i get to hang with good people

This semester is moving quickly.  There's been a ton of work but since that can be boring, let's just talk about the fun stuff.

 The department had a cool art party for our majors in a swanky apartment uptown.  I'm not sure what the finger pose thing is but they assured me it was cool.  I had to cut out a little early to go hang out with some slightly more famous people.

 That's me, in a suit, hanging with Daniel Craig, Ursula Andress and Sean Connery later the same night.

 G was nice enough to invite me along to her fancy hospital fundraiser thing.  

 We had a 1,000 year flood a few weeks ago.  The rain started and wouldn't let up.  It's a commonly known fact that I hate rain.  Still, we didn't let that keep us from getting some good barbeque at the annual Squealin' on the Square BBQ festival.  No crowds meant more BBQ and funnel cakes for us.

 After a couple of days of pouring rain, we got cabin fever pretty bad so we ventured out to the local state park to see the big water.  That's a view of Horseshoe Falls above.  Normally there's a stream flowing over some giant pieces of granite.  All that was covered by very fast moving muddy water.  The park ranger was there with us observing and she told us this was a once in a lifetime event.

 Next we ventured out in the back yard and the woods to see the water flowing across the yard and into the pond.

 Eventually we had to venture into town to eat and we stopped by the "Little River" to see how high the water was.  We got there just in time to see a couple of high school daredevils swim across the flooded river.

 After a week or so we went back to Horseshoe Falls to check the damage.  The granite was still there, but the whole place looks different now.  

 The area in the photo above used to feature an island with full grown trees on it.  The creek split around the island before moving down into the Enoree River.  The flood removed the trees and the island and re-routed the water flow.  

 We also had to deliver some art to Tryon, NC.  This meant we got to eat at the Hare and Hound in Landrum.  We checked out the Halloween decorations along the street while we waited on a table. 

 Shunkawunken Falls has been on my "summer of waterfalls" list for a while and the art delivery gave us a good opportunity to drive almost straight up a mountain to see it.

 The art delivery led to two gallery receptions in one week for that exhibit...

...and one more in Greenwood for several of my students.  That's Drinkwater and Preston on the other side of a glass door I was hiding behind.  The exhibit was an Instagram based exhibit.  IG users submitted images by hashtagging them and the best ones were chosen and printed for the exhibit.  Cool idea.