Random Connections – Page 108 – A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

I’ve Seen Fire and I’ve Seen Rain

March 3, 2012February 20, 2020 Tom No Comments

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.

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A Night of Mystery and Imagination

February 26, 2012 Tom 3 Comments

Entertainment, Local

Our neighbors Kathleen and Herrick invited us over for dinner Saturday evening. However, this was just any dinner, but a celebration of the life and work of Edgar Allen Poe. We were given literary assignments, and awaited the appointed time.

Laura and I walked over to our neighbor’s house. We were poured glasses of champagne and met our fellow guests. Kathleen’s friend Tammy was there, and their friend Mike had been designated to portray Poe during the evening.

Kathleen had decorated with marvelous and appropriately macabre items. There were quite a few ravens and black netting. The decorations were outstanding.

A Trip to Madison

February 26, 2012 Tom 4 Comments

Photography, Travel

Saturday morning we wanted to get out of the house for a bit. So, we had a big breakfast, loaded everyone into the car, and headed west.

Laura’s mother had never seen Clemson, so that was going to be one of our stops. I also had a potential ghost town I wanted to check out. Laura’s desires were simple – she wanted a hamburger somewhere. The only problem was that we had a time limit. Laura and I had to be back for a dinner party that evening.

We pretty much stuck to our plan. We drove straight to Clemson and drove around the campus. We also drove through the state botanical garden. There didn’t appear to be much in bloom, so we didn’t stop and get out.

After touring Clemson, we headed south on Highway 76 until we got to the Old Stone Church. Last time I was here there was a maintenance man on duty and he let me into the church. No such luck this time. The place was locked up and I could only take photos from the outside.

Creative Spam

February 24, 2012 Tom No Comments

Internet, Rants

So far my blog is recovering nicely from the hack attack on it last week. I’m not seeing any of the incoming links for various pharmaceutical products. I do still get spam comments, though. Fortunately, Akismet is doing a pretty good job of making sure I don’t have to waste time on those. Even so, … Read More “Creative Spam” »

Sacred Music for a Sacred Space

February 20, 2012 Tom No Comments

Music, Photography

Sunday afternoon the Greenville Chorale Chamber Ensemble presented its annual concert at St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral. The concert was entitled “Sacred Music for a Sacred Space” and featured sacred music by contemporary composers. The pairing of music with venue was well-planned, and somewhat modeled the liturgy that might be followed in a traditional service.

Saturday morning we had our dress rehearsal in the cathedral, and I brought along my camera to get a few shots of the interior. I started with exterior shots…

…then moved to the interior to photograph the stunning mosaics above the altar.

Pixlr Photo Editing

February 16, 2012 Tom No Comments

Internet, Photography

I had tried Pixlr a long time ago, but had completely forgotten about it until my friend and fellow instructional tech geek Tony Thompson posted something about it on his blog last month. With Picnic being assimilated by Google and with Aviary acting a bit weird, I was hoping another option for online photo editing would come along, and Pixlr seems to be the best option right now.

Pixlr comes in several flavors. There is the full-fledge photo editor, but there are also several quick tools for adding preset effects. There is Pixlr Express for quick touch-ups and Pixlr-o-Matic for effects such as vintage photos, etc. Android and iOS apps are available for these last two services. There is also Pixlr imm.io, an image sharing service and Pixlr Grabber, a screen capture plugin for Firefox and Chrome.

Spam Injection

February 15, 2012 Tom 4 Comments

Rants

I knew it was going to be a rough day. The coffee maker didn’t start on time, I cut myself shaving, and my watch stopped working. Then, to top it off, I found that this website had been hit by a spam injection hack attack. I was tempted to crawl back into bed. I first … Read More “Spam Injection” »

Google Earth and Google Plus

February 15, 2012 Tom 1 Comment

Geocaching and Maps, Internet

I hadn’t realized how far behind the times I’ve been with Google Earth until I ready on Frank Taylor’s blog that there is an update out for a version beyond the one I’m using. That means I’m two versions behind. Version 6.2 makes some changes to the overall appearance of the map, with a “pretty … Read More “Google Earth and Google Plus” »

Kingville, Kingsville

February 12, 2012 Tom 23 Comments

Geocaching and Maps, History and Genealogy

I came upon Kingville quite by accident. I was looking for information on another ghost town in Google Earth when I spotted this name near the confluence of the Congaree and Wateree Rivers. When I zoomed in a bit further I saw that the the place indicated by the name was all wooded – there was no town there. Street View also showed just a wooded area, and not enough buildings to even justify keeping this as a place name. This intrigued me, so I did a bit of research, and it turned out to be an interesting ghost town location itself.

According to information on the Kingville Historical Foundation’s website, the town got it’s start in 1842 when a spur railroad line from Aiken was completed to Columbia. I checked Robert Mill’s 1825 atlas of the area, and the name Kingville does not appear. In 1850 a branch line was completed to Camden, and the town began to grow because it was now located at the juncture of two major railroad lines.

Research on the town was initially confusing. According to the historical marker for the site…

Kingville is thought to be named for its status as “king” of the railroad line between Charleston and Columbia and between Columbia and Camden.

However, the town was first called “Kingsville” with an “s”. For awhile I wasn’t sure if I was finding information on the same town. For example, this is an excerpt from an 1870 map of the Port Royal railroad in the southern states. It clearly shows the spelling with an “s”. The town’s name on this map makes it look almost as big as Columbia, but this is deceptive. Since this was a railroad map, the emphasis was on major junctions, rather than the actual towns.

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