Shopping In The Rain

I'm singing shopping in the rain, just shopping in the rain...

Well I had big plans for the weekend, back when the weatherman was saying there was a 20% chance of showers. Ha!  N. and I took off from school Friday for a couple of days away.  The plan was for me to do some shopping, him to go to the car show, us to visit Ocean City, him to get in some of those 10 required night driving hours, and both of us to go to the Outdoor Expo being held in Crisfield.  In the end that's not quite how it went, but we still had a good time.

Friday was spent thrift shopping our way to Ocean City, MD.  If you haven't gone to the Halo Ministries Thrift store in Salisbury, you should try it.  They often have good stuff, and their prices are reasonable.  Some of the things I got there this trip were a like new Nine West purse for $2 and a giant heavy (it weighs like 10 pounds) glass mixing bowl for $4.  Then I scored a large wall mirror for $15 at one of my favorite little antique shops - Rt 346 Emporium (sounds like a grand place, but in truth it's more like a shack - but that's OK) in Parsonsburg.    N. doesn't really enjoy my love of thrift stores (to put it mildly) but he is willing to help lift up stuff so I can search for buried treasures, and tote heavy objects up to the counter and then out to the car, so what more can I ask. Plus I think he's figured out if he helps me look for things I came in there after, or that he's seen me cart home in the past, the quicker he'll be able to get back on the road.  Noah drove all morning until we got close to downtown Ocean City, then traffic got so crazy I made him switch out with me.

After a bit of a parking spot search (shout out to the nice man that pulled out and gave us his spot - with money still left on the meter - when he saw us looking) we hit up the Ocean City boardwalk.  N. and I had a great pit beef and boardwalk fries lunch at Bull On The Beach (one of N's favorites) followed by a Kohr Brother's frozen custard.  We walked down to the inlet parking lot (which was closed off) for the Endless Summer Cruisin Car Show.  N. has a big interest in classic muscle cars, so this is something he really enjoys.  The sky had been fairly gray all day so we didn't think much of it (remember the weatherman said 20% chance of rain) but soon after getting there the sky opened up and it poured rain.  Many of the car owners packed it up and headed for cover.  Here are some pictures from the show, including one really interesting one of how the owners of one convertible improvised for the ride back to their hotel.

Chevy's 9/11 Tribute Truck.  The paint job on this was AMAZING!

The new Corvette.  Yes, please...

That's a nice Chevelle.  Down at the end of the row their was an orange one that was even better though.  Don't know why but I love an orange muscle car.  One of those new Dodge Challenger Hellcat editions in orange would be perfect!  I just need to find a second and third job...

The lot had been packed with row on row of classic cars.  Endless Summer Cruisin is a big annual event.  There were cars there with plates from all over the East coast.  Too bad the weather turned sour.  At this point some cars were already pulling out.  We kept on walking thinking our luck would hold out.  It didn't...

You are at the beach in your expensive convertible and it starts to rain.  What do you do?  Beach umbrella to the rescue!  Although I am not sure how well that worked riding down Coastal Highway.

Noah and his dream car.  At this point he is pointing and begging and reminding me that his 17th birthday AND Christmas are right around the corner.  And since I also like classic cars I can say that if I had a spare, oh, $19,000, I'd be really tempted.

We headed back to Salisbury for dinner and some more shopping (Hobby Lobby, Ross, & Michael's here I come!) but not before shopping for two of our favorite Ocean City treats - Fisher's Caramel Popcorn and Dolle's Salt Water Taffy! YUM!

Well, I think I am going to have to leave you at this point until tomorrow.  It was a long day back at school after a vacation and my housework (and homework) are calling.  Plus I think it's time for some caramel corn.  Thanks for reading my blog today, be sure to check back later!

Life on Tangier Island ... The High Tide Edition

Saturday, October 4th

Well, tide has been up even higher today than yesterday! Today I am on an island in the middle of an island, because it has gotten so deep that my road is pretty much cut off until it recedes some.  It's an island thing, and I've seen it quite a few times in my 25 years of living on Tangier.  It is not dangerously high - and my side of Canton (our neighborhood) is fairly high land, so my plan is to just ride it out and do some crafts.

Here's a look at my bead stash being unpacked, along with my breakfast, the ultra nutritious mini chocolate donut.    Hey, I have an excuse - tide has cut me off from the grocery store - and I am having to forage for food in my cabinets.  LOL

Have a look out the window from my crafting kitchen table.  I am keeping an eye on the tide in case I have to try to get our vehicles to higher land.  They should be OK, our land up by the house is pretty high itself. This looks bad - but it could be worse.

This is worse....pics from Hurricane Sandy when my house was completely surrounded, and water was up my steps.  

View from my front door.  This was scary because the tide came mostly from the west - which is unusual.  I almost never get any tide in my front yard, so to see it coming up my steps was a bit frightening.

View from my back door.  I had waves in my yard.  Not good.

