A Brit in the US

For a long time I wanted to visit Edisto Gardens and had been waiting for an excuse. I just woke one morning with no particular plan in mind and decided to find Edisto Gardens - even though there would be precious little in bloom at this time of year. I jumped into my SUV alone this time and roared off following my GPS to a vague address that I had pulled off the internet for the gardens. Anybody that knows me and my GPS will realize that when I say vague, I'm lucky to end up on the correct side of the state let alone the right address. I have an elderly TomTom unit that takes forever to lock onto satallites - I'm talking about ten minutes at times. Then it gets me to the general area before becoming somewhat of a muddle on the specifics, frequently misplacing my location by a few streets. It's pretty awful for accuracy but I own it, I paid for it and I've been using it for several years. I shall continue to use it until it ceases to function despite the inaccurate maps...

I was invited by my good friend Glendoria to visit Hampton with her and the famous Watermalon Parade. Each little town in South Carolina appears to have a special parade day. This was the watermelon parade. On this occasion I took only an elderly zoom compact that suffers from some appalling shutter lag but the photos turned out quite well. Sometimes, these old camera can be just what the doctor ordered. Given that this was in the sweltering heat of summer - a time when sunglasses and hats are really needed - the least weight one carries the better. The other issue is that taking photographs necessitates the removal of both hat and sunglasses. I am certainly glad I was not one of the early settlers to the United States, from a time before they realized they couldn't just go around in heavy woolen tunics. Watermelon Parade, Hampton Watermelon Parade, Hampton Watermelon Parade, Hampton Watermelon Parade, Hampton Watermelon Parade, Hampton Watermelo...