An evening of good food, good company, good fun.....................and flower eating

 

 

As Americans have a lot of these open air free entertainment events they arrive extremely well prepared to comfortably endure the time the event runs for by bringing their own fold up chairs. Given that these items are sold in just about every hardware and major supermarket chain it's amazing as to how many designs exist for these canvas creations. It was great fun seeing those spectators that had consumed rather too much beer for their brain to fully function when trying to re-fold the chairs to pack back in the car. One very frustrated chair folder chappy, having fumbled for ten minutes with two chairs, succeeded with neither, grabbed the tangled mass of aluminium and canvas and stomped off out of the grounds presumably to fold them properly in the privacy of his garage. You could say perhaps they had been somewhat over-engineered. He certainly would! But it was great entertainment value. Of course without any chairs, folding or otherwise we stood for a couple of hours until our backs ached.

 

We were envious when one solid looking gentleman stumbled from the direction of the bar and collapsed heavily into the chair in front of us - probably the chair's ultimate test of strength. His posterior stopped just short of ground zero as the canvas stretched to the limit. He continued to quaff the remains of a large beer whilst tapping his feet in time with the music. A while later a man arrived and tapped him tentatively on the shoulder and asked if he could possibly have his chair back as he was leaving. It took a while for the large man to struggle out of the chair which was creaking and groaning under his considerable weight much to the dismay of it's owner. Maybe we should have just grabbed a couple of empty chairs ourselves for a while. Laws on serving alcohol in North Carolina are very strict and the drinking age is 21. At events outdoors the bar staff have to issue you with a wrist band to indicate you are above the drinking age, and when the 'Admiral' popped over to the bar to pick up another couple of tins the bar attendant had to deliver Skip's can personally to him - the 'Admiral' was not allowed to take it herself. That's the law here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

 

   

 

On several occasions we've attended a Friday evening get-together in a near-by marina where friends have their boats moored. After a long week of boat chores they meet up to jaw, jam and have a few beers and nibbles and let their hair down.

 

          

        Loads of fun...............                                                    ......and even some ad hoc dancing (is there such a thing?)

 

Around the time of 'Skip's' Birthday some kind friends also made two delicious Birthday cakes to share. This celebration was attended by about sixteen people and five dogs making it quite raucous at times. But when a impromptu jam session broke out on two guitars the dogs all settled down and fell asleep for a while.

 

    

 

As we had not been out for a meal by ourselves since arriving we celebrated with a meal at M&M's Restaurant just down the road from the marina. The Birthday Boy ordered a big steak with potatoes and spinach. We started with sharing a starter of Buffalo Shrimp. Lots of foods these days have 'Buffalo' as a precursor to the food item - we've never ordered any of them. But Buffalo Shrimp was a concern as it would seem to indicate a type of 'surf 'n turf' dish which, for the 'Admiral', would certainly not do!  As a little jest we asked for the Buffalo Shrimp without the Buffalo which brought about a polite chuckle from the waiter before heading off to the kitchen no doubt muttering under his breath about crass British humour. We needn't of worried though as 'Buffalo' indicates the strength, i.e heat, of the sauce surrounding the shrimp which in this case had us both gasping for jugs of water with Skip fighting off hiccups as no doubt the kitchen staff were doubled up laughing behind the kitchen door. We'll know next time. But actually they weren't that bad at all after burning a route down the throat.

 

         

 

 

and finally to end this playtime blog... some interesting observations from our wanderings.....

 

          

 

         

 

         

 

         

        A cold front approaches from the northwest late afternoon with incredible rays of sunlight bursting from behind the cloud

 

    

        and views of our marina location

 

                                                          

   and finally, finally... we loved the description on this package containing a Scotchbrite type pad (bought in Mexico) - we'll just use it for cleaning purposes if you don't mind.....................