New Book Nears Completion!

The holiday season was productive for me as I recently completed the first draft of a new book I have been working on since summer 2019.

With the principal writing and layout in the books (ha!) the focus now is the arduous but essential task of creating the 220 (and counting) page book's index listing all the names and organizations mentioned. Then comes designing the front and back covers. I'd like to have a jacket with this book, my fifth. That will depend on the cost. 

Here is my manuscript's first page showing the title, "The Churchyards of Charleston: Stories From the Underground." 

What I'm doing is documenting in words and photographs Charleston's rich history as seen through the prism of its many old and beautiful churches and their graveyards. 

On the peninsula there are 13 churches with churchyards (or graveyards) next to them and one Jewish synagogue with its cemetery several blocks away, per the Hebrew custom that spiritual leaders should not walk among the dead. 

Neighborhood Hawk Encounter

 

Holy Hawk!

 A visit to downtown Charleston last week resulted in a memorable bird encounter. 

I had seen a story and a few photographs in the Post and Courier about how the repairs at Second Presbyterian Church on Meeting Street (a lightning fire had damaged the steeple) included a fancy new weather vane that had just been installed. 

I noticed right away something else was checking out the 24 karat gold leaf directional vane. 

Christmas Morning

It’s very early Christmas morning and all through the house…and outside…it is very quiet, as it should be. 

Soon the family will be up and the many gifts will be opened. But one gift is missing. Our younger son did not make it home from Chicago after testing positive for Covid two days ago. He says he feels fine, that it started with a cold. His brother came home with a cold but it seems to have run its course, but not before it passed on to me, apparently/allegedly. Son No. 1 did his second Covid test yesterday since being home. Both came back negative. 

Wood Stork A Nice Sight to See (Belted Kingfisher Too)

 

Since Hooded Mergansers came to my backyard pond a week ago I’ve been checking on them a few times a day. They are still here and the “Hoodie” pond population has been at 13 for a few days.

Another nice surprise was a couple days ago when I went out for my morning check and found a Wood Stork had joined the party on the pond!

Over the years I have seen Wood Storks at other golf course ponds in my neighborhood. This may be only the second time I have spotted one in “my” pond. 

It seemed to find some good eating in shallow water along the far bank (above). 

I have seen these Storks elsewhere in the Lowcountry. Here are a couple links that show other Wood Stork encounters: Magnolia Cemetery and in the ACE Basin. 

The Stork had plenty of feathered company during the visit. In this photo there’s a Great Egret (left) and a White Ibis (Middle) with its trademark long curved orange bill. 

“Hoodies” Back in the ‘Hood!

 A favorite migratory bird has been in my (the golf course actually owns it) backyard pond for almost a week now. These are Hooded Mergansers, “Hoodies” for short. This time of year (or earlier in the fall) they come south from as far away as Canada. Last Monday I counted five, four females and one male- he has the big white patches on his head. The last few days seven have been here more evenly distributed between boys and girls. 

A Little Blue Heron flies by a brace or raft (collective names) of Hooded Mergansers.

Hoodies have come to this pond in the past this time of the year. I first became aware of this unique-looking species years ago at Magnolia Cemetery. They have wintered in the ponds there for years. 

In the background are (right) a Great Egret and three White Ibis. 

Great Egret and Little Blue Heron 

The Murdaughs of Magnolia Cemetery

The prominent Murdaugh family of Hampton, S.C. has been in local then national news for a while now. But it’s for all the wrong reasons: mysterious unsolved violent deaths, fraudulent financial and legal dealings involving millions of dollars and allegations of criminal and civil cover-ups. 

If you haven’t heard about all this, here are a couple places that can help you catch up if interested: FitsNews investigative journalist Mandy Matney’s “Murdaugh Murders” podcasts or just Google “Murdaugh South Carolina” and the floodgates of coverage will pour in. 

The recent rumblings at Charleston’s Magnolia Cemetery have been pinpointed to this plot. It is Murdaugh ancestors turning over in their graves! 

The Murdaughs buried here began, by virtue of one of their sons, the family’s legal dynasty in the southern part of South Carolina. 

Pictured below, Josiah Putnam Murdaugh (1830-1912) and his wife Ann Marvin Davis Murdaugh (1847-1919) had several children. One of them was Randolph who, in 1920, would become the first of three generations of Randolph Murdaughs (RM Senior, RM junior and RM the third) to be solicitors (district attorneys) of South Carolina's 14th Judicial District that encompasses five rural counties. That 86-year reign of status and power is now being scrutinized in light of the deaths, scandals and controversies that embroil today’s Murdaughs. 

Randolph Murdaugh Sr. died a violent death in 1940 when his car was struck by a train late at night at a railroad crossing in Hampton County where he lived and had begun the law firm that is today snarled in controversy.  Ironically, the firm's website has on its homepage an image of two men, backs turned to the camera, walking on railroad tracks. 

Good Eats In Orangeburg!

This being the last week of classes at South Carolina State University I treated myself to my favorite lunch place in Orangeburg. 

That would be the place with the very distinctive sign out front (though the chicken- or is it a rooster- has lost some of its luster since I last dined here pre-pandemic a few years ago.) 

Biddie Banquet is located at 220 John C. Calhoun Dr. not too far off Interstate 26 (if you're passing by).

This is a quaint place that does not seem to have a website. Unusual for the times. So I'm linking what Trip Advisor says about it. 

I first learned of Biddie Banquet three or four years ago when then Charleston Post and Courier food writer Hanna Raskiin included the establishment in a big spread she did about where to find the best fried chicken in South Carolina. 

Orangeburg Civil Rights Landmark is Being Restored

Earlier in November a group of South Carolina State University students and I had a unique opportunity to go inside the old Orangeburg bowling alley that would become the impetus for a tragedy in February 1968 that became known as the Orangeburg Massacre. 

Third from left is Ellen Zisholtz. She and her organization Center for Creative Partnerships have launched the All-Star Justice Center project to bring to light what happened at this important landmark. 

4 in the Morning? Great Time to View an Eclipse!

I was not planning to try to see the latest lunar eclipse- especially when the best viewing time is in the middle of the night. But this morning when I woke up at 4 or so I felt surprisingly well-rested. So out the door I went! This was a cool sight to see! Here are my two best shots. 

What exactly is a lunar eclipse? I will let Wikipedia explain: A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow.^[1] This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned (in syzygy) with Earth between the other two, and only on the night of a full moon

The Charleston newspaper today (Nov. 20) had a few eclipse photos taken by a staff photographer. I'm glad to see my picture quality is comparable with that of a professional!  

Thanks to my sister Ann who sent out some information to our family the night before the eclipse. I otherwise probably would have forgotten about it!  

In January 2019 I photographed another eclipse. Check out my post here. 

And click here to see my report about the amazing and rare 2017 daytime solar eclipse!