Author Archives: Tom

About Tom

Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, Appalachian State University.

Church of the Cross

This week we visited with friends from Boone, Asheville, and Durham, NC at the Colleton River Plantation home of mutual friends from Boone.  This annual retreat has become a regular event in our lives since we moved to Sun City-Hilton … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, Travel Photography | Leave a comment

The Goldfinches are back!

A couple of days ago we saw a pair of goldfinches flitting about our birch tree beside the lagoon, and we immediately put out our feeders filled with niger seed.  They took no heed that afternoon, but by the next … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, Wildlife Photography | Leave a comment

Cedar Waxwings on the move…

What do you call a gathering of cedar waxwings?  A flock?  A flight? A pod? The Oxford English Dictionary lists these three options for birds in general but no term specific for cedar waxwings.  Today we were visited by a … Continue reading

Posted in Birds, Commentary | Leave a comment

New Leaves

It’s almost spring here in the Lowcountry, and one of my favorite sights is the developing new leaf display which comes out just after budbreak.  Today I photographed a few clusters of new leaves on our Sunday morning walk here … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, Plants | Leave a comment

Honeyhorn Camellias

I dropped by Honeyhorn Plantation on Hilton Head Island last week to check out the camellia garden.  I had thought I might have missed these beauties this year, but I was pleased to see they were still blooming.  Although I … Continue reading

Posted in Landscape Photography, Plants | Leave a comment

Family Portrait

Billie and I often walk through the Hidden Cypress wetland boardwalk, especially at this time of year when the baby alligators have just hatched.  This week we took this route again and found to our delight a host of new … Continue reading

Posted in Animals | 1 Comment

Double Vision VI

Today we started Double Vision VI, an art show jointly sponsored by the All About Art Club and the Photography Club of Sun City-Hilton Head.  I chaired the setup committee and spent yesterday and today getting art panels moved from … Continue reading

Posted in Birds, Commentary, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Turkey Vulture

The cold January weather and the unusual snow cover must have generated some grazing obstacles for our birds, and the traffic in our back yard has been as unusual as the weather.  I’ve seen a wood stork, several merganser ducks, … Continue reading

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Grayson

We just had a very unusual winter storm that dropped four inches of snow on us here in Bluffton, SC.  The name of the storm was Grayson, and the fact that it was named suggests that it was unusual.  But … Continue reading

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Seven-Year Anniversary

It’s hard to believe, but today marks the seven-year anniversary of this blog and photo-sharing site.  I started this project as a way to share photos and ideas about photography, back when Billie and I first began to winter in … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary | 1 Comment