Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Tour de Mathews: Part III

Field down Redart



After getting caught trespassing a lovely visit at Beachland, my friend Brooks and I drove down to Redart.






High on my list of things to show him were boats, workboats in particular.






Brooks has a deep interest in workboats and found my blog googling workboat images. Over the course of many months we became friends.

BTW, some of my very best friends have come from this insane inane little blog, which is probably one of the main reasons I keep doing it.




CB Mother and Brooks discussing quantum physics.
No, really. They were.
Seriously. You can't make this stuff up.



Anyway, on the last night of The Tour, Brooks came over for dinner with my parents.  He was eager to meet my mother because he's a fan of her blog.




Although my  mother just as easily could have been striking a pose,
in fact she was holding her hair because of the strong winds.


After standing over a charcoal grill for a couple of days hours, I served up some hickory-infused chicken at a table with a grand view of Queens Creek.

My personal philosophy as of the past five or so years is that every day is a special occasion, so every night that the Chesapeake Bay Children and I sit down to dinner together, I light candles.

Even if it is just the three of us (and it almost always is), the candles are lit come supper time. Just ask them, they'll tell you so.

Why wait for a special occasion when that special occasion is now?

Anyway, the two candles I normally light every night were a little raggedy, so I took two votives and stuck them in lovely little seascape-decorated holders. Because they were votives (i.e. doomed to die out after an hour or two), I didn't bother blowing them out after dinner was over because, why?

I'll tell you why.

We all adjourned to the back deck. My parents sat facing the creek.  I sat to their side drinking wine .  Much to my dismay, Brooks sat facing my parents which meant he was facing the house, the kitchen and the table.

I say much to my dismay because in the bizarre little world I live in, everyone should be facing the water, absorbing its magical healing properties.  Facing my dirty, cluttered house is anything but relaxing, in my opinion.

But never mind my little world, which happens to be filled not only with special occasions every evening at supper but  also catastrophes mishaps. One or two, anyway.

No, it was a good thing Brooks was facing the table, because one minute we my mother and he were discussing quantum physics; the next minute he says, casually, "Wait.  Is something on fire?"

Indeed something was.

One of those votives somehow or another (and how this happened will never be known) not only caught the holder on fire, but the holder seemed very content and amenable to going up in flames to the point of providing a pyrotechnics show for the neighbors across the creek catching the table on fire.

When I heard the word fire, I did not panic.  These things happen.  Believe it or not, I actually tried to blow the fire out.  It should come as no surprise that the fire laughed at me to the point of hysterics.

Someone grabbed a tea towel and smacked it down.

The tea towel is scorched.

A layer of wood is seared from my table.

One cute votive holder with a seascape motif is disintegrated.

And a good time was had by all.

The End.



Taken from New Point Campground, where my friend stayed this weekend.
This was before the fire, as a point of reference.
The calm before the fire, if you will.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my...a reasonable guess about the origin of the votive fire would point to the materials used in the votive holder itself.
A much more fun guess would posit that you have a little poltergeist that absolutely HATES discussions about quantum physics, and diverted conversation away from the subject the only way it could.
At any rate, I think a dinner on Queens Creek in the company of your family sounds like a treat, after dinner drama notwithstanding.
LLC

deborah said...

I do like your philosophy that every day is special...so true, so true!
The dinner with 'Brooks' and your parents had to be a very fine occasion, excepting the fire!
Take care and try to have a nice day!

Anonymous said...

Wow, dinner AND a show! You are indeed the hostess with the mostess. Wish we had thought to discuss quantum physics with your mom, I'll bet she had some interesting things to say on the subject.

Love the philosophy that every meal is special and deserves candles. So true.

--Betsy

Waterman JP said...

Glad to hear you didn't panic when you heard rhe word fire. You are very calm,cool and collective in the events that life has to throw at you each and every day,very strong lady.

New Point Campground is a beautiful place indeed.Its appearance has changed quite a bit over the past decades due to the increase of tropical storms and hurricanes in the area. Actually my old home place lies within the boundaries of this property.This a separate parcel of land. The campgrouud was built around the old home place.It too has survived numerous storms.It lies on the Chesapeake Bay. Speaking of the old home place,my youngest daughter said to me a few years back. You know daddy,I will one day have that old home place raised and moved to a safer location.This way a part of our family hertiage will be preserved,because the commercial fishing/crabbing industry is destined to extinction. Kids gotta love them

Meg McCormick said...

I had a similar experience to a much lesser degree... Curt and I were hosting dinner for friends and in the hubbub of setting or clearing the dining room table, somehow a piece of glowing wick from the candle landed on one of the placemats. (I'm using the passive voice because I no longer remember how it happened and, although I'm pretty sure my husband was responsible, I don't remember for certain. In fact, he might have a different version of this story.) So we're going about our business in the kitchen and I smell THAT SMELL. "Is something burning?" Uh, yeah, the placemat had begun to smolder and there is now a dark spot on one of my dining room table boards. Good thing we were nearby and coherent / alert enough to have caught it before my antique table burned any further.

Curt always says, "Now that's a fire!" So I love your tag on this one.

Maria_NJ said...

When I looked at the picture of CBW Mom and she had her arm behind her head one word came into my head...Vogue! you Vogue girl!!


your back yard is a! maz! ing! when I grow up I want water in my back yard too!

sound like a nice weekend was had...and the fire? chit happens...

Mental P Mama said...

Wait. What? I am so jealous of that Brooks guy....

Jamie said...

Should I bring a fire extinguisher with me if we manage to meet up this weekend? I'm just thinking about the make shift bonfire where we threw shiny wrapping paper in wondering if it would create noxious fumes.

Daryl said...

isit bad or mean that I laughed at the image/thought of you blowing out the fire? now I know what to get you as a gift .. a fire extinguisher .. its what every candle lighting woman needs.

Dghawk said...

Whoa! Sounds like karma to me. Brooks is probably the type of person who likes to see the people he is talking to, so when your parents sat facing the water, he sat facing them, not necessasarily to view your house. But thank the good Lord he did. Good karma indeed. Sounds like you had a wonderful day full of adventures.

Country Girl said...

I am so glad he was facing the house. And hey, Betsy is funny. Dinner AND a show!

Glad it was over quickly.

Kay L. Davies said...

I'd have screamed. But I've survived setting myself on fire twice (accidentally, please, I'm no monk).
Great story, and so glad you made the visit memorable for your friend.
K