Southern-ish Man

So, what was Sunday in the South? On the hot and hazy and lazy side. A trip to the Charlotte (North Carolina) Knights' ballpark (in South Carolina), in an attempt to give or leave a signed copy of Baseball's Starry Night to one of the heroes of that night, Dan Johnson, now with the Knights, who were out of town, or en route, to Rochester, of all places, back in my neck of the northern climes. The place was empty and silent. Denis and I tried a few door. One marked exit door was surprisingly open. We took a glance at the blanket of grass and the clay diamond before us. The field, which appeared to be sunken below the stands, gave the stadium a more alluring appearance than the concrete and boxy outer edifice promised. I decided to give Denis the book, in an envelope, charging him with the task of presenting the book to Mr. Johnson at some later date, or perhaps when he trekked to South Carolina one day for cheaper gas. He said he was willing to do that. Plus, he might be able to meet Dan Johnson, and honestly declare, "My friend wrote this book, and we are both in it."

The Giants lost the third game of the weekend series with Oakland, on a player's first homer, a walkoff. Ugh.

On Monday, we drove from Charlotte to Atlanta in Denis's Ford Fusion. Gas was as low as $2.86 a gallon in South Carolina. I don't think we've seen that price in Syracuse since Clinton was president, yes, the same Bill Clinton who gave us budget surpluses. Driving from Spartanburg to Greenville to near Anderson on 85 south one sees signs advertising food or gas on elevated poles that reach, what?, 100?, 300? feet. They are unseemly. What is the limit? 1,257 feet? In Atlanta, Denis and I went to the Starbucks in Buckhead, on Peachtree (that Peachtree). It was hot. Of course. We met Denis's brother Jimmy for dinner at the Grand China restaurant. The Giants won 8-0.

On Tuesday, I went to the Cathedral of Saint Philip (one L, like one N for Denis) and enjoyed its bookstore, its people at the store, and an oasis of silence in the stained-glass church, and then enjoyed Henri's Bakery's sandwich and coffee and chips and dessert for lunch, after a walk in the neighborhood, including a sop at Walgreen's for postcards, toothpaste, and other stuff.