A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
I wanted a challenge. I got a challenge. On Sunday I attended the monthly Irish Jam Session at the Littlefield Celtic Center in Mount Vernon. I found myself in the midst of some incredible traditional musicians and I also found myself struggling to keep up. Even so, it was a blast.
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Laura and I like classic films and we especially like it when we have the opportunity to see these films on the big screen. Our first experience was back in 1991 when we were able to see Casablanca in a theater in Tucson. In just the past couple of months I’ve seen The Princess Bride and the original Blade Runner in the theater. So when we saw that the Alfred Hitchcock classic Vertigo was showing at the Lincoln Theater in Mount Vernon, we had to attend.
The Skagit River Valley sits along one of the major West Coast routes for migratory birds. Every fall and spring thousands of birds pass through the area, some taking up residence for the winter from Canada and Alaska. Over the past several weeks we’ve been enjoying quite the avian floor show and have made several bird watching trips.
Duff McDaniel loves oysters. After an initial repulsion when I was younger, I’d had a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. In recent years I have developed a liking for them, though, so when Duff suggested that we take part in the Oyster Party at Slough Food in Edison, it sounded like a great idea.
I’ve been searching for music groups with which I can participate while here in Washington. I haven’t found a drum circle or musician’s circle like some of the ones in Upstate South Carolina, but I’ve been having fun with the Bring Your Own Guitar group. Finally I found a Shape Note Singing. I knew I had to check it out.
Paddling conditions have not been ideal lately. It’s been rainy and cold, not good weather for kayaking. Finally we got a forecast for clear skies with favorable tides. I knew I had to hit the water. I decided to try another fairly close venue, Padilla Bay.
I take a TON of photos. Sometimes these don’t fit into a cohesive blog narrative, but they still wind up in my Flickr stream. I decided that I’d just post a few of these all along with a caption. These aren’t necessarily in any order nor are they meant to convey anything. I’ll be doing these all along as I come across weird things out here.
I was still on a quest to find a good German restaurant. The Schweinhaus in Bellingham had good sausages and sauerkraut, but was missing some components (like a roof.) After expanding my search area I came across Gretchen’s Delights in Lynden. Laura was busy with Furman work, so I decided to head out to see if this would fit the bill. TLDR; version – It didn’t.
It was a Saturday night and we were ready for a date night. After considering the many possibilities, Laura made us reservations at the BowEdison.
It’s the middle of October. By this time I’ve usually headed out with either Ken, Keith, Glynda, or some combination thereof for a good meal of German cuisine and celebration of Oktoberfest. I have long complained about the dearth of good German food in Greenville, so I was hoping for more options here in Washington. I did a quick online search but, sadly, didn’t find many options. One place did hold promise, so I set of in search of the Schweinhaus in Bellingham.