Sunday, June 8, 2014

From Topsail Island to the Sounds of South

The past two weeks have just been packed.  I spent a lot of time on volunteer work, making skirts for the Sounds of South musical theater group that represents Bloomington South High School.  Tommie is a new participant, and the first performance will be Phantom of the Opera this fall.  A large parent support group is needed to put on the productions.  I’m helping sew costumes.  What landed on my lap was twelve show choir dresses, and I was asked to create seventeen knee-length skirts based on the measurements provided.  I had to rip a lot of seams to get my starting material.  I supplemented what I had with white fabric from the recycle center, old tablecloths and the boy’s old Taekwondo outfits to fill out the blank underskirts.  And the best news is:  they’re all done!  All week long I did nothing but sew, sew, sew.  The weather cooperated, allowing us to have dinner on the veranda.  The dining room was converted to the sewing room and I left all the scraps and tools lying about for the week.  When I laid the seventeen skirts together they make a delightful Jellyfish!
 
Now they hang in the closet until I have to give them up. 

Also this week, Tommie went to Washington, DC with his eighth grade peers.  He had a great time while we followed the events on Facebook.  They visited all the monuments, museums and even hit a dinner cruise and Six Flags amusement park.   
Jacob did a sailing camp on Lake Monroe and had a great time on the water.  Jim’s long-time friend from Michigan, Roger, came to visit this week.  The visit culminated in a dinner out at the Owlery on Friday night.  Jacob took a great picture of us inside (you see his friend Niki and Roger (and their Fedoras) next to the window.  Everyone had a great time, including Jacob, who got to learn some programming from Roger during the week. 

We also fit in our annual family vacation to Topsail Island.  We rented a house right on the beach and indulged ourselves with fresh fish, nice wine and beach activities all week long.  This year we traveled east in our van.  That was nice, especially passing through the Blue Ridge Mountains on the way.  Jacob and I rented beach bikes with huge tires and rode the ten miles or so into Surf City on the sand.  Jim and Tommie went on a deep sea adventure and came back with some nice snapper.  
 They also did some surf fishing, catching bluefish, pinfish and sharks.  Jacob took up skim boarding, zipping along the beach or launching himself over the surf.  We all enjoyed boogie boarding or looking for fossilized shark’s teeth—I think that was Jim’s favorite beach activity this year.  
 Everyone enjoyed the grilled fish we found at Mitchell’s and Surf City Crab seafood markets.  We discovered the joys of match-light charcoal and learned how to get hot coals.  This year we enjoyed tuna, swordfish, grouper, and snapper.  And of course we had to have the dessert that says you’re having a good time, a fresh fruit pie!   
The berries weren’t ready for us because of the cool spring so we ended up having a peach pie.  I can’t wait for the tart cherries to appear at the Farmer’s Market!

Until next week,

Martina Celerin 

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