A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
Elon Musk is officially the coolest dude on the planet right now. The test launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy was quite successful. But it wasn’t just the science, it was all of the flourishes that almost pushed this into the realization of science fiction. More importantly, though, in a world of such regressive politics and thought, this was a much needed push forward.
It seems like it’s been raining ever since we got back from South Carolina. There may be an occasional break, but for the most part it’s been gray, dark, and downright gloomy. On this particular Tuesday rain and clouds were still in the weather, but for some reason the sun decided it needed to break through. Laura declared that we were both suffering from cabin fever and kicked me out of the house with my camera while she did some Furman work. I wasn’t sure where I was going when I set out, but I wound up at Deception Pass.
Samish Island has a very active community. There are events year-round at the small community center on the northeast side of the island. This past Sunday Laura and I headed to the center to hear stories about the history of the island in the first session of Samish Island Stories.
The Illuminati – the “Enlightened Ones”. It may be an overused plot point for adventure novels and conspiracy theories, but the general idea of gaining enlightenment isn’t that bad. In this case it was literal enlightenment, a means to dispel the gloom of the long winter nights of the Pacific Northwest. With that in mind I joined other light-deprived citizens for the 4th Annual Mount Vernon Illuminight Walk.
It’s been a solid week of music. We had our Bring Your Own Guitar session on Wednesday at Empire Ale in Mount Vernon, followed by the Bellingham Folk Festival this past weekend. I had a great time learning new things and meeting other musicians in the area. There were even a few connections with folks from back home. That’s quite a bit for one post, but I’ll try to wrap it all up here.
In an earlier post I mentioned that Laura and I had travelled up river for the Skagit Eagle Festival, only to find that most of the eagles were right here around our little island. This past week while Laura was working on her sabbatical material she sent me catch some “action shots” of our local eagles. Later she joined me for a couple of other excursions out with binoculars and long lenses.
We made it back to Washington after the holidays and I dived right into the music scene. The Sunday after we returned there was a Scottish music session at Littlefield Celtic Center, followed by a practice session Monday afternoon. Since other musicians had been encouraging me to attend one of the practice sessions (and I’m still not sure how to take that) I decided to go to Monday’s session as well.
This blog post has no photos. That in and of itself should highlight the unusualness of the past few weeks. Our holiday trip back to South Carolina was..strange, and our return to Samish Island only heightened the limbo-like quality of the past few weeks. I’m sure that will change as we get back into a routine. Until then, here’s a photo-less recap recent happenings.
I have failed. I came up 4.86 miles short of the 2017 Challenge proposed by the Church of the Double-Bladed Paddle. Between a bum foot, a Christmas head cold, and cold weather I just couldn’t get those last five miles done. Oh well. However, I believe in quality over quantity. I’ve hit some old favorites as well as covered some new territory. Despite not making my goal, I still think it was a successful paddling year.
We’re back in South Carolina. It was an arduous trip across country, but we rolled into town on Wednesday and have been getting reacquainted with our house. It is good to be home and spend some time with family.