SECOND-GRADE CHIMO

As he gets ready to graduate from high school, here are a few pictures I captured from Chimo's second-grade Satchell Ford video.

HIKE 2006

Found a few pics from 2006, albeit not the best in quality, from a 2006 trip to the mountains, I think NC. Here are the only decent ones I could pull:

SUMTER

First road trip of 2019. After finishing the annual collection for Scouting for Food, Chimo and I decided to take a day trip to Sumter. For lunch we stopped at a little Thai place. I really liked their curry chicken and bamboo soup. It was really good. Then we visited the Sumter Gallery of Art, which had some very nice watercolors, the best of which for me I have provided a picture below. It looked almost like a photograph, which is pretty amazing for watercolors. I was hoping there would be a Mary Whyte on display, but no. Then we visited the Sumter Museum of History (Williams-Brice home). It was nice, especially the parts where they tried to recreate what the place might have looked like in the early twentieth century. The lady running the place was very nice and knowledgeable. They had some old carriages. The tool display was interesting (if not in real need of some cleaning). I loved the recreation of backcountry buildings in the rat section of the property. Well put together and preserved, and I think kids would be fascinated. I would love to see a living history day there. Pictures below.

NIGHT POEMS

During the night I dream in rhyme,
Sometimes whole poems, or just a line;
Fragments will come and easily go,
I cannot stem this nocturnal flow.

JACKSON POLLOCK

I don't really love Jackson Pollock, but I still have been intrigued with his work. People always tell me I have to go see his drip paintings in person to appreciate them. Nevertheless, when I heard they were showing his famous "Mural" at the Columbia Museum of Art, and it was free, I had to jump at the opportunity. His effort to create this piece was featured in the biopic POLLOCK, starring Ed Harris (who was wonderful). At first I was hesitant when I looked at it, but then I started to feel it, felt the strokes and could (probably incorrectly) discern figures. Some people say it is people marching, and Pollock himself said there were animals, but for me it seemed as if it was a crown of people almost dancing en mass, somewhat fitting for a painting done in New York City. It hung first in Peggy Guggenheim's home (she commissioned it) and it was later given to the University of Iowa, which now (because of a serious flood) must send it traveling around the world until they can complete a new museum to house it permanently. After viewing the piece I attended an informative lecture by curator Catherine Walworth, which helped me even more appreciate "Mural." They have done some wonderful work expanding and re-configuring the CMA and we are lucky to have such a good collection. Pollock himself has had a long association with the museum and art community here, and gave the museum many pieces that we would likely never have been able to see, so we are are very fortunate. The selfie did very poor justice to the work, probably to shame me for even considering my face near it. Take some time and go visit the museum (and support it as well) if you can.

SUSHI

I apologize for the fuzziness of these pics. My phone cam sucks. The boys accompanied me to INAKAYA and we had the boat dinner, plus sushi on the side. Both of them love sushi. Somehow we got shorted on shrimp tempura, but that happens. We had started out on the trail of German food, but they moved to Sandhills so we diverted. A bit pricey, but we enjoyed it.

CAMPOREE

Troop 324 tied for first place overall at the district camporee this weekend down in Sumter. Chimo said he helped make an awesome award-winning pineapple-upside-down cake. Apparently two of the boys won honors in archery. Sounds like they had a good time. Herewith a few captures of Chimo from their website.