Packing

I’m getting ready to go on a trip, just me and a girlfriend actually, and we’re going to New York City. I should totally be packing right now, but this is part of my strategy for packing for a trip. First, I get the suitcase and take all the leftover stuff from the last trip out of it. Then I go look into my closet. Then I go look at the suitcase.

Then I go downstairs and have some pizza. Then go to the washer and see if it’s done yet. Then back up to stare at the suitcase some more. Then, I come downstairs and get on the computer to check New York weather. Then, I get distracted and go play on Facebook for a minute, which turns into longer. Then I get up and go stare at my still empty suitcase and start putting t-xhirts and pants in it. Then I look in and realize that all my good fitting clothes are black, white, or gray. And I think that this is terrible, I will look like I’m going to a funeral, and then I remember that in New York, black is the new black. Then I dig in my drawer for some colorful shirts.

Then I go put the laundry in the dryer and realize I have a blue shirt, but it needs hemming, so I go into the sewing room and sew for a while. (3 shirts, one nightgown.) Then I go throw the nightgown into the dryer to get the lint off it. Back upstairs, stare into my suitcase. Now there is black, gray, white, blue and one bright green t-shirt. Then I realize I haven’t even started with shoes. I decide to post on my blog.

It goes on like this for a long time… LOL I expect to get to bed about 2 hours before I have to get up. Every time I promise myself I won’t do it again… I make myself laugh. ^_^

I don’t know, do I need the flippers?

Paradise – November PaD, day 22

Happy Thanksgiving, at least to those of you who celebrate it!

Our prompt today is to write a poem about paradise. I’ve written two, one is a haiku and one is a bit longer!

***

Paradise

Good book, comfy chair,
Stormy day, fire burning,
my love beside me.

***

To Go Back in Time

What I wish is to go
back to the time when
you were still alive.

Back to carefree
summer days
and long starlit nights
and deep, yet somehow
still carefree
talks with you.

I would ask you about
your childhood,
back around the turn of the century
and you would tell me
about the homestead in Missouri
and about the train ride to Oregon
when you were just a girl.

You would show me pictures
tintypes and old-fashioned photos
of family members, and you would
list their names until I began to
recognize them for myself.

Here was your brother Alvin,
who died in the Great War.
He was only 21 when he died, back in 1919.

Here was your father,
eyes blazing, full beard, and
unbelievably
the father of twenty-two children.
(After his first wife died,
he married your mother, and she had
twelve more children.)

And pictures of you and your mother
and your daughter, my grandmother.

It was strange how your eyes,
her eyes,
my mother’s eyes,
all looked like
the same eyes.

Oh, how I miss you.
It would be paradise
to see you again.

And now that I think about it,
it probably will be paradise
where I see you again.

 

Southern Cooking, Part III

After visiting Myrtle Beach we had no recourse but to drive through state highways in South Carolina to get back to Charlotte, North Carolina, in order to leave from Charlotte the next day. It wasn’t that far in miles, but it was endless in traffic. I am surprised there are no interstates that go to Myrtle Beach, but perhaps that is part of the charm? We drove forever at slow-traffic speeds in the tree tunnels (see previous post for reference) and we weary travelers when we made it back to the hotel that evening.

But we still had to eat and we went (on the advice of the hotel clerk, Ferlandos) to a soul food place called “LuWan’s.”

La’Wan’s Soul Food, Charlotte, NC

The waiter was hilarious, he loved talking, and when I told him I was going to post the food on my blog, he insisted in holding up my dinner for me to take the picture. (I had catfish, collards, and mashed potatoes and gravy.)

Mmm, yummy catfish!

T had whitefish, and okra instead of collards. (The collards were PERFECT, by the way!! Just a little spicy and a little bacony and a little sweet. Yum!)

Whitefish, Okra, soul food is fantastic!

T likes okra much better than fried pickles. ^_^ He says it doesn’t need any sauce to make it palatable, but I just say ewww, okra is slimy. :p

And for one last picture, a picture of a boat we saw in Georgetown, SC. Its name was funny, to me at least.

