Author to Author

 

What a pleasure to recently meet fellow author (and tennis enthusiast!) Angela Williams, who in 2014 published her excellent and enlightening memoir “Hush Now, Baby.” (Amazon sale site here)

We connected during the summer and decided to meet in person. At a Mt. Pleasant Starbucks, we had a long chat and exchanged and signed our books for each other. (link here to my latest)

Angela is a longtime educator and retired English professor and writing lab director at The Citadel. She grew up in Berkeley County where three generations of her family founded and owned Williams Farm Supply in Moncks Corner. 

From her birth to her wedding day, Angela had a very close, supportive and loving relationship with her family’s live-in nanny/housekeeper/cook Eva Aiken. 

When we met I told Angela her book reminded me of the popular 2011 film, “The Help” which depicts the lives of Black women working at White family homes in Mississippi in the 1950s-1960s. 

Angela told me that the movie triggered her to write “Hush Now, Baby” because the film was nothing like her own experience. 

I recently completed this fine book. Angela provides such interesting details about her life in the Lowcountry from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s. 

In my book, her book is a five star read! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Folly Beach “Lifer” Bird!

 I wasn’t expecting to add a “lifer” bird during Sunday’s Folly Beach outing. But that’s a neat part of the birding hobby- expect the unexpected! 

Meet the Sandwich Tern. What’s with the sandwich you ask? This shore bird was “discovered” and documented in Sandwich, England in 1787 by ornithologist John Latham. 

The species has a distinctive yellow tip on its bill. That’s the mustard on the sandwich (I read somewhere). 

This tern type is a lifer bird for me, an unexpected bonus to our first visit to Folly Beach since August 2021. 

The Folly Beach Fishing Pier re-do is featured in my two years ago post. It has been completed but we were not close enough to see it in this August's visit. 

I saw this mixed group of shorebirds as we walked toward the inlet so we could see the venerable Morris Island Lighthouse. 

I’m a longtime member of the “Save the Light” organization that has helped repair and preserve the tall brick light that dates to 1876. 

This is a Ring-billed Gull that may have been also feeling the hot, humid temperatures. 

Long-legged Willets are common sights on our area beaches. 

To follow are other Folly Beach scenes.

Nature Being Nature Sequence

 I was not expecting to see what I saw recently when I walked in my backyard to photograph a Great Blue Heron that I spotted through a window. Here is the sequence I captured (Hint: poor bullfrog). 

Summer Beach Scenes

‘Tis the season- beach season that is! 

This post is dedicated to our recent visits to Sullivan’s Island. On Sunday, deep in the dog days of summer, the beach here was surprisingly sparse. But it was a good surprise, especially when we found a primo parking spot near the Station 17 path to the sand. 

The photo below I took as we were leaving the beach. 

Bring on the Heat: Thriving Summer Plants

 

Watering porch plants the other day created a rainbow! That’s a Carolina Wren on the flag. It is the state bird of South Carolina. This wren is small, feisty and loud- just like South Carolina. 

We have been going through a heat wave with temperatures in the mid-90s that are pushed into triple digits when factoring in the heat index.

While many people, including myself, may only go outside in small doses, I have sought plants for the yard, porch and patio that seem to flourish in this kind of weather. 

This post features the different types I have acquired in recent weeks at places such as Lowe’s and Home Depot. 

My favorite summer plant is the caladium. These thrive in the heat as long as they have at least a few hours of sunshine to soak into their broad leaves. 

Caladium comes in a few different colors so that offers a variety of looks. 

4th of July Fun in Chicago!

 

We traveled to the Windy City to visit our son during the Independence Day holiday. The River North area downtown was where we stayed and the atmosphere was vibrant and festive. 

Chicago’s many skyscrapers are always neat to see and photograph. The iconic Wrigley Building was adorned with a huge American flag. As this site reveals, the huge flag cost $6,200 and has been flown during the 4th of July period since 2002 as a way to commemorate the 9/11 attacks.

To the left of the Wrigley Building is the 100-story Trump International Hotel & Tower, the city’s second tallest building. The hotel cost a whopping $847 million to build and was completed in 2009.

We had a wonderful view from room 1526 in the Westin Chicago River North Hotel on N. Dearborn St. 

Sunday afternoon when we checked into our room, this was the view.

Fortunately, the rain ended within a few hours…

Bear Island WMA- Summer Summit

 

On Wednesday, June 28 I finally made the trek down to Green Pond in the ACE Basin. I had the itch for months and the right day was there so off I went. 

The 12,000-acre Bear Island Wildlife Management Area was the destination. From my house it’s about 45 miles to the left turn off Highway 17 (Bennett's Point Road) then another 15 miles or so to the entrance to the vast nature preserve. 

I received a nice greeting near the gate from this friendly hen that walked up to my car. It seemed to belong to the home situated just outside the preserve.

This had to be an omen that good birding was ahead for me. 

I identified this as a Pedresa Chicken using a bird ID app I'm trying out called Picture Bird.  I open the app, bring in my bird photo and in seconds it tells me the type of bird. This was helpful in this outing to confirm birds I have seen before and to help with identities I was not so sure about. 

Just inside the entrance is a large body of water called Mary’s House Pond.

Past visits have taught me there are usually some large wading birds here. 

And sure enough, I spotted Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons. 

I tried out some different photo processing tools in my favorite Snapseed app. 

Barred Owls are Back!

 

This May and June, as during the past three or four years, Barred Owls have been making daytime appearances in the trees in my front and back yards.

Last June I videotaped a Barred owl enjoying one of our bird baths. Check out the post and video! 

For photographs like this one, I experimented with the “art bold” setting on my Canon PowerShot SX70 HS camera. This effect, according to the owner’s manual, “makes subjects look more substantial like subjects in oil paintings.” 

Here is another “art bold” example. I do like how it makes the Owl and it’s surroundings pop and more vibrant. 

Beaufort’s St. Helena’s Parish Church- One of America’s Oldest

 

There are street names such as King and Church that seem very “Charleston” to those of us who live in the Holy City area.

Tour guides steer horse-drawn carriages full of tourists- a common site in Charleston’s Historic District. 

The churchyard is filled with Barnwells, Elliotts, Heywards, Rhetts, Gibbes, and other surnames common in Charleston’s old burial grounds. 

This rare marker type is made of zinc. Continue reading for more details about this style and the New England company that manufactured them. 

But this is not Charleston. It is its neighbor 70 miles to the south, Beaufort.

Charles Town was founded by the British in 1670. The British came to Beaufort 41 years later in 1711. St. Helena Parish Church was formed the very next year in 1712. Back then the Anglican Church was a (strong) arm of the government. Separation of church and state would come many years later after the hard-fought Revolutionary War. 

Signs and plaques touch on St. Helena's long and rich history. 

New York’s Finest- My Photographs Anyway!

Alesia and I had a fun and busy Memorial Day weekend in New York City joining our son Joseph for his birthday. We spent most of our time in Manhattan where he lives. Here are my favorite photographs captured during our sightseeing adventures. 

Freedom Tower- We walked by this beautiful skyscraper a few times while walking from our hotel to Joseph’s apartment. This site of course is where the World Trade Center’s twin towers stood until the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001. The building is officially called One World Trade Center. 

I took this picture of the Statue of Liberty after an errant train stop coming back to our hotel. I’m glad for the miscue because it is always a treat to see this iconic American symbol of freedom and liberty. 

When our kids were much younger on a New Year’s NYC visit we took the ferry and got to see Lady Liberty up close and personal. In 2019, our last visit here before this trip, we took Joseph on a fun boat tour in the waters around this area.