chuckography

"Happy 103rd birthday, Mom!"

 Well, no, she did not reach the triple digits but she lived a helluva good, long time.

March 5, 1916 was when she was born and she passed just a few days after her 96th birthday.

She would have smiled and wished everyone a "Happy St. Paddy's Day" at her funeral down in Yemassee, SC.

I returned to Charleston after my divorce in 1993 and was living on James Island in a neat little brick 800 sf building at the end of a winding dirt road.

Mom had retired as an LPN from St. Francis Hospital after working downtown for 25 years.

Yes, they gave her a 25-year service pin, a gold watch... and a rather small pension.

She once complained to me how $139 a month after 25 years with the hospital, was not very much money.

I agreed it was small by today's standards but she had been collecting it each month for nearly 30 years!

We did the math: $139 x 12 months equaled $1,668 a year.

Times the 30 years she had received a retirement pension check would be a total of slightly more than $50,000!

That put a smile on her face and she said "OK, where's the fifty grand?"

(The photo above shows Mom playing around, pressing her face on the hospital copy machine many, many years ago.)

The photo on the left shows Mom joining me for a beer on a Sunday afternoon at the now-closed Backstage Deli in North Charleston.

Not a drinker, she had agreed to pose with me and a yard of ale I  had bought for this photo opp.

This was the only place I knew that gambled on using the tall, fragile glasses in a public bar.

You had to hand over your driver's license before they would start to fill the glass.

That deterred people from sneaking out the door with the costly souvenir glass.

It would have been difficult to hide it under your coat or sweater.

And, of course, you had to also steal the wooden glass holder.

Breakage finally called a halt to the use of these special glasses, I was told by the owner.

In this other "drinking" photo, Mom was hoisting a glass of Welch's fizzy grape juice that was as close to her version of an alcoholic toast that we shared to welcome a new year.

Needless to say, I had filled my glass with real wine.

A nice pinot noir to be precise.

On New Year's Eve, I would attend the Retirees Drop-in at the Post and Courier.

For many years, I brought home the bottle of "fake" wine the paper handed out.

After I had returned to town for a few years, my dad went into a nursing home.

 Mom asked me to move in with her because she did not want to be alone in her home.

My brothers were married and living elsewhere so I was the available son to do that for her.

I did move in and she stayed in her home for another 10 years with me as her "roommate."

It was good for both of us.

One side of the house was finished as a bachelor pad for me.

(Dad was a carpenter and had expanded the 800 sf house they bought in 1962 to 2,000 square feet.

First thing he added was a 1,000 square foot workshop because that's where he made his money.)

After I moved in, I had a deck built on the back of the house so mom could relax on sunny afternoons. Two overhead fans made sure she was comfortable out there.

Another fan was added to the front porch so she could "move with the sun" from one to the other.

I had a good deal, a nice house and my mom asking if I would be home for dinner that night.

She liked to cook and now she had a son at home to cook for.

My cousin Francine (Pookie) continued her visits to see mom as she had done for years when we all lived downtown at Meeting and Society Streets in Ansonborough.

She had driven mom to visit dad at the Mt. Pleasant nursing home for several years until he passed away.

Not surprising, when mom could not continue to stay at home, even with paid caregivers, the choice for Assisted Living was Sandpiper, the same one she had selected for her husband.

Very social, Mom had a delightful, spacious room, filled with her furniture, pictures she loved on the walls and mementos she treasured.

 Unfortunately, after only 5 months there, she suffered a stroke and was moved to the nursing home part of the facility.

She was diligent in her physical therapy and regained most of her speech and the use of her left side.

I noticed that once a week, adorable dogs were brought to Sandpiper to comfort residents.

I like that, so one day, I packed up Wallaby, her cat, and brought him to visit her.

Might have been the first cat to visit.

She was asleep when I arrived. I carefully took him out of the carrier, put him on the bed and gently placed her hand on his head.

Memory - or his purring - awoke her and she smiled as she petted her feline friend.


I visited mom often and joined her for lunch many times.

Got to know the staff over the 4 years she was there and they did not mind when I took mom on a very FAST cruise around the facility.

Well, maybe they were concerned but I was careful and only did this when we were alone.

She would laugh and say "Go faster."

Which I did.

My younger brother Dennis moved from Clearwater, Florida, up to Summerville and he and his wife would come to visit mom.

We all would join her for meals and holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Dennis captured a sweet moment when a colorful clown posed with her on a New Year's Eve.

He is on the right.

I later found out he was the husband of one of the staff who took care of mom.

When mom passed, she was buried on March 17 at her beloved Yemassee, where she had grown up as a child.

It's a place I stop and visit when I am heading down to Savannah.

Not as often as I should, but mom would understand.

She did not live to see me start being picked as an Extra in various tv shows and movies here in Charleston and down in Savannah.

She would have encouraged me to do this and hope - with me - that maybe someday I would even be featured and given a line or two.

Mom's are like that.

(Click on the photos or links for more information.)

I did not finish this entry in time for her birthday so I wanted to make sure it was posted before the anniversary of her funeral.

Thanks Mom.

