Photo:Engage

  “ My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport. ”  - Steve McCurry     It's always exciting to me to realize that the place names around us often derive from a notable person or event in the past. Do you get that same thrill?  Here's an example from my post on April 15, 2023...      Scottish trader Alexander Mackay, adventuring under the commission of the Carolina colony Lords Proprietor, sought to exercise a land grant in the southern part of the colony. Later commissioned a colonel in the Beaufort District Militia, he received a grant of 200 acres on an island which had been part of an earlier land grant to the Osbourne family.      The island was also occupied by the Yemassee tribe as a lookout post when that native tribe was used as a buffer between the neighboring English and Spanish colonies. There was an Indian fort at the northern end of the island leading to the local name of Lo...

  “ You just have to live and life will give you pictures. ”  - Henri Cartier-Bresson      From native American fishing grounds to colonial homestead to plantation worked by slaves to hunting retreat to wildlife refuge, Pinckney Island in lowcountry South Carolina has witnessed much in its recorded history. I shared some details in my post from January 14, 2023...      I’ve referred in my recent birding posts to the beauty of Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge. In this one, I thought I’d show you a view of the refuge itself. As you walk north along the main trail, off to your left past the marsh you will see Mackay Creek, a lovely blue sliver of water that also separates the South Carolina mainland from the island of Hilton Head. The creek is named for Alexander Mackay, the first European to call Pinckney Island his home. The island was later sold to the famed Pinckney family, one of whom was a signer of the Constitution. After the Civil War...

  “ Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. ”  - Gustave Flaubert      I do so love a good baking reference, like Alton Brown's classic way to determine when goodies are done in the oven: GBD! And even better when a little history is tossed in. My post from December 10, 2022 mixed in both...      Official historical markers have been around in this country for about a century now. Virginia posted a few signs at key spots on US Route 1 in 1926 and a few other states had some even earlier. Massachusetts had hundreds up by 1930 and this number doesn’t include the many markers posted by private groups. But the big explosion of the now ubiquitous signs pointing out significant local history happened after World War II.      The great American road-trip came into being as post-war families piled into their cars and hit the road to see their country. In the middle 1950’s, almost fifty million people went...

  “ Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better. ”  - Albert Einstein     Sometimes, I think my more specific posts extolling the beauty and history of a certain location turns off part of my audience because perhaps they think they cannot relate to a place they don't personally know. But my sincere hope is that my words and images inspires you to visit the wild places close to your home and to cherish them such that you'll make choices that protect them. Love the outdoors near you! As I wrote in my post on November 5, 2022...      Gordons Pond wasn’t always just the amazing and beautiful mix of water and trees, grass and birds that we get to enjoy nowadays. In days long gone by, when European settlers first were looking around and wondering how to keep their food preserved, areas close to the sea were choice locations for getting their all important salt.       What is now Gordons Pond began as a manma...

  “ A photograph can be an instant of life captured for eternity that will never cease looking back at you. ”  - Brigitte Bardot     We can try to outrun them. Or pretend they don't exist. Or that they don't apply to our current circumstances. But no matter what we do, universal principles will be there to correct our actions. We can't get away from the consequences of our choices because bedrock principles will always be the standard against we are judged, if only by our own uncompromising conscience.      Drifting away from our principles for a short time is perfectly normal but it's important to periodically take stock, accept responsibility for our mistakes, and realign ourselves with what we value most. We must never allow ourselves the hubris that comes with thinking we can outmaneuver that which never changes. We will only find ourselves dashed upon the rocks, the unyielding true principles of life.      Consider the classic naval...