Category: Little Free Library

Just Can’t Get There.

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Day before yesterday I was suffering from mild diarrhea so I decided not to try and go to Wegman’s in Raleigh. Yesterday, I was feeling much better and headed up to Raleigh again. Not sure why, but this time I didn’t take my shortcut, bypassing Bunnlevel, but went through the small town. Not actually sure I would call it a town. It does have a Post Office, Fire Department, a Dollar General and a church, but not much else. 45 miles per hour, and zip you’re through it.

My crass joke is based upon the simple observation of “Why won’t they ever build a high school in Bunnlevel?” And the reply is, “Because they would have to call it Ass Hole High.” If you’re from Bunnlevel, I’m pretty sure that’s an offensive joke, but as far as humor goes, it’s “spot on.”

I got to Lillington and decided to drive by the junk store. It was open and I went to a small parking lot nearby and walked back to it. I like many of the things they have. Unlike some junk stores, I find interesting things there, and I’ve bought items in the past. I bought a set of Lennox glasses once and there must have been at least 10 in the set because I think I kept four of them and gave six away. I ended up buying an “Azalea Coast” cook book for $4 plus tax. This cookbook didn’t fit my standard. No colorful pictures, but there were recipes from Wilmington, North Carolina and the nearby region of Pender, Hanover, and Brunswick Counties.

After Lillington I headed up and dropped off a couple of books at a Little Lending Library that I’ve visited before. This is the one where I once left a book that had some personal items in it. The book had an old driver’s license, a photo of a relative’s child, and maybe a Christmas card. The owner of the LLL returned these items to me via the U.S. Postal Service. But what do you expect from someone that leaves those types of personal items in a book? I didn’t open the letter that the person sent immediately. In fact, I think it may have been about 3 months before I opened it and read the note. And even worse, I didn’t send a thank you note anytime soon.

But yesterday I was in Fuquay Varina and stopped at their Walmart for the second time, maybe ever. A few weeks ago I had actually stopped there and bought a small hand vacuum cleaner. That broke the ice, and yesterday I stopped in and bought two things: a box of boxed matches and finally I bought a Walmart Gift Card. The store clerk was very helpful and even pointed me to the matches on H11.

I walked out to my car and as I was starting it up, I looked and saw the tire warning light on my dash. I checked and it said that my rear driver’s side tire only had 28 pounds of pressure. The rest of the tires had around 36/37 pounds. I had to decide what to do. I even asked Gemini what I should do. A tire store, or service station were a few of the suggestions. I asked if there was a Black’s Tire Service in the area. There was one in Apex, about 10 miles away. I thought through the process and decided I didn’t want to continue on to Wegman’s in Raleigh, buy some White American Cheese & the Bigelow Raspberry Royale tea (before Trump Tariffs stop things from being imported, or drive up prices so high). Yeah, I didn’t want to be sitting in my car in the Wegman’s parking lot, with cheese that needs refrigeration.

So, I started back home, and kept watch on the tire pressure. I might have gone twenty mile before the tire pressure dropped from 28 to 27. Once it did that, I knew I had made the right decision. And now the process began to gel in my mind. I had a box of trash in the trunk, but I wanted to get the tire from my apartment before I went to Black’s Tires. I think the rear tire pressure did drop to 26 as I neared home. I decided to put the trash in my back seat, and got the old tire and put it in the trunk. This was just the tire and not on a rim.

I made it to Black’s Tire Service on Ramsey Street, next to Methodist University without further problems. I told the young woman clerk that I had a tire leak and that I had a spare that could be put on a rim if necessary. Sure enough this was about the third tire, with a nail or wire, in a location that meant it couldn’t be repaired. And the clerk forgot about the spare that I had brought and quoted me a price of about $242 for the one new tire. I walked and sat back down in the waiting area, but my mind was processing the situation. Had she said that my tire couldn’t be repaired? I got back up and asked her. Sure enough she said it couldn’t be repaired and I asked why they couldn’t put the spare I had brought. She rushed out to tell the tech to put my spare on, which he did and my total bill ended up being only about $42. So having kept that old tire, even if it didn’t have a lot of tire tread, did finally pay off.

I now had good tires all around, but I wasn’t going to go back to Raleigh, but I now wanted to go to the La-Z-Boy in Fayetteville to give a saleswoman a copy of “Becoming” a bio by Michelle Obama. I had stopped in the store on Sunday looking to see what easy chairs they had. I think the first one I sat in was about $3K, and the rest appeared to be in that price range. So needless to say, I wouldn’t be buying from La-Z-Boy again.

Like, but not.

I had bought a sofa & love seat and my bent wood “Easy” chair there back in 2011 when I first moved to Long Hill Apartments. Eventually I gave the sofa & love seat to Jeff and Robin, and I’m guessing they have just moved that furniture with them to their new home. I haven’t gone to their new home yet, but have a bunch of “art” books for Ashlyn when I do.

I didn’t recall the name of the La-Z-Boy saleswoman, but we had a long conversation and I recalled that we had talked about her using an AI to organize a book she was writing. She was working and once I got close enough, I asked, “Did we have a conversation about how you were using AI to organize a book you were writing,” to which she replied, “Yes.” I told her I had a book for her. She thanked me and hugged me. I left. I hope she enjoys the book. It was a very enjoyable book and inspiring.

Oddly enough, I bought the book in Dunn at “Cat’s Corner.” I paid a little more than I had wanted, but I did want to give this book as a gift. But the “oddly” was that after I bought the book I saw Michelle Obama on TV talking about “doing stuff for herself.” I don’t think she actually said she wasn’t planning to not divorce Barak Obama, and he seemed to be apologetic in having “run up a tab” with his wife that he was trying to pay. I like them both, even if they do divorce. She hasn’t attended at least two events that you would normally think she would have. The funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, and the Inauguration of Donald Trump.

I definitely could see not attending anything for Trump. That was something that Hillary and Bill Clinton should have skipped. As I’ve said elsewhere, “If someone had called my wife ‘That lying Hillary’ over and over again during the Campaign, I sure wouldn’t have attended any event for them. And Trump actually thanked them both for their long civic service and had everyone stand and clap. How two-faced can you get? I think I know.

So, with her showing up on TV after a long time of not being on TV seemed almost prophetic. I figure the book will be enjoyed. I hope.

I’m now living under a Hex to not be able to get to Wegman’s and get the Raspberry Royale.

I’m supposed to get my new waffle iron today. A Cuisinart WMR-CAP2 Round Classic Waffle Maker, Brushed Stainless,Silver from Amazon. *Messaged that it was delivered, to a parcel locker, but no key in the mailbox. I left a note the next morning, and when I got back home the key was in the box. I got the new waffle iron. Hope it’s in working condition. Unboxed, looks a little flimsy.

Purchase Date: 04/08/2025
Date of Delivery: 04/12/2025
Purchased From: AMAZON.COM
Price: $24.95

I plan to give my old one to the Northwoods Thrift Store. It’s been a long while since I had a waffle for breakfast. But, I haven’t had liver mush (liver pudding) either, nor polenta. **Gave the old one to the thrift store yesterday. ***Key not left in box the first day, but I left a note to the Postman next morning, and when I got back and checked the key was in the mailbox.

I coated the waffle iron surface with olive oil, top & bottom. Turned it on, and shortly the green light came on to add the batter. I had added some Greek Yogurt and sour cream to the Bisquick recipe for more moisture, and the waffle came out perfectly, and very quickly also. Added a little grass fed butter, some Agave Nectar and Cary’s Sugar Free Syrup. **Another reminder, but I’ve put this maple flavored no-sugar syrup on carrots with a little butter, on the stove top and the syrup gets thinner and not thicker as sugar might. You end up with a maple flavored glazed carrot.

*Oh, and I had a large glass jar which held the whole box of Bisquick. Some time ago, I had mealy bugs get in my opened box of Bisquick and ruin it, and some dry beans also. So, I bought a large glass jar (gallon or half-gallon) with a tight fitting lid for the Bisquick. No bugs this morning and it’s been well more than a month since. I’ve also put all my dry beans in small glass or plastic containers. Most containers are Ball/Mason/Dukes Mayo jars, some with canning jar lids and some with the yellow plastic Dukes Mayo lids.

I do want to mention how I am using AI to enhance my food experience. I can take a photo of a recipe in a cookbook and then have the AI interpret it.

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This was Gemini’s response:

The attached file contains a recipe for “SMOKED OYSTER DIP”. The recipe lists the following ingredients:

  • 1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 1 (3½-ounce) can smoked oysters, drained and chopped
  • ½ cup ripe olives, minced
  • 1 teaspoon onion, grated

The instructions are to thoroughly blend the cream cheese, sour cream, oysters, olives, and onion. The recipe suggests serving the dip with chips or crackers and states that it makes 1 cup. The recipe is attributed to Mrs. Landon B. Anderson (Connie).

I am impressed by how well the AI reads the text from a photo. And, if I wanted to add that recipe to a web page, or a Word document, the AI has done all the hard work for me. *It’s not always perfect, but when it is, it saves a lot of time. And then I can start exploring the recipe even further. Asking the calorie count, the suggested serving size and even reducing the ingredient amounts.

Gemini providing further exploration of the above recipe:

Okay, let’s calculate the approximate calories per serving based on our estimated serving size of 2 tablespoons (1/8 of the total recipe).

Here are the approximate total calories for the entire recipe:

  • Cream cheese: ~300 calories
  • Sour cream: ~180 calories (using an average)
  • Smoked oysters: ~160 calories  
  • Ripe olives: ~110 calories (using an average)
  • Onion: ~1 calorie

Total estimated calories for the entire recipe: 300 + 180 + 160 + 110 + 1 = 751 calories

Now, to find the calories per serving (assuming 8 servings of 2 tablespoons each):

Calories per serving ≈ Total calories / Number of servings Calories per serving ≈ 751 calories / 8 servings Calories per serving ≈ 93.88 calories

Therefore, each serving of approximately 2 tablespoons of this Smoked Oyster Dip would contain roughly 94 calories.

Important Note: This is an estimated calorie count. The actual calories per serving can vary depending on the specific brands and types of ingredients used. For more precise nutritional information, it’s always best to check the nutrition labels of your ingredients.

And I can also ask the AI to make a recipe “more diabetic friendly,” and it will make suggestions like, “substitute Greek Yogurt for sour cream.”

I’m also using an online tool, “My Fitness Pal” to keep track of the foods I eat, or plan to eat. I also track my weight and resting blood glucose level.

I can add recipes to this, so I can take a picture of a recipe from some source, an old cookbook for instance, and have the AI generate the text from the photo. I then paste the recipe ingredients text into the recipe creation tool at My Fitness Pal. It then searches for these ingredients and pretty soon, I have a new recipe, with the almost exact calorie counts. I did this for the “Black Beans and Quinoa” recipe that I had found online. I didn’t have to rely on someone else having already posted this recipe to the site. I did it.

And while I’m still think of it, I am going to try to use those empty glass vials that I bought to use as chess pieces for my new pill organizer. I hope I kept some and didn’t donate them all to the thrift store. I looked at the pill organizers that $T has, and none worked. Too small, odd shaped, all one unit and not daily.

I found a few of the tall glass vials and tried my morning tablets in it. They fit easily and the smaller, half sized glass vial might fit all the morning, or all the evening tablets also. I’m pretty sure I donated them, but if not I will have enough for my tablets and they will also be easily fillable for both morning & evening. True that the mouth of the vials is small, but they came in a box where the vials can line up nicely side by side. But, the small mouth means I can just turn the vial up and swallow.

I found the box of glass vials (3 different sizes) that I used to make a chess set. I don’t have enough of the 2/3rd size to have matching vials for 7 days, but I do have enough of the tall vials for 7 days, two vials per day. *While in Target today I happened to see a black silicone ice tray. It had 7 slots on each side (7 days, morning & evening). I thought the slots were about the right size, but once I got home, they were a little short, and the diameter of each vial was a little large for the slot, but the slots a flexible and that creates a snug fit for each vial. I think this might work.

**This worked fine. I’ve used two sizes of glass vials. The shorter vials are for my nighttime pills, and the taller for the morning pills. I’ve attached color coded labels and a 3 letter day code: SUN, MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI, SAT for each day. I fill up each vial (did this morning for the first time) and screw the aluminum cap on each. They fit snuggly into the ice tray. After I use a vial, I leave the cap off but stuff the cap into the empty tray and turn the empty glass vial upside down and stuff it in the other section of that tray section. That way, moisture doesn’t get into the empty vial. I now keep the whole week’s worth of vials and the rubber tray on the shelf next to the bathroom sink.

And before I forget it, I saw a package of shower curtain hooks (the old style that act like carabiners) and I realized that they could be used to hook my large (non-electric) wok to my mobile kitchen stand. The little S hook that I had wouldn’t fit on one side of the cart, but did on the side… that I didn’t need it on. *I did buy some of these and have put about 5 or 6 pots & pans on the end of the mobile kitchen cart, that used to sit on the stove top.

**This works great. I’ve added about 5 pots & pans from my smallest Revere Ware pot, to the largest (non-electric wok). I can walk in and out of my kitchen and don’t brush against these dangling beside the mobile cart.

