Blog neglect…

Without further ado (or any lame excuses) finally another blog post! Despite it being insanely hot and humid here the past month, we’ve found a few nice days to get out and discover our “new” hometown and surroundings.

First up: downtown Charleston.

While i do think it would be neat to see Charleston by way of horse-drawn carriage, i just can’t get beyond the fact that these poor horses (and donkeys in some instances) are subjected to 95+ humid degrees (real feel temperature of 115+ degrees — that’s 46+ degrees for you centigrade lovers.) Let’s just say i will never be supporting these horse-drawn carriages with my money for a ticket.

Just around the corner from State Street, where the above image was taken, are the German Fire Department and the Old Slave Mart Museum on Chalmers Street. Slave auctions at this site ended in 1863. The cobblestones in the street originated in England, and were once used as ballast for trade ships coming over the Atlantic. The cobblestones were dumped in Charleston, and, were replaced on the return voyage with goods obtained here. The clever Charlestonians started using the cobblestones to pave the streets. The even-more clever British realized this, and, started charging for the cobblestones.

While not the famous “rainbow row,” Queen street also boasts plenty of homes painted in pastel colors. At the end of this street, toward the harbor, is an awesome fountain, and a pier overlooking the Ravenel bridge and the decomissioned aircraft carrier Yorktown, located across the harbor in Mount Pleasant.

Up next: Sullivan’s Island.

Poor Cooper had to stay home because of his ear infection, but we decided to see what we could find one evening this week around sunset. We found tons of parachute surfers and came across this super-excited kid who couldn’t get enough of watching the guys perform their tricks. Here he is calling one over to ask him to perform a specific trick . . .

. . . which he performed to perfection. The kid was really trying to get his fishing buddy’s attention to check out the trick.

The kid was so excited. Great to see. I’m sure we’ll be spotting him out there in another few years on his own board and parachute.

Meanwhile, the kid’s fishing buddy was busy reeling in fish after fish, and, was so focused on catching more that he completely missed the bird who kept stealing his catch. I’m sure he must have wondered why he kept catching fish, but, his tally on the shore wasn’t increasing. The guy on the windsurfer had the whole thing down pretty well, with the exception of turns, which he made by jumping off the board into the water, then climbing back onto the board and heading off into the other direction.

What would a pet photograpy blog post be without an actual pet photo? So, in closing, a somewhat “test” photo of Cooper taken only to check the settings on my camera. For whatever reason, i kind of like the end result. Probably because this is a pretty common view i have of Cooper when i am just settling down onto the couch for some relaxation, and he arrives with his nonchalant “hey-i’m-just-sitting-here-next-to-you-so-in-case-you-are-ready-for-a-walk-i-am-TOTALLY-ready-to-go” look on his face.