Still wasting away

 

August 1, 2013

I now have to confess that I have lost all track of time. If you do the Margaritaville thing long enough you get into a time warp where one day runs into the next, one cold beer ends with another, one meal ends and preparation for the next one begins. Relatives keep showing up, the camp fills up and spills into another one and keeping track of who is where and doing what becomes difficult. Well it would be difficult if one were to try to keep up but I have found that it is best not to try. Once the boil pot is lit, they all turn up in much the same way that cats show up when they hear the can opener running.

So my sister Belle and I would normally start the day with a check of the crab traps. Depending what we found in there would determine whether we would set the crab line or go for a walk. On most days we would go for a walk. We would generally spend this time going over how we had become so lucky. When Belle has some crabs in the net and her family around her it is hard to get the smile off of her face. Her husband, Lou, positively beams in this situation.

The happy Crab Queen

Some time during the day some of the guys would go off searching for the wily speckled trout using Lou’s boat. I would root for them because we needed the carcasses for crab bait. Niece Wendy has always been the family designated fish cleaner. Her and her husband Tommy make the perfect couple: Tommy catches fish and drinks beer and Wendy likes to clean the fish. A lot of guys would kill for a woman like that.

A division of labor.

Some time around lunch we would eat whatever we had caught that morning or what we had not eaten the night before. Then we would sit under the camp which sounds kind of weird. But the camp is built high off of the ground to protect it from high water and the underneath is a relatively cool patio. The kids would come down and play catch. The older folks would sit on the swings and visit. Some time during there Lou would go off to ‘check the windows’, which is code for taking a nap. Everyone would move slower so it became a good time to take pictures.

Three nieces-yes they really are sisters.

Great nephew Jace and his two favorite girls.

During some time in the afternoon we would gravitate to the beach and usually take turns running the crab lines whether the crab were biting or not. The day would fade away and another meal would appear.

Note: While we were always eating it seemed like we never went to the grocery store. Well we did but it was mostly for beer, ice and onions. Once I bought some shrimp off of one of the boats. The rest of what we ate, we caught.

After dinner some would play games and some would continue with telling stories about one another. All of my tales were absolutely true. I just have never let the facts stand in the way of a good story. People would drift off to bed and another perfect day would end.