Category Archives: This and That

Grave Marker, Black and White

This marker is on the same grounds at Lodge Pond as the wrought iron enclosed cemetery from yesterday’s post. There is no obvious evidence of a grave, but in almost 100 years time it could have just faded away.

Grave Marker, B&W
Grave Marker, B&W, “She is gone home to rest”

Isabelle White, October 2, 1902 – March 29, 1927
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, SC
September 5, 2025

Oval Drawing Room, Revisited 2025

Repeating myself here, from two years ago: The symmetry and bling of the historic Nathaniel Russell House is on full display in the oval drawing room.

These tri-column mirror panels act like a fun-house mirror, just shifting your position an inch or two changes the scene.

Oval Drawing Room Rounded Mirrors
Oval Drawing Room Rounded Mirrors

Nathaniel Russell House Museum, Charleston, SC
June 3, 2025

This home has been restored to its 1808 appearance and is part of the Historic Charleston Foundation collection.

Additional posts of the Nathaniel Russell House Museum

Boy With Duck Statue, About Face

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens is dotted with statues, most of them some version of painted white which over time can get grimy looking. The area around Boy with Duck was recently cleared and the statue was turned to face the path rather than the pond.

Statue: Boy with Duck
Statue: Boy with Duck, Surrounded by Cypress Knees

I have seen some of the statues get cleaned of the clinging moss, lichen and who knows what debris. I would like to see him stay with this patina; I think it gives him a bit more character.

Statue: Boy with Duck
Statue: Boy with Duck

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC
January 19, 2025

Click to see how the statue looked in June of 2020 when it was facing the pond.

Family Cemetery Gate

A small cemetery plot sits on the grounds of the Department of Natural Resources lodge at Donnelley WMA. I’ve passed it hundreds of times, walked around it dozens of times. This time the fog called me to try to capture the essence.

Cemetery Plot Gate
Cemetery Plot Gate on a Foggy Morning
Billy Fields Family Cemetery Plot Gate
Billy Fields Family Cemetery Plot Gate in Fog
Billy Fields Family Cemetery Plot
Billy Fields Family Cemetery Plot in Fog, Lodge Pond in the Distance

Billy Fields Family Cemetery Plot
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, SC
December 30, 2024

Almost a Cube, In Nature

These stems caught my eye, I was drawn to the cube shape of look of what appears to be the dried center of flower.

Dried Flower Remnant
Dried Flower Remnant

There was just enough breeze that I didn’t get super sharp shots.

Dried Flower Remnant
Dried Flower Remnant

I wish now that I had touched it to see if it contained seeds.

Dried Flower Remnant
Dried Flower Remnant

I passed this spot numerous times this summer and into the fall but have no recollection of what was blooming here, likely something I dismissed as a “weed.”

Dried Flower Remnant
Dried Flower Remnant

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC
December 9, 2024