"Here comes the sun...."
We saw that fiery bright white light in the sky this morning.
Been quite a few days since we've seen it.
Natives call it "the Sun." or "The Anti-Ice."
Our big 8-lane bridge has been closed for THREE days because of ice.
Not on the roadway - they used a salt slurry to clear that - but ice formed on the cables that hold the dang thing up.
Who figured that they would freeze in an ice storm?
Or planned that they NOT freeze?
The Ravenel Bridge.
Frozen and closed. Twice in two weeks. For several days at a time.
The first time, they allowed cars back on the bridge (too soon, in hindsight) and eight were hit by falling "ice bombs."
Several windshields were smashed but no serious injuries as cars darted and scurried across before it was quickly closed again.
Texting by drivers was seriously interrupted.
This time when the ice formed on the cables, it was even thicker and didn't shatter when it thawed and hit the ground.
Heavier and more dangerous than before.
The bridge opened in 2005 and this is the first ice storm to hit.
And then, another one two weeks later.
Whoever comes up with a solution to keep the ice from forming will make a lot of money!
So, the bridge re-opened today and traffic congestion-weary drivers were all over it.
Oh, and here's another happy moment for Valentine's Day I just found online.
A Jonathan Winters clip from the old Jack Paar Show. Smile and enjoy!
Robin Williams was NOT his son but he was a huge admirer.
(Click on my photos for more detail.)
A day without sunshine....
Labels: a day without sunshine, frozen bridge cables, get over it., ice bombs, Jack Paar, Jonathan Winters with a stick, Mork & Mindy, Robin Williams, texting, traffic congestion
No Cameras ....er, what about cell phones?
Ben Folds pulled out all the stops Thursday at the
PAC and I have a few really nice pictures.
The ticket - as usual - said
"No Cameras * No Recorders."
Hmmm. When I see people all around me holding up cell phones and other devices snapping pictures, shooting videos and making recordings, I feel
"ok" using my little digital camera. But, no flash.
The
Performing Arts Center in North Charleston has excellent stage lighting and I have often captured nice images without annoying people with an intrusive flash.
At the Bruce Springsteen concert in the Coliseum, instead of fans waving lighters in the dark as homage, the lighted dials of cell phones created the visually moving salute.
That's a LOT of people with phones (banned cameras) inside the venue.
Saturday, up in Charlotte, everybody obeyed the warnings so I took no pictures of
Robin Williams performing a fantastic show.
I DID download one from the internet - and give full credit - because Williams had the packed
Ovens Auditorium laughing out loud.
My daughter has been a stand up comic for years and credits
"Mork" as a role model when she started performing.
She knows his current tour - upon his release from a rehabilitation center in Northern California - is entitled
"Weapons of Self Destruction."He joked
"I went to alcohol rehab in Wine Country."
On Thursday,I snapped Ben Folds when he climbed atop his piano while telling a story of driving to a gig and hitting a bear.
I just drove back from Charlotte today and tonight Folds is appearing up there where Williams starred last night.
No bears were injured in these appearances. Nor photographed.
Labels: Bear, Ben Folds, Charlotte, hit-and-stop accident, Ovens Auditorium, rehab, Robin Williams
Back In The Saddle Again.....
As Robin Williams would say, "Maybe I went too far."
In a recent posting I showed a picture of my sweet genteel Mom posed with a yard of ale and implied she was drinking a beer. Hardly.
She doesn't drink anything and certainly not beer from a glass almost as tall as she. My bad. Let me apologize and show an ACTUAL situation that happened at the Fair in Ladson.
Mom was in a rehab facility after taking a fall at home (nothing broken, thank Goodness) but we wanted her to recover in a caring setting with physical therapy and professional treatment.
They called to alert me that my Mom had signed up to go on a day trip to the Fair.
"Huh?" I said. In the 10 years I have looked after her, she never had mentioned any desire to go to the annual Fair. "If you approve, we will keep her under watchful care," they assured me.
Well, sure. If Mom wanted to go and be wheeled around the fairgrounds and maybe have a cotton candy, sounds good.
The staff came back exhausted.
Not only did she eat from the moment they got there (a corn dog!?) when they placed her in a safe and comfy seat on the Merry Go round, she asked to be moved and helped up on a horse.
"That one over there," she suggested. "It looks lively."
They shared pictures with me - and the menu of what she ate - and just a few days later they called to say they thought she was physically fit and ready to come home.
Mom will turn 92 in March. I just hope I can keep up with her.
Labels: Annual Fair, corn dog, cotton candy, Merry Go Round, physical therapy, Robin Williams, yard of ale
