I'm a friend of a friend of the Bishop

NIAF Columbus Day Reception, Harbor Club, Charleston, S.C.

I may have been the only Protestant raised Canadian born guest at the National Italian American Foundation's Columbus Day reception honoring South Carolina Bishop Robert Guglielmone! I got a kick out of going from photographing the Beach Boys on Sunday to the Bishop on Monday. Variety!

Bishop Guglielmone was being honored for his work with the Boy Scouts and Lindsay Raiford from West Ashley High School was awarded a scholarship for $5,000. It was a great group of people and the Italian buffet was delicious. I kept going back to the marinated artichoke hearts and mushrooms and stocked up on the gelato bar for my walk home. Yum!

As I was waiting for the award photo op I heard a familiar whirring sound and was surprised to see that the main photographer for the event was rewinding his film. He said he had perfectly good film cameras and hadn't seen a reason to buy a new one yet. As I watched him fumbling with film rolls and unable to check his shots it made me realize again how happy I am to live in the age of digital cameras.

Mt. Pleasant Hospital opening & Beach Boys Concert

Mt. Pleasant Hospital, Mt. Pleasant, S.C.

I am on the run but here is a link to some of the pictures from the wildly successful opening of the new Mt. Pleasant Hospital including the Beach Boys concert, Wow! What an opportunity to be up there on stage with them looking out at the audience.

Mt. Pleasant Hospital opening & Beach Boys Concert.

Wooden park entrance at Marion Square

Marion Square, Charleston, S.C.

Cool wooden walk through entrance at the King and Calhoun side of Marion Square. I walked through the other night in the dark and they had screens inside the wood lit up naming organizations that support the arts. The fresh wood smells so good. I am sure it will turn out to be part of an upcoming arts festival of some kind.

Bookzilla!

Gaillard Auditorium, Calhoun St., Charleston, S.C.

Today is the last day of the giant Friends of the Library Book sale at Gaillard Auditorium. When I was at the symphony on Friday night I spotted the Bookzilla sculpture so directed my walk this morning in that direction so I could get a shot before it was dismantled.

Bookzilla is a fundraising project that gives volunteers, businesses and the general public an opportunity to support Charleston Volunteers for Literacy's tutoring program for students in high need, local elementary schools.

Our goal is to raise $50,000 by collecting 10,000 books each supported by $5 in donations. Local artist Karl Beckwith Smith, will lead an attempt to set a new sculpture record by collecting and stacking over 10,000 books into a towering art sculpture.

I have complete faith in the Friends of the Library. This book sale is an incredible event each year. Congratulations to them!

The symphony event on Friday was wonderful. Thanks to my readers who spotted me and said hello! You made my weekend :)))

Roadside Fire

Old Gaillard Rd., S.C.

Usually when you see smoke ahead of you on the road it turns out to be a farmer burning leaves at the roadside but not in this case. The unfortunate couple said they pulled over when they noticed smoke coming from from under the hood and in moments the whole vehicle was in full flames. They couldn't believe their eyes.

Thank goodness the passengers got out safely. Firefighters were in the scene in minutes and had the blaze under control. This happened on Old Gaillard Rd. not too far from Eutawville.

In other news - yeah, I am back online! The Comcast gentleman just left after replacing my modem. Once they actually get here they are very nice and helpful. It's getting to them that makes me completely insane.

De Vine House

Coming & Duncan St., Charleston, S.C.

This is a quick update on the house that gets eaten by the vines each year. I follow the progress until the owner has to cut a clearing to see out his windows.

I am in technology hell. Now my modem is on the blink (or rather, not blinking!). As with every contact with Comcast I am ready to shoot myself by the time I get someone on the line who is ready to get my contact information for the third time. At least they were willing to do a service call on a Saturday so here is hoping I will get a new modem by tomorrow night. Grrrrrr.

Meanwhile, y'all behave! There is a lot going on this weekend. I'll be at the Symphony rescucitation concert tonight and actually get to see the Beach Boys up close and personal on Sunday at the opening of the new Mt. Pleasant Hospital. Say hello if you see me!

Sier Lapalang

Sier Lapalang

Part of the reason I went up to Canada over Labor Day was because my sister Shirley and her friend Alex were also flying in from Edmonton. Shirley is a nurse practitioner in a children's cancer hospital and is the musically talented one in our family. The two of them are going over to India this month and have been invited to sing at a local folk festival concert. Shirley found the words to an old Khasi favorite song, "Sier Lapalang."

When I was a kid I used to sit out on our second level porch in the evenings and play this tune on a bamboo flute with our monkey Esau sitting in my lap. Good times.

