South Carolina

nowww we're gettin down into some lowww country
this is the good stuff
southeast swamp-before-the-sea
think storky-lookin' birds
still water
thick swampy woods
and snakes




this sorrrta looks like central florida
except maybe not so many skinny trees that close together
but swampy, thick, palmettos
add some cypress, oaks, and moss






anybody need rabbits? worms? anyone? y'all good?


this is the view from my hotel room in Charleston
'sniiize
The lady I stayed with is an old hippie. Looong strawberry blonde, graying hair, smoker voice, hunched a little with a limp. She greeted me with a big hippie hug, walked me to the visitor's center, got me a map, and X'ed out all the 'cracktown' neighborhoods, as she called them, then she sent me on my way to explore Charleston.







This dude's name is Calhoun. I don't know why he has his own statue.
pretty colors...

some citadel boys, running through a giant park, several pick-up soccer games


odd couple?
this is my SunDrop
I asked my hippie hostess to recommend a good place to eat.
She said, Go down King Street and stop in the first place that smells good to you
...so this is me in a Greek diner on King Street.

This lady I will never forget. She lives in part of an old church building right in the middle of
Charleston. Olllld skinny, two-story wood houses with peeling white paint, people leaning against buildings, stray dogs. Her place had old, sloping wood & linoleum floors, painted shut windows, no overhead lights just lamps, the shower was in a free standing tub and the ceiling was so low in the bathroom I couldn't stand up straight. She marches on Market Street to protest the war every Saturday. She carries signs and cards with the names of all the deceased soldiers. She'd lived all over the US, mostly in communes on little farms. She used to own a cloth diaper business. She was a school teacher in the Netherlands. She has two sons and 4 grandsons. She had ill-fitting dentures traced in the black rot that lay underneath. She is an active member of a kabillion internet peace sites. She plays bass. She felt comfortable enough to tell me a lot of personal things. She doesn't really have it all together, but she has a good heart. She talked about leaving Charleston, moving closer to her sons, and I think she should. I trusted her, but not her affiliations. I took a knife from her kitchen and slept with it that night, jussst in case they stopped by.


this was my room and my bed. The bags are the cloth diapers she's trying to sell on E-bay. Local kids from all the Charleston elementary schools had designed 'peace doves' that were then strung together by ribbon. My hostess was in charge putting up the doves for the MLK parade that was to be held the Monday after I left. By the time these boxes of ribbon-connected doves reached her, they were horribly tangled. She'd mentioned her arthritis earlier (while crossing out 'cracktowns'), and so I offered to untangle them for her.

These are some of my favorites...





I don't know why this bird reminds me of Capone...Later, I asked if she wanted to go see some live music with me. She was sooo excited, saying she hadn't had a 'girls' night in a while. She put on some bright red lipstick, and we were off in her sputtering little truck. Guy playing guitar is a third year pediatric resident...