wendy house

A little creative navigation lead to an unexpected  whirlwind tour of Charlottte with no injuries,   tears or smudged make-up.   RESULT!

Wendy:           which way?

navigator:   turn left,             NO!         the other left,         the one that isn’t right

navigator:   you’re right we should have used the left on your right…     ….errm…   …actually we should have used the left straight ahead

navigator: the other way,   the way we’ve just come,   the left that is 180 degrees the other direction

wendy:   WEEEeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

wendy:   goodmorningLatino lady emptying the bin outside the hotel:   goodmorning (big smile)

later

Wendy:   I’ll take the stairs, we wont all fit in the lift

2 Latino ladies with room cleaning trolleys:   (giggles)

In Seattle when I greet or talk to the Latino people emptying the bins or cleaning the rooms at work they rarely reply, I’ve never seen them smile.   I’ve learned to treat them as if they aren’t there.   It makes me feel uncomfortable.     I don’t know any Latino people.   The only places I see them are on the streets or in support roles like gardeners or cleaners.   Here in Charlotte the Hotel staff appear more open to sharing superficial niceties.   I feel less akward  being me.  

in Charlotte, NC.  

Anticipating hot balmy southern nights.  I didn’t bring mi’ mack.   Ooops.    Alberto,  the first tropical storm  of the season is here.   Today’s CBS report comments:

‘the heaviest rain – probably 2 to 4 inches – is likely in Georgia and the coastlines of the Carolinas, with most of Florida getting only an additional inch or so and some areas staying rain free’

Tropical storms and their bigger sibbling ‘hurricanes’ are a completely new experience for me.

I plan to get wet rather than spend my brief, valuable touristy, time mack shopping (yuck!)    

this is not a case of ‘flash’ red-eye.   These are traffic lights at dusk in a North Carolina spring after a rainstorm that caused traffic havoc.   Havoc included police cars with very pretty lights,   ambulances and collections of crumpled cars on the edge of the road.        

Am  I on the ‘right’ side of the road?

Museum of History.   Wendy winces.   At this rate of wincing I’m going to develop a permanent tic.  

The Charlotte Museum of History was a pleasure. Entrance was free on the Sunday I visited.   It was staffed by friendly, attentive,  volunteers.   I thought ‘this is southern hospitality’. The real highlight was the live folk music played by younsters and oldsters.   A ‘live’ museum.   The music  echoed around the impressive, modern, building.   Mandolins,   Banjo’s, Guitars, Violins and more.   Here they are playing ‘Amazing Grace’:

On flick-r there are more of my photographs of Charlotte.

this configuration of signs nearly lured me into oncoming traffic…   …should I stay or should I go?

Charlotte, NC #15

In the Andrew Jackson State park we saw this Anole Lizard. I’ve never seen one before. It was about 10 inches long from nose to tail.

Charlotte, NC #6

On Wednesday evening we went to Puckett’s Farm Equipment Co. A garage converted into a bar and venue with pool tables, music stage, and lots of NASCAR accessories.

We drove up in an Avis rented Ford Taurus. The car park was full of pick-up trucks. I was a bit scared. An old man with very few, very wonky, teeth and a substantial white beard reminiscent of ZZ-Top approached us. He asked my companion if he could ask me to dance. I tried to copy the fast-steps placed by the other girls on the dance floor. Some people had bare feet, Mr. ZZ-Top had very shiny Cuban healed cowboy boots. Everyone smiled and the girls chatted with me afterwards.

A very friendly place for a white person. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. I’ve never seen an ‘electric washboard’ before. I was too shy to point my camera at the locals, it felt too intrusive. You’ll have to imagine this southern bar full of NASCAR, beer, and blue-grass fans..

Fast foot-shuffling Wendy

Charlotte, NC #4

Lots of places and people here are named after the Hickory. Local by President Andrew Jackson was nick-named “Old Hickory”, Churches, roads and towns have Hickory in their name.

A good local BBQ uses Hickory wood to flavour the meat. We tried some at the “Old Hickory House”. Good wholesome tasty food!

The Hickory is a deciduous tree from the Walnut family. The Latin genus is “Carya”. This includes the “Pecan”. According to Wikipedia there are 17 types. About 12 are Native to North America. The 3 main types referred to on north American web-sites are:

• Shagbark or Scaleybark (carya ovata) – prized for smoking meats, particularly pork. The nuts are also considered very good and an extract of the bark is used to make a syrup similar to Maple syrup. This tree appears to have many names including: shagbark, bigleaf shagbark, kingnut, big shellbark, bottom shellbark, thick shellbark, and western shellbark.
• Shellbark (Carya laciniosa) – dense, strong, elastic wood used for making tool handles, athletic equipment, furniture, construction timbers, firewood, and its wood chips are utilized in the smoking of meats.
• Bitternut (carya cordiformis) – as the name implies, these nuts are not favoured by humans though they do appeal to squirrels.

Tree-hugging Wendy