Ram Rod

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I started smoking these “Original” RamRod Cigars many years ago. I came upon them first at a smoke shop just across the river from New Bern, beside Hwy. 70 heading toward Havelock, North Carolina. Eventually this smoke shop stopped selling these cigars. The owners of this shop appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent. I did find the RamRod “Deputy” cigar, but this was a little cleaner looking and about half the length of the original. The original was long and sort of gnarly (not a straight roll of the cigar) that was Bourbon flavored. I have driven past this location within the last three months and the smoke shop is no longer there, but it was there for many years.

I like the aroma and flavor of these Avanti Cigars. It is Cafe Mocha. I think I first tried these at JR’s off of I 95 at Smithfield, North Carolina, because they had stopped selling the RamRod Cigar. I rarely smoke, but do it maybe one in a three to six months period. I’ve said, and this was the original reason, that I smoke a cigar to “get in character” when reading something like “1984” or a “seedy” detective novel.

JR’s is now just a large smoke shop, but for many years JR’s was a large, sprawling department type store, with a large book section. I’ve bought many cookbooks there, for myself and as presents for Mary Ann and others. JR’s sold clothing, dishes, cologne & perfumes, and assorted “stuff.” This was one JR’s location, but I think the other that I knew of, and visited at least once, was located at Statesville, North Carolina.

I bought a pack of cheap cigars, GAME Expresso Martini. They were a pleasant smoke. I may have bought Swisher Sweets BLK Cocoa flavored. If so it smoked fast, but had a pleasant flavor. The plastic tips begin to melt when the cigar burns near it.

I guess this posting will morph into a story about things that were, and are no more. “If you live long enough… and even if you don’t.”

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that there was a LIDL in Havelock that I shopped at when passing through the area. This was just off Hwy 70 that passes through Havelock as you are going between Morehead City and New Bern. I’ve also mentioned that I now see the blatant evidence that they are working on a bypass for Havelock. But one time, I bought a gallon of milk and a jar of dill pickles and was surprised that the pickles cost a little more than the gallon of milk. *Maybe that’s why LIDL didn’t last at this location. But, I took a picture, with the jar of pickles, the gallon of milk and even the register receipt (that’s readable, if you zoom in far enough).

I think there’s another LIDL location, in Rockingham, North Carolina that I shopped at a couple of times before they closed. I think that location has been repurposed, but I don’t recall to what purpose.

But recently, I’ve started shopping at LIDL in Fayetteville more than in the past. I’ve found that they sell the “Hatfield” Brand of hams. I first bought a pre-sliced Hatfield Ham at Harris Teeter, and then couldn’t get another. And then was recently surprised by seeing the LIDL sells the Hatfield Brand, and I bought one there. *But, they also had good looking carrots, so I bought some of these also. Pre-Covid, I could get a small bag of carrots at Food Lion, near me. After Covid, they and other groceries began to sell larger bags of carrots, and not the small sized bags. LIDL also sells the Hillshire Farms Brand of “Beef Polska Kielbasa.” Both LIDL and Walmart have good prices on the Hillshire Farms products.

One of the meals
@ FATZ in Cheraw, SC

If you travel to Cheraw, South Carolina you could drive by the former location of FATZ Restaurant. I enjoyed eating at the restaurant chain several times. They were sort of a Yuppy environment, and I had some delicious “Honey Balsamic Brussels Sprouts” there. They were so good that when I came back home I tried to make these at home and was successful. There was/is a FATZ in Rockingham also, but I’m not sure if it is still open for business.

I’ve been to Rockingham quite a few times. I fell in love with the fried chicken (and other buffet items) at the Seaboard Station Restaurant in Hamlet, North Carolina. Hamlet is a short distance from Rockingham, and I will normally also visit the library in Hamlet and then go to the library in Rockingham. I’ve bought books at both locations several times. I’ve also bought books at the library in Laurenburg, North Carolina. They usually have a large selection. Most of the books I buy are not for me to read but as books to leave in various “Little Lending Libraries” at various locations, in assorted cities & towns, or to give as gifts to family & friends.

But in mentioning libraries, the main library in Asheboro, North Carolina is vibrant. They keep a large selection of book on counters for perusing. The library in Laurenburg has also done some remodeling inside and “looks good.”

Normally I do not drive on Hwy. 70 directly between New Bern to Havelock and then on to Morehead City. I have recently, but that is the exception.

The new New Bern bridge crossing the Neuse River.

I normally will drive across the bridges at New Bern and over to the Bridgeton side of the river.

Growing up, I would cross the old New Bern bridge, between New Bern and Bridgeton, riding on a Trailways Bus heading from Jacksonville, North Carolina to Portsmouth, Virginia. This was a low bridge, near the water that headed directly across the river. This bridge was torn down years ago.

Leo on one of his boats.

*A note, I had a good friend, Leo Taylor, who hired me to work in the IT department at Fayetteville State University. Leo’s parents (“Silver” was his mom.) ran the Trailways Bus Terminal in Washington, North Carolina. I call Washington, NC, “Little Washington” as most of us did. So, no telling if I ever saw a young Leo as I was passing through on the bus (either heading to or from Portsmouth).

My mom worked at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth for several years and I continued to live with my Aunt Sis (mom’s sister) in Hubert, North Carolina until I graduated High School in 1972. I then went on to college, and when I returned to the area, lived with my mom at our house in Jacksonville, North Carolina (204 Johnson Blvd.).

The house at 204 Johnson Blvd. was torn down several years ago and the lot remains empty, but the property is owned by my cousin, Raymond Sharpe.

Then on to the Minnesott Beach Ferry and taking the 20 minutes ride across the river, and from the Cherry Branch side, I will normally head back to Havelock and then find the route to head back to Swansboro. But when I have much more time, I might “take a left” and head away from Havelock and find my way, the “back way,” to Beaufort, North Carolina. I then try to drive down the waterfront. For many years there was “Down East Gallery,” the art gallery of Allen Cheek, but that has been gone for quite a few years now.

LaVaughn’s on the Beaufort waterfront.

There was also a gift shop, “LaVaughn’s” from which I bought several Mangum ceramic mugs. That shop too has been gone quite a few years. *But, I have gone to the Mangum store in Weaverville, North Carolina. Weaverville is about 9 miles north of Asheville, North Carolina. I visited this gallery the last time I was in Asheville, which was about 5 weeks before Hurricane Helene came through the area. *I happened to find a picture of LaVaughn’s storefront on my old Flickr site, otherwise I would have never recalled what the name was. *I found the owner’s obituary online: LaVaughn J. Hendricks

These were the Mangum mugs I bought at LaVaughn’s over the years. I also bought a large serving platter in this pattern, and a creamer. Seems like I also had a sugar bowl too, but I think I’ve gotten rid of the platter, creamer & sugar bowl. I use the largest Mangum mug regularly, usually for coffee.

Ahhh, so that’s where that was.

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They are little things, but still they are so important as first steps toward a more organized life.

I like the idea of compartmentalizing things according to their use, but I rarely, or consistently do this type of organizing. But when I do, I feel a minor, but definite sense of accomplishment.

I’ve recently bought 48 clean, new, glass spice jars, with shiny aluminum screw lids and translucent white plastic filters that snap snuggly on the mouths of the jars. They are squared off, and I kept one of the packing trays (there was a tray for both the top and bottom of these jars to fit into snuggly so that the glass wouldn’t “tink” into an adjacent bottle and break. I’ve filled almost all of these jars with either existing spices that I already had, or recently purchased spices that I thought I might like to try.

I’ve moved a bunch of stuff around on the countertop next to the stove on the side where the spices and a small plastic cutting board lie. Most importantly, I moved the paper towel dispenser away from the stove top (and potential fire hazard) and put it next to the side of my refrigerator and next to that I moved the plastic sandwich bag dispenser. This dispenser is indispensable. I use these bags to store food items both after and before cooking.

Oh, and something I’ve just started using for a different purpose is small colored plastic salsa bowls. The kind with the little plastic legs to steady the bowl. I’ve used a few of these (a bright green and a bright yellow one) for many years for when I make homemade salsa, hummus, or guacamole, but now I am also using one for my Greek God’s Yogurt (plain flavored) to which I’m adding fresh fruit that I have blended in my chopper. The raw (not sure how fresh) raspberries that I pureed turned out extremely flavorful, and were a very pleasant addition to this yogurt. *I recently bought (at the exorbitant price of $4.99) a 3-pak of assorted berries: blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. I plan to blend them and put them in the little plastic Rubbermaid containers, in the fridge, until use.

So first I bought, at separate times, a few more of these plastic salsa bowls and then came up with the idea to use them like monkey dishes. I have some dark blue (outside) and white (inside) ceramic muffin cups that I’ve used for years as monkey dishes putting in various liquid and dry ingredients. I have one of these cups in which I put my olive oil brush. This is to brush oil onto a pan surface or my waffle iron before baking a waffle, so that it won’t stick to the surface.

My salt dispenser sits beside the sandwich bag dispenser.

One of the items I have on the other side of my stove is a large ceramic container in which I put an assortment of kitchen tools. But tonight, very early morning, I decided to clear out some of the unneeded items in this horribly cramped container. Surprisingly, to me, I actually took several items out of this and actually threw them away. I did throw away a shiny melon baller, but I don’t think I will actually miss it. I found a cup sized tea ball, which I actually might use now that I know where it is. But I also plan to move this tea ball to a more visible location as a reminder. I do have a coffee, tea and flavored drink packet area on the corner of my kitchen counter.

The other thing I found was a dark metal pair of scissors. My mother had used them, and they are still a really good pair of scissors, and I’ve just used some olive oil on them for protecting their surface, which I see can rust, but hasn’t much. *Sometime in the last couple of years I recall asking myself, “What ever happened to those black scissors.” And the scissors are what started me writing this particular blog entry. I plan to put them in one of my plastic shoe boxes (for organizational purposes) and then put other “like minded” items in that same shoe box. *I do have a small sewing kit, but the scissors might also be used for cutting paper, which I did just a few minutes ago and they still do a fine job of cutting.

I mentioned the spice jars above, but I still haven’t quite got how I want them laid out. I have tried to come up with a 3 letter code to go on top of each jar, but I still have a few jars that I don’t quite recall what the 3 letters stand for, and a jar or two of spices/herbs that I don’t really recall which ingredient it is. But first I had all the jars alphabetically organized from A to Z. But now I’ve put the most used ingredients in the first two rows nearest my cutting board. It seems vaguely that I might want to categorize these spices/herbs even more. “Most Used,” “Warm Spices” for frying apples, and “Peppery Spices.” For a long time, I would sift each of the warm spices from their separate jars onto the fried apples (on top of the Splenda I had already sifted on them), but then I finally mixed all of these spices and put them in a separate glass jar with a sift lid. It just makes it so much easier to sift from just one jar.

Some time ago, I started organizing a few reusable items in some plastic sandwich bags. These items are rarely needed, but nice to have on hand if and when the need arises: assorted rubber bands (different colors, sizes and widths), various plastic bottle tops (My Agave Nectar dispenser has had a couple of broken bottle tops that it was nice to have an extra unbroken one to replace with.), twist ties (both from bread bags or label ties from Sprouts), and I also keep my yellow plastic “Dukes Mayonnaise” jar lids because they fit perfectly on regular sized canning jars.

One drawer beside my stove includes the most used utensils: apple corer, can opener, vegetable peeler, box cutter, etc. I think it was just a couple of years ago that I bought a 4 pack of the box cutters. They came in 4 separate colors and they have proven to be very handy. I keep one cutter beside my easy chair (for opening various plastic bags and Amazon packages). One cutter is in the drawer beside my stove (for slicing open the plastic bacon package, or slicing off the top of a resealable shredded cheese bag). I have one cutter in my car. And, I don’t recall where the fourth cutter is, but I have a suspicion that I gave it away as a present. These are really useful. *How about for slicing through those annoying thick plastic protective seals. The ones that snuggly protect a new tooth brush, or batteries, or…

Oh, every so often my can opener doesn’t work on a can. I think most times it is the design of the can rim, or the softness of the metal that causes the old standard can opener not to take and slice the metal apart as it travels around the can lid. *For those extraordinary times, I have my “John Wayne,” which I have probably had for more than 40 years. Perhaps even more than 50 years. I might have still been in high school when I found and kept the little steel can opener that was supplied to soldiers for opening their C or K Rations in the field. It has been on my key chain for many years, and when the big opener won’t start or finish the job, that little can opener works “every time.” Yes, it takes longer to open a can with this little tool, but it gets the job done.

This reminds me that I’ve recently bought a new pair of nail clippers. But the problem with these clippers is that they are a smidge too small to be comfortable in the hand when in use. And, I’ve checked at a different store and their clippers were also in this slightly smaller size. The smaller size works for adding them to your key chain, but they are an irritation that I plan to find a solution to… Another pair, slightly larger as they were for many years.

Which reminds me. Yesterday when I left home, my phone wasn’t sufficiently charged up for the day, and I didn’t have a charging cable in the car. I had used the short white charging cable that came with my hearing aids in the car to charge my phone. In the apartment, I used the black charging cable that I switch from hearing aids, phone and Chromebook in a round robin match that works. But, I sent the white cable back in the return of my hearing aids.