Not such a bad “Plan B” I’m thinking

 

Myrtle Beach, SC

Our last day in the south was spent on Myrtle Beach. It was really hard to find a place to even SEE the beach, there were so many trees and so many beach homes. It was kind of disappointing because I was raised in California and it was always easy to see the ocean. (We called the highways “tree tunnels” because though we LIKED the trees, that was not all we wanted to see.)

Example of the “tree tunnel”

Turtle Safety Tips (click to enbiggen)

So we drove a long time and finally found a public beach. I loved the little sign we found at the beach entrance:

Beach entrance

 

 

 

 

We took a long walk (I had a hat and sunscreen, of course). There were many shells, I picked up a lot of them! (There were different shells than on the west coast, which was cool.)

Shells (and a couple of toes)

One other thing I found in the surf: a wet bee. I picked him up with my shoe to let him dry off, and by the time we were done with our walk, he was free to fly away.

Half-drowned bee

He seemed very happy to be out of the brine. And that way some little kid wouldn’t accidentally step on him and get stung.

It was nice to be on the beach, but I am not a person who wants to bake in the sun—I just fry, burn, peel, repeat—so we left not long after the bee rescue escapade. Here is one last pic of the surf. It was a beautiful day.

Myrtle Beach

Southern Cooking, Part II

Friday we drove from Columbia, SC through Charleston, and saw many bridges – here is one photo because it looks kind of cool:

Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, Charleston, S.C.

It was pretty from a distance, and also really cool driving under it. The point, of course, was to travel south east from Charleston so we could go to Myrtle Beach. I had a yen to dip my toes in the Atlantic…

Toes in the sand of Myrtle Beach

…which I did.

But in the meantime, we had to drive to Myrtle beach along I-17 from Atlanta. And along the way we stopped at the “SeeWee.”

SeeWee Restaurant

SeeWee – Bikers Welcome! ^_^

I could smell the ocean (though couldn’t see it) so wanted seafood. We ordered Stone crab legs. And I entered heaven for a little while. (You can also see collard greens in the little bowl. They were good, though a little too salty.)

Stone Crab Claws at the SeeWee

This was followed by Key lime pie. Of course, this was the main meal that day…I think we had PBJs for supper.

Key Lime Pie at the SeeWee

I will have more food in a post soon, and an update dedicated to my son’s Army graduation. ^_^ Still sorting pictures!!!

Charlotte, North Carolina

Downtown Charlotte, NC

Still rainy weather, but isn’t this pretty? ^_^ I love the clouds, we never get nice rain like this in Arizona. ^_^

Crosswalks outside the NASCAR Hall of Fame

The NASCAR Hall of Fame is in downtown Charlotte – aren’t the crosswalks cool?  (See, they’re checkered, like a checkered flag!!)

Old, old race car

We spent hours at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. I watch with T, but he’s the real fan, as he pointed out to me when I said, no, I would not be willing to try out all the pit crew stations to see which one I’d be best at. ^_^ (I have a suspicion I’d really be best at being team mom – baking cookies and putting on bandaids.)

This was my favorite car. Apparently NASCAR got started because bootleggers needed fast cars to escape police during the prohibition! Who knew? Anyway, off to sleep!

Tomorrow: more adventures!

Southern Cooking

Went to Sauceman’s BBQ in Charlotte last night for dinner. I had the Shrimp and Grits, T had a bbq sandwich and fried pickles. (Okay, he didn’t pick those, I urged them on him because it sounded weird and fun.)

Here are some pics:

Shrimp & Grits at Sauceman’s BBQ in Charlotte, NC

I like grits, but these were heavenly! The texture was creamy and delicious. The only thing I didn’t like was that the shrimps were too salty. I liked the cajun spices on them, but there was just too much salt. Thankfully, the cheesy grits helped compensate for the salt. Yum.

Fried Pickles; Sauceman’s BBQ, Charlotte, NC

The fried pickles were good by themselves, if a little harsh. But once they were dipped in the ranch dressing, it was an explosion of flavor. Even T got to like them after he dipped in the ranch dressing.

