Friday, July 03, 2009

Floats & Clams

I decided to get a head start on our 4th of July float yesterday afternoon (most years we put it all together on the morning of the 4th). I gathered the cardboard, box cutter knife, magic marker, & spray paint...and got to work. By 4 pm I realized I'd better put everything away and start opening the clams I had gathered the day before. There were fewer than three dozen, but they were just the right size for appetizers...clams on the half shell, topped with bacon, a little white wine, & Parmesan cheese. Amy & David & Lachlan came over, and we turned on the mini lights on the back porch. Lou Ann put bottles of beer in a bucket of ice and arranged crackers on a big plate. When I brought the appetizers out of the oven we settled down in comfortable chairs and savored each tasty clam.

I thought I might go back to working on the float, but we decided to join friends on a sunset cruise on the schooner Windfall instead. We never even fixed dinner.

I'll finish the float today (or tomorrow).

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is the second half of my father's short journal. I call it Remembering Growing up on Ocracoke. You can read it here.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:39 AM

    Is the radio station participating in the parade?? If they were to broadcast patriotic marching band music and everyone brought a portable radio and tuned in to the station --then there would be patriotic music along the parade route that is if they turn up the volume a bit but you did not need me to remind you of that--- now I do believe this has been done before in the bedroom community outside Lake Wobegon

    ReplyDelete
  2. Debbie Leonard7:49 PM

    My daughter and I were on the schooner that evening too!

    We just got home today after camping for 10 days at the National Park campground. We stopped in your store a couple of times (on Sundays, after church) and really enjoyed (mostly) looking at the beautiful crafts there.

    We had a great time up until Saturday, when we found out about the tragedy, but still it was good to be able to be part of the community in grieving for those lost.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Debbie, I hope when you say you "really enjoyed (mostly) looking at the beautiful crafts...." that you meant you were mostly looking (but perhaps made a purchase), not that your looking was mostly (but not entirely) enjoyable. I comment only in case someone unfamiliar with Ocracoke & Village Craftsmen might misunderstand.

    By the way, thank you for understanding that Ocracoke grieves for the workers lost in the explosion. Tragedies here impact the entire community in ways that people in larger cities may not always fully appreciate.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Debbie Leonard7:07 PM

    Oops...when I said that I enjoyed mostly looking, I meant that I didn't buy much, but not because I wouldn't have wanted to! I truly mean it when I say that Village Crafts is at the very top of the Ocracoke shops. I haven't been in all of them, but in the past few years of visiting, I have been in most and you all consistently have excellent items.

    I do understand about the impact that tragedies and misfortunes have on the people of Ocracoke...the sense of community is one of the things that keeps me returning to Ocracoke for vacations. You all have something special there.

    ReplyDelete