So, I’m in Goldsboro with my phone around 25% and falling fast. I don’t want to be without a phone, in case my car “acts up,” or I need to get navigation or an online map, or to check for a product, or location or time of an event, etc. I check for the nearest Dollar Tree and see one. I’m not sure if I’ve been to this exact location before, but I had a slight awareness of where it was located even before using the navigation to drive there. I think it is next to a Walmart, because I saw the Walmart Blue color on the side of an adjacent building, but never actually saw the Walmart name on the building. I was parked askew of that building, and had no need to get a better view. I go into this Dollar Tree and start looking for the USB cables. And they don’t have any. What? The USB cables are always with the assorted smartphone protectors, and the other little, cheap electronic thingys. I look and then I go to the register and ask and the clerk sends me back to where I had been looking. I go back, and they don’t have any, any, any USB cables. How can this be? I go back to the car and google for another Dollar Tree. It can’t be that ALL Dollar Trees in the area are devoid of USB cables. The other Dollar Tree is across town, past Wilbers BBQ. But, this is not an unfamiliar location as I go by it quite often when visiting Goldsboro. There is a dead end road that butts up against the chain link fence next to the Seymour Johnson Airforce Base runway. There are fields on either side of this road and most of the year, except when the crops are tall in the summer, this is a perfect location to come watch the take offs and landings of the fighter jets and the refueling tankers. I’m not the only one who knows of this location and I’ve been there when several others are watching also. Most of the time it is deserted. You might see a white security/maintenance truck in the distance traversing around the runway. I think it may be looking for debris that is on the runway, more than checking on possible intruders.

So I go to the other Dollar Tree and go to the electronics section and here they have at least three different styles of “Fast Charging” USB cables (Type A to Type C). The price on the package is $1.25. I buy one of the fancier looking cables, but would like to buy a couple more and have them about, just in case. My phone was down to 17% by this time, but having the phone hooked up only a brief time, I saw the percentage of charge begin to climb and by the time I was back home I think the charge was close to 60%. I think ALL USB cables should be “fast charging” and cost only $1.25. Why pay $10 or more for this basic cable? *I don’t understand what the difference is between a fast charging cable and a regular (slow charging) one, but it is probably just one extra wire or some such. **Just checked and the fast charging cable is thicker with more insulation which provides a higher delivery voltage, and therefore quicker charging.

On the way back home, I stopped at the drug store in Newton Grove and had a Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream, regular cone, for $2 total (including tax). It is $2 for one scoop, but they put what I call one scoop in the cone, and then add another scoop (sometimes it might be half a scoop), but I definitely would call it more than one scoop for the price. Unfortunately for me they discontinued the “Super” Raspberry flavor sometime ago, but they still have enough flavors (probably 20 or a few more) to satisfy. The raspberry ice cream had little chocolate candies filled with raspberry jam. I make this description of the ice cream after having gone online and researched the raspberry flavor. I might be able to get this elsewhere, either in an ice cream shop or in a small container to take home.

Bags of Nature’s Way Farms, Inc. potatoes @ Harris Teeter in Fayetteville

And something else. In the morning, I wanted to go to Nature’s Way Farm near Faison, NC. I checked my phone navigation and turned off Hwy. 13 to head toward the business. It’s out in the country. But this detour took me a different way to a familiar route. I’m not sure if it is a shorter route, but it almost seemed to be. Instead of going into Newton Grove (and circling the round-a-bout a full rotation), I can go this different way and end up on the “on ramp” to I40.

[NOTE 10/29/24]: And so, I guess it continues. I had the desire to have a Lamb Gyro Pita at Pharaoh’s Legacy Restaurant. I normally like to also order the house Greek Salad with this meal. Previously I’ve even made my own version of a Greek Salad, and even made the Italian Dressing at home, and taken it with me to eat in the car, outside of the restaurant. So this time I prepared a sandwich baggy with a few items meant to enhance the flavor of their Greek Salad: an extra Peperoncini, some chopped sweet onion, a Campari tomato, diced, and a few green pitted olives (because I just can’t find any Kalamata olives in my fridge).

From a previous visit, and all the inside fixtures were gone when I poked my head inside the front door a couple of days ago.

I drive clear across town, and park in front of the restaurant and start to go to the front door. I do note that there are no cars parked in front except for some utility trucks away from the front. I pulled the front door open, and there, to my surprise is no restaurant. It has been gutted, and as I start to step back outside, I do see a construction worker come around the corner in the far back. *I should have at least stopped to ask if the restaurant was just being remodeled, or if it was closed permanently. **And, I still don’t know if it is permanently closed because I see nothing regarding their closing on their web site. Maybe a fire, but the place was just gutted and I didn’t smell any smoke.

I decided to drive over to the old, other location. This was the first place I had visited some time before I had my heart surgery. I pull up in front of the other restaurant and another car pulls in ahead of me near the front door. I walk past this person, who is getting out of his car, and open the door. They are open.

I walk up to the counter and get a menu and go over and sit down at one of the dining tables. I already know what I want: Lamb Gyro Pita with a Greek Salad. But, I note that the Greek Salad is more expensive and apparently isn’t available with the Pita as it is at the other location. *I do ask the waitress if the Greek Salad is the full price with the sandwich, and then the waitress explains that this restaurant has different ownership than Pharaoh’s Legacy. I tell her this wasn’t always the case and that when I first visited this restaurant, it had the same owner.

**I do want to mention another thing that I am quite proud of, but not related to this story of Pharaoh’s Legacy. In a moment of insight, I thought about using the old Lazy Susan that I had previously used for my spices. But with the new spice bottles and the matrix that I’ve chosen to use to organize the bottles, I no longer needed the Lazy Susan. The insight was that if it would fit, I could use the Lazy Susan, and place the kitchen tool jar (with my assortment of various kitchen tools: spatulas, juice squeezer, spoons, etc.) in the middle and put some other items: Splenda jar, Sweet-n-Low packet jar, Coconut Sugar jar, corn starch jar, etc. around the outside. This worked excellently! And now all I have to do is spin the Lazy Susan to select what I need to use. [end NOTE]

Audien Return & Replacment

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I got online on the Cumberland County (NC) Public Library website and found that I could upload a document for printing, then go and print it at the Library. I had a shipping label for my return to Audien but I didn’t have my printer hooked up at home.

I went to the Main Library on Maiden Lane.

I just noted that the next “Friends of the Library” Book Sale is on November 22, 2024 (a little over a month from now). The book sale is held on the lower level of the Main Library. There is a large adult section and also a separate children’s section. I have bought quite a few cheap books. Some I’ve read, but I’ve also given them to various Little Lending Libraries (from South Carolina and all the way to Raleigh, and points in between). *I was just reminded that I bought a hardcover copy of Michael Connelly’s “The Poet.” This story was the introduction of the Jack McAvoy character. I purchased a couple of novels at “New To You” in Lillington, NC.

Usually when I am passing through Lillington, I will stop at their new Library. It is very nice! They have a small section for books that they are selling. Prices are from a donation up to about $2. This facility also has a nice bathroom, and I’ve also read in the upstairs adult area where they have comfortable, cubby holes.

The Google Street View above is where the new Harnett County Library building now exists.

I bought a 6×10 shipping envelope at the Post Office over on Oakridge Ave. on Friday.

I see according to the Tracking site that my Audien Hearing Aid replacement is now in Butner, NC. It is being returned with UPS. *My hearing aid replacements have been listed in Butner for at least a couple of days. I thought I might get them by Wednesday, but the arrival date is still showing Friday, October 25th. I have no idea why it is taking so long to travel the hour and a half from Butner to Fayetteville. Looks like the delivery service may be switching from UPS to USPS. What? Can’t they work together more efficiently?

I’m not sure if I have mentioned this elsewhere, but the Audien 2 Pro hearing aids that I had and just returned because one stopped working completely, have only been really effective while watching TV. These hearing aids have 4 modes and one of those (#3) is for TV. It works pretty well and I can reduce the TV volume noticeably, but the other three modes are pretty ineffective. One mode is supposed to be for being in a restaurant setting, one for having discussion with someone, and the other for outside. The outside mode is pretty much like turning the whole thing off. I was hoping that one of the modes would work well for responding to those persons handling the checkout counter/register say at the grocery store or WalMart, but I didn’t find the hearing aids useful for those situations. *I need to go online and see what feedback there is. I’m guessing I’m not the only one, or maybe I’ll find some hacks or ways to make these aids successful in those situations.

**Well, I am finding it very difficult to find any customer reviews from sources other than on the Audien web site. I find that unusual. I want to read some reviews from customers who aren’t posting to the Audien site. I will now try Facebook, although I rarely go to Facebook directly.

NIXE by LIDL – Smoked Oysters

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[NOTE]: I hadn’t thought to mention this, mainly because I don’t think anyone else besides myself is actually reading what I write here but, the reason why I’m not illustrating my postings with images is that I’ve run out of free space on WordPress, and I haven’t chosen to buy more storage space. That is unfortunate because I like to take a lot of pictures with my phone so that I can illustrate what I write about. And, I like to write first to visualize my point, and then check the photo(s) to see if the image matches up with what I’ve written. *As a temporary solution, I’ve started linking to my images on Amazon.

This reminded me that as much as I would like to think that I’ve never been wrong in my memory, I have had many examples brought to the fore that were irrefutable. I don’t always remember or perceive things as they are. **In high school, for my Senior picture I had an outfit that I had put together. It may have started because I had bought a pair of Converse Blue Suede tennis shoes. I paired these shoes with white “Mess” pants (the Navy bell bottoms with button fly), a red terry cloth short sleeved shirt (with a few narrow white accents around the sleeves) and Red, White & Blue suspenders on which I had glued a small white star on the front of each suspender. Oh yeah, I think I also had red socks. I astill have a black & white picture of this outfit where I am sitting on a table top, with the female version of me. I was “Most Studious,” although I would have preferred to be “Wittiest.” But the point is that for years I remembered my blue suede tennis shoes as having a white star on the side of each. I did look online at some point and see that these Converse Blue Suede tennis shoes did have white stars (on some), but the pair I had only had white stripes. And, this was one example of where I had remembered something incorrectly. Not a big thing, but important to the overall image of my past. [end NOTE]

Fancy Whole Smoked Oysters (front) (back)

I noticed these smoked oysters on a shelf in Lidl. They were only $1.29 a can, and although I had never tried this brand, that was a good price if they were any good. And, when I tried them, “they were good.” Good flavor and there were fewer of them in the can, but that was because they were slightly larger than those in the other brands I’ve tried. I see they are 140 calories for the whole 3 oz. can.

When I think of smoked oysters, I usually think of making hummus at home. I like the flavor of hummus made with garbanzo beans, whole cumin seeds, lime juice and some avocado oil (olive will do). A little water if needed to make it a little smoother. The problem with hummus is that it is high calorie.

I think the only other meat that I like with my hummus is the hard salami, like the Wegman’s Black Pepper Sopressata Salami. *Wegman’s no longer sells the pepper salami. I like olives with my hummus: Castelvetrano or the Ripe Green Olives that come in a can at Whole Foods.

I like to make an “Almost Vegetarian” Meal out of my hummus. I’ve mentioned salami and the smoked oysters above, but the rest of things that I pare with my hummus include: sweet onion, carrot, tomato and sweet (colorful) bell pepper and I might even want to add a few pickles (either Ranch Dill spears or the Sweet Bread & Butter Chips).

I don’t recall the exact results, but I think my hummus meal affects both my blood sugar level and my weight. I could probably eat less hummus, with all the other good stuff.

Oh yeah, making hummus is relatively inexpensive. A can of garbanzo (chickpeas) beans, a little lime juice, some oil and a few cumin seeds (you could also use ground cumin). Looks like a 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans cost anywhere from $.85 to $1.69. I could make two or three helpings of hummus from the one can.

This is where I could type about the Braun Kitchen Multi-Tool (stick blender, chopper, wisk) that I have. For several years I had the smaller version of this tool and it just wasn’t powerful enough to blend a whole can of garbanzo beans into hummus. I had to blend half a can at a time. Finally I bought the larger version and now can easily blend a whole can of beans at a time. *This chopper also works great for making salsa and guacamole.

And as I’ve written previously, I would suggest buying this kitchen multi-tool for a “growing boy” going off to college. It does so much without having to cook anything, although if you can roast some poblanos or jalapenos to go in your salsa and guacamole that adds greatly to their flavor. But, filling a growing boy, cheaply can be done with this. Veggies to go with homemade hummus. Chips for all the salsa or guac he makes. And he could become the hub of his dorm with others supplying the veggies or the chips and he making the hummus and/or salsa. Now that I think about it, making guacamole is relatively cheap if you can get medium avocados at WalMart for about a dollar.

[NOTE 10/19/24]: I was in an IGA yesterday and was passing by the chicken section when I saw a container of chicken gizzards. I stopped and picked them up, and noticed that they were quite large and fresh looking. I bought them.

So good that I went back for more.

