Coffee Shop Moon Beans.....next door to The New Moon Cafe
Brodie's Fabric Shop.....
Amazing Grace how sweet the sound......
I suppose the little town of Aiken South Carolina was providing all that we wanted and needed on the day after Thanksgiving. A stroll in Aiken, provides a sense of a Norman Rockwell setting from one end of the town to the other. The townspeople were friendly and courteous. We had lived there before, many years ago. Visiting family for Thanksgiving, tradition held, that Black Friday we would visit all the shops along main street. We looked for familiar faces along the way, hoping to say hello to those we hadn't seen in a while. We had lunch at a sandwich shop, The Moon Cafe, that boasted of the best food in town. They were right on spot. They're also known for their coffee, by folks all over the area and the aroma lingering as we dined , left no doubt this was most likely true. I thought to myself, that Starbucks had nothing on this little place. We stopped by to say hello to the ladies at Brodie's fabric shop, and bought fringe that would decorate Christmas pillows, homemade, out of old green and red sweaters. We were made to feel welcome, and stayed longer than we planed. As we left, we wished the ladies that were already in the spirit of the season a Merry Christmas. It felt good to say the words, for it was the first time to do so this holiday. Hardly noticing our feet were beginning to hurt, we kept walking along. It was loud and could be heard from one end of town to the other. Someone was playing the Saxophone. We eventually found this tall friendly black man standing in front of Lionel Smith Ltd., a clothing store. Close by was a large jar that looked like it may have held pickles at one time. A sign had been placed on the side of the jar that read, "tips." We shared a little "small talk" with this nice gentleman and then he began to play on that shiny gold musical instrument, one of the finest arrangements I have ever heard of Amazing Grace. The sun was shining, the air was cool and all seemed right with the world at that moment......We were back home in Aiken, just taking a stroll.
