Friday, June 12, 2009

Photo Shoot-Out "M"

Last weekend, as soon as we learned the theme for this week, the BB boys and I sat down to plan out what we would shoot in Charleston that illustrated the letter “M”.


BAGMAN: “Massage Parlors!”


BUTLER: “Over my dead body!”



BAGMAN: "Well then, how about a portrait of our maid!


Maybe we could convince her to get a sexier outfit, or at least reveal a little bit of her leg to us!"

Then ensued much muttering and mooning over municipalities, marinas, malls, motels, until I got miffed at myself and misplaced much messing around with m-words.

BUTLER: Keep it simple, Mark. Hey! What a coincidence! Mark starts with "M".

"As well as Melody," I add helpfully.

Mark and Melody.
Married to Melody tattooed a mite above Melody's mate's metacarpals






Melody's Mate
and
Melody







Melody and Melody's Mate "Morphed" (below)



(I knew that someday I'd find a use for this morphing program I got ten years ago)


Then ensued much mundane miscellany to mull over which is mercifully missing because I later deleted it when I got mad after Bagman shot a malicious iMage of Mark's mandibles messily masticating mini-marshmallows and I fired Bagman and banished him to the bedroom where the madman mostly started mucking around with something else that started with “M” that I did not want to know about, although his muffled moan came from behind the door saying he was merely musing over magazines.

So, cutting to the chase (which is a good phrase to use of the theme was the letter "C" in stead of "M") -- some M places in Charleston (and Mt. Pleasant, the suburb I actually live in which, of course, starts with "M".

A marina, of course.

MacDonald, as in Ronald, as in the Ronald MacDonald house
near the MUSC children's cancer center.

Mepkins Monastary (Abbey, acutally)

Mikes

My mailbox



AND LASTLY, A SHORT BIT OF HISTORY ON MOULTRIE -- AS IN FORT MOULTRIE.

Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan’s Island, was named after Colonel William Moultrie, who became famous after he used Palmetto Palm trees to plug gaps in the unfinished fort in 1776 when British Warships started pounding it. Instead of splintering the brick fort, the soft wood of the Palmetto’s just sucked in the cannonballs and stayed intact making Moultrie look like a hero.


Fort Moultie is mostly famous for the role it played during the Civil War. Well, not actually “during” the Civil War because the Civil War hadn’t actually started yet. And because some folk around here still refer to it as the War of Northern Aggression, anyhow. But in 1860, the Fort was still unfinished after 84 years – which makes sense when you consider government projects in general.


But at the time, Major Robert Anderson was in charge of trying to get it fixed up with the help of some celebrities who were also stationed there – Abner Doubleday and Edgar Allen Poe – known more for baseball and horror stories than they are for fort maintenance. But they did all figure out that the Fort had been built to repel a naval attack with or without the use of palm trees. But it was beginning to look like the next attack might be coming from across the street where many fine Southern mansions stood…some taller than the back of the fort itself. Anderson finally got the idea that the only reason the neighbors were letting him work on it was because they planned to take it over and wanted him to fix it up first.


Fort Sumpter from Moultrie


So in the dead of a December night, he put his wife (who was staying in a hotel downtown) on a train North and he and the garrison got into rowboats with all the equipment they could put in them without sinking and after fighting past tourists in red hats, rowed across to the more famous Fort Sumter. And we all know what happened next.


By the way, only one person was killed during the entire bombardment and fall of Fort Sumter and that was one really unlucky Northern soldier. When Anderson finally surrendered, the folks of Charleston were gracious enough to allow an honorable exit from the island fort. Major Anderson was allowed to have a 21-gun salute as they debarked and when he did, one of his cannoneers screwed up the loading of his cannon and blew himself up.


And a final one from home -

Mark's Mom in marble when she was only a moppet








25 comments:

  1. Okay...so I checked it this morning and the photos were messed up so I deleted it with the 4 great comments already there...re-did the photos of morphs and now the line spacing is screwed up. But it will be what it will be.

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  2. Geeez men who can't leave things alone haha.

    You outdid yourself this week!

    I love American mailboxes with the little flag.

    And your Mum ....so pretty.

    Thank you for helping celebrate my new granddaughter with the letter M.

    Sarah Lulu

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  3. I love reading the first section of your post. It made me smile and I enjoyed more reading and looking the last part. I supposed to take a photo of Mc Donald too but I did not make it. Great photos! Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Blogger has been giving me a fit as of late also. Enough to make you scream.
    Great "M"s this week.

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  5. I loved it! Especially enjoyed the history. Hope you have a great weekend.

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  6. love your creative take on this friday's theme! so fun and out of the box!

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  7. Very enjoyable, as always! I wanted to have mark in my shoot-out post this weeek, but could not find a photo of an ark.
    The line was, "Bagman stold an M from Mark. He lost a friend, but gained an ark."
    Alas, it found the cutting room floor.
    Thanks again.
    Walk With Faith

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  8. Doesn't blogspot drive you crazy with the deleting and not alligning properly? Some times, when uploading pictures, I am tempted to toss the computer and had sketch my pics, which I would then mail out to everyone!

    Anyway, my earlier comment was that I loved all of the pics, but especially the marina and Mark's Marble Moppet Mom! I also love McDonald, because he is helping the little ones through a scary time!

    Thanks for your comment on my maniacla mediley - I appreciate it a lot!

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  9. My! Those M's (for Mariners, the Seattle kind).

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  10. Great creativity of thought, there. Well done!

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  11. "M"arvelous, though I was looking for all those "m"arshmallows stuffed in your mouth.

    I loved your "M"om and the "m"arina photo was just beautiful.

    I have been to Fort "M"oultrie.

    Nice "morph" shot, too.

    "M"onastery was nice. Must have missed that when in Charleston.

    You have a great weekend, Mark, B&B. And stay away from clowns.

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  12. the marina and monastery were fabulous! I especially like the marina pic. so awesome!!

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  13. Great pictures! Doesn't Baggy start with an M? As in "Mmmmmm"?

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  14. Fabulous Mark! I loved the Maid photos - and the marina photo is just beautiful.

    I admit, I was hoping for mini-marshmallows...

    Have a marvelous weekend!

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  15. Great post, like all of the above have said. Especially ;ole the "out of the box" one. That is a supreme ocmpliment.

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  16. Love all your photos, Mark, and the post itself is a great hoot! Best laughs of the day!

    Hope you have a great weekend!

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  17. Well... it looks as though you have reigned in the "Mischief" makers B&B (well uh, Bagman I guess) and created a really terrific post!! Loved the history, you brought it to life. :D

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  18. well finally after all the infighting between the three of you, you managed a great post. I love the marina with the reflections.... alway love reflections.
    have a great weekend.
    by the way I have constant problems with blogger - either the photos have weird spacing or while truying to get the words to line up with the photos I end up deleting photos and having to start over - when time is limited this is a pain in the ....

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  19. I have missed visiting your blog...your humour and wit are so refreshing! It's nice to be back! :)

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  20. Wonderful photos! Very enjoyable too :-)

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  21. Always love your posts. The morph was cool and your Mom as a moppet was just sweet.

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  22. I love your maid, the morphed mate of Melody and your marblized Mom. Your mom looks angellic. Beautiful! A magnificent melody of many musings and memories. What magic! You are so funny and creative, =D

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