Later at home, I googled for how to season chicken gizzards. This isn’t the first time I’ve fixed chicken gizzards, and I have enjoyed them in the past. I know that they need to be cooked a long time in order to tenderize them sufficiently to eat. And normally, I would cook them with rice, but I always end up with too much rice, and I don’t need the extra starch to mess with my blood sugar. *I happened upon a cooking web site and the authoress focused on how to make “dirty” rice, a New Orleans staple. I love the flavor of dirty rice, but I haven’t had it in several years. For some reason I am reminded that I had dirty rice at Clark’s Inn and Restaurant in Santee, South Carolina. I even stayed once for a night at Clark’s Inn, but have eaten at the restaurant a few more times.

I think the food is overpriced, but you are paying for ambiance. I do recall having an experience there in which I thought my waitress was incredibly rude. Rude, how? Well, I was looking at the menu, and holding it in both my hands. The waitress came to the table and put my drink down in front of me. But, when I say in front of me, she reached inside my arms to place the drink between me and the menu I was reading. It’s one of those things where, when it happens, I am immediately flabbergasted. And then as she walks away, I am left to ruminate upon the experience and ask myself if she intended to be purposefully rude. She wasn’t a young waitress, older, and she didn’t seem inexperienced, but I definitely thought “rude.” So rude, that I still, to this day, and this day is maybe 10 years later, think of her rudeness.

Interestingly, to me at least, I’ve come to Santee, SC from at least three directions and one of them from Columbia, SC, the State Capital. And several years ago, I enjoyed a visit to the South Carolina State Museum when they were hosting the Titanic Exhibition.

**Santee is not too far from the smaller town of Bowman, and the first time I passed through Bowman, I must have been on Hwy. 178. I was passing an intersection and looked to my right and to my surprise I thought I saw a shiny flying saucer. I was so sure that I had, that I drove about another block and turned right to come back around, and after the third right, I was now passing a shiny UFO, the Bowman UFO Welcome Center. I admire people who think “outside the box” and even if they are considered crazy or eccentric, hats off. I’ve been back to Bowman at least once and the UFO hasn’t worn well, and I see from Google Street View that it may be in even worse condition in the present day.

As I was looking over this page again I noted that the UFO was missing in the Google Street View. Sure enough, it is gone. I just read online that it was destroyed by fire in 2024. The owner was 73 then, and may or may not rebuild the UFO. *It was a fun thought.

I put some bacon grease in a pot and then the chicken gizzards. I had some celery (normally I don’t have any on hand) and chopped up a stalk for seasoning, and added some chicken stock also. Garlic powder, savory, ground long pepper, and later some chopped onion. I didn’t add rice directly to the pot, but had a small amount left over from breakfast. I later mixed the rice and cooked gizzards just before eating.

Let me say this, “Those gizzards were delicious!” And, I just had some more of those gizzards for dinner tonight, and “they were still delicious.” But, instead of fixing some more rice, I had a small white potato that I diced, boiled and then mashed into mashed potatoes. I added some margarine, sour cream and garlic powder to these. I reheated some of the gizzards and there was a little a gravy produced. I used just a little of this on the mashed potatoes. The gizzards were once again delicious, with the mashed potatoes. And later when I noticed that there was still some gravy in the small plate on the stove, I reheated an end piece of rye bread in the microwave. And the warm rye bread was excellent for sopping the gizzard gravy… D E L I C I O U S again!

As I was moving items around in the fridge, I found the container of seafood chowder that I had made recently. This chowder has bay scallops (which look like little mini marshmallows), chopped clams, shrimp and some cod fish. I only added one small Campari tomato, diced, and some celery chopped. I didn’t add any Half-n-Half or Cream of Celery soup as I often have in the past. I wanted to keep this chowder a little lighter. I think I also chopped some red jalapeno pepper, and added some powdered cayenne to the mix. This chowder turned out well also.

These had been reduced to $1.39 per pound and so I bought 4 chops for about $5 total.

And today I drove up to Lillington, to the Harnett County Library and bought a couple of books. I then went back into town and looked around the used stuff store. Then on to Campbell University and drove a residential section that I hadn’t gone through before (I think.). Then on to Lee’s Fresh Market. It was after 1 pm and there were many customers inside so I went around directly to the Pork section and bought a couple of thick cut pork chops. They were only $1.99 a pound (A few weeks ago they were less, $1.79 a pound.) and I fixed one for lunch after I got back home. A late lunch. They are so big that I only need about 1/3 of the cooked meat per meal, so I have enough for two more meals. They were very good once again. ***My current political comment, which I made to the check out woman, was that when I hear the ads on TV that say we have such a bad economy, I say, “Well, I know where I can buy pork chops for $1.99 a pound, and I bought some a few weeks ago for $1.79.” I also bought a package of their Pepper Bacon. The flavor of the last I bought there wasn’t completely pleasing, so I started cooking some regular bacon.

[end NOTE]

[NOTE 10/22/24]: And finally, I finished the chicken livers tonight for dinner, with another small mashed potato. If I could fix chicken livers as good as I did this mess, I would mess every week. The flavor was so good that I would actually say they were as good as any that Mary Ann has fixed, and that is a great compliment, both to me and to her.

I drove to Goldsboro today for lunch at LongHorn Restaurant. On the way, I made a detour to Nature’s Way Farm, Inc. which is listed as being in Faison, NC. I had already been there online using Google Street View, which definitely gives a feel for how things are laid out. I gave them a donation check to use as they saw fit. They have said that they make a weekly delivery to the NC Food Bank and that some of that would probably go to the Asheville area for Hurricane Helene Relief. Maybe they could use it for gas to make their delivery.

I cut a couple of slices of sweet onion and added 4 or 5 small slices of sweet Bread & Butter pickles to add to my lunch. I ordered their cheeseburger with a side of Shrimp & Lobster Chowder. My sweet onion was much better than the tough slice of onion that came on their burger, and I didn’t even try the slices of dill pickle that they provided. I cut the appetizer bread in half (I normally eat the whole thing at lunch, but leave off the burger bun that comes with the meal. I brought the half of loaf of bread home with me and ate just a little for dinner with some margarine.

Oh, forgot to mention that before I left Fayetteville this morning I went over and “early voted.” There was no one in front of me in line and I breezed through the process in just a few minutes. I think I voted for 3 Republican candidates and the rest except for maybe one Libertarian were Democrats. I don’t necessarily agree with Democratic philosophy, but until Republicans get some sense and get rid of this overpowering Trump mentality, I’ll continue to disrespect them as much as they are disrespecting our Country. [end NOTE]

[NOTE 10/23/24]: I told you I voted yesterday, and I had heard on TV that several people had reported getting unsolicited emails regarding the validity of their vote shortly after they voted. This got me to thinking so I checked the voting history web site later yesterday and it already had recorded that I early voted on that same day. I think that’s pretty neat, but I tried to check on a few other persons to see if they had already voted and couldn’t find them. But, I actually have to enter my first name as “Billie” which is my name on my birth certificate. I did see Jim Sharpe’s record but noted that his history has been disabled. I guess that is what happens once they know you are dead. *I wonder what logic Jim would have for voting for Donald Trump, if he were still alive. I’m pretty sure the logic would involve voting for the candidate that would provide the most support for the policies and beliefs that I hold dear, but the problem I have is that I don’t want a man in office that might bring America down while nixing Roe v. Wade. I don’t need Donald Trump telling me that I can’t trust our Electoral System (he still says he was cheated, and I heard him on TV just about a week ago saying it again) when it has been repeatedly proven that significant cheating didn’t occur last time. Donald is just a sorry assed, poor loser and I wouldn’t go to him to provide me with “the news and truth.” How gullible can people be to trust this guy over the long established news system? I’m not saying they don’t color their news in various ways, but if you listen to enough, different news sources you can begin to think for yourself and determine what the probable truth is.

When the Trump ads are telling me how bad our economy is, I just “look out the window to see if it is actually raining.” What do I mean? Well I don’t see the signs of a bad economy. I see two new WAWAs opening recently in Wilson, NC. I see a new SHEETZ open where I40 and Hwy. 24 cross and I bought gas for under $3 there. And I’ve been paying less that $3 a gallon for gas for over two months. *Not saying it won’t go up after the Election, because it usually does. I heard on TV about three weeks ago that the Rooms to Go Super Center (located on I95 above Dunn) was planning to expand their facility next year. And, I have bought thick cut, bone in pork chops at a local (Benson, NC) butcher for under $2 a pound twice in the last month, and these chops were delicious. Having said all of the above I question how bad the Economy currently is. All these businesses aren’t acting as if it is a bad Economy, or as if the Economy is going to worsen. Stick your head out and see for yourself. It’s a damned good time to be living in America and not the “gloom and doom” vision that Donald Trump is dishing out in an attempt to defeat Harris [end NOTE]

I see that I have a tendency to say or write “chicken livers” when I am actually thinking, “chicken gizzards.” I like livers & gizzards, but currently love the flavor of the gizzards.

a Day & a Half

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[ADDENDUM 01/22/25]: Little did I nor anyone know that just five weeks after my visit to Asheville, that Hurricane Helene would come through Western North Carolina & Asheville and devastate the area. I had such a wonderful visit. The last place I visited in Asheville before starting back home was the New Morning Gallery in the Biltmore Village area. The flooding covered this area with a great deal of mud and destroyed many buildings. This was a high end shopping area, that was, and then wasn’t. I think the New Morning Gallery is still closed, and it has been about four months since the Hurricane. [end]

Gosh, what didn’t I do in the last day and a half?

I scheduled a one night stay at the Quality Inn at 180 Tunnel Road in Asheville for Monday night. At first I had looked at a different Quality Inn further down Tunnel Road, but then I saw a couple of negative reviews so I looked at the other Quality Inn. It seemed nicer, but for just a little more money, and still not $100 a night. *I had stayed at the other Quality Inn several years ago, and it had been a pleasant stay, but I’ll have to admit that the room was much better this time.

I guess I should mention my reason for my brief jaunt to Asheville, North Carolina on Monday & Tuesday of this week. I got a notice last week that they would be repaving and repairing various parking areas where I currently live, and that certain areas would need to be vacated, by 8 am, on selected mornings. I decided to make a quick trip, out of town, so I wouldn’t have to deal with parking in another area. I’ve done this at least once previously, several years ago. I also ran away once when a hurricane was coming through, back in 2018. I ran all the way to Milledgeville, Georgia that time, and ended up having to stay at a cheap hotel for a week because flooding had made it impossible to return to Fayetteville for that length of time.

The Milledgeville trip was fantastic. I didn’t have to worry about food, or the hassles of being homebound in Fayetteville, because Milledgeville was sunny and comfortable, and there were loads of places to eat. I did try to return to Fayetteville a day or two before I should have, and ended up having to stay at another cheap hotel in Siler City, NC for a couple of nights. Eventually, I found the one way back into Fayetteville but I had to drive from Siler City to Pinehurst/Southern Pines and then up toward Raeford, and then back into Fayetteville. This was the first route that the flooding had subsided to make it possible to return home.

So, that was my reason for my impromptu trip.

At the moment, I don’t recall what I had for breakfast on Monday… oh, I just remembered. I had a tin of Amour Potted Meat, which I had bought at WalMart. I had also bought a half gallon of regular milk for about $1.99 but only drank about a third of it, but that would still be worth the cost. *Because I didn’t refrigerate the milk, leaving it in my car overnight, I poured it out Tuesday morning in the toilet in my room (#125).

Old Perfect NW Airlines Logo

I didn’t want to eat a lot for breakfast because I was going to have lunch at the Seaboard Station in Hamlet, NC. But, on the way to Hamlet, I first drove by the Maxton Airport and was surprised to find that the retired NW Airlines jets that ran along the fence line from the airport terminal were all gone. ALL gone. I did see a few large sheets of slightly curved metal, one of which I think still had red paint on it. I’m guessing these might be the few remaining pieces of the old jets. Maybe broken down for scrap. *Recall that I think the Northwest Airlines logo, from a few years ago, was the “perfect logo” for English speakers.

U.S. Army Parachute Team Annex (Maxton, NC)

But, as I continued to drive around the end of the airport, nearest Maxton, I looked in the sky and saw a couple of sky divers rapidly descending. They were coming down fast and spiraling almost horizontally. I even questioned if they were actual sky divers *Not sure what they would have been if they weren’t real men with parachutes. Two came down and disappeared on the ground, and then I saw two or three more, one at a time coming down. They were all down as I came around the end of the field and I honked, but was away from them, so not sure if they were even aware of me. I never saw any airplane from which they must have jumped out of.

I headed back into Laurinburg via Hwy. 74. I stopped by the Scotland County Memorial Library and ended up buying about 10 hardback fiction novels to prime the Little Lending Library pump. They were only a dollar each, and I think I also left a $2 donation. The librarian helped me bag the books in a couple of plastic grocery bags and as I walked out the door I met a woman coming in. She let me go through the door first and made a comment that “Anyone that reads that much, deserves to go first.” I laughed to myself thinking that I wasn’t planning to read any of these books, but wanted them all just for the LLLs.