Namrata, is this one familiar to you?

Tuesday Hodge Podge

King St., Charleston, S.C.

Not just bad but Super Bad! Always a good King St. photo op.

I am eating grape tomatoes like candy. Yum.

Oh. We are definitely going to need some of these: Ice Screaming Ice Cube Trays.

I've always believed that laziness was the mother of invention.

Mental Meatloaf wrote me up. Thanks Marcheline! Spread the word.

All I bought in St. Louis, besides books after book to read in airports, were two miniature sock monkey Christmas decorations.

When I sit for hours in meetings people think I am taking serious notes but I am really calculating how many years it will take to pay off my mortgage using different scenarios. What if I pay this much extra a month, or this much.....what if I got a big tax refund every year or stopped eating?

It's been hot for so long I forgot about dressing for weather. I know I have socks somewhere.

My TiVo broke. My hard drive crashed. It's been one of those stretches. I've had to watch regular tv. Cringe. I've lost photoshop. Sob.

I don't know why I did this to my photo but the Presurfer told me to:

Bicycle Jokes

Basil, King St., Charleston, S.C.

I love Basil Thai restaurant on King St. and like the fact that they kept the old bicycle on it's sign from it's previous life as a bike shop.

Link: Funny bike related photos.

Home again, home again....

Warren St., Charleston, S.C.

Safely home from St. Louis. Uploading hundreds of pictures, catching up on emails and watching trash day time tv. Charleston has cooled down and is bright and sunny to welcome me home. I've got my sheets in the wash and the windows open.

I walked this morning and was pleased to see all the construction action going on at one of my favorite houses on Warren St.

Thank you all for clicking to vote at the AHA Moment site. It's a weird thing to ask people to do but Water Missions is such a great cause!

Time to do some blog hopping to see what y'all have been up to while I've been away.

Vote for AHA moment

AHA Airstream, Charleston, S.C.

Last June I was contacted by the Mutual of Omaha "AHA moment" folks and invited to come to Marion Square to record an "AHA Moment". This photo is from that day.

They went all over the country and apparently are now showcasing some of their favorites and asking people to vote for ones that will be featured on tv. I am terrible in front of a camera, get nervous and talk too fast BUT the cause was Water Mission's International water purification systems. So, if you are inclined, I would appreciate your vote. It might bring attention to this great charity.

It is simple click to vote one time: Click here to vote.

St. Louis field trip day two

Fireman's Statue, St. Louis, MO

Clearly I am still in St. Louis. I am earning my keep at the conference taking pictures but was able to slip out briefly mid day and walked through the Taste of St. Louis. Wow! What an event! I was impressed. I couldn't stay long but it was nice to get out and get a feel for the city.

This evening I joined the group activity getting into the Arch after hours. I took the first ride up the arch and looked out over the city at dusk.

Back in my hotel room now for one last night and back to the lowcountry tomorrow evening.

Apparently I am to ask you all to go to this site and vote: AHA Moments.

St. Louis field trip

Cheese-ology, Delmar Loop, St. Louis, MO

I am in St. Louis attending the national AHVRP conference for volunteer managers in health care. It was a heck of a long drawn out trip after switching airlines and being rerouted I arrived long after the first sessions I was supposed to be taking pictures at. I go to this particular conference every year and they comp my tuition and room charge since I serve as event photographer.

I love settling into a hotel room in a new city, pulling back the curtains and wondering what fresh treats are waiting in the dark city for me to discover. I check the important things - can I make coffee flavored tea (yes pot, no tea), weak wireless access for $38 for the three days (check), no sign of bedbugs (check, check).

Bedbugs have been creeping across the country. We aren't used to them and I don't want them. Been there, done that as a kid. One of my volunteers brought me a giant plastic bag to put my suitcase in after she heard me talking about it. Later I started nibbling on a snack pack of fruits and nuts and every time I spilled a sunflower seed in the sheets I thought it was one of the nasty critters. Heheh. Thanks to the Marriott I have a lovely fresh room.

I don't have much free time but my friend Mike in Charleston had mentioned that his son William and wife Laura had recently opened a Macaroni & Cheese restaurant in St. Louis. How could I not check on that? Yesterday after dashing though the vendor fair I figured out the Metroline and walked down Delmar past the old Pageant Theater to track down Cheese-ology.

What a brilliant idea! Besides a few salads, the menu is entirely macaroni and cheese served bubbly hot in miniature cast iron skillets. Laura came out to keep me company while I ate and it was delicious. She said people often weren't able to finish the whole portion but I licked my skillet clean. It would be a dangerous restaurant for me to live too close to. I love macaroni and cheese. The one I had was a daily special with spicy sausage and mushrooms.

