Random Connections – Page 116 – A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

Cedar Falls Park

September 20, 2011 Tom No Comments

Sunday’s Greenville News had an article about a new park in southern Greenville County. Cedar Falls Park opened to the public recently, and I decided I needed to check it out.

First, a bit of background…

I’d stopped by this location on the Reedy River several times looking longingly at the shoals and the pool below. I also looked askance at the “Keep Out” signs everywhere, and only took photos from the roadside.

In 1993 Colonial Pipeline had a major oil spill on the Reedy. In 1999 they plead guilty to violations of the Clean Water Act, and agreed to a huge fine. Money from the fine, along with grants, paid for creation of the park. And finally, twelve years later, the park is a reality, and the “Keep Out” signs meaningless. (Although, if you look closely in the photo below, you’ll see one lingering Keep Out sign nailed to the tree.)

Jockey Lot Adventures

September 18, 2011January 28, 2024 Tom No Comments

Local, Weirdness

Beautiful cool morning, and Paul W, Brian G, and I decided to squander it with a trip to the Anderson Jockey Lot. Paul and I have made frequent forays into the world of flea markets. While growing up, he and his father would scour the yard sales, then resell their goods at various flea markets. So, Paul brings lots of experience to this endeavor. Brian is fairly new to the game. I’m along as an archivist, equipped with cameras and various sound recording devices to capture a distilled version of Southern culture. Turned out to be a successful trip on all levels.

When we arrived parking was tricky. It looked like there were going to be lots of people there. While there were lots of customers, the outside tables seemed fairly sparse. There were not as many vendors as usual.

One of the first things Paul noticed was that there didn’t seem to be many prices listed on items. I guess you would have to interact with the vendor and haggle a bit.

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Paddling Dreamland

September 15, 2011 Tom No Comments

Paddling

We are blessed with some fantastic kayaking venues in South Carolina. And, I’ve been privileged to kayak in the Puget Sound several times, a couple of locations in Florida, and once even in the Bahamas. Even so, there are several “dream locations” I would love to paddle. I’d love to go further northwest, and do … Read More “Paddling Dreamland” »

Union County Photo Trek

September 11, 2011 Tom 3 Comments

History and Genealogy, Local, Photography

It started with a cryptic e-mail which began as follows:

Hello Tom,
I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but I do know about your fascination with ghost towns.

Mark Elbrecht had contacted me through this website, and he had a proposal. Mark is a fellow Flickr photographer, and it seems that he and I have similar interests as far as subject matter is concerned. He had arranged to meet with a representative of the Union Historical Society and get access to the Pinckneyville site, a ghost town I’ve been wanting to visit for quite some time, and he invited me to come along. There was absolutely no way I was going to pass up this opportunity.

Union

My brother Houston joined me, and this past Saturday we made the trek from Greenville to Union to join up with the group. We arrived a bit early, so we wandered the main street of Union and took a few photos of the architecture, including the spectacular court house…

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Remembering 9/11

September 11, 2011 Tom 1 Comment

Miscellaneous

I must confess – I’m suffering from 9/11 fatigue. Not because I’m tired of hearing about the terrorist attacks of ten years ago and the remembrances thereof, but because of the overwhelming and very conflicting emotions associated with those remembrances. There was the terrible, terrible national crisis, with so much confusion. There was the shining … Read More “Remembering 9/11” »

Upper State Fair 2011

September 9, 2011 Tom 1 Comment

Local, Photography

Labor Day marks the advent of the Upper State South Carolina Fair. As I’ve done for the past couple of years, I grabbed my camera and headed out to get some shots. This year I had invited several others to come along and make it a true photo trek. Unfortunately, iffy weather and other conflicts caused problems. So, Wednesday evening I headed out on my own.

My usual plan is to get there early evening and catch the last rays, then hang around to get some night shots. I arrived at the Greenville-Pickens Speedway fair grounds at about 6:00, and it wasn’t too crowded, but starting to fill up.

I took a few shots, but found myself shooting the same things I’ve shot in years past. I was running out of ideas.

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The Trappe Door

September 9, 2011 Tom 2 Comments

Restaurants

Friday evening Laura and I were in the mood to try something new downtown. Our friend and former neighbor, Josh Beeby, is the owner of Barley’s Tap Room, and several months ago he had opened a new venue called The Trappe Door. We decided to give it a try. Background Josh is from Australia. According … Read More “The Trappe Door” »

Grits Guilty Pleasure

September 5, 2011 Tom No Comments

Recipes

1. In a cereal bowl, dice a small tomato. Home-grown, garden-ripened with a higher acidic content works best. In this case I just used cherry salad tomatoes from the store, cut in half. 2. Add two packets of Quaker Instant Grits with Bacon Flavored Bits. (Yeah, blasphemous to most true Southerners.) 3. Add enough butter … Read More “Grits Guilty Pleasure” »

Meet Rory

September 3, 2011 Tom 2 Comments

Miscellaneous

I can’t believe I let this slip by! I had posted it on Facebook and Flickr, but hadn’t written about it here. We have a new kitten!

A week and a half ago I was on my way into my office when I heard this tiny voice meowing. I looked, and one of the tiniest kittens I’d seen was curled up in the corner just outside of my window. I got a box and retrieved the little beast, which immediately curled up in my hands and started purring.

We’ve had other kittens dropped off at our office. There have been two other such incidents, and each of these had been adopted by my coworkers. This time it didn’t look like anyone was interested in giving this little guy a home. I snapped this photo of the cat in his box, and sent to Laura, just to show her what I’d found.

I had the kitten and his box in my office. He quickly escaped, so I picked him up. He stayed on my shoulder for awhile until I figured out what to do.

The problem is that we have folks allergic to cats in our office. I couldn’t just leave him there, and he was already out of his box. Fortunately, Lori Cooper came to my rescue with a much larger box, and an office that could be closed off so that he didn’t escape. Right after that I got a message from Laura asking if I was bringing the kitten home. I guess he’d found a home, after all. During lunch I brought the kitten home so he could get settled in.

Quick Jaunt to Cunningham

August 28, 2011 Tom 1 Comment

Paddling

One of the things I love about where I live is that I can be on the water paddling somewhere within 15 minutes. Such was the case Saturday. While Irene was wreaking havoc along the coast, we had wonderful weather, albeit a bit breezy. I called up Tim Taylor, and we loaded up the boats for a spur-of-the-minute paddling trip to Lake Cunningham.

Tim had headed out with me once before, on a trip from Piedmont upstream on the Saluda River. Tim is a naturalist, and a great person to have along on these trips. Today was no different, as we came across lots of wildlife on the paddle.

We first stopped by the Lake Robinson office to get day passes for paddling. Looking out over the more open water of Robinson, we could see white caps churned up by the wind. We had toyed with the idea of just putting in here, but the rough water made us stick with our original plan, and head to the more sheltered waters of Cunningham.

There was a major party wrapping up at the Cunningham picnic area, but the only folks at the boat ramp were a few fishermen who looked at our kayaks skeptically. We launched, then did our usual routine of heading upstream toward the lily pads.

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