It’s Thursday afternoon and I’ve already dispersed all the $1 hard back fiction books that I bought on Monday. I also got rid of about 8 “Our State” Magazines leaving one magazine with each book (or one with a couple of books). *I did buy a couple of large cookbooks at the Northwood Temple Thrift Shop (Thursday 22nd) this morning. I had never been at this store before yesterday, when I was allowed inside, on a day when the store was actually closed, but the workers were friendly and let me look around. They were open today and I went in to shop. I paid $4 for one book (Americas’ Test Kitchen) and $1 for another large book. *Amazingly, having lived and worked in Fayetteville since 1995, and retired here about five years ago, and as many times as I passed this thrift store, I had never actually gone in. Through the years, I had seen people’s donations sitting beside the building. I guess it was the years of working & administering the efforts at the Hem of His Garment in Onslow County, I just have little or no interest in a thrift store. **I did buy some old Craftsmen screwdrivers for a couple of bucks each, several years ago, but that was in some other town I was visiting while on one of my vacations.

On the way to Hamlet, I made a detour to Gibson, NC. I’ve been to and through this little town many times over the years. It has a nice old train depot that has been painted yellow. There is also an old bank building that, when I first saw it, had a keystone that had a date written on it. I think it might have been in the 1920s, but that was removed by someone who bought the building several years ago and then painted the outside walls in a couple of bright, gaudy colors. I think maybe a burnt orange and an aqua. Don’t recall exactly, but they ruined this building and now the outside has been painted a light gray. *I say ruined because I had an idea that this little town would be perfect for filming a TV series or movie about a small town. There is also the G.V. Pate building which I think was probably a large hardware or agricultural supply store in the past. It’s was closed before I ever visited Gibson the first time. Oh, and the railroad tracks almost magically curve around back of the town after leaving the colorful depot.

After all of my meandering, I still arrived a little early, just before 11 am, at the Seaboard Station Restaurant. This was about 30 minutes earlier than most visits, but that was because I still was going to have to drive to Asheville after lunch.

For lunch, I had a couple of pieces of fried chicken, and a thin pork chop, some steamed cabbage and black eyed peas with some sweet onion. I sat at the same location that I had the last visit.

Seaboard Station in located in an old multi-story home, painted white. The dining area is located in several rooms on the first floor, and they have even added a room that must have been an “outdoor” porch at one time. This is all inside now, but there is a large opening, between rooms, that was once a window. Now it has no glass, and you might even be able to reach through this opening and take something off another diner’s table.

There was a man, Russell, sitting at the same table that he had sat the last time I was there. He is a retired cabinet maker, who’s wife died in 2016, and he has found that making knives is now fun. He is a Type 2 diabetic and wears one of those 14 day devices that records blood sugar levels without finger pin pricks. I think he said he was taking Wegovy, which was also a single shot a week, and needed to be refrigerated, like my Trulicity that I used to take.

After lunch I rode over to the library in Hamlet a few blocks away. Looked at the books for sale, but nothing there of interest for me.

A little after noon I left the library but stopped next in Rockingham at the Thomas Leach Memorial Library. No books there for me either. Later, I stopped at a Circle K, just past Monroe, before reaching Charlotte, to fill up on gas.

I chose to navigate through Charlotte instead of going around and paying a toll. Interesting about Charlotte, there was one sky scraper that had a large horizontal fixture at the top of the building. This reminded me of some of the fictional large buildings shown in the Westworld series, but this was real. *I looked this up on Google Maps when I returned home. I think it is just from certain angles that this cross bar appears.

The rest of this trip was long and boring, up the Interstates.

I made it to Asheville about 4:30 pm and went directly to the Folk Arts Center to see if they knew about the “space ship” mug and who might have made it. I had asked the last time I was in Asheville, and they still had no idea. After the Folk Art Center, I went directly to the East Village Grille,. It was late afternoon and the sun was brightly shining through the large westward facing window.

[NOTE 02/28/25]: Today, after about seven years of trying to recall or find out where I bought this mug, and who was the potter that made it, I finally caught an online thread, found an image similar to my mug, followed the artist’s name and even found a YouTube video by the artist, Claudia Dunaway, and even more surprising, the video showed several steps in how she made my mug (or one of thousands like it). Go here for more info on the mug, the potter & her husband, who drew the cartoon spaceship. [end NOTE]

They had updated their menu so that it is much smaller than the first couple of times I ate there. The original menus might have been twenty pages, dual sided and covered in heavy plastic. Now there are only about 5 pages, which each might be printed on a thin plastic.

I looked but saw nothing about a Pastrami Reuben. I asked the waitress if they still served a Pastrami Reuben and she said they had stopped serving pastrami some time ago. So, I ordered a Philly Cheesesteak with steak fries and a diet drink. The cheesesteak was delicious, but I only ate half and took the rest, along with some of the fries for a snack later. **So, they no longer serve a Pastrami Reuben. Yet another example of a past pleasant culinary experience disappearing over time. I am 70 years old, so I guess out with the old and in with the new. No “Sticks-n-Stones” pizza, too? Damn.

On the other hand, I do know how to make a delicious Pastrami Reuben at home, with homemade Thousand Island dressing, served with wavy potato chips & sauerkraut (on the sandwich, and as a special side). Mix some sauerkraut with the thousand island dressing and it makes a good side dish, maybe not just for Reubens. Would probably work for a fried pork chop, or even a hamburger.

I think I went to the Quality Inn directly after dinner and then went for a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway later. It was about 7:13 pm and the sun was going down, but some areas along the road were well shaded. I looked ahead and saw something in the shadows, large and black, meandering across the road. I said to myself, “That’s a black bear.” And then moments later, a smaller black bear followed the first across the road. I slowed my car down, because I didn’t want to crowd them. Moments later a couple of cars came up behind me. As I passed the two bears, they were walking slowly up the side of the mountain disappearing into the undergrowth.

I drove along the Parkway for several more miles, passing a few overlooks, and going through at least one tunnel (maybe two) before turning around and heading back down to town. I get off the Parkway at the entrance to the North Carolina Arboretum and then headed back into town passing the WNC Farmer’s Market.

I had decided to park my car at the front of the motel and not at the side nearest my room. I figured that with no one being around at the end, it would be a good place to try to break into a car. I did notice an outdoor camera this morning. *The room had been renovated with nice fixtures & a quiet flush toilet.

This morning as I drove around downtown Asheville, I drove through the downtown tunnel and then turned around and came back through it. As I exited the tunnel, I made a sharp left turn and headed up a road that took me up one side of this mountain and then over it and beneath a stone bridge (Which I did not drive around to find if I could cross it.). From Google Maps & Street view, I think this overhead bridge is just for foot traffic.

As I came back down the mountain, on the side nearest downtown Asheville. I approached two wild turkeys. As I passed the house, there was only one of the turkeys still visible and it had that beautiful bronze, almost metallic looking plumage. *So last night I saw two black bears in the wild, and this morning I saw a couple of wild turkeys in downtown Asheville.

I went to the WNC Farmers Market just as it was about to open at 8 am today. I took with me, my Cara’s Corner bright yellow shopping bag that I had been given a couple of years ago. Cara’s Corner is still in the upper corner of the Market. The man was most helpful. They had no Gumbo File, but I did buy some lentils @$2.29 lb. and another type of bean I had never tried, Anasazi @$4.89 lb.. Anasazi beans are also called “New Mexico Cave Beans,” a heirloom variety related to kidney beans. *The man said he liked these beans and apparently they form a tasty gravy. My thought, about which I did not ask him, was that he might just be a vegetarian & that is why he didn’t season these beans with some kind of meat. I also bought some Danish Blue Cheese. This cheese looked good in the display case. And somewhere in the past I’ve bought & ate Danish Blue. Later at home, this was a good flavored blue cheese.

I just came across this Anasazi bean recipe online: Anasazi Beans and Rice with Kielbasa Looks like I have everything that goes in this recipe at home already. Kielbasa, celery, onion and sweet bell pepper, yum! I see from the photo of the finished dish that the beans turn a solid light brownish color, losing their distinctive burgundy & white mottled raw color in the cooking process. *I think it was the October Beans that I tried from Cara’s which were shaped like limas, but also had the mottled burgundy & white uncooked coloring which was lost after cooking. And I think the October Beans took on a kidney bean flavor. I have said it elsewhere in this blog, why buy October beans when you can get a can of re-fried beans, that are mashed up kidney beans.

Well, I made a small batch of the Anasazi beans with the Kielbasa (but no rice as per the above recipe) this morning. It looks like the burgundy part of the bean sloughs off and you are left with a brownish, kidney bean looking and flavored bean. Nothing to write home about. If I wanted a bean with a kidney bean flavor, I would fix kidney beans. So, out of the four unusual dry beans I’ve bought at Cara’s Corner, none of them are worth fixing a second time. As I said elsewhere, the Yellow Eye has a mild Black Eyed Pea flavor and that is probably why the Black Eyed Peas became the more dominant bean.

I went to Earth Fare after the WNC Farmers Market and they had the dulse I have been looking for for quite some time. I bought their only two containers for about $7 each. *Funny, but as I was passing through Morganton, I looked over and saw a Food Matters Market. I did a double take because I knew of only one other market with this name, and that was in Brevard, NC. **I checked with an employee and sure enough there are only two of these. She didn’t know why this one was in Morganton. ***And, what? They didn’t have Gumbo File either, but they did have the dulse so I bought another container for around $7. Now after a long draught, I have three packages of Maine Coast Sea Vegetables Dulse. I think I also bought a couple of jars of Minced Ginger. Well, I either bought the ginger here or at Earth Fare. I think I bought the Andouille Sausages at Earth Fare because I had an extended, friendly conversation with the butcher, who was having a minor problem with a gentleman as I walked up to the counter.

I came back to the Quality Inn and got some ice to put in a small container (a plastic Bento Box container that once had a couple of smaller plastic side containers that fit in the bigger box) and put the cheese and a couple of Andouille Sausage links in it. The ice had completely melted by the time I got home and the water had turned a brownish color. Not sure if the sausage was ruined, but I put both links in the freezer. I think the cheese is okay and plan to try it shortly. *The cheese was still good. I had a little with a few of the black sesame rice crackers about midnight.

You’ve got to understand that I might never be on Hwy. 18 going through Morganton, NC again, but I just looked over and saw the name. I had a vague memory that I knew this grocery (health foods store) from having visited one near Brevard, NC several years ago. I think I had been to the Brevard location at least twice, but really don’t know why I was passing through this area. I still had time to kill so I turned around and pulled into the Food Matters Market parking lot and went in.

After Earth Fare I headed up to Weaverville and stopped in the Mangum Gallery in downtown. One nice thing is that there is a small parking lot across the street. No charge, free parking, and just walk across the street to several of the shops. There were several “artists” around this parking lot painting, but facing in different directions.

There was a young man, in the Mangum Gallery, working on some of the pottery and I ended up asking him if he had ever seen or knew who created my “space ship” mug. I showed him a picture from my phone. He didn’t know who, but directed me to to a guild gallery that also had a school for students. It began with an “O” but I don’t recall if it was Odyssey or not. I didn’t go there. *Checked online and it is the “Odyssey Clayworks.” Odyssey Center for Ceramic Art

After the gallery, I drove over to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I have a back route that leads me up the mountain and I come back down the Parkway, past the Folk Arts/Crafts Center, and then out onto US70. This time, I drove past the East Village Grille, on my left, and turned right at one corner of the VA Hospital. This road goes past the “staff/bus” entrance for the Folk Arts Center and under the Parkway. I then headed back to US70 which ends up below where the Parkway entrance/exit is located on US 70.

I then headed back to the New Morning Gallery and managed to get a parking space on the street at the very end (or head) so I didn’t even have to worry about leaving the parking space.

You enter the Gallery on street level and there are a bunch of stairs that lead up to the display area. But, I know where the elevator is located and I now take that up. They have blocked off one corner that was used for display, but now is used for storage. I looked at quite a few mugs and bowls and asked a female clerk about my “space ship” mug. She didn’t know it either. A gentleman also working there said there was a Guild location around the corner, and across the street, but I did not go there afterwards.

I did buy a cheap green Mangum soup bowl. It is a little deeper than the couple of bowls that I already have. The others might be shallow salad bowls. I say cheap because this bowl was only $34 plus tax. This is an old price because I see that most new items are now priced in the $60 – $80 range. Or at least they were at the Folk Art Center.

After the New Morning Gallery I headed out on I40, but pretty soon meandered back over to US 70. I did this because I needed to kill about an hour and a half. The actual driving time to Yadkinville from Asheville was about 2.5 hours.

I meandered through several towns on the way to lunch at 3:30 pm at the Yadkin Valley Seafood Restaurant in Yadkinville, NC.

I rode around Morganton for a short time, not finding their library although I saw the Library turn signs from several directions, but never saw a building labeled “Library.” Actually, I just checked with Google Maps and Street View and I drove completely around the Library but any signage was so small I did not see it. I do recall the parking lot across the street but didn’t know it was for the Library.

The cute blonde waitress with the nice behind wasn’t at the restaurant today. Probably long gone. I wasn’t even sure back then of how old she might have been. She might have still been in high school, or maybe in her early twenties.

Yadkin Valley Seafood Restaurant (Yadkinville, NC)

I asked my waitress what diet drinks they had and I thought she said Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper. I said, “Oh great! I’ll have Diet Dr. Pepper.” Later when she brought my drink, it looked light in color and when I tasted it I wasn’t Dr. Pepper. I asked her about this and she then said, “Oh, we don’t have Diet Dr. Pepper. I thought you said Diet Mountain Dew.” I told her it would be okay, and it was, but as I ate and thought about this, I wasn’t the only person who didn’t hear well, because I know I said “Diet Dr. Pepper” in my reply. If I had heard her as she stated, I would have chosen Diet Coke.

