Random Connections – Page 81 – A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

Return to Chappells

February 25, 2014May 16, 2014 Tom 3 Comments

It was an absolutely beautiful day. I had planned to go to the gym then spend the day writing. Instead, I needed to get out of the house. About the time I made that decision, I got a text from Keith Dover asking what I was up to on this fine day. It sounded like a perfect excuse to get out and do some photography.

I had been wanting to get back to the ghost town of Chappells before spring and before foliage obscured the old buildings. Late February, early March is the perfect time for ghost towning. There are still no leaves and greenery to hide things. More importantly, though, daffodils are blooming. Daffodils are often tell-tale signs of old home places and former residential areas.

Radium and Radiant Music

February 24, 2014May 16, 2014 Tom No Comments

Entertainment, Music

It was an arts-filled weekend for us. This weekend was concert weekend for us, and was also the weekend of a Furman Theater production of “These Shining Lives” by Melanie Marnich.

Saturday morning was dress rehearsal. We started we what has gotten to be our traditional pre-rehearsal breakfast. This time ten of us gathered at Northgate Soda Shop for breakfast. It was a great gathering, and we enjoyed the company before getting to work.

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Hidden Tunnels and Safety Coffins

February 24, 2014May 16, 2014 Tom 9 Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

In the first part of our Ferris Bueller Day outing, Dwight Moffitt, Jami Sprankle, and I visited the Camp Asylum archeology dig on the State Hospital grounds on Bull Street. However, our day of adventure was not over.

Just about any city has rumors of underground passageways. Larger cities have the obvious subway lines, but there are other systems of tunnels to support both utilitarian and other more nefarious purposes. Columbia is no different. There are rumored to be three distinct tunnel systems in Columbia. There are supposed to be a set of tunnels near the Five Points area, a set of tunnels from the Statehouse down Main Street and to the Congaree River, and a well-documented set of ventilation and utilitarian tunnels under the USC campus. For our second adventure of the day we sought out the entrance to one of these tunnels.

Visiting Camp Asylum

February 23, 2014May 16, 2014 Tom 5 Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

I’ve been wanting to have a “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” for some time now with two of my great friends from Furman, Dwight Moffitt and Jami Sprankle. Since both live in Columbia the idea was that I’d ride down and we would see what all the city had to offer. While our day didn’t quite live up to the idealized movie standards, we still had a blast with a day full of insane asylums, hidden tunnels, harpsichords, safety coffins, and bagels. Oh Yeah!

The opportunity presented itself when Dwight forwarded me information about a tour of “Camp Asylum.” A group of archeologists from USC are excavating a Civil War prisoner of war encampment on the grounds of the old South Carolina State Mental Health Hospital on Bull Street. The site has been sold to developers, so the archeologists wanted to study as much about the site as they could before it was no longer available. Historic Columbia is offering tours of the dig on Fridays through the end of April. Jami starts a new job on Monday, so this Friday was the perfect time to explore.

Plans flew back and forth all week. We looked at the old Hidden Columbia videos on Facebook as well as other guidebooks and things to see what we might want to include in our Ferris Bueller Day. A cool soundtrack was a necessity. In the end, weather and family obligations limited our choices.

Time Lapse with Daffodils

February 20, 2014May 16, 2014 Tom No Comments

Gear, Photography

Last weekend I tried setting up a back yard time lapse to see if I could capture the water rising when the beaver rebuilt his dam. Well, the beaver did rebuild, but I wasn’t able to catch the activity. I didn’t even get to catch the water rising. However, I did promise to post the results, and here they are…

As seen in the video, there’s a long stretch of nighttime, and that’s when the water rose. It’s low when the video starts, then when the image comes back in the morning, the water comes back up. Oh well. You can see the neighbor’s huge television from across the lake flickering in the upper left corner in the nighttime shots.

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Stuffed Poblanos with Chicken

February 16, 2014May 16, 2014 Tom No Comments

Recipes

This actually started several weeks ago. It was the weekend of the Super Bowl, and I was expected to bring my bacon-wrapped chicken jalapeno poppers. My usual routine is to go to the Augusta Road Flea Market on Saturday and get the peppers from one of the Mexican markets there.

This time things were…different.

First off, this place is always just a bit weird. This particular Saturday it seemed even more so. In addition to the occult stores, head shops, and other semi-legal endeavors, there seemed to be lots of “stripper wear.” There were lots of booths selling revealing clothing for women (or men, I guess). Some might call it club wear, but it looks like it belongs on a pole more than a dance floor. I guess I’m getting old. Not related, but I even found a mountain of bras.

Backyard Time Lapse Set Up

February 16, 2014May 16, 2014 Tom No Comments

Gear, Photography

We have a very active family of beavers in our back yard. They have managed to dam almost our entire little lake (or the streams that run through what used to be a lake.) While I personally like the beavers, and enjoy seeing the lake much fuller just upstream, their activity is flooding some of my neighbor’s yards. One of my neighbors will occasionally disrupt the dam and let the water flow through. But, the beavers build it right back. It’s a never-ending battle.

On Saturday I looked out the back window to see the water flowing again. With all of the melting snow, I guess there was the danger of more flooding, so my neighbor broke through the dam once again. I knew it wouldn’t last, that the beavers would rebuild quickly. I figured this might be a good time to try out my long-term time lapse rig with the Raspberry Pi.

Snowpocalypse 2014

February 15, 2014May 16, 2014 Tom No Comments

Miscellaneous

Backyard Snow Panorama — Backyard Panorama

Winter is one of my favorite times to get out and about and do some cool stuff. You can see so much more without leaves and undergrowth in the way. I was hoping to have a couple of blog posts in the pipe by now, but things kept getting in the way. Subsequently, I’m doing a catch-all post this week. I’ll try to do better, but I’ve got some healing to do first.

We missed our second Saturday outing with Lowcountry Unfiltered, and last weekend I was battling a nasty head cold. That was one blog post down. We did have a good day on Sunday. There was an excellent party with neighbors and friends from Furman. Had a great time catching up with both groups. That evening I attended a benefit for my friend Russ Morin, who is batting cancer. Gene Berger from Horizon Records put on an excellent gathering at The Bohemian. I was able to catch up with a long-lost cousin, and saw even more friends from Furman.

Vegetable Cream Cheese Spread

February 5, 2014May 16, 2014 Tom No Comments

Recipes

I haven’t posted a recipe in ages. This one is more a simple concoction than recipe, but I like it. Laura and I have been going to the fitness center together on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If time allows, we immediately undo all of that exercise by stopping by Greenfield’s Bagels. Lately my favorite has been … Read More “Vegetable Cream Cheese Spread” »

Picker’s Paradise in Newberry

February 4, 2014May 16, 2014 Tom 2 Comments

Family, Local, Miscellaneous

Two times in less than a week I’ve been drawn in by an “as seen on TV” sign. First time was a rather bad experience at a restaurant in Gaffney. This time, C. T. Summer Hardware Store in Newberry turned out to be a real winner.

It was my sister, Beth’s birthday, so Glynda and I drove down to take her out to eat. We had dropped by Prosperity to pick up our mother, and then drove back to meet Beth at The Cabana Cafe. We had a great lunch (sorry, no cafe review this time) and were surprised by Beth’s son, Mason, who had come in for lunch during his work day.

During lunch Beth mentioned that we needed to check out the hardware store next door. I had spotted antiques in the window, and had seen the “American Pickers” sign on the front window. Having been burned once recently by a TV show advertisement, I was skeptical. Glynda and I said we would be back on a less cold and rainy day. Mother, on the other hand, said she wanted to go right after lunch. Looks like we were visiting a hardware store.

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