Greenville – Page 6 – Random Connections

Wine Tasting 101

May 14, 2011 Tom 1 Comment

Restaurants

Laura and I were ready for a date night. We had both been so busy that we needed an evening off to ourselves. Unfortunately, this was also the weekend of Artisphere, so we were pretty certain that most of our favorite downtown restaurants would be inaccessible.

I got home at my usual time Friday afternoon, and we still didn’t have a plan. Laura had noted that Northampton Wines was having their “How to Taste” wine tasting this evening, and that would have been fun if we’d had reservations. We’ve tried going to that tasting before, but even calling early in the week we would find that it was full. I didn’t hold out much hope for a spur-of-the-moment trip, but I called anyway.

Turns out that our timing was perfect. Everyone was at Artisphere, so there was room for us. They had already set the table for the tasting, but said that they could re-arrange to add to more.

The Tasting

We knew that dinner wasn’t included with the tasting – only wine and cheese. We had a few appetizers at home so that we wouldn’t be drinking on empty stomachs, then headed over for our 6:30 tasting. We were the first to arrive, and were ushered into the back tasting room, which was lined with bins and bottles. As we waited, six glasses were filled with enough to taste the sample vintages for the evening.

The rest of the guests arrived, bringing the total to 17. Our speaker was Richard deBondt, and this evening would focus on the wines of France. He began by talking about sparkling wines and the proper way to open a bottle. We were then served a taste, and were instructed on the proper way to toast.

Jury Duty

April 8, 2011 Tom 3 Comments

Miscellaneous

A couple of weeks ago this nice little letter from Paul Wickenseimer, Clerk of Court for Greenville County, arrived in my mailbox…

Yep, a jury summons. I was to start my round of civic duty April 4. I just completed it, and it was an interesting, yet unfulfilling experience.

Greenville Historical Aerial Imagery

April 5, 2011 Tom 3 Comments

History and Genealogy, Internet, Local

Sometime last week the Greenville Cageliner had an article about a new website from the Greenville County GIS Office (http://gis.greenvillesc.gov/historicalimagery/). The website features historical aerial photography imagery as a map, similar to Google Earth. Images are available for 1955, 1965, 1979, 1989, 1997, and 2009, and cover the downtown area, along with a bit of the county. Also included is the Sanford Insurance Map of the city from 1920.

I could spend a HUGE amount of time exploring the site. Looking at how the city has changed over the decades has been fascinating, and somewhat depressing. The patterns of urban sprawl are quite clear at a distance, and it can be sad to look back on landmarks that are no longer there. On the other hand, there have been some marked improvements in areas such as along the banks of the Reedy River, and these images show that very clearly.

I started with the area around the old Furman campus. I had never really understood the location of the old bell tower in relation to the rest of the campus, but this imagery makes it very clear. (Click on the images for a larger view.)

A Super Moon Weekend

March 20, 2011 Tom 2 Comments

Miscellaneous

It’s been a busy week, and I haven’t had much time for blogging. I’ve got a few projects underway, and I hope to write about those shortly. In the meantime, here’s a quick weekend update…

Friday night:

One of Laura’s friends from grad school at UC Riverside has a goal – to visit every state in the United States. Carolyn had two left on her list, Idaho and South Carolina. Her friend from Germany, Christian, has accompanied her on this quest, so she met him in Charleston, toured there for a day, then headed to Greenville for a visit with Laura.

We picked up Carolyn and Christian and headed down to River Place. We knew that there was a TEDx event at the Peace Center, and that evening there was supposed to be something called the Greenville Xperience in the amphitheater, so we wanted to get parked early. We wandered around the Falls Park area, walking over the Liberty Bridge and enjoying a warm spring evening, as did half of Greenville, it seems.

At one point I spotted to kayakers launching above the falls, and I knew what was about to happen. I took off at a run with my camera, but was not in time to see the first boat go over the falls. I did, however, catch the second one.