My waitress charged me correctly for my meal but it seemed to be about $3 higher than I thought it should have been so I only gave her a $2.50 tip on a $20 meal. I checked on my phone later and saw that she had charged me the extra price but then I realized I had ordered scallops, popcorn shrimp and flounder, and the scallops were one of several items they charged extra for in their combos.

So after my lunch, it was about 4:30 pm and my GPS was suggesting the quickest route back home was through Winston-Salem and then just south of Greensboro. I decided that going through those cities in rush hour traffic would not be best so I made my own navigation. First I drove from Yadkinville to Mocksville.

From Mocksville to Lexington, and then from Lexington to Asheboro.

I turned around in the Davidson Funeral Home parking lot to get my GPS directions to Asheboro. There were some Hispanic kids (boys & girls) walking across town and I passed them or they passed me a couple of times because I had gone in the opposite direction to see a little more of town and then turned around to get back on track.

Each of these three segments took a little less than 30 minutes. After Asheboro, I headed south, but turned off to come through Seagrove and Robbins, NC, and this segment I had driven before. *I thought I had been to Lexington before, but maybe not. I had been through Lincolnton, NC several years back.

Robbins, NC (I’ve bought gas at this store before, but not during this trip.)

I do want to return to my stay at this Quality Inn in Asheville. The motel was obviously older, but I asked and they had started renovations in 2021. Everything was superb! The toilet had a quiet flush. The shower and the sink had good fixtures and there was plenty of hot water (although I did shower close to 6 am). There were all the amenities: mini fridge, mini microwave, TV with at least 80 channels and a remote, an iron & ironing board (which I haven’t used in probably 25 years) and a blow dryer for your hair. I got ice in the ice bucket and had my “Bill’s Drink.” I had carried my empty carafe and several packages of the dry flavored drink mixes and even had a bottle of mixed orange juice and cranberry juice. So, I wasn’t lacking at all with my personal drink as I normally have at home. I also had a medium avocado which I cut open with a metal spoon I had brought with me, and then scooped all of it out a little at a time. The avocado was perfectly ripe, but I had no salt and that would have made eating it perfect.

The bed was comfortable and had maybe five pillows on it. I think I registered that the pillows were a little hot during the night. The room had been renovated perfectly. Perfectly modernized and for the nightly price worth it. I saw nothing in the room that was a negative. No negative smells or stains, etc. The air conditioning worked fine. Locks on the door. Water pressure in the shower fine.

This morning I decided to go out for breakfast and I got dressed and headed over to J.K.’s. On the way over, I remembered that this was Wednesday and that J.K.’s is closed on Wednesdays. Instead of going on to Zorba’s, I passed by there and went to the Harris Teeter to fix a breakfast from their breakfast bar. I had scrambled eggs, cheese grits, a biscuit and sausage gravy, a small dollop of corned beef hash, and a couple slices of bacon. The total for the breakfast was a little over $9. The items on this bar had good flavor and I would try this again. *Recall that I had enjoyed the Harris Teeter lunch bar many times before I got something “bad” from that bar and my throat started to close up. Since I had tried everything previously, I’m thinking that maybe someone used some chemical cleaning solution and that remained on an item causing the allergic reaction. I stopped eating the lunch buffet there for several months and later tried it once again, with no problems, but never went back to it on a regular basis.

This morning the air was cool in Fayetteville and it reminded me of how the air had been fresh and cool as I was driving around Asheville the morning before. Asheville was a pleasant change.

I fixed some Anasazi beans yesterday and now have a pot of Andouille & Lentils on the stove at 2:01 am Thursday morning. I can already tell that the lentils are going to provide a much better flavor. And, the Andouille seems to be better than the Kielbasa, although I like the Kielbasa for my Kielbasa/Shrimp/Zucchini dish. I’ve also added Savory to the lentils, which I didn’t put in the Anasazi beans.

And yes, I have just tried them and they are really good.

Connelly – The Night Fire

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As I have mentioned elsewhere, I like that Michael Connelly uses real locations in many of his books. I understand that you can’t make a real location a “murder scene” but you can have Bosch, Ballard, or Haller meet in actual restaurants, or suggest a body was found near a public park, and have the school, streets and residence realistically real.

[NOTE 02/04/24]: I’ve read about six of the Harry Bosch or Bosch-Ballard novels, by Michael Connelly in quick succession. I just finished “The Night Fire” this morning and added the El Tinajon Cafe in Las Vegas entry to this posting. But, what I am wrestling with now, is that I have a mental image of a Google Maps “directions map” showing the route that a victim, a young college-age girl, might have taken, bicycling from Los Angeles City College where she was attending, to where she was living. And about half way between her residence and the campus is where they found her dead body, near Lemon Grove Recreation Center. *And, I cannot recall who killed her, or the ending to that story, or even in which Bosch novel the story was included.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery – Tyrone Power Memorial

But, as to why I even thought about the above geographical layout, is that I flipped back to the first page of The Night Fire in which Harry is limping his way to his mentor’s (John Jack Thompson) funeral and he sits to take a rest at the memorial of Tyrone Power. And the connections I place here is that the dead girl’s place of residence, on Romaine Street, was only a couple of blocks from Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where the funeral is being performed. And, without going back to the novel, I’m not absolutely sure that Romaine Street is the correct street. What I recall is that her street did not go the extra two blocks to get to the cemetery. [end NOTE]

The Night Fire came out in October of 2019. I’m almost three-quarters through the book and Ballard and a representative from the DA’s Office meet for a conference and breakfast at a cafe in Santa Monica, near Ocean Boulevard, called “Little Ruby.” From online this is a NY type restaurant that has an Aussie style. The two women meet briefly, discuss a case and have a breakfast of coffee and avocado toast, and Ballard brings along her dog Lola.

I see from Google Maps & Street View that “Little Ruby” in Santa Monica is now permanently closed, but there are still quite a few photos of what the location, atmosphere and food were actually like. And I now know what an Avo Toast at Little Ruby looks like, or perhaps where the two women might have sat during their talk.

Above is a basic Avocado Toast, but I see that you could top it with 1 or 2 poached, or a fried egg., and/or bacon, etc. And apparently Lola would have been quite at home there.

Dulan’s “Soul Food” on Crenshaw

I must have researched this restaurant previously, seeing it referenced on the Bosch TV Series. I can’t quite tell if they are still in business at this location or not. I do have an image in my mind from maybe a couple of years ago. Seems it was a black couple eating at a small table. I did find their current web site for the Crenshaw location. But Ballard is in the large banquet hall “surveilling a couple of perps.” The web site has a couple of photos showing the banquet hall. There are also pictures of their fried chicken, collard greens and peach cobbler. She would have gotten a couple of cornbread muffins automatically with the meal. Not sure if she got their iced tea.

Harry meets his daughter Maddie “Mads” at Urth Caffé in Old Towne, Orange, CA for a late afternoon snack of Avocado Toast and coffee. He’s catching her just before she needs to go to an evening class. He feels the need to give her “a cancer update.” The cafe, located on Orange Circle, is just a few blocks from Chapman University where Mads is currently attending, but she’s thinking about law school, and going to the “D” (the District) after tonight’s class.

NOTE [04/17/24]: I turned on ABC 7 from LA (perhaps Long Beach, CA) this evening and while watching, I caught a police accident where a fleeing car ran through the circle and crashed into a fountain. Looking at the accident, the traffic circle seemed so familiar. I thought that this looked like one of the Google Street Views that I had recorded for where the fictional character, Maddie Bosch, was attending college and the Urth Caffe was nearby. Sure enough I found the article where the fountain was destroyed back in March. [end NOTE]

Is that an Almond Cheese topping with some micro cilantro? And for only $14.50 not including tax & coffee. Oh, and those heirloom tomatoes are extra…

So, Harry orders Sanddabs at the Musso & Frank Grill. It appeared to be lightly breaded & fried fish. At some point, I asked myself if this was like flounder. The images of prepared Sanddab didn’t appear to be wide enough to be flounder-like, but later I did find that the Pacific Sanddab was a form of flounder.

So I learned two new things. One, was that a Pacific Sanddab was a type of flounder. The other, was in looking at a picture of “Filet of Sanddabs” as served at the Musso & Frank Grill, I noted what appeared to be a covering for the lemon half served on the plate.

El Tinajon in Las Vegas, NV where the Black Widow may, or may not, have gotten her last café con leche with Cuban toast. Ballard and all were there to arrest her.

Birthdays, Bosch Books, Shrimp Burger & Moss Landing

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I drove down to Jacksonville on Thursday morning to meet up with Mary Ann and Ray & Jacquelyn at Marrakesh Restaurant at 11 am. Mary Ann had said they open at 11 am, but I think I saw online that they normally open at 10:30 am, except on Sundays, which I think was 11 am.

On the way down, I stopped at the rest stop where NC 24 and I40 cross paths, to use the bathroom. There were a bunch of young children all being naturally loud, some in the bathrooms and some in lines against the hall walls. As I am coming back to my car, the children and their teachers had all migrated out near the church vans they were being transported in. A sign on the side of one of the vans was the name of a church, perhaps something like “Emmanuel XXX Church Rocky Mount, NC.”

Feeling playful and sensing their excitement of the whole experience, I asked, “Are you on a field trip, from Rocky Mount.” The nearest adult, I presume a teacher, responded that they were on a trip, and that they were from Rocky Mount. I did not find out where they were going, but I could surmise that they might be going down to Wilmington, NC. I waved at the children, who had now formed a line, with two children each side by side. Their teacher had grouped them in twos before they were to cross the street to get to their van. But, as I begin to get ready to back my car out of its spot, I see the last little girl in the line and she is looking at me and starts to wave. And, I am glad that I was still looking at these children, and so I make an animated wave back to her, as she joins her line-partner.

My thought on this waving to this child, and I’m not always attentive, is that she was the last child in the line of children I had been “playing” with and asking questions of. I probably didn’t even look directly at her while I was playing. But now “my playing” had been important enough to her that she was giving me a special wave goodbye. And that gift, unacknowledged, would have sent the wrong message to her. But the message I wanted to send to someone that had just given me a special wave, was that you are just as important to me as all those others were, maybe more so, because of you thinking enough of me to wave.

I had a picture book, on my passenger seat that was about “the Ocean.” Not just one ocean, but all oceans, and all the stuff and things that swim about and in these oceans. Something interesting for a child to look at, while physically holding a book. I wanted to roll down my window and hand this book, as a gift to the teacher, but I didn’t. That is a little regret. That would have made our interaction even more special & memorable. Oh well.

So, I had asked Mary Ann if I could stay the night (I normally just go down for the day and return home at night.), since I was planning to go to Wilmington for the Library Book Sale on Friday morning. She said okay. I wasn’t sure if I was going to both book sales, one in Wilmington and one in Washington, NC, but I thought that the Wilmington sale might have more books that I was looking for. *That actually turned out to be incorrect. There were 10 hardbacks in Washington and only 6 in Wilmington, but I went to both & bought 16 books for a total of about $45. ** Some of the extra money I gave, as a donation to the libraries above the $1 or $2 prices per book.

Up on Friday morning, read just a little of “Echo Park” and then had a very enjoyable warm shower. Short trip to Helen’s Kitchen for a country ham breakfast, with one egg over medium, grits, biscuits & coffee and water, with ice. *My routine is to save one biscuit (which I love how they’re made, really flat with little insides), slice it open with a knife and then put a good portion of the good portion of country ham that they bring out for my meal. I then ask for a sandwich wrapper, and in this case the waitress also brought out a small brown bag to put the wrapped country ham biscuit in. The breakfast was good, as usual.

It takes just a little over an hour to drive from Jacksonville to Wilmington, NC. Dixon, mostly unchanged, but most of the rest of the way (Highway 17) has become extremely developed, maybe even overdeveloped. Holly Ridge and Hampstead more development and then at some point there is only development on each side of the highway… endless stores, shops, conveniences, etc.

Made it to the library location in Wilmington shortly after 10 am. It was to open at 10 am. I walked through the front door and immediately there were all the books, on tables for sale. There was another room with books also, but there was no waiting in line to get inside, as there is at the Cumberland County Library Book Sale (Fire Department Limits). I was in, asked where Connelly books might be located, was directed and found a small box, on a table with Michael Connelly novels. I think I found two or three that I didn’t already have but ended up buying six hardbacks (at $1 each). Got a card with a 6/1 on it, which meant 6 @ $1 and 1 @ 50 cents, walked to the cashier, presented my card, was told that I owed $6.50 and I gave her a $20 and said keep the change for a donation. And, I was out the door, and in a brief time, once again on Highway 17, but this time heading back to Jacksonville, and then New Bern, and eventually Washington, NC.

So, I drove up to Little Washington to go to the Brown Library Book Sale (01/19/24 – Open to the Public) in the Washington Civic Center. I’m currently reading some of the Harry Bosch (LA detective), Michael Connelly novels, and have found I can buy them at library book sales for a dollar, or two. Brown Library was selling “hard backs” for $2@. I ended up finding 10 Connelly hardbacks, and paid $20 plus a small donation. Still, “what a deal” compared to spending $35 per book, when they are brand new, only paying $1 or $2 each.

