Isle of Palms
Grand Bohemian
Greenville's newest fanciness.
Thanksgiving 2022
Wednesday Evening
Games
During lunch today, one of the teachers arranged (i.e., asked the principal) to have the World Cup shown in the cafeteria while everyone ate.
Poland versus Mexico. Everyone in the cafeteria was rooting for Mexico -- except for one teacher.
In the evening, the Boy's basketball practice. He hasn't played basketball in several years: in fact, when he last played, he was young enough that double-dribbling was not an issue, and the basket was much lower. Now, just like off-sides is a thing in soccer, double-dribbling is a threat in basketball.
Having little experience puts him at a disadvantage with some of the boys who clearly have had much more time on the court. Still, his teammates are supportive as, naturally, is his coach.
City Hall Recognition
The Mauldin City Council invited the girls to a meeting for special recognition of their achievement: the first state volleyball title in program history, the first state title for the school since 2018, and the first Greenville County School state championship since 2013.
"They look awfully nice," the mayor quipped, "but just don't get on the other side of the net with them."
Sunday Fiddler
Ognisko, Fall 2022
An Apt Poem for Now
To My Favorite 17-Year-Old High School Girl
by Billy Collins
Do you realize that if you had started
building the Parthenon on the day you were born
you would be all done in only two more years?
Of course, you would have needed lots of help,
so never mind, you’re fine just as you are.
You are loved for simply being yourself.
But did you know at your age Judy Garland
was pulling down $150,000 a picture,
Joan of Arc was leading the French army to victory,
and Blaise Pascal had cleaned up his room?
No, wait, I mean he had invented the calculator.
Of course, there will be time for all that later in your life
after you come out of your room
and begin to blossom, at least pick up all your socks.
For some reason, I keep remembering that Lady Jane Grey
was Queen of England when she was only fifteen
but then she was beheaded, so never mind her as a role model.
A few centuries later, when he was your age,
Franz Schubert was doing the dishes for his family,
but that did not keep him from composing two symphonies,
four operas, and two complete Masses, as a youngster.
But of course that was in Austria at the height
of romantic lyricism, not here in the suburbs of Cleveland.
Frankly, who cares if Annie Oakley was a crack shot at 15
or if Maria Callas debuted as Tosca at 17?
We think you are special by just being you,
playing with your food and staring into space.
By the way, I lied about Schubert doing the dishes,
but that doesn’t mean he never helped out around the house.
Bank Book
The little deposit book I carried with me everywhere and could use to withdraw money from some banks and almost any post offices...