Tag Archives: Columbia (SC)

The Hana Chronicles: Month 10, Day 4

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Posted by on in children, Family, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

October 25, 2026- Hana babbled almost non-stop today, when she wasn’t hanging onto me, to walk around and around. She wore herself out, a couple of times, and tumbled over, inside the playpen, but she was no worse for the wear, at day’s end.

My granddaughter is growing. She is 31 inches tall and will probably have another growth spurt shortly. She doesn’t have a whole lot of patience, when it comes to her meals, but I tell her that her mommy is only one person, and she will just need to do something in the meantime, while her meal is being prepared.

Some focus was on her Dad, as he organized his office space, with two pieces of furniture that he put together this evening. Life goes better when every member of the family feels affirmed. We are making another concerted effort to organize the upstairs, and it’s happening.

HANA’S NOTE-When I tumbled and scared myself, Mommy, Daddy and Papa were all there to make me feel better. I have to make sure I listen to them better.

EXPANDING CIRCLES: South Carolina- The Palmetto State was the first place I lived, outside of Massachusetts. From June-September, 1969, I was a resident of Fort Jackson, outside Columbia. Eight weeks were spent in Basic Training, and three weeks followed as a general laborurer, whilst waiting to be transferred to Advanced Individual Training, at Fort Benjamin Harrison, outside Indianapolis.

Since then, I have returned to South Carolina six times-with visits to Greenville, Rock Hill, Travelers Rest, Aiken, Edgefield, Walterboro, Timmonsville, Florence, Hemingway, Beaufort, Hilton Head, St. Helena, and Richard B. Russell Lake, as well as Columbia and Charleston. My visits have generally gone well. I connected with a Xanga friend, in Greenville, in 2018. I also spent time with my middle brother and his family, outside that fine city, when they lived there in 1987.

The Turf-South Carolina’s northwest is covered by the Blue Ridge Mountains. The state’s mid-section is Piedmont and the eastern two thirds are covered by coastal plain. South Carolina shares the Sea Islands with Georgia. The main islands in S.C. are Hilton Head, St. Helena, Dafuskie, Fripp, Edisto, Johns, Morris, Bull, Cape, Murphy and Isle of Palms. South Carolina is drained by the Santee, PeeDee, Congaree, Saluda, Edisto, Combahee, Seneca, Tugaloo and Savannah Rivers, as well as their tributaries.

First Nations- South Carolina is the ancestral home of the Catawba, Eastern Cherokee,Pee Dee, Southern Iroquois, Cheraw, Santee, Wassamasaw, Edisto, and Waccamaw peoples. The Catawba are a Federally-recognized tribe. All others are recognized by the State. Native peoples in the region were largely exterminated, due to smallpox carried by European settlers. Those who survived were for the most part forced to move to Oklahoma, during the administrations of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. The above-mentioned Nations were permitted to return to South Carolina in the latter part of the 19th Century.

Where I feel most at home- Greenville, Columbia, Hemingway, Hilton Head Island, Aiken

Where I most feel at peace- Hemingway, Aiken, Hilton Head Island, Calhoun Falls State Park

NEXT: North Carolina

The Hana Chronicles: Month 6, Day 26

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Historical, Inner Struggles, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

July 17,2026- Hana and I were asleep in the recliner, so deeply that I didn’t notice Aram going in and out to get the mail. My granddaughter has the same calming effect on me that I have on her.

We had a busy “half day”, in that her parents came home from work early, to take her to a medical appointment. We thus managed our walk, “wrestling” (her crawling on me and my lifting her up in the air, in vestibular motion) and lunch time into a shorter frame. There was also story time, centered on “Sleeping Beauty”. Maleficent is portrayed in this brief version only as the “Old Fairy”. She ends up getting turned into a frog. Hana thought that was funny.

She is always overjoyed when one of us comes back to the house, after having been away for a brief errand. Having the family all together is a big deal to my granddaughter. She is delighted to just sit in the high chair at each meal, even at breakfast, which for her is a liquid feeding, still. She has complete meals at lunch and dinner.

HANA’S NOTE- I went to have my blood checked-AGAIN. This time, the nurse only stuck me once with the needle. So, that was not as bad.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE- 1969 This was a year of firsts: My first time on an airplane; my first trip outside New England; my first extended time away from family; my first time really hallenging myself.

I left Star Market in January and went to work at General Electric’s Riverworks Plant, in Lynn, MA. My fahter, and several relatives and neighbours worked there, as well. Dad got me in. I worked in the rotometer calibration section. The senior technician told me my work was substandard, but he never bothered complaining to the higher=ups. Nor did he offer specific criticism that might have helped me improve.

It was a placeholder job, anyway, as I had asked the Army Reserve Unit to let me enlist in the Regular Army. My plan was to enlist for 3 years, then apply for an early release, so as to return to college. My enlistment date was set for June 16, and the recruiter determined I’d be best suited for the Army Postal Corps. I left G.E. on May 1, and focused somewhat on physical training.

Basic Training was at Fort Jackson, SC. I started off as a mewling klutz, but slowly and surely got with the program. I scraped by in marksmanship, missed Combat Fire-but never was made to re-take it, though I asked to do so, and excelled in the Physical Training Test. I did fairly well in the G-3 (General Knowledge) Exam, which was oral. On weekends, we had free time, and I went with a couple of guys who were from Columbia, to their favourite hangouts. I was the sole White guy with four African-Americans, but none of the Whites we encountered gave us any trouble over it.

Woodstock happened while I was doing things like learning how to properly handle grenades and re-sight my M-16. We were brought into a room and allowed to watch the launch of the first Apollo rocket to the Moon. Training was canceled that day. I made enough of an improvement that the cadre sent me on a 3-day pass to Myrtle Beach, on Labor Day weekeend.. I saw that there was little difference between it and the beach towns of New England, though the water was warmer. I stayed in a two-bed shack for $1 a night, and had the place to myself.

Fort Ben Harrison and the postal training were footnotes. I didn’t really bond with anyone in the unit, but went into Indianapolis by myself a few times on weekends. I never did get to the racetrack, though. Many of the guys went to VietNam, after AIT. I was sent to Fort Myer, Va. I was assigned to straighten out a mail operation, as my predecessor had ended up in Fort Leavenworth, for various postal crimes. That made a distinct impression on me. I got the job done quickly, to the satisfaction of the Inspector General. That November, a high school friend was killed in Viet Nam, and I began to re-assess what my responsibilities were. I fasted that Thanksgiving, and decided to give Fort Myer a year, after which I would re-assess my situation. Seeing Washington, D.C. on weekends was great fun, though, and I began to bond with civilians in the Georgetown neighbourhood, whose views on life were similar to my own.

Thus did the ’60s come to an end.