Florence

Tues: MB's dad got up and out while we slept. We woke around 9:30. Sitting in the spare room. Breakfast with MB and her mom. Handed off some clothes to mom for laundering. MB and I drove off to Florence, about an hour and a half drive.

Found the home of her friend Hnr. Quite a lot of energy rushing about the house, with two small children and a puppy. The young one, Emy, is a little hellion, despite the sweet nature of her mom. She stamped repeatedly on one of feet, asking "does this hurt?" Bn asked me to play some guitar, which I did, noodling around in the traditional tuning, as best as I could. His micro-sized Alverez had surprisingly good tone. He was quite disappointed when I said I wasn't interested in football. Hmy called his shoulder-pads "boobie pads" and showed me how her mermaid's hair changed colors when dunked in the bathroom sink. Later, I kicked a ball around with Bn in the yard. Photos.

Hnr's parents Bl and Mdy came over, and we had a "fix your own salad with fruit" and cheese bar for lunch. It was nice of them to cater to our vegetarian preference. They asked "What is hummus?" while serving it. Mdy, who had recently had hip replacement surgery, came out dressed in a BD scarf MB had given her, and demonstrated the progress of her recovery, accompanied by tambourine and shaker. This was quite unexpected.

We drove to the country club and splashed about in the pool. This club was not quite as upper-crusty as the last one I visited when in the South. I endlessly threw Bn up in the air in a shallow dive on the count of three. Catch. Piggy-back with MB. And so on. Shower, and sunning while the women folk talked.

A little before 5 PM we headed out to the nearby house of Gry and Am. Gry wasn't home yet, so Am plied us with an abundance of snacks. Later, after Gry returned from work, they showed us a huge collection of photos they'd taken of the nesting, egg-laying and hatching of a family of Robin's out on their porch. This included a dramatic episode with a snake. But all ended happily. Around 7 we went out for dinner to a Middle-Eastern restaurant. No BD this evening. They were running a bit short-staffed, but we met the owner: a man of many hats and talents, who used to teach large BD courses in NYC before 9/11. He gave MB an impromptu drum lesson, although I don't think his sense of rhythm was up to teaching level. I had never encountered Moussaka in the form of a noodle dish before this evening. The owner said this was Egyptian style Moussaka... but he might have been full of it.

Feeling quite full, we made our way across town to the only respectable coffee place in the area. They were in the process of closing, but the young guy behind the counter said he'd make us a few cups on the "Java Rail"... His hands trembled mightily as he did so, perhaps the result of tasting too much of his own handiwork. We sat and enjoyed some tasty coffee, in the nicely color coordinated, air conditioned, and delicious smelling surroundings. Had to leave around 10 PM.

Back to Gry and Am's. Gry told us about some recent incidents where his natural, and abundant, curiosity had gotten him into slight scrapes with "the authorities." Curiosity is not normal in this country, it seems, and, anything abnormal is suspect. Lock him up, I say. Headed off, gassing up at a station that also served complete fried chicken dinners. A quiet and uneventful drive back to Irmo.