009, I thought it would be nice to take a sandwich down to my new favorite lunch spot and contemplate nature with the sounds of the Middle Tyger flowing in the background. This is twice this week I’ve been out here, and I think I came down here at least twice … Read More “Lunchtime Earth Day Encounter” »
The weekend started with rain. Despite that, I drove down to Prosperity, had a good visit with the parents, and was able to confirm two lookout towers (or, in this case, the lack thereof.) I was able to make it home before the really heavy rains hit. Sunday, the rain continue, then late in the … Read More “Wild Weather Weekend” »