Blogging Charleston

I'm sitting in the courtyard of the Lodge Alley Inn in Charleston, South Carolina. Although the sky is a beautiful blue and the sunshine is clear and bright, the air is a little breezy and cool. The palmetto trees are dancing in the wind and light. The brick fountain in the center of the courtyard is splashing and spraying. I have on shorts, but I also have on two t-shirts and a light jacket. Altogether a nice day in one of my favorite cities.

We're not doing much except relaxing on this trip. I walked for an hour and a half this morning—out on the pier, down along the Battery, through the narrow streets that connect East Bay and Church and Meeting and King Streets. I've written a bit on my latest short story—"The Flutist." Soon we'll go to lunch at Magnolia's and then walk around town some more. This afternoon around four o'clock, I might sit somewhere and have a beer while my Four O'clock Club friends in Johnson City are meeting without me. I hope that their weather is nice and that they're able to sit outside in sunshine.

As seems to happen every trip to this wonderful place, we discovered our new favorite restaurant last night. It's on East Bay, right across the street from Lodge Alley Inn. We'd seen it before but had never eaten there. It's called Slightly North of Broad (S.N.O.B), and we both had fine meals there. I enjoyed their shrimp and grits, which is something I've tried and like in a lot of different places here. This dish was more varied than others I've had. In addition to its namesake components, it had some great sausage (made on the premises), ham, tomatoes and spices. I could tell that I'd be wanting a beer with this dish, but the initial list that our waiter ran down for us didn't excite me too much. Then, as I sat looking over the menu, I listened to a couple of the staff talking in the corner behind me and distinctly heard the phrase "Fat Tire" a couple of times. I asked the waiter about it, and she said it was available. I was able to down a couple over the course of the meal. Nice!