Of Tricentennials and Tetrons

March 4, 2011January 20, 2020 Tom 13 Comments

History and Genealogy

Three unrelated events had the effect of catapulting me back 41 years. Several months ago I bought a Rubik’s Cube as part of a musical experiment. Two separate Facebook friends posted links to songs from South Carolina’s Tricentennial, and this week I met with my friend Tim Taylor about setting up a geocaching trail around the Roper Mountain Science Center. Those three events together created a time warp, and sent me in search of information about Greenville’s ill-fated Piedmont Exposition Park, and the geodesic cube designed by Buckminster Fuller that was supposed to sit atop Roper Mountain.

It was the 1969-1970 school year, and I was in Mrs. Medlock’s third grade class at Gray Court-Owings School. In third grade the social studies curriculum is all about South Carolina, so the timing with the state’s tricentennial was perfect. We all sang that we were good Sandlappers, and we learned about the various sections of the of the state, from the coastal plains to the Piedmont.

Contra Dancing

February 26, 2011 Tom No Comments

Entertainment

Friday night was a busy night. Laura wanted to go to her favorite restaurant, the Lazy Goat, and I wanted to go dancing. We did both.

Many years ago Laura and I were very active with the Harvest Moon Folk Society, which sponsored a contra dance once a month. We started dancing with them when they were just getting started at the Stone Center at McPherson Park, moved with them when they started at Slater Hall, and continued when they finally found their home at the River Falls Lodge up near Jones Gap. For whatever reason, we stopped going to the dances. Perhaps it was because River Falls was a bit further away, or perhaps it was just because we got out of the habit. Regardless, it’s been probably twelve years since we’ve been to a dance.

Which brings us to the present day…

Chorale Chamber Ensemble Winter 2011 Concert

February 22, 2011 Tom No Comments

Music

This past weekend was a concert weekend for the Greenville Chorale Chamber Ensemble, so I wasn’t able to get much blogging done. We had rehearsals, then the concert itself Sunday afternoon in Daniel Chapel at Furman University. This year we did the Rutter Requiem, accompanied by a small ensemble that included organ, harp, flute, oboe, … Read More “Chorale Chamber Ensemble Winter 2011 Concert” »

The Green Room

January 17, 2011 Tom No Comments

Restaurants

This weekend is Restaurant Week in South Carolina. In towns around the state participating restaurants are offering special deals on limited menu items so that people will be enticed to try a new place. Having been cooped up with snow all week, we decided to take advantage of this, so Sunday evening we met our … Read More “The Green Room” »

Korean BBQ

July 13, 2010 Tom 1 Comment

Restaurants

Laura had an evening meeting, so I was on my own for dinner. You know what that means – time to explore the local cuisine. In this case, it was hardly local in origin. I decided to try the Korean BBQ place just off of Woodruff Road. No catchy name here – just “Tasty Korean … Read More “Korean BBQ” »

Saluda Lake, Take Two

July 4, 2010 Tom 1 Comment

Local, Paddling, Photography

When Alan and I came out to Lake Saluda last week, I wasn’t feeling so hot. Well, actually, I was too hot – heat exhaustion plus a fever of over 100. Couple that with the fact that we missed the channel we were supposed to be taking, and it wasn’t an ideal trip. So, when Dave Freeland called and wanted a close paddling venue that would be good for his 13 year old son, Zach, I suggest heading back to Saluda.

We made our way back down Motor Boat Club Road to Saluda Landing. Personally, I would love to find some other access point. These guys charge per boat, so to launch our three kayaks was $15. I don’t mind paying a parking fee, but the per boat fee is a bit steep. However, they have a monopoly on lake access, and they know it.

We paddled out, then southward to avoid the silted spit, then turned upstream. This time we hugged the right channel toward the river, rather than being tempted by the more open water of the west arm of the lake.

Read More “Saluda Lake, Take Two” »