Paul Lester Photo

Fried Bologna Sandwich! Mmmmmm! Mmmmmmm! Good!

As James and I walked down the streets of Charleston, we came upon this sign. It brought a smile to my face and a couple of memories: My father loved bologna on a sandwich. It was what he usually took with him when he went fishing. Bologna and mayo on white bread. Not what one would call a healthy meal, but it did the trick when you were out on the lake and getting hungry. Just reach into the cooler, grab one, chow down, continue fishing. Haute cuisine is not required when you are fishing, besides, that little bit of fish slime that you have on your hands tends to change the taste of food a bit, but I digress!

Another thing that I remembered was that on some days, he would fry a piece or two of bologna, add some Velveeta cheese to it, slap it on some bread and you’ve have a different kind of sandwich, for sure. I don’t remember how long ago it was, but I introduced Tony to a fried bologna sandwich. We were at the grocery store, I saw some bologna, got a small pack of it, and decided to fry some up for him.

At first, he thought that it was weird, but when he tasted it, he asked: Can I have this every day for lunch?! My reply was: Well, if your mother found out about it, we’d be dead, for sure! So, no! LOL

It’s nice to see that some restaurants are sticking with tradition, even though it may not be fashionable these days as people grow more and more health conscious. Certainly, fried bologna is not on the list of nutritious or healthy foods, but it sure is tasty! Ever had one?

Unconvinced Canine!

I was in Brevard, NC the other day, taking a break from the heat of the city. I sat there in front of one of my favorite places, Looking Glass Falls. As I watched the myriad people frolic about in the water, I noticed a woman and a man trying to get their dog to stay still and ‘pose’ in the water.

The dog liked the water well enough, but was not interested in going into water where it would have to swim. Wading, for this dog, was just fine. They tried, with limited success, to coax the dog into the deeper water. I’m not sure what was bothering the dog, the depth of the water, the roar of the waterfall, or the movement of the water. At any rate, he was having none of it.

What to do? What to do? Suddenly! An Aha! moment. That’s right, pick the dog up, hold him in your arms, let the wife get the shot! Perfect. Yeah, that’s normal! LOL

Sometimes, you have to take matters into your own hands when your dog won’t cooperate!

F-U Kyle Bush!!!

It has never been my desire to attend any type of race, NASCAR or other wise. I must admit that I had an idea, or stereotype of the type of person who attended this event: Beer drinking, tobacco chewing, rebel flag wearin’, cigarette smokin’, monosyllabic-speakin’, tatoo-havin’ folk. My stereotype of a race fan.

My friend, James, got some free tickets to attend a NASCAR event as part of the Coca Cola 600 weekend here in Charlotte, NC. He asked if I’d like to go and, in the interest of having another experience, I said: Sure, why not! And so it came to pass that at 2:30 PM on Saturday, March 27th, 2011 C.E. (That’s for you James!), I walked, for the first time, into Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, NC.

In looking around at the crowd, the demographics were, shall we say, as expected. Just like in a golf tournament, the “people of color” were not well-represented. The difference between this crowd and the golf crowd was that about 50% of the males here were not wearing shirts! Those others that did have shirts, had shirts emblazoned with renderings of their favorite driver, a rebel/confederate flag, or their favorite beer. Hmmmm, was I really stereotyping?

Prior to coming to the “show”, I had purchased some earplugs, knowing that it was going to be very loud as I used to live about 5 miles from the track and could remember clearly hearing the engines while in the house! I couldn’t imagine what it would be like inside the track. We took our seats. The race began. The first two laps led by the pace car, then they let the drivers go!

I had my plugs out so that I could see what it was like. It was incredibly, painfully loud! Another thing that I will admit, the first few times that the cars passed in front of us, it was pretty cool to see a car going 175 MPH (282 KPH). That was, as I said, interesting for the first few times. Fortunately, for me, this was a short race, only 300 miles. The track is 1.5 miles long, so 200 laps. Yep. Sit there for 200 laps, or about 2 hours, watching the cars whiz by at 175 MPH. 200 laps. 2 hours. 200 laps. 2 hours. That little repetition became annoying, no? Imagine. 200 laps. 2 hours. LOL!

After a short while, I began taking pictures of the various folks around, further solidifying my previous impressions. Now, to a lot of people, the Confederate flag is a very negative symbol. It represents a time in our country’s history that we’d just as soon not repeat, a time of civil war and slavery. However, to this crowd, that is a very prideful symbol and they display it proudly on their shirts, caps, pick up trucks, and cars.

I sent Tim a text with the picture of Robert E. Lee and the cannon, pictured here and he responded:

“I dare you to stand up and say: Robert E. Lee fathered mixed children!!!”

Ummmmm. That wasn’t going to happen! Not in this crowd. I thought that Tim liked me, but apparently not!

Well, I survived the 2 hours and 200 laps. Before the race, I had a certain impression of the people who attended and wondered how someone could find such repetition exciting.

Now that I have been, I still have that impression of those that attend such events AND still wonder how someone could find such repetition exciting!

Thanks for the outing, JB! I appreciate it. It was an adventure. I had a great time people watching! Oh! I almost forgot: And watching those cars zip by at 175 MPH 200 times for 2 hours! Yeah! Great stuff!!! LOL

Finally, a small correction. I said that my stereotype of a race fan was: Beer drinking, tobacco chewing, rebel flag wearin’, cigarette smokin’, monosyllabic-speakin’, tatoo-havin’ folk … I didn’t see much tobacco chewin’ at all!