November 12, 2007

I guess you realized I haven’t had internet service for a few days. I have been typing my blog text on Word Perfect and then copying when I have access. So you will see a couple of blogs all at once but with different dates.

Yesterday, we arrived in Eastern NC, Oriental on the Neuse river. I came here many years ago on a boat passing through, loved the area and came back in ‘89 to spend the winters. We rented a condo on Smith Creek, an estuary of the Neuse. I still have a few friends here in the area. I pull into the only gated community in Oriental, the mini-storage units. I have full hook up here and the rate just jumped up to equal some of the fanciest campgrounds on the East Coast so I don’t know how long I will be coming here in the future. There is nothing else around so they can charge pretty much what they want. I am here to visit with my friend Judi. I am having Thanksgiving dinner with her. I spotted a new seafood company today on the docks. I am going to make scalloped oysters for us. This is the freshest and best seafood anywhere. I will post pictures of the docks with the fishing fleet in. Capt. Garland whose boat was here back in the 80's when my grandson’s were here to visit and they fell into the magic generated by an 80' trawler. He has a different boat but still going strong. I hope the kids get to see these pictures.

I spent the night that I left Richmond and the Cummins Atlantic repair shop at an Amoco truck stop just outside of Emporia off I 95. I never got out of the yard until after 4 p.m. by the time I got the car hooked on and the coach ready to roll. I was nervous about the dwindling light so I pulled into the long line up at the truck stop about 5:15 p.m. It was comforting to be surrounded by the “big dogs” but they are very noisey. We slept but were up early the next morning. The drive from there was only 200 miles. I was exhausted when I reached Oriental. I still had a car full of stuff to unload, mail to go through and a smelly coach to deal with. Everything in this coach smelled like diesel fuel. I aired and smudged and then aired and smudged again. We were in bed early last night and slept in this morning. I went for a bike ride around town. Things have changed a lot. I stopped for coffee at the Bean, took pictures of the marina and the “Oriental Dragon” which floats permanently on the pond in the center of town.

The story goes that Oriental got its name from the masthead of a ship wreck off the outer banks. The young bride of the town’s founder picked up a piece of wood with the ships name on it and decided to suggest Oriental for the name of the small fishing village where pirates supposedly hid themselves and their bounty during the days of piracy off the coast of NC. The town is represented by the image of the Dragon. Therefore, the dragon in the pond and the parading of a huge paper mache dragon through the streets on New Year’s Eve. The paper dragon is supported underneath by numerous human bodies of various sizes to give the dragon the shape.

Before I left Richmond, I took several old 8 mm tapes to a videographer to be converted to dvds. I have been viewing them since I arrived here. The images have made me laugh and made me cry. There are so many memories of the grandchildren as infants and toddlers as well as pictures of my former life. Very poignant indeed.

More the reason to treasure the moments you have now.