Labels: Backstage Deli, Francine "Pookie" Miler, NYE clown, Sandpiper Assisted Living and Nursing, Savannah, Wallaby the Cat, yard of ale glass, Yemassee birthplace and burial

posted by chuckography @ 1:06 PM 2 Comments

The PHOTO in Photography....

Just as I blog to be a "blogger" I take pictures to fulfill that part of my online identity.

When I go to a Blogger Meetup, I usually do both.

Even though sunlight streamed in and the small stage was empty, I'm glad I went to Home Team Bar-B-Q to see how it looked daytime as opposed to 10:30 at night when live music is playing.

I had some sweet pulled pork and met the Bike Taxi Guy.

Surprisingly, he arrived on his conventional two-wheeler and Heather introduced him all around.



That weekend I was just down the street at Tin Roof to enjoy Miss Tess & The Bon Ton Parade.

I had seen her before at the late Map Room and remembered this lady from Boston was very talented and put on a high-energy show. She said they had played in Savannah the night before so they were riding a southeastern-style circuit.

Speaking of photos, hopefully to the right is a link to my recent vacation shots.

I created an album each on London, Amsterdam and Bruges, Belgium. I have a lot to learn about setting a link.

If it's still there, click and check it out. (If it's NOT visible, click on one of the labels listed below. I don't know why it comes and goes?!)

Labels: Bike Taxi, Blogger Meetup, circuit, Heather, links, Map Room, Miss Tess and The Bon Tons, pulled pork, Savannah, Southeastern, Tin Roof, two-wheeler

posted by chucker @ 12:35 PM 2 Comments

"...and Yards To Go Before I sleep."

A "Yard of ale" glass originated in Merrie Olde England when a pub person would hand up a "tall beer" to the coachman driving the carriage.

These weird-shaped glasses still exist today and are a wonderfully funny concept now that we don't ride in or drive coaches and open beer is seldom allowed on the streets. Well, except in Savannah or in the French Quarter in New Orleans.

Pictured are a couple of my newspaper buddies back in the 1960s the night we discovered this British contribution to World peace.

What we didn't realize was that at one point, when the glass is raised high and the beer is racing down the narrow tube toward your waiting lips, air enters the bulb and you hear a loud "GLUG" that makes you laugh in surprise.

At the same moment that your mouth is distracted, the beer arrives at Mach 2 speed and you get a beer facial and spots on your clothes. It usually takes 2 or 3 glasses to master drinking a yard of ale.

A few years ago I started going to Backstage Deli on the Market and reintroduced myself to this long-handled stein. The owner and I got to know each other and when he opened in North Charleston, closer to my home, I became a regular there.


He started a "Hall of Foam" and, after drinking 60 different beers, you won free meals, a t-shirt and other prizes.

After I had gone through the 60 beers several times, I suggested one of his yard glasses would make a good prize. He agreed and soon I earned one.

One sunny afternoon as I was taking my Mom out for a drive, I suggested we stop there and I'd have a beer. She agreed and, when Mom commented on the unusual glass, I posed a picture of her pretending to drink. The glass was almost as tall as she was. Around us, we heard the chant of "go Granny, go!"


His people used to break several of these each week as they tried to wash them and the bartenders collected your drivers licenses to ensure patrons did not leave with the unique glasses.

Eventually they were all gone and half-yards of ale were the norm.

When Guy decided to shut down his bar, he took me aside and gave me two other glasses that now are displayed at home. The "Foot" size is smaller than the Half-Yard and the smallest of all - holding just over an ounce - is the "Toe" glass. All are sitting in their distinctive wooden racks.

I don't know of any place in Charleston that serves these "tall beers" now.

Labels: Go Granny Go, Mach 2, Merrie Olde England, pose, Savannah, steins, Toe Glass, yards of ale

posted by chucker @ 9:44 AM 1 Comments

A Preview Beats Hindsight....

Yeah, I don't have to show up at a job each day so I do go to a LOT of live music concerts.

Here was a Savannah Surprise... John Mellencamp chose to kick off his national tour last year here in the Civic Center and it was quite a production.

He has lots of friends in town - and maybe even owns a house - so I guess that's why he picked to start his tour down in Charleston Light.

But that's talking about a show that left here and went on the road. I prefer to see a review of somebody that I STILL can go and see. Don't just tell me "too bad, you missed a great evening."

Catch Drink Small, a SC blues legend I enjoyed one night at Cumberland's a few months ago. He'll be playing locally during February's Blues Bash so check out which venue and when.

Here's another star coming back to Charleston after being away a while....Keb' Mo' will be onstage at the Charleston Music Hall March 6.

He played outdoors in Columbia at the 3 Rivers Music Festival a few years ago.

Tickets are on sale right now through ETix so join me up front, close to the stage, for some fine entertainment.

Hope you got your tickets long ago for the Lyle Lovett Show this coming Friday and you'd better scramble if you want to see Delbert McClinton at The Plex Saturday February 3. He hasn't been here in a while.

It's an easy drive to Columbia on Valentine's Day for Billy Joel and that city already has banned indoor smoking so that adds to my enjoyment.

Man! This sure beats working.

Labels: Billy Joel, Delbert McClinton, John Cougar, Mellencamp, Music Hall, Savannah

posted by chucker @ 9:38 PM 0 Comments