Met a couple of women, friends of each other, going into the book sale. One was asking me about the yellow bag I was carrying in. I told her it was my grocery bag, and that I had forgotten my larger, heavy duty, light gray, bag that I had used for the Cumberland County Library Book Sales in Fayetteville. She went back to her car to get her own bag, and I talked with her friend briefly. The friend said she had become interested in “detective” novels, and I told her briefly about the L.A. detective, Harry Bosch, and that Michael Connelly was a very good writer. She repeated the last name, “Connelly” and we all made it to the front door and went in. I left them and went over to the “C” section for Connelly, and other authors with names beginning with C.

At first I couldn’t find any Connelly books, the name is usually prominently displayed on the colorful book jackets. I asked one of the staff whether there was a “Connelly” section. She wasn’t familiar with the name but she was putting a long string of another author’s books together. I then found about 4 Connelly novels grouped together. I already had a couple, and two I didn’t, but I bought all four. And then I found that there were others, not in the group, but there amidst the other authors if you looked, a Connelly here, a Connelly there, and eventually I found 10 Michael Connelly hardbacks (@$2). *Surprisingly finding more of these in Little Washington than I had at the book sale in Wilmington, NC. Only six of the Connelly novels I wanted in Wilmington that morning, but I did also buy a German Language softback for 50 cents also.

Before leaving the book sale, I looked around trying to find the two women I had talked to before coming inside. Since I had bought ALL of the Connelly books that I had seen, I had left none for the woman. I had a couple of duplicate books, and thought it would be a cheap present for someone I didn’t know to introduce her to Harry Bosch, and Michael Connelly. But, I didn’t see the women, but then thought they might have already left, and the next thought was that I might be looking at them and not remembering what they actually looked like. 

So, I left and drove the short distance around to “Down on Main Street“. I’ve been to the restaurant, “Down on Main Street” several times. Perhaps first with Leo Taylor, on one of our visits to Washington. I think I may have had their Spaghetti “lunch special” and immediately fell in love with their spaghetti sauce. Most restaurants, that I visit, “dumb down” their spaghetti sauces, trying to not offend anyone with distinctive ingredients, like onion, mushrooms, Italian spices, or maybe even some meat (ground beef). But this spaghetti sauce was DELICIOUS! It had distinctive flavor and the garlic bread was good with it. *The problem, was eventually “Down on Main Street” stopped offering the spaghetti special for lunch. I think they stopped serving spaghetti altogether, at least for a while.

But, yesterday, January 19th, 2024, I had a Shrimp Burger, with slaw, and a side of fried okra, with a cold, Diet Pepsi. The burger was delicious, the shrimp good, the slaw good, the Kaiser Roll (maybe just a burger bun) soft & moist. The fried okra were cooked well, and there was a little plastic cup of cocktail sauce. It all came together for a very pleasurable lunch. My waitress, Jo Jo (not sure of how she spells it), was very friendly and attentive to my drink refills, and at the last, my “to go” cup. In our banter, I asked about the spaghetti special, and she said they offered it on Tuesdays for lunch. I told her I had enjoyed it before they discontinued it, and was glad that they had started offering it again. 

While I was eating lunch, I think it was a waitress coming out from the kitchen, and a female customer, coming out from the bathroom awkwardly tried to occupy the same space briefly. And, the waitress, without really being at fault, contorting to try to avoid the customer, dropped a couple of small bowls and the food made a mess of a rug and the floor in that walkway area. Someone came out with a caution sign, and someone with a broom, and someone with a mop. These someone’s were all young men, not sure if they are all waiters also, but that the cleanup duty came to them, and they stepped efficiently into the fray, and the cleanup was, in a brief time, complete… except for on small dollop of perhaps mayo, left on one edge of the throw rug. And this, only something that someone, myself, that had witnessed the whole accident & cleanup, would even notice.

I mentioned the “accident & efficient clean-up” to Jo Jo, my waitress. I said that the young men reminded me of the Roomba Robots (there is a current commercial showing the imagined, behind the scenes, chorography controlling the cleaning robot). She said that her husband had also made a comment on how efficiently they cleaned up, when necessary. They are a good working team!

After my very pleasurable lunch experience at “Down on Main Street,” I decided to drive around the town. I wasn’t going to go far, but just wanted to see if there were any changes in the immediate area, and knew I wanted to “get on the road” back to Fayetteville. I had already been on the road for three hours that morning, from Jacksonville to Wilmington, and back through Jacksonville to New Bern and on to Washington, NC. 

Just a few blocks up from the restaurant, I came upon Moss Landing. I found this new neighborhood to be immediately captivating. The homes were colorful, mostly in pastels & whites, and very reminiscent of the nice “beach” homes, that you find, “on the beach.” I drove slowly through the new development and then came back taking several pictures of the homes with my phone. I liked this neighborhood immediately and thought that it was a very nice addition to “Little Washington.” Something positive and to be proud of. *I live a long distance from Washington, NC, rarely visit, but have had good experiences in Little Washington and as “Down on Main Street.” I miss my good friend, Leo Taylor. He was very good to me, as a friend, and a boss.

Moss Landing, a new community in “Little” Washington, North Carolina. Moss Landing – Google Street View

Bucheron Goat Cheese
from Wegmans
Nueske’s Liver Pate
from Fresh Market
Savory Rice Thins
from Harris Teeter

Bucheron Goat Cheese from Wegmans.

[NOTE 01/21/24]: Finished “Echo Park” early this morning. There was something about the Wait’s garage description, and the hole in the wall that jogged my memory. I must have seen this in the Bosch series, but don’t recall how many years ago. *[01/22/25 UPDATE]: This novel starts with a car being found in the small garages leading to the High Tower Apartments, and the High Tower is an icon from the 1973 movie, “The Long Goodbye,” in which Elliot Gould plays the fictional detective, Philip Marlowe. I love the “feeding the cat” sequence and now there is even a view from the tower looking down on the small garages. Brief, but if you know what you are looking at, rewarding. The High Tower (elevator) is located just over the hill from the Hollywood Bowl Amphitheater. I learned to despise Harry Bosch from reading the books, not from the TV series. [end UPDATE]

Not sure of what criteria I’m going to use to choose the next book to read. Go to the latest, well next to the last one, unless Connelly has published a new one for this year… or go to the earliest one I have, which is probably about 2001. **Not sure that I am really interested in the early Bosch, although at one time I would have enjoyed it. Sort of like all those Midsomer Murder mysteries I watched over the years (20+ seasons). I enjoyed most of them, but no longer have a desire to rewatch them and I actually began to dislike Barnaby. What a shit family man he was. 

NOTE [ 01/22/24 ]: Got around to writing to “Down on Main Street” Restaurant via email, complimenting them on my good experience there (again):

I first visited Down on Main Street several years ago with a friend, who had grown up in “little” Washington.  His name was Leo Taylor and his parents had managed the Trailways Bus Station for many years.  I think I had your “Spaghetti Special” and thought it was so good because you didn’t “dumb down” your spaghetti sauce.  There was a lot of flavor in your sauce!  And, I came back several times and enjoyed this special, until you stopped offering it.

I live out of town, but last Friday had come up from Jacksonville, NC and decided to have lunch with you.  My waitress was “Jo Jo” and she was excellent, friendly and attentive.  I had your Shrimp Burger, with coleslaw, and a side of fried okra, with a cold Diet Pepsi.  Let me say that was the BEST tasting lunch, from the first bite to the last.

While there, there was an accident between a waitress, coming out of the kitchen, and a woman, coming out of the bathroom.  They both tried to occupy the same space at the same time, and unfortunately the waitress dropped some of her order on the floor making a mess in the walkway.  It wasn’t her fault, by the way.  Here is the compliment… there were several young men who went into action, like the Roomba Robot, and cleaned up the area quickly and efficiently.  They acted as a team, one with a broom, one with a mop, etc.  Floor clean, viola.

So, you have really good food.  You have a really good waitress, and you have really good staff that are working as a team!

Thanks.

Bill

[end NOTE]

[NOTE 01/22/25]: As I was reading the Bosch novels, I would go online and use Google Street View to get a better feel for the Los Angeles area. It may have been “Echo Park” and I was looking at a cafe that the character might have passed in the novel. I visited the web site for this restaurant and saw their long handled silverware. This inspired me to buy some like them. Yes, it made no sense, but I did it.

However, there is something rewarding about having a set of stainless steel chop stix. Well four sets. One for each place setting. [end NOTE]

Friends of the Library Book Sale

bgibson135

The first day of book sales, there being two more, was yesterday. Friday’s book sale was from 12 noon to 5 pm. I made it to the Library a little after noon, and the small parking area beside the library was almost full. A couple of open spaces were marked as DO NOT PARK, and a couple were too small because the cars on each side were a little too close to each other. But this forced me into the last open space, second from the stairs, that go down to the Book Sale Entrance.

When I got to the entrance there were only two women, probably in their late 20s to early 30s standing in front of the entrance door. I asked if they were standing in line, and they said they were. I thought one of them said that only 15 persons were allowed inside at a time (fire regulations), but she may have said 50 persons, which is the number one of the staff later told me. But, it took a long time before we were allowed inside. In fact, I was able to read 4 books of the Bible on my phone before the next people were allowed in. And by that time, the line behind me had grown to maybe more than 20 persons.

Just outside the entrance there were some books labeled “Free.” While standing there I looked over some of the free book titles & authors. There was a book by Leon Uris, and one by Tom Clancy. Okay, maybe not Clancy, but another recognizable author’s name and to think that they were now “free.” Did Uris do “Exodus,” which was made into a movie? ***I just googled, and I did remember correctly, he did write “Exodus” which was made into a movie with Paul Newman. And google listed as one of his books, “Redemption,” which was the free book.

I walked inside carrying my large, light gray, empty tote bag. It is sturdily made, and I used it a few months ago when I was at that book sale.

There is a small room to the left as you walk down a short hallway to the main book room. This apparently is the “discount” book room. A sign said, “Books 25 cents each or 5 for a $1.” I knew from last time that most of the books were children’s books and that there was a small “cookbook” section. But, and I may have missed it last time, the cookbook section wasn’t just one small unit, but several, side by side. I only noticed the extra cookbooks after choosing several and then walking all the way around the children’s area and back to the first cookbook section I had noted. There were also foreign language books, but I didn’t see any German Language books. But then I noticed that there were more cookbooks, and even more beside those. I started looking through those. I happened to see a large book by John Besh. I knew this chef from a cooking show he had on a few years ago. He was family oriented, cooking with his children on the show, and I think that was the theme of this cookbook. He was also a former Marine, so I knew some of where he was coming from. *But, I haven’t seen his show on TV for quite a while and at some point I think I saw something about him having an affair with one of his staff. What a shame because that blew much of what he had to offer, a family man, chef, out of the water. *But then, I guess having an adulterous affair blows all of us, guilty of it, out of the water.

I didn’t pay for the books from the discount room, but was given a chit with a $2 amount on it. This I was to show to the staff in the larger book sale room, and then they could total all the books up and I could just pay once. So at 5 for $1, I must have had 10 books from the discount section.

I bought six more books in the other room, but they were only 50 cents each, and children’s books. So I ended up with a $5 price tag for 16 books. I took out a $10 bill and gave it to the clerk telling her to treat the extra as a donation. Still, that’s only about 63 cents a book, even with the donation.

But, I almost totally ignored my book buying parameters. I bought mostly cookbooks. And, most of the books that I bought were large in size, if not large in number of pages. Size does matter because I wanted to buy books to add to the various Local Community Book sites that I visit. Most of these are small cubicles on posts, some looking like little houses with glass front doors, so that you can see the books that people have left. The idea being, “Take a book, leave a book.” My routine is normally to take 2 and leave 2, but I don’t plan to read most of the books I take. I also take a picture of the unit, and the two books I have taken. That way I can try to not return a book to where I originally got it from. I am being a “book bee” and pollinating each little book stand with books from another stand elsewhere. So, I may take books from several locations in Fayetteville, and move them to locations in Sanford, Raleigh, Benson or even Florence, SC. **And there is an app that makes it easy to find locations of the units, and to record when you visited. Not all units are listed in the app. Not rogue units, just not in the list.

Little did I know, this was Briggs Farm.
On the corner of Briggs Farm
at Briggs Elementary in Florence, SC.

I did find a small Local Library next to a goat pen at an elementary school in Florence (Briggs Elementary). And may I say, the goats there were fine looking specimens. A pretty brown haired one was a little skittish at me taking it’s picture. The school also had a pretty garden area for children to learn about agriculture, etc.

I mentioned Benson because there is only one community library location there. I’ve visited twice and I may have gotten a copy of “Fig Pudding” both times. I was unfamiliar with this story, but it is a good family oriented tale, that even includes the death of one of the children in the family, and a messy, child’s foot in the communal fig pudding at a family to-do.

So the books need to “fit” in these little units. A large one might not be able to be squeezed in.

