Random Connections – Page 77 – A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

Goodbye, Mom

July 16, 2014July 16, 2014 Tom 9 Comments

Family

At 2:10 this morning my mother, Joclair Ellenberg Taylor, lost her battle with cancer. She passed quietly in the early morning, surrounded by four of her seven children at her home in Prosperity, SC. I was not able to be with her at the end, but had been there earlier in the evening. Mom was … Read More “Goodbye, Mom” »

Solo Oolenoy in a Problematic Boat

July 8, 2014 Tom No Comments

Paddling

Lake Oolenoy Red Emphasis — Red Pungo 140 on Lake Oolenoy

In the fleet of kayaks I have in my yard is one red Wilderness Systems Pungo 140. It’s got a problem, or, several of them, really. First is a question of ownership. Chip purchased this boat from Confluence five years ago at the Friends and Family sale. Over the course of the years, he traded it to a colleague for another boat. However, the colleague never collected the boat from my yard, and eventually moved to another town. There it has sat for five years. While I often enumerate it with my fleet, I still consider it Chip’s boat.

More importantly, though, is the condition of the boat. Some of the kayaks at the Confluence sale were factory seconds. For example, the Pungo 120 I got at the same sale had the webbing for the seat straps sliced. No biggy, but I had to replace them.

To all outward appearances the Pungo 140 looks like a great kayak…

Fourth of July 2014

July 5, 2014 Tom No Comments

Family, Music, Recipes

OK, It’s not Fourth of July, but Canada Day Fireworks photo by Ben_Senior

At some point I’m going to stop beginning my posts with “It’s been a crazy week.” It starts sounding like Garrison Keillor’s standard “It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon.” But…it has been a crazy week, topped off by a holiday weekend.

Chorale Concert

This week marks the tenth anniversary of the collaboration between the Furman Lakeside Concert Band and the Greenville Chorale. It’s of our most popular concerts, certainly the best attended. We had rehearsals Monday night, then Tuesday with the band. The concert was Thursday.

Garlic Shrimp a la Lazy Goat

July 3, 2014 Tom No Comments

Recipes

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, and we’re still not done. I had big plans to post a 1 year review of retirement. That didn’t happen. I had several photo treks I wanted to take that didn’t get taken. It’s been a week of unforeseen circumstances – the death and funeral of an elderly uncle out of town, and now some serious health issues in our family. This is also a concert week for us – the Chorale is performing a Patriotic concert on July 3 by the Furman Lake, so we’ve had evening rehearsals for that, too.

Sometime in the midst of all this craziness we managed to make it to one of our favorite restaurants, The Lazy Goat. We have several favorite dishes, one of which is the garlic shrimp with tomatoes and arugula. we liked it so much that Laura wanted to see if she could reverse engineer the dish and cook it at home. Here’s our first attempt.

Paddling to Andersonville

June 25, 2014June 25, 2014 Tom 14 Comments

History and Genealogy, Paddling, Photography, Rambling

Paddling to Andersonville Island — Andersonville Island, Lake Hartwell

Ever since I found out about it I’ve wanted to visit the location of Andersonville. I was finally given that opportunity this week, as fellow paddlers Alan Russell and Jim Leavell joined me for an early week trek out to the island. With this week’s paddle I was able to add another check to my list of South Carolina ghost towns.

Stephen and I had done some previous scouting in this area. Stephen’s brother-in-law, Jim, owns a barbecue place nearby, and he provided some valuable information about the area. Since that time I had been looking for the optimum launch site for a trek over to Andersonville.

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Musgrove Mill and Laurens County

June 21, 2014 Tom No Comments

Photography, Rambling

Horseshoe Falls-007 — Horseshoe Falls on Cedar Shoals Creek

A couple of weeks ago my friend Ken Cothran and I were discussing the Musgrove Mill State Historic Site in Laurens County. It seems neither of us had been there in quite awhile, and we wanted to return to do some photography. Even though it was supposed to be scorching hot, we set out early Tuesday morning to see what we could find.

Our route from Clemson took us down Mauldin Road. Ken had not seen the improvements to the Lake Connestee park, so we took a brief detour past the old mill and dam site. I managed to capture a great blue heron with my long lens.

We drove by the old Macbee Chapel, but then from Connestee drove pretty much straight down to the site, taking the Highway 56 exit from I-26 at Clinton.

The Long and Lonely Santee with Lowcountry Unfiltered

June 17, 2014 Tom 2 Comments

Paddling, Photography

It was a second Saturday. That means another paddling trip with Lowcountry Unfiltered. I had driven down the night before and had stayed with my two brothers in North Charleston, and on this fine Saturday morning we would brave the wilds of the lower Santee River from McConnell Landing to Hampton Island.

Some how we managed to roll out of bed fairly early, despite a huge meal at a Brazilian steakhouse, and nightcaps and joking until late at night. Our convoy headed to the put-in, first crossing the Cooper River on I-526, then taking what must be the straightest road in South Carolina, Highway 41, across the Francis Marion National Forest.

The problem with these trips is that we ALWAYS pass cool stuff en route to the put in. It’s usually early morning and there is a mist or cool light for just the right photography. This time we passed old stores and churches and other things that would normally have me stopping. I keep thinking “I’ve got to come back this way,” but it never seems to work out. Oh well.

From Monck’s Corner to Brazil

June 17, 2014June 17, 2014 Tom No Comments

Family, Photography, Rambling

Saint Thomas Church-009 — Saint Thomas Church, AKA The Brick Church, AKA The White Church

This weekend was a Lowcountry Unfiltered weekend, and we had a paddling trip planned for the Lower Santee River. I decided to head down early and take some photographs in the wilds of Francis Marion Forest and Berkeley and Charleston Counties. My brothers, Stephen and Houston, would be down later that afternoon, and we would see what trouble we could create.

I had marked a series of locations in my GPS. Most of these were historic churches, but there were a few other locations I wanted to check out. With the car loaded with kayak and photography gear, I headed on down Friday morning.

I got away later than I had thought, and traffic was heavy, but I made it down there right about noon. Lunch was a sandwich I brought along so I could stick with my diet. I had that along the banks of the Tailrace Canal, just south of Moncks Corner.

Furman Lakeside in Summer

June 11, 2014June 11, 2014 Tom No Comments

Local, Photography

Well after that last “fat” revelation, I figured it’s time for more photography. Life can’t be spent entirely in the gym, so it was time to get out and take some pictures.

I headed up to Furman (where I joined Laura for a low calorie lunch), and we decided to walk down to the lake. There were reports of new baby swans, so I carried my long lens. We didn’t see the swans at first, but I decided to use the lens with its narrow depth of field to take some photos of the flowers in bloom around the student center and bookstore.

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I Am Fat

June 8, 2014June 10, 2014 Tom 5 Comments

Miscellaneous, Rants

WARNING – weight-related, fitness rant ahead. I promise not do do this often.

There. I said it. I’m fat.

That’s a hard reality to admit out loud. I’ve always hedged a bit by admitting that I’m a bit overweight, but it’s time to face hard facts. I’ve got to lose fifty pounds to get back down to a comfortable weight, and even then I’ll STILL be on the heavy side.

Here’s a comparison. The photo below shows two images of me and Laura. The one on the left was taken in the mid-1990’s. The one on the right was taken this past December.

So, you see, I wasn’t always this way. I know people gain weight as they age, but this is not good.

For most of my early life I was so skinny that people got worried. This photo from the early 1980’s shows how skinny I really was.