Sauceman’s BBQ, Charlotte, NC

Sorry for the blurriness of this picture – it was a cell phone. My REAL camera is charged now!! Hopefully any more pictures will be much better.

And yes, it was rainy when we arrived. It is rainy as I type this in our hotel room in Charlotte. We hear the weather will be clearing up a little later in the week.

Until next time!

Stray Thoughts and Random Ramblings about Travel

I am on my back-up computer (i.e., oooolllld  laptop) instead of my regular one because the regular one stopped working. It is out for repairs. In the meantime, I am trying to use this old one, and I keep getting messages that my disk space is low, and no matter how much I uninstall, I keep getting that message. I’ve deleted everything not necessary for the running of the computer, and still it says it has low disk space. *sigh*

I am going to be in the South this week. Beginning Monday I’ll be in various locales including Charlotte, NC, and Columbia, SC. My son is graduating from the Army! Of course, I’m not looking forward to the predations of the TSA, or to the cramped coach seats the airlines give one. Airline travel sure has changed. They only offer meals if you pay for them now. Once I bought a happy meal on the concourse right before I got on the plane, and I wished I’d gotten a lot more french fries to hand to the people giving me evil looks. But honestly, a happy meal was much more tasty than the dry boxes of crackers and processed cheese and candy that the airlines offer.  And of course, one cannot just bring a PB&J from home anymore because the TSA assumes it’s something terrible rather than just lunch.

I’m looking forward to being in the south even though I know it will be dreadfully humid. I am hoping to put my toes in some salt water at some point. I hear Charleston is beautiful, so I was thinking about going there, and also, Savannah, because that is where Paula Deen’s restaurant is!! I would love to taste her food!!

Myrtle Beach

I have been looking at various attractions in the areas I know I’ll be in, and so far I’ve found an aviation museum, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and the Mint Museum (in Charlotte) and in Columbia, well, the Army base of course, for family day and for the actual graduation, and I read about a local canoe/kayak rental agency that offers tours of the rivers in Columbia. (Imagine, rivers with WATER in them!!!)*

If any of you’all have any suggestions, please comment and let me know them. I’ll have two “free” days, though the last free day will partly be traveling back to Charlotte to catch the plane home.

I will try to  post pictures, but that may have to wait until I have a better computer. (I know, first world problems, right?)  I’m taking this crap-top with me, so I will at least try to blog my adventures, and (of course) Wednesday Poetry!!

* We live in Arizona — rivers generally don’t have water in them here. Except for the Salt river where people go tubing and stuff, but other than that, no water.

Camp Meeting

Another try at yesterday’s prompt – “Camping.”

Camp Meeting

The summer I was twelve
I stayed with my father’s mother,
whose husband had recently
passed.

“Tent Cabin” (Which is wholly different than a cabin tent.)

She needed the company
and someone to take care of
and I needed to learn
compassion.

She was a lovely, dear woman,
Grandma Hart,
and she was a vegetarian,
so I became one, too,
all summer.

She would go to her church
revival “Camp Meetings”
every summer,
so this summer
I went too.

She rented a tent cabin,
which was a wooden frame
with a canvas roof.

Wow! I wonder if this is really what went on!

It was mostly fun,
but I discovered that
although I liked vegetables,
I loathed vegetarian food.

At camp meeting we sang songs
for hours it seemed,
and us youngsters
got to do craft after craft
while the adults prayed
and worshiped
in the revival tents.

And by the end of the summer,
she petitioned my mother
to let me stay full time
which was slightly
gratifying,
but also slightly
horrifying
because that meant I would
never get to have
a hamburger
or chicken
or corned beef and cabbage
or bacon
ever again.

My mother said “no.”
I talked grandma into getting
a dog
instead.

 

***

As an addendum, a question: Just what is the deal with fake meat that vegetarians are always eating. If they don’t want to eat meat, they why eat fake meat? This is something I have never figured out.