Okay, kids, I need to jump in the shower and leap into action. It won't offend me at all if things have dried up and cooled down a bit before I get back to Charleston.

Ben Timpson at Scoop Gallery

I did a post on Ben Timpson's magical creations last year when he had a show at the City Gallery. Now, I am out of town in St. Louis (twelve hour trip, yawn), but you can see his work at Scoop Gallery on Broad St. starting tomorrow evening. Show info.

Ben Timpson's Inside Nothing is Everything:

From an upcoming biography on Ben and his art process:

"When classically trained painter Ben Timpson turned his artist's eye from large canvases to tiny bits of the natural world, his work entered a mysterious realm of fanciful, dark beauty. Flowers, insects, blood and bone – the eccentric materials Timpson collects find their way into miniature compositions he assembles into slides in painstaking marathons at his light table. These haunting and whimsical photographs, published for the first time in "End of the Roll: Goodnight 35mm," capture a style that trades traditional notions of painting and collage for an evocative visual alchemy. The result is a gallery of alarmingly original images, and the publishing debut of a remarkable young artist."

Y'all behave while I am away. I arrived hours later, missing the keynote speaker and reception I was supposed to take pictures at and no one had tea ready for me.

Medal of Honor parade

Charleston, S.C.

The Medal of Honor Society Convention runs today through Saturday and the public was invited to line the streets along the Battery and honor the recipients by cheering and waving flags.

Sadly it rained continuously and not many of us stuck it out. Those who did energetically waved damp flags as our heroes went by on their white trolleys. Hopefully the rest of their activities will go as planned. It is an honor to have them here.

Charleston Fashion Statement

Affordables, King St., Charleston, S.C.

Rachel mentioned in comments seeing Charleston women wearing cute rain boots. It's true! Every College of Charleston student seems to buy a pair of colorful rubber boots on the first rain day and Affordables on King St. is the place to go!

Rain Walking

SNOB, Charleston, S.C.

Yum. Makes me hungry just looking at the picture and imagining what delicious magic is simmering inside. The expression South of Broad was in common use for the wealthy historical district below Broad St. long before Pat Conroy's book by the same title. Slightly North of Broad is a wonderful restaurant on east Bay St. just north of Broad St.

The folks at SNOB have their own blog which I've discovered includes a few of their famous recipes. I can swear by their shrimp and grits recipe. One entry even includes photos I took.

I live on the other side of the tracks and used to have an oval SNOC logo on my car for Slightly North of Calhoun. Heheh.

In other news, I went to work early and headed for home when it started to rain. With all the talk of more rain I was afraid I might not be able to get home at all. Now...shall I go out for a rain walk?

Rainy days

Charleston, S.C.

Dang kids, it's raining again. Who has a really big truck and wants to drive me to work? I expect I'll be dodging flooded streets again tomorrow. Time to check the tide chart.

Rain doesn't bother me. I enjoy a good downpour as long as I don't have to drive in it. I grew up just down the road from the rainiest place in the world - Cherrapunji. We used to run outside like wild maniacs the day the monsoons began. We'd slip and slide in the mud, climb in the fifty five gallon drums under the rain spout and undo our braids. No baths tonight, mum!

I walked three miles to school then, rain or shine. We would look up the hill at what was normally a path, to see what looked like a rushing waterfall, take off our shoes and wade right through it.

The city of Cherrapunji is 1,290 meters above sea level and much of the torrential rains run off the mountains into the valley below, which receives an annual rainfall of 1,270 centimeters. Once it rained 2,290 centimeters in one season!

For those of us not used to centimeters here is the conversion: 2290 cm = 901.6 inches of rain in one season. Yup!

Paint the town Pink

Bob Ellis Shoe Store, King St., Charleston, S.C.

I haven't cleared away the red from the heart walk but students from the Art Institute are out on King St. painting the town pick for October.

Rainy day lunch treat

Tabbuli Grill, 6 Market St., Charleston, S.C

What a perfect rainy day not to be at work stressing about driving the flooded streets of Charleston. I headed out walking in a break in the rain, was soaked through by King St. and it made complete sense to stop by the newly opened Tabbuli Grill on Market St. for an indoor lunch. Yummers! Their official opening isn't until this weekend but I can give my lunch the Charleston Daily Photo stamp of approval.

Check out their menu here. I had the chicken kabob pita. I licked the sauce off my fingers. I'll be back.

Now that I've showered and dried off it might be tea and nap time. How sweet it is having a sneaky day off when everyone else is working. Carry on kids!