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Day two - it was right in the middle of my post yesterday when our internet went out.  It didn't come back on again til late this morning, so this post will be a "two dayer".  No internet when you are stuck in your house is not a good thing.  Well, I guess it could be if you took advantage of it and did things like laundry and cleaning instead of being on line.  I did not.

Yesterday on facebook a friend who flies, Nancy Lewis, posted pictures of Tangier during high tide taken from the air. I asked her if I could share the picture and she kindly said yes.  This will give you a very good look at what was happening yesterday. Photo by Nancy Lewis:

See that road with two bridges leading off to the right that looks like it has chunks out of it?  That's the road to my house.  Yikes!  It is underwater is some places, but if you had to, you could still drive over it if you were careful (not in a golf cart though). This is Canton Road, and my neighborhood, Canton, would be just off to the right of this picture.  You can also see my school in this picture floating up at the top left. Ha Ha.

Those buildings at the top right that look like they really are floating are watermen's crab shanties built up on poles out in the harbor.  So, they are actually supposed to look that way - don't worry about them.

My friend Carol lives on the main section of the island and was able to go around and take some pictures yesterday while I was cut off.  She got a lot of great shots, but I'll just share a few.  The following photos are hers from yesterday, and were taken from facebook.  Photo credit to Carol Pruitt Moore:

Well, let's look at the bright side.  They won't have to go far to get their catch of the day.

Wading to get on the boat.  This is why I didn't get to go off to Salisbury yesterday and spend my Michael's 25% off Friends & Family coupon.  :(

The bridge situation.  Here is why most of West Ridge and Canton were cut off from Main Ridge yesterday.  
All above photos by Carol Moore.

Now, back to me.  Have a peek at some of the things I worked on while I was in the house yesterday.  I worked on some jewelry, but mostly I did more beaded ornaments.  

I also wanted to share a picture of one of the silver trays I turned into a mini chalkboard. This one was a baby shower gift for a former student of mine. Congrats, Carrie!

I am SO glad to have the internet back on!  But, I've got lots to do today, so bye for now.  I hope you are enjoying the blog, please feel free to leave a comment below.

So....I Think I'll Start A Blog

Sittin On My Dock Of The Bay

Here is a picture to get us started.  It will be the first of MANY.  There is a lot I want to share with you and I love taking pictures! I am a wife, mother, and middle school teacher. I think I happen to live in a pretty interesting place, Tangier Island, on Virginia's Eastern Shore.  This is a picture of my backyard and my little dock of the bay.  Besides photography, I like up-cycling furniture and craft projects, home makeovers, jewelry making and more.  I am always searching the internet for, or working on, some project or another. After seeing my posts on facebook, a friend of mine said, "I don't know why you don't have a blog".  So, here we are....

A Little About Me and Tangier Island

Hi, I'm Hope and I was born and raised in Marion, MD, which in on Maryland's eastern shore.  I have lived my whole life (all 48 - gasp! - years of it) around the Chesapeake Bay.  After college I accepted a job on Tangier Island, Virginia.  From Marion, Tangier is only about 20 miles "as the crow flies" but a whole world away.  You see Tangier is in the Chesapeake Bay and I mean that literally.  Tangier is a small island only reachable by boat or plane about 14 miles out from the nearest port of Crisfield, Maryland (right down the road from Marion).  I had only been here a few times before I moved, although I knew some people from Tangier and had gone to school with students from neighboring Smith Island, MD.  Unlike Smith Island, Tangier has it's own K-12 school program, so students never attend school on the mainland.  (I would like to tell you more about Tangier and Tangier Combined School in future posts.)  Soon after moving and beginning my teaching career, I met and married my husband (R.), and in 1997 along came my son (N.)....

 (No, this in not my                                                                                                                                 son in 1997 - though he did 

                                                                                                 weight 10 pounds.  lol)

People have told me not to use real names on a blog, so for now I have put their initial.  But I know I am going to forget to keep doing that.  

To help you get some idea of where exactly I live, here is Tangier on a map.  On the right side is the eastern shore of Maryland at the top and the eastern shore of Virginia at the bottom.  Along with Delaware, these make up the Delmarva peninsula.  In the center of the map is Chesapeake Bay.  I have lived all my life in this area.

This is a picture showing an overhead view of the island from Google Image Search and airphotona.com.

And here is a picture I took of the main section of Tangier from the air.  Most residents live on three raised areas call "ridges".  At the bottom is West Ridge, in the middle in Main Ridge, and on the top of the picture is Canton.

I live in the Canton section at the top.  The three sections of Tangier are connected to each other by bridges. Bicycles, golf carts, and skiffs are our main modes of transportation.

Have I Got You Interested Yet?

I hope so, then you'll want to check back to see more of my blog. My plan is to use this blog to share some of the projects I have completed or am working on, some other crafters and bloggers I follow, and inspiration pages of things I'd like to try.  But I wanted to give you a little background information first. Please bear with me, I'm new to blogging! As I close out today, here's a final shot from my dock of the bay....