My apologies for not posting a journal entry for three days in a row. Among other things, we've had more computer and internet access issues (finally resolved).
If you only visit Ocracoke occasionally you may see the island as a wonderfully laid back and relaxing place to be (and it is!), but really and truly it is different if you live here year 'round. We would all like to be having a 12 month vacation but it's not exactly like that.
A lot has been going on here this week -- too much to take it all in actually. School graduation was this weekend. Seven seniors donned cap and gown to receive their diplomas. Afterwards one of the senior's parents hosted a festive party at the Berkeley Center. Needing a quieter evening, Lou Ann and I chose instead to sit on the dock at the Jolly Roger, share a meal, and listen to guitarist Martin Garrish entertain us.
Sixteen participants in Donald & Merle Davis' storytelling workshop spent Monday evening at our home enjoying fig cake and strawberries, and listening to stories and history of Ocracoke.
In between work and community activities, family and friends' lunch & dinner visits, and attending to other practical matters (like cutting the grass, repairing bicycles, and, oh yes, paying bills) a number of visitors make their way onto our front porch.
Over the weekend Craig & Betty Sue Garrish were back home for a visit and they stopped by to say hello. Betty Sue had lived in my house when she was a teenager and was amazed at the transformation. We chatted about old times, children, and grandchildren. Craig and Betty Sue's daughter, Ashley, is in college in Boone, NC, studying chemistry and criminology. Betty Sue mentioned that Ashley had had a class in Qualitative Analysis.
Of course, none of us knew what the heck Qualitative Analysis was. But we did remark on how dramatically life can change in just a few generations. Our children are studying for college degrees, even Ph.D.'s and we are discussing their progress on the porch of a house built by and lived in by simple folks of a bygone era who may not even have been able to read. Not that their lives were any less rich or meaningful (or vice versa, for that matter) -- just that times have changed and life is definitely different.
Maybe it was Quantitative Analysis. I certainly don't know.
.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It has nothing to do ith qualitative analysis, but rather with fig cake. This was mentioned in the journal entry. I first tasted it on Ocracoke, got a recipe and returned to Raleigh. I bake it and give it to special people. No one yet has not liked it and both mena and women ask for the recipe. We grow figs here too. Not wild ones, but figs all the same.
ReplyDeleteHello, my name is Carlos Dorado and i was an exchange student in Ocrakoke Island back in 1989-1989. My host parents during that period were Craig and Betty Sue Garrish. I lost all contact with them a few year ego and i´m desperate to write them or call them on the phone. Please if anyone knows their address, telephone number o email please write me back. My emails are: cdorado@dnp.gov.co or harcan50@gmail.com;
ReplyDelete