Scenes from Tangier

This weekend I had the privilege of visiting Tangier, which is Mathews County only cuter an island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.

The narrow streets barely accommodate golf carts, bikes, cats and the occasional pedestrian. Cars are prohibited unless you're part of the infrastructure which includes the policeman (who probably isn't very busy based on what I saw), rescue personnel (ditto), and the postal employee (who has to be the busiest person on the island since all essentials are shipped in by boat or airplane from the mainland). Otherwise, you walk or hop on your bike, scooter or golf cart to reach your destination, which is never more than walking distance anyway.

When I say essentials, I mean if you think you can just go down to the only local grocery store and buy a memory card for your camera? Not happenin'.

Have a hankering for hummus? On Tangier you can't even make it yourself without lots of planning and expense. Hummus requires chickpeas and tahini. You're not gonna find that in the store there.  Want to add some lemon? They may have one, but whatever you do don't count on it. My point is a craving, such as for hummus, can only be addressed by complex planning and logistics. The ingredients not carried by the store (which are likely lots in any given recipe) need to be planned out, thought through, ordered and delivered by boat or plane. It'll get there when it gets there.  In the mean time feel free to occupy yourself with something else other than your hankering for hummus. Such as the beautiful vistas and the inner sense of calm at the step back in time slowing down of time.

With so few cars on the island, I'm thinking this sign is a mistake. Instead of speed limit, this is likely the maximum pulse rate of any given resident. Nobody is in a hurry here.  Nobody appears overly worried, stressed, or concerned. About anything. At all.

There are as many speed demons as Tasmanian devils on Tangier.
It's such a refreshing pace.  And this is from someone who lives in Mathews County, for Pete's sake.  

Amen.

That's diesel smoke.
(I don't edit anything out of or into my pictures.)

I am in love with Tangier, except for the hummus issue which I'm willing to overlook overcome.

p.s. This is a ridiculously small sample of the nearly 400 pictures I took that day. Although this blog used to be about Mathews  is about my life in Mathews, this week it will be about my desire to live on my visit to Tangier.  The two places actually have lots in common. I'm convinced that should Mathews become too commercialized for me, I'd have no problem taking up shop on Tangier, provided it's still there when the time comes.