Random Connections – Page 82 – A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

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.

Time Lapse with Raspberry Pi

February 3, 2014May 16, 2014 Tom 1 Comment

Gear, Photography

Take a look at the video below:

Now look at this one:

Both of these time-lapse sequences are by UK photographer Neil Bromhall. These types of time-lapse photos take a huge time commitment – weeks and months. This one, from Norway, took a full year.

In order to get the correct effect, the camera must remain in place throughout the video. Unless you’ve developed some miraculous method for placing the camera in the exact same spot each time with the exact same zoom and focus, the image will jump around and not look right. That means that you’re going to have leave your camera there, probably outside, exposed to weather, and not very secure.

Cat Trio – A PicoBoard Theremin with Scratch

February 3, 2014February 3, 2014 Tom No Comments

Gear, Music

OK, I’m sure that’s the most confusing post title of all time. I’m sure it will make sense by the end of this post.

This is a Theremin…

…and I want one. Unfortunately, Santa (aka, Laura) didn’t agree. Something about it being too expensive and weird-sounding. 🙂 Oh well. So, I decided to look into options for building one. I had been playing with the PicoBoard and MaKey MaKey, and thought those would provide excellent options.

It seems that everyone wants to make banana pianos with the MaKey Makey. Since a MaKey Makey imitates a keyboard, it’s great for discreet keys and tones. However, a Theremin operates on a continuum, sort of like a violin or trombone. Therefore something else was needed. That’s where the PicoBoard comes in, with its ability to return values along a continuum based on its sensors.

A Cold Cherokee Ramble – Part 3

February 3, 2014 Tom No Comments

Photography, Rambling

So far the day’s photo trek across Cherokee County had been a mixed bag. We had found an old concrete airway beacon near Reidville, which was cool. We found a cool old chapel near Pacolet. But we had encountered No Trespassing signs just about everywhere else we tried to go in Cherokee County, and had a sub-mediocre lunch at an over-hyped joint in Gaffney. It was time to see if things would turn around.

On the way into town Tommy Thompson and I had noted the location of the Cherokee County Historical Society. After lunch I wanted to stop by to see if we could get any information on the Cooperville location, so we headed back that way. The entrance wasn’t readily apparent, but we think we found the right location and pulled in. More discouragement. First, there was a sign saying there was a $5 charge to enter, then…the door was locked. We’d had enough frustrations for one day, so we left.

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