bigbonton

got on a wiki jag while thinking about flowers . . .

"Green grow the rushes go
The compass points the worker's home"
- REM, "Green Grow The Rushes"

The word “iris” has three main meanings, related by their derivation from the Greek word for rainbow:

* Iris (mythology), a messenger of the gods in Greek mythology, identified with the rainbow

* Iris (anatomy), the sphincter around the pupil of the eye, named after the colors in human and animal eyes

* Iris (plant), a genus of flowering plants, named after the rainbow

“Irises” is a painting of iris flowers by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh.

Van Gogh felt that he could keep himself from going insane by continuing to paint.
“Irises” was the result.
Painted in 1889, it's on display at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Another Iris: Jodie Foster played "Easy Iris"
in the 1976 film “Taxi Driver”.

"You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here."
- Travis Bickle

Posted by bonton at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Before our “always rated “G” assurance rating is revoked,
we must spell out:
cooter is a southeastern US slang for "snapping turtles."

From the website advertised above:
cooterfest.com/
“The very first Carolina "Cooter" fest featured the worlds smallest ''Cooter" which weighed in at 4 grams, while the "Largest Cooter" tipped the scales at 25 pounds. There was also a prize given for the "Best Dressed Cooter".”

More cooter news:

Inverness, Florida sparked controversy by founding a "cooter festival" in celebration of their local turtles.
cooterfestival.com
To quote their website: “This family, fun-filled weekend of Cooter activities, as showcased on Comedy Central / The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, will include a great line-up of entertainment filled with music, Cooter Races, and special guest Sonny Shroyer “Enos” of Dukes of Hazzard fame. Enos will zoom into town in the General Lee and spend the weekend reliving his bumbling deputy sheriff role – WOW! It’s fun on a scale you’ve never seen! “

Anytime you are told “WOW! It’s fun on a scale you’ve never seen!” the correct reaction is a pull-back.
But think of the cooters!
Go!
Enjoy a Spring ’07 festival.
Don’t be an old Coot, get out and lively up yourself.

Posted by bonton at 9:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.
For 53 years this place did a booming business from outdoorsmen, highway travelers, and who knows who?

The Edisto Motel had the Edisto Restaurant in the center of their half-loop driveway.
It was known as the best seafood joint around, good enough to have 50 people standing in line on a Saturday night to feast on fresh fried fish, shrimp, and oysters – not that there were many dining options to choose from on this stretch of Hwy 17, but the food and atmosphere was uniquely roadside home cooking. The fish were from the nearby Edisto River, the longest black-water river in the world, which winds from Orangeburg, SC to the sea. Sometimes they’d have eel if anyone is into that . . . eel. I’ll eat it (with sushi) but may not want to catch it or prepare it.

When we dropped in to investigate this old roadhouse we were hoping for a chance to pit-stop for a few nights, but our hopes were dashed when we were told that they weren’t opening again this year. An old woman in the lobby-turned-country-gift-shop turned away from her telephone conversation and said, “It got too old, like so much else around here.” She was talking on a wall mounted rotary dial phone with a 7-foot handset cord. No DTMF (Dual-tone multi-frequency) or wireless radio waves in use around here, they’re kicking it corded, with old school twisty cabling. The lights were out too, but that was just due to a windstorm. The lack of electrical power enhanced the feeling of going back in time to the black & white 1950s.

They’re still doing well with the place, there’s a classiness about it.
Look again, it’s easy to dismiss this as a relic in our modern era of Interstate Highway exits with their chains of Best-Econo-franchise-Lodge-Inn. This place is still quiet, clean, has plenty of privacy, and nice tile details that show pride in the business. Bet it’d be a great place to shower & sleep while on the back roads and rivers in the area. I want a tour of the rooms, they’re actually small cabins made to look like they’re attached.

17102 Ace Basin Pkwy
Hwy 17
Jacksonboro, SC 29452

Posted by bonton at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Go looking down this red mud dirt road and after a mile or so you'll see a home that gets to feel special once a year at this time:

Another "got it all" shot brought to you by studiobonton.

In this holiday snapshot we feature 1) the dogwood in bloom, 2) the Easter egg colored house, 3) the field for an Easter egg hunt and frisbee, and 4) the quiet reflection that around here we're all just passing through, minding our own business, and painting anything we want to in any danged color we want to, by gar!

In case we encountered occupants with doubts that we were actually minding our own business while photographing his or her house, we were armed with a ready-made US Government approved excuse - prepared, tested, and proven.

The answer to “what y’all doin’ out there with dat camera” is a fabrication that includes such jargon as
"Support our troops", since that's an excuse for all sorts of behavior nowadays.
We could also drop back onto a phrase such as "Happy Easter, Brother", since that sounds so peaceful without all the hippie overtones that studiobonton is so careful to avoid, lest we become stereotyped as some sort of hipster other than a beatnik.

In the end there was no need to defend ourselves using a fabricated “truth”.
We came, we shot, we skedaddled
- & we posted, too, now didn’t we?

Dig it man, dig it like crazy in an Easter egg colored house, yo!

Posted by bonton at 3:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Found on sidewalk near the beach:

* One set of keys, or a collection of many sets of keys. Hard to tell.

* About 7 pounds of keys in total.

* Keys are unlabeled, nearly useless. Possibly a child’s toy?

* Possible sinker & lure combo for deep-sea fishing, especially dolphin.

* If this was on a belt, pants were lost as well.

* May belong to an entire small town, or someone who feels important because of their access to every lock they've ever come in contact with - ever!

* To claim these keys you must be a male - come on, no female would ever have all this, even inside the handbag to top all handbags.

Posted by bonton at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)