Can't stop!

You just can't stop taking pictures in Charleston as every few feet some scene, some turn of wood or metal, some color against color, is just so perfect, so cunning, so completely enchanting, you have to capture the image.

shady meeting st.

Above a wander along the allees of Meeting Street, Church and Broad where I had a convivial lunch at the place the locals call Fast and French... and always the sweet tea, more sweet tea, you never have to ask for refills in the south.

Discovered great thrift shops yesterday on Savannah Highway on the way back from the Volvo dealer (tire balancing, recharge the AC). I mean it's 95 in the shade here and I needed something cooler to wear than capris. I got two pairs of nice shorts and three cotton shifts for 20 bucks. Noice! And a little thin red belt to go with the tiny black and white checked shift for 99 cents. Major score. Thrift stores in the south are much better than up north, (and they seem to be independent, so you're not supporting right wing agendas as you are with Goodwill and the like). Lots of what we used to call sheath dresses. Just the chic ticket in hot weather, ones you can't find in regular stores, not that are cut right, not nice ones like the one I scored in Montreal last summer for ten times what I paid for these. Of course that one was new and had a little spandex in it.

Pictured above is D from Staten Island and her pal Rocky in the allee next to the flat two blocks from the Battery. Am looking forward to a days long semi-methodical wander through the quiet of Charleston below Broad and all the historical sites there. Today it's the Gibbes museum of art with T.

Watching the President on tv this morning sharing the talkstage with Mr. Cameron I was reminded of a scene, similar in politely adversarial tone, only with the role of the stingy guy reversed, from Love Actually. You know the one. And as to the "special relationship"? I'm sorry, but doesn't that just smack of something a pedophile would say to a child? Yes, Hugh Grant as PM of Britain. Ahh, If wishes were horses...

Oh, and two wonderful books read recently thanks to recs from Cousin M:

Jewel, I believe I actually wept reading this one, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Both excellent reads. Esp, the first one, a fine Charleston writer, Lott, really fine.

Bye ya'll...