Forty years of lost toys

For forty years my dad, Doc, has gathered up every piece of trash he has found in the creek that flows past our home. He took almost all of it to the dump. But every toy he has found he saved, stashed away in our barn, even long after his 4 boys had grown and left to find our own lives. Why? Because when we were kids discovering the treasures of youth, we didn’t know the difference. And he loves remembering… But is it Art?

But is it art?

Please be a part of our Honeypot Floatoshoot Project live now at Kickstarter.com! Search ‘Honeypots’, vote yes with just a $1.00 pledge, watch the video, ‘like’ it and share it with your friends.  http://dld.bz/bsezV
You can help make this type of ‘Art’ impossible by helping us  to teach people the difference! Thank you from all of us at Bee Natural.

My brother Bert and I used to play with some of this!

My brother Bert helping me pull all this former flotsam out of the barn and onto our bridge over Puckett Creek. (Russ helped too, thanks)

The “Honeypot Floatoshoot” Kickstarter Project ‘awareness party’ at the Globe here in Athens (the first place I ever publicly showed my Honeypots some 17+ years ago) is now in the books. I was thrilled to see several of my longtime supporters helping explain the bigger picture about my little Art Project to the unsuspecting masses – well, maybe it wasn’t that crowded – Thanks Maria Camila for helping me set up and Taylor for being so positive even in light of having to hear the same old stories yet again! And AJ, thanks for the Banner! You are the BOMB! I hope the folks from Asheville (Mountain Lights is the shop there that sells Honeypots) and Louisiana who won Honeypots in the drawing can spread the word as well!

The Honeypot Floatoshoot Project is 37% funded, 43% through the campaign. On the surface it might look look a little sluggish, but it’s not. The total amount pledged so far is artificially low! We have been trying to pull off a local grassroots $1.00 pledge campaign to see if we could fund it with Athens support alone. There are a number of folks that have already pledged (including my Mom and, whether you choose to believe it or not, my Ex-wife tossed in a lot more than a buck! – thanks Ashley you are a true sport) who chipped in $1.00 that would have contributed a good deal more. But those $1.00 pledges, combined with ‘likes’ on the video and sharing-passing it along with a note that it is worth the trouble to pledges even just one dollar, are golden. Every pledge, regardless of the amount, is a vote on Kickstarter in their Popularity engine and increases the visibility for ‘our little art project’! By countdown day 15 (three days from April 18-today) we will begin to recruit those waiting in the wings to pledge more and I will call the 600 or so gift shops that sell Honeypots and ask them to pledge at least a buck. So we’ll fund it. But the ‘one dollar at a time’ way would be more fun!

5th 'Most Popular' rank in the nation in Kickstarter Art Projects puts us ON THE LANDING PAGE!

Twenty five one dollar pledges a day would almost certainly keep us in the 3rd position or higher almost constantly.

Remember, it is that you pledge that counts, not the amount!

Thanks, Creighton

Talmage Bridge

Find out more at:  http://charlestonwaterkeeper.org/

Learn about & support your  local Waterkeeper at: http://waterkeeper.org/

Water Quality Monitoring Program
As a data driven organization, Charleston Waterkeeper is heavily reliant on science and empirical information to support our educational programs, community outreach, and advocacy campaigns.  We have embarked on the development of a water quality monitoring program- created to identify and resolve water pollution issues throughout Charleston’s Waterways.

Holy Sewage Campaign and Permitted Polluters
The Holy Sewage campaign highlights the state of sewage treatment in the Charleston Harbor watershed.  Charleston Waterkeeper strives to educate the public about water quality issues associated with sewage treatment and focuses on regular monitoring of all permitted polluters to ensure that facilities are in compliance with their particular permit.

Stormwater Monitoring Program
Stormwater runoff is one of the biggest contributors to water pollution in the Lowcountry.  We have set out to monitor the threat of stormwater pollution by following the problem backwards.  We monitor the outfall pipes of stormwater runoff, determine the types of pollution present, and determine the source.  This approach allows us to target our outreach to specific behaviors and actions on land.

Three interesting facts about the Charleston Harbor:

We have all three – fresh, brackish and saltwater within our system.

The Ashey and Cooper river form to create the downtown peninsula

Charleston Harbor (our watershed) is the site where the Civil War started!

And if you are planning to be in the neighborhood April 05, 2012, don’t miss their annual Waterball to be held at the South Carolina Aquarium!  Tickets will be available in advance at:  thewaterball.org

Daybreak in Charleston

cherubic trespasser

There are some places that are just perfect for taking pictures of Honeypot luminaries. Charleston, South Carolina is one of those places. Wow!

I was there on a Saturday in January for a “Floatoshoot” on the Charleston Harbor for Bee Natural’s Waterkeeper Alliance campaign. Due to the distractions of the town the evening before (the least of which was Newt Gingrich staying in the same hotel that I was in due to bizarre twists of timing and fate) I found myself at the Battery on the harbor about 40 minutes before sunrise, Sunday morning. Normally, I prefer to do my photography in twilight to get the Honeypots glowing in the fading light of another day floating on scenic waterways. But this time it was set up in the dark and watch the day begin. That worked out well for two reasons: 1) Sunrise on the Carolina shores allows for some good back lighting for the Honeypots and 2) I was not in the mood to trudge through the thick estuarine mud to position the candles for a water shot facing west.

Honeypots at Waterworks in Columbia S.C.

As night approaches, Honeypots appear like Chinese Lanterns on the rocks and ripples of the Congaree River. Kind of spooky when you’re there alone, especially with the owls in front of you and Loch Monster (literally and old rusty canal spillway) grumbling behind you!

Stone, wax, fire, water.