Night Sky Photography -- 05-21-2020 -- Mercury & Venus Conjunction

Good evening fellow stargazers!

Here in my little corner of South Carolina, we've had ourselves some serious spring weather the last couple of days. Thankfully, the evening skies were quite clear giving me a wonderfully unobstructed view of the conjunction of our solar system's two innermost planets -- Mercury and Venus -- low in the west about half an hour after sunset.

As you can see the smallest planet, Mercury, is almost invisible in the bright twilight next to Venus, even tough it shines as brilliantly as a 1st-magnitude star. Venus is, of course, the third-brightest celestial body in the night sky, so using it as a point of reference, spotting Mercury was easy.  

At conjunction, the two planets appear from our perspective here on Earth to pass within only about one degree (about the length of your little finger at arm's length) apart from one another in the western sky. Mercury, which is about 36 million miles from the sun, takes about 88 Earth days to complete an orbit around the sun; while Venus, which sits at a mean distance of about 67 million miles from the sun, takes 225 days to orbit the star.

Well, until next time, have a good evening and y'all be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies!

Abandon Places & Things

How many of y'all have ever driven down a highway, or a country road, and seen some old, abandoned building that has clearly seen much better days? 

These abandoned buildings come in all forms from old houses and corner stores, to the ruins of old mills and schools. Sometimes even an old car, or several, sitting in the same place for years, if not decades.

Many people just see these abandoned places as creepy eyesores with boarded up windows being slowly consumed by nature little by little in the form of kudzu or wisteria -- if nowhere else claims them, eventually the land will take it back. Crumbling and broken places that are still stubbornly standing. To most these places are just an ugly blight on the landscape that one just passes with little serious consideration.

However, once upon a time, these places had life. People lived in them, worked in them, raised families in them. All of them have some story, all of them have memories. Some of them might even have ghosts, who knows for certain? When one considers these facts, these roadside eyesores take on a far more interesting dynamic, a kind of haunting beauty in their own right.

In my little corner of South Carolina we have a fair share of these places, and I've taken the time to photograph some of the more interesting ones. One of them holds a special place in my memories as the Junior High (Middle School) I used to attend in my youth, now long abandoned for a newer facility across town. Others are just abandoned buildings that I've driven past for years: abandoned homes and once thriving businesses. All of them have a history, a story to tell.

The following are photos of some of these abandoned places: 
 

Let me know what you think of my photos in the comments below. As always have a wonderful Dixie day and y'all come back now, ya hear!

Southern Fried Nostalgia & Fandom: Friday The 13th (1980) -- 40th Anniversary Of Slasher Horror

Greetings & Salutations, Y'all!

I'm certain there is not a single fan of slasher horror films on the planet Earth that is not familiar with the Friday The 13th movie franchise about a nearly-destructive, zombie-like serial killer named Jason Voorhees who wears a hockey mask and (usually armed with a machete) creatively slaughters groups of teenagers up and adults who are up to no good around the fictitious Camp Crystal Lake where he drowned as a child.

Yep the name Jason Voorhees is right up there at the top of the list with Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers (and no not the guy who played Austin Powers!), Pinhead, Chucky, and Leatherface in the annuals of brutally sadistic fictional killers.

Though unlike most of the others mentioned, while he can be rather creative when it comes to the manner of slaughtering his prey, and the gore levels can go right through the roof, Jason doesn't kill his victims out of any sick sense of pleasure, or sadism. He does it simply to fulfill the wishes of his dead mother -- namely to seek vengeance on anyone who enters his wilderness and commits the unforgivable sins of doing drugs, having per-marital sexual intercourse, and going skinny dipping in the lake he drowned in years ago....in short just about anything a vast majority of out-of-control horny teenagers would do in real life. 

The Friday the 13th franchise, which began forty years ago this month on Friday, May 9, 1980 (yeah, not actually on Friday the 13th) a few days before Mother's Day (Sunday, May 11th of that year), would go on to spawn at least nine other sequels, one crossover film with the Nightmare On Elm Street horror franchise, and one reboot. The staying power of this franchise is a testament to the power of rabid fandom.

Poster for Friday The 13th (1980)
which premiered on Friday, May 9,
1980....not actually on Friday the 13th.

Set at a rural New Jersey summer camp 21 years after the accidental drowning of a severely deformed child named Jason Voorhees, the movie follows a group of teenage camp councilors attempting to re-open the seemingly cursed Camp Crystal Lake (nicknamed "Camp Blood" by the superstitious locals), all the while being stalked and murdered in rather creative ways by an unknown serial killer. Throughout much of the film, you see these murders largely through the point-of-view of the killer with next to no clue as to their actual identity.

When director Sean S. Cunningham's horror film premiered it captured the imagination of audiences everywhere, earning nearly $60 million worldwide on a budget of just over half a million. Although not popular with critics at the time, Friday the 13th is considered one of the most successful media franchises in the United States. It is widely referenced repeatedly in American popular culture that has generated a cult-like fanbase. Harry Manfredini's iconic musical score for the 1980 film, which includes the now infamous "ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma" sound effect for the killer's off-screen point of view, is probably one of the best known in the annuals of the horror genre. Jason's hockey mask has become probably one of the most recognizable images in horror and popular culture.

The biggest irony of all this is the fact that the nearly indestructible Jason Voorhees himself was not the killer the original film at all. In fact, Jason himself would not even begin his career as one of the big screen's most infamous slashers until the sequel film, Friday The 13th: Part 2 premiered a year later in 1981, and he would not actually sport the iconic hockey mask until a year later after almost two-thirds of the way into the third chapter of the franchise, Friday The 13th: Part 3 in 1982.

