Notes While Traveling in Eastern NC

I got up early yesterday. I had an appointment down on the Coast of North Carolina at 11:00AM and another on the South Carolina coast around 2:30ish. The SC appointment was with my sister Etta and her husband Al.

I left the house around 7:30. By 8:00 Gigi was calling.

Gigi told me that Haley the youngest Border Collie had made a protest dump in the dining room.

Haley gets mad when I leave early without giving her enough attention. Haley then imposes self punishment on herself by immediately going to her kennel for a time of reflection. This makes us even madder than if she just did the dump then denied it. If she is smart enough to know she did a bad thing then why is she smart enough to know she is about to do a bad thing and tell us so she can go out to take a dump?

In further news Millie the cat had puked in several places.

How is it that big dump trucks with no mud flaps, or license tags can claim to release themselves of liability by posting a sign on the back of their truck that says’ “Not liable for any rocks that may break your windshield. Stay back 200 feet”.

What would happen if one passed me and then clearly came within the 200 foot unilateral treaty zone and sprayed me with rocks? I think I would have a case.

I passed two places that wanted “clean fill dirt”. This amazes me that you can put up a homemade sign requesting dirt and folks from all over will give you thousands of yards of dirt thereby potentially increasing the value of you property.

I have never been in the position where I needed a lot of dirt nor needed to get rid of a lot of dirt.

We had lunch in Calabash. Calabash used to be a little coastal fishing community. Eventually someone opened a seafood restaurant, then another, then another and so on.

What used to be a quaint little village is now a mile of restaurants claiming to be the original restaurant.

A new place called the Grapevine made no such claim.

It is an unwritten law in Calabash that the menu must be simple and must include fried seafood, hushpuppies, slaw, and sweet iced tea. Only slight variations of this standard are acceptable to a natural Southerner.

Well this place was different. They had an extensive wine menu. Wine with greasy fried seafood? Okay that’s new. I can’t exactly think of the paring. Maybe beer, but wine?

Then to top it off, not a hushpuppy in site! This is blasphemy. Hushpuppies are an absolute requirement for any Southern fried seafood dinner anywhere and especially Calabash. You could even you you leave off someting else like the slaw. People rarely eat the slaw. You just expect slaw. But don't take away my hushpuppies!

The Grapevine is not the place to go for a traditional Calabash lunch or dinner. The paring of a bar, wine, fried seafood is strange. The slaw was a bit funky too.

The Grapevine was neither elegant nor folksy. Please don’t jazz up what doesn’t need to be jazzed up. Please!

The Grapevine - Calabash

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