Not sure if I have written about this elsewhere, but back in October, I happened to see and take a book by Matthew Perry, the actor/comedian. I recognized his face on the cover and didn’t actually expect to read the book, but knew someone might. I don’t recall the exact title of his book, but part of the title was the equivalent of “and the Elephant in the Room,” to paraphrase his title. And looking online I quickly found that his elephant was a life long “drug/alcohol addiction.” Well, just a short time (less than a week) later I was looking online at a list of recently (this year) deceased celebrities and who should I see but the face of Matthew Perry. I then googled to see when he died, and surprise, he died three days after I had received his book. Now, I sort of felt an urge and obligation to try to read his book.

I’ve only gotten a page into the book, but “creepy” he starts off presenting his addiction, and saying something to the effect that he is surprised that he has lived this long. He easily could have died due to complications of his alcohol/drug abuse, but he hadn’t. So he dies alone in his hot tub. Maybe not ironic. You might say he died of natural causes. To which the joke about the bank robber who was shot and killed. It was stated that he died of natural causes. Well, being shot to death is a natural cause for a bank robber, isn’t it?

NOTE [ 11/30/23 ]: Well, I took the Matthew Perry book with me this morning when I went for scheduled maintenance for my 2018 Toyota Camry. I was in the Hendrick Toyota waiting room for almost 2.5 hours and much of that was spent reading his book. I’m now about 70 pages into the book. I’m thinking another more appropriate title might be, “Self Inflicted Wounds.” *Reading a book where people, places & things are mentioned is much more fun when you have a Handy connected to the Internet. When Perry mentions his tennis playing, you can go online and see him in his tennis garb. Or when he mentions a small group of actor friends, you can see each one of their faces, or even see each one of them with Matty. Or River Phoenix & his first movie, that too is also documented online. **I played a lot of tennis when I was younger, but I didn’t start playing until I was older, which meant I would never progress to a “world class” level. Much like Matty being a Canadian star, but just a good club player, when he reaches LA. Also, I realized from the book that the 1984 Summer Olympics were played in Los Angeles. I was in Wedowee/Lineville, Alabama that summer. And sometime that summer, tennis players started saying, “My bad,” when they made an error on the court. I always hated that phrase because it sounded “so dorky” to me. Almost as bad as, “I shit my pants.” No, dork, it’s “I shit in my pants.” Or the demise of adverbs that have “ly” appended to them as, “He walked quick into the room.” “quickly, suddenly, gingerly, etc.” [END NOTE]

Oh, I hadn’t thought about winter time and these small lending libraries until just a short time ago. I don’t want to put a book outside during the coldest time of the year. I don’t think that as many people would be walking and taking books during the winter. I think this is mainly a spring, summer & fall activity. But, I might be wrong.

NOTE [ 11/18/23 ]: So, I went back to the Friends of the Library Book Sale again this morning. It started at 10 am, and I was a little late arriving, but found a space in the parking lot and there was no waiting line when I got to the door. Eric Hyman was sitting guard at the door and pushed it open to let me in. We talked briefly. I was surprised that he was not retired from FSU. He said something about being on partial retirement, and working a limited amount of time with classes, and some time off for his writings.

I asked about the new chancellor, but he said he didn’t see him.

I walked past the discount room and directly into the main book sales room. The criminal/murder mystery writers were directly in front down an isle, and they had the books organized by author, and there were a bunch of books by Michael Connelly. I picked up & picked out several books by Connelly, and saw that in addition to the Bosch novels, he also wrote the Lincoln Lawyer character. As I drove down the street today, I made a note to self that I had never read a Stephen King novel but only enjoyed the movies made from his novels. I say I’ve never read one of his novels, but I am haunted by the thought that I may have read something by him, and just don’t remember it. So, I’ve also not read a Michael Connelly novel, but have enjoyed the Bosch TV series and several episodes of the Lincoln Lawyer.

I have read “The Red Dragon” by Thomas Harris many years ago, while I was still working for the New River Baptist Association at the Hem of His Garment. A paperback copy of his novel was donated to the Hem, and Maribell Jarman brought it up and put it under our checkout counter. She sheepishly said to me that she wasn’t sure what to do with it. I took it home and read it, and as I did, I realized that I had already seen this story in the movie, “Manhunter.” By that time, the Iwo Jima Theater on New Bridge Street in Jacksonville offered $1 movies and “Manhunter” was one of those that I had seen. But, years prior, I had also watched “Planet of the Apes” and “The Godfather” at the Iwo Jima.

“Manhunter” was a movie that was ruined, by Michael Mann music. Well, if you had lived through the “Miami Vice” TV series, which reeked of Michael Mann, then listening to his music in “Manhunter” made it impossible not to keep thinking about Miami Vice. So “Manhunter” was based on Harris’ “Red Dragon.” And the story was later remade into a movie called “Red Dragon.”

There were a select few novels with $2 price tags, the rest of the hardback novels were only $1 each, and before I left, I also found a section of cookbooks also at $1. I only had one $2 book and the rest were $1 each, and I think I paid $15 total, so is that 14 books total? I got online and have a list of the Michael Connelly novels he has written. Not sure if I will try to collect them all, not to keep, but just to have put them all back out in the Community Libraries.

So what am I going to do with these books? I’m probably going to store them during the winter, and start leaving them at the little lending libraries beginning next Spring 2024. I hope to make it till then, but if not as with everything once you die, it won’t be my worry any longer.

NOTE [ 11/24/23 ]: Yesterday, before I headed up to the Mitchell’s, I took my red cart out to the car and took out a bunch of mail, trash and books that I had in the front seat and passenger-side floorboard. I was surprised by finding three books that I didn’t recall having. One was a book of things that a mother learned from her children and another was “Fig Pudding.”

All three of these books were youth/child oriented, and smaller in size, so they would fit easily in almost all of the little community libraries that I have visited. However, I look over against the wall from my easy chair and see the books I bought at the recent Cumberland County Library – Friends of the Library Book Sale. I bought very few child/youth oriented books. I bought a bunch of cookbooks, most of them not thick in size, but larger, and about 8 Michael Connelly books (both Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer), and one Harlan Coban book. I don’t even know the genre that Coban writes, but I’ve seen the advertising for a bunch of movies from books that he has written. So I consider Coban & Connelly in the same ilk as Stieg Larsson. I just googled on how to spell Stieg Larsson’s name, and see that he died of a heart attach in 2004 and his Millennium Trilogy was published after his death. Who knew? Not me.

Not directly related, but I was just reminded of the incestuous father/daughter relationship, and recall from several of the Scandinavian police/detective shows that Europeans find this a problem worthy of death or at least keeping in the family as a “dark” secret. I think from the Wallander series, no matter who is playing the character, there was at least one murder as the result of an incestuous father. *Oh, oh, I just thought of the first episode of “the Mentalist.” This came out in 2008 and in the first episode, there as a “prologue” not related to the rest of the show. We are introduced to the character of Patrick Jane, who is acting as a consultant to a state police unit. Jane wanders off from the rest of his unit, and finds himself in the kitchen/small dining area, of the victim’s home (a very nice home). He makes himself at home, fixing himself some hot tea and a sandwich. And then the mother walks into her kitchen and Jane and she introduce themselves. Jane begins to probe the mother. It is her daughter that has been found murdered, and the current suspect is a teenaged, Goth themed boy in black. But Jane begins to sense that the mother has doubts about what has happened. She may even suspect her husband, who comes into the kitchen and sees Jane and his wife talking a a small dining table. The husband is confrontive toward Jane, but instead of backing down, Jane brings himself to ask the father if he is responsible for his daughter’s death. The father is incensed at this accusation, and threatens to report Jane to his unit head (maybe higher). The wife/mother has gotten up from the table and disappeared briefly. But, she now returns to the room, with a gun. Jane backs away from the husband, the husband tries to defend himself from the guilty verdict his wife has obviously put upon him. But, in short order the wife puts about four bullets in her husband’s torso (the red splotches vibrant upon his crisp, white dress shirt) and he falls to the kitchen floor. Jane’s boss and the others in the unit arrive promptly in the kitchen having heard the gun fire. The wife drops her weapon, and Jane steps back and says to the police, “Honest, it’s not as bad as it looks.” And this little segment ends and the show goes briefly to a commercial break.

I recall the first time, as I was watching this, I thought to myself, “Now that’s funny, I’m going to like this show.” And, I did. I watched several seasons of the show, religiously, right up until we learned that the evil character of “Red John” has been killed, but it wasn’t actually Red John. This type of writing has happened in a few other shows that I have been watching intensely and as soon as it does, I lose all interest in that show. I don’t ever want to watch another episode because the writer could keep doing this, ad infinitum. If I had still been watching the TV show, Dallas, when they revealed that a whole season of the show had just been a dream, I would have been so angry that I wouldn’t have watched any episode after that, and would have felt cheated by the “dream” season.

So, in America an incestuous story only merits 10 minutes of an episode, which the Europeans can stretch into a story of several hours or even 5 or 6 episodes.

In the past ten years, I have watched a bunch of Scandinavian detective/police shows, filmed in a snow bound environment. Not sure why this is attractive. I wouldn’t want to live in a place where there were more days of the year with snow on the ground than not. *Although when I lived and went to school in Louisville, KY, I liked walking about in the snow for hours. If you have the right clothing and boots, you can enjoy yourself, even if you are not sledding down a hill, or doing other kid-type stuff. Northerners know how to thrive in snow. **Actually, Northerner’s can be just as big pussys in snow and ice, if you provide them with enough snow & ice, and maybe a little more cold wind and sleet than they are used to. Then, they whine and act just like Southerners do, when there is an inch of snow on the ground. If you don’t have the right equipment, or aren’t prepared for a good snow (and that is a relative term) we are all whiners & complainers. Whether we have a Southern drawl, or don’t know how to pronounce an “R” in words like park, bar or car. Is that, “paak da kah at da ba?”

I bought some snow boots, probably at Walmart. They seemed to be made of the same rubbery material that commercial fishermen wear. Although the color of boots for commercial fishermen has changed to white. They weren’t white when I was growing up. **Oh, and the style of oyster knife has changed since I was a child. Some oyster knives are still made, with a bulbous wooden handle, but the majority have a rubber/plastic handle, not as bulbous, and the knife blade may be almost stubby.

The snow boots had a thick insulation material, probably over a half inch thick. I mentioned being out in the snow for 3 hours. I did this, tromping about the snowy Southern Seminary campus in my snow boots & heavy coat. Probably also wearing several layers of shirts & pants. I recall my feet were actually sweating after several hours. My body heat was sufficient with the thick book insulation.

I used to like to listen to Garrison Keillor on the radio. He had a lengthy show that came on weekly. I think it may have been 90 minutes in length. Maybe not, but because there was so much entertaining material, the show seemed to last a long time. Well he had a segment of the show where he would start to tell a story. He painted beautiful, intricately designed scenes with his words, and he filled those scenes and rooms with interesting characters. But, one of the things he did extremely well was to start one story, and very quickly, without the audience even being aware of the segway, he would dive into another story and make that just as intricate as what he had started with. But, near the end of this segment, he would bring us all back to the original story and finish that tale. And, over and over, I would realize that the majority of that segment was filled not by the original story, but something entirely different. I would wonder how he got my mind sidetracked, so easily, and without being aware that the train I was riding on has switched to another track, even another destination for a while, until the conductor decides to switch us back to the main line.

NOTE [ 12/09/23 ]: I’ve continued to read the Matthew Perry memoir. *As I write this, I am watching “Leave the World Behind” a movie with Julia Roberts. One of her (the character she is playing) children was watching an episode of “Friends”. This was probably intentional because Matthew Perry and Julia Roberts dated for a brief while, as is recounted in his book.

The book is interesting because of several things, such as a movie that Matty did with Bruce Willis, “The Whole Nine Yards.” I recall seeing this movie, years ago but couldn’t have told you that Matthew Perry was in it. The two actors I recalled were Bruce Willis and Amanda Pete. But, reviewing it, I see that Natasha Henstridge was in it, and without rewatching the film, I think she became the love interest of Matty’s character, not recalling what happened to his wife. But, Bruce Willis’ character was a notorious “hit man” hiding out. *Perry mentions that this film was #1 for about three weeks, so he, like Michael J. Fox, had a #1 movie and a #1 TV show at the same time. But Matty also mentions that because of his alcohol/drug additions he “felt like shit” (my translation) during this time of success. And the irony, was that later, when the sequel, “The Whole Ten Yards” tanked, he didn’t feel that bad. **I don’t recall if he had hit rehab again before the sequel. ***I just rewatched “the Jackal” with Bruce Willis as a contract hitman and Richard Gere as his nemesis (1997). “The Whole Nine Yards” came out in 2000.

Now, I recall seeing Matthew Perry’s dad, the actor, on something in the past. It was either a TV show he was on or a commercial he had done. Several of the friends he mentions, his drinking buddies, all had faces that I recall seeing as actors. As I have said, either in writing or to someone, the memoir could just as well have been named, “Self Inflicted Wounds.” He made a bunch of money, and he spent a bunch of money, and fame & money didn’t make him happy, or fill his holes. His deal with God was something to the effect of, “You make me famous, and you can do whatever you want with me.” So, he knew God had honored one part of the contract, and he was going to have to live with the consequences.