This little movie trivia detail actually made its way into the 1996 Wes Craven horror film Scream, first film of another well-known horror movie franchise where the first unfortunate victim in the film was asked who the killer in Friday The 13th was, then promptly fell for this trick question. Although the killer in the film -- well, one of them -- mocked the victim by erroneously claiming that Jason didn't show up until the sequel, which was not strictly speaking true. He actually did, though not as the menacing horror movie monster he would later become, but rather as the reanimated corpse of a drowned boy in what many still call one of the biggest jump-scare moment in horror movie history.  

Perhaps the biggest irony of the original Friday The 13th film opening on Mother's Day weekend is evident when you realize that the original monster of this franchise was in fact Jason's mother, Pamela Voorhees, the psychopathic mother of the drowned boy who, quite rightly, blamed her son's death on the irresponsible actions of the camp councilors.

"Jason is my son, and today is his birthday."

Through perhaps one of the best examples of audience manipulation in a horror film since the reveal that Norman Bates' mother was nothing but a corpse in a rocking chair; we never see, nor are we introduced to the killer until the final act in the film. 

What makes this reveal even more unique at the time is that virtually nobody expected a female antagonist, much less someone capable of pulling off murders as grizzly and gory as anything Michael Myers did to his victims a few years before in John Carpenter's 1978 film Halloween.

Yep, the lesson here is never underestimate the power of a vengeful mother, especially one who hears the voice of her dead son in her head telling her to "Kill them mommy!" over and over -- the actual origin of the previously mentioned "ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma" sound effect from the killer's point of view.

Forty years later, and a decade since the last Friday The 13th reboot played in theaters, the legacy of this horror movie franchise which began ironically on Mother's Day weekend of 1980 continues to have a profound effect on the way horror films are made. They certainly made those of us who grew up with them in the 80s and 90s sit on the edge of our seats as we watched people our age getting taken apart in supremely gory fashion over the span of four decades.

They also set up the classic rules for horror movie survival if y'all ever find yourselves in a similar situation:

(1) No smoking pot, or doing drugs.
(2) No pre-marital sex.
(3) No eating after midnight....(oops, wrong 80s franchise!) I mean to say, never go off alone to investigate strange noises, or be alone when someone else does -- especially if both of y'all have done numbers 1 or 2.
(4) Never be the annoying person in a group of friends -- you're not coming back. 

 

Happy Mother's Day, Y'all!

Grandma Carolyn's Southern Fired Apple Pies

This blog post is dedicated in loving memory of my grandmother, Carolyn B. Wallen (1942 - 2018) RIP.

One of best things that my dear Grandmother Carolyn -- God rest her soul! -- ever made for us kids were her outstanding Southern Fried Apple Pies. 

As I got older I would often hang out in the kitchen and watch her make them, and then later on helped her out as they prepared them. Making these a few times a year with my grandma was one of my favorite memories of cooking with her. Every time I make them her legacy as the best cook I have ever known lives on. 

Thank you, Maw Maw.

They are great for family gatherings on holidays, for day trips, or for church groups -- and they never lasted very long either. Here is how you make them. 

 

Utensils You Will Need

A large spoon

A pot

A frying pan, or skillet

A large bowl

A measuring cup

A set of measuring spoons

A cookie cutter 

A rolling pin

A pastry cloth

Ingredients

10 - 12 ounces of dried apples

About 2 tablespoons sugar (or to your taste)
About 2 tablespoons cinnamon (or to your taste)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Vegetable oil for frying

2 1/2 cups self-rising flower

1/2 cup shortening

1/3 cup milk

 

Preparation and Cooking Directions

Cook dried apples in a pot of about 2 cups of water for about 30 minutes until done. Stir in the sugar and cinnamon then add salt. Allow apples to cool to about room temperature (another 20 or 30 minutes). 

While the apples are cooling mix the self-rising flower, shortening, and milk in a bowl by hand until dough is made. Then roll the dough out onto a pastry cloth with a rolling pin until the dough is slightly flattened. Then take a round cookie cutter and cut out small rolls, then take your rolling pin and flatten the dough into thin disks about four inches wide.

Take a large spoon and place a spoonful into the center of each disks, laying it out across the middle. Then carefully fold each disk in half to make crescents. Use a fork to press the edges of the crescents together.

Cover the bottom of a frying pan with vegetable oil and bring it to frying temperature. Place the apple pie crescents carefully into the oil and fry them on both sides until they are the color of brown to your liking. Then place them onto paper towels until they are cooled off to room temperature. 

Then you are ready to eat them -- I like mine with a scoop of vanilla ice cream personally. This recipe makes about 16 - 20 fried apple pies. 

I hope y'all enjoy them too. If y'all make them and try them out for yourselves, be sure to leave me a comment below and tell me what y'all think. As always have a wonderful Dixie day and y'all come back now, ya hear!

Why Did The Confederate Soldier Fight?

 

"It has not seemed the whole truth to me that the Confederate soldier went into battle to vindicate a constitutional argument. He went to war because he loved his people, because his country was invaded, because his heart was throbbing for his hearthstone. Here was the land which gave him birth; here was his childhood's home' here were the graves of his dead; here was the church spire where he had learned it was not all of life to live nor all of death to die. No hostile foot should ever tread this consecrated ground except over his dead body." 

~ Lieutenant General Stephen Dill Lee, from a speech at the annual reunion of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV) held in Louisville, Kentucky in 1905. Lee was a native of South Carolina, born in Charleston and grew up in Abbeville.