N is for Nostalgia

April 16, 2014

2014 A to Z Blog Challenge

Day 15

A Rural Life

N is for Nostalgia

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I remember a kinder, gentler time, and I feel very blessed to have those memories. When I was very small, the adults in my family loaded all the kids up in a car caravan and drove over four hours to Ocean City, Maryland. 

No, we didn’t stay in a motel. We pitched tents on the beach somewhere north of the boardwalk. Can you imagine doing that now? They’d probably throw you in jail, but remember, this was a different time. No one blinked an eye at our four-tent camp complete with campfire.

My first encounter with the ocean didn’t go well. My mother couldn’t convince me to get in the water. In fact, it wasn’t until my father put his camera away and carried me into the surf that I agreed with the idea of getting wet with water that “smelled funny.” After he went out far enough for the waves to splash on me, I was fine. Well, until he put me down on the beach and went into the deeper water without me. I understand I screamed about that as only a four-year old can. 

Not too many years later our family vacation car caravan headed for the mountains and Dolly Sods. Again, we simply pitched out tents and no one bothered us. A park ranger did stop and remind us to store our food where the bears couldn’t get it, but that was all. The spouse and I visited Dolly Sods a few years back and it was really cool to find the locations to match the old black and white photos. Now there are designated campsites, too.

I’m sorry my younger cousins won’t know those times. Their vacations are planned out on the Internet and motel rooms booked well in advance of travel. And they have to be. The days of pitching a tent on the beach with no rules and regulations are long gone, and while their memories will be different, I’m sure they’ll be just as meaningful to them.

But I think mine of a simpler time are just a little bit better.

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You didn’t really think you’d get away without one more brief book promo, did you?

N is also for the NETTING NEPTUNE, book one of the Southern Cross series. For more information please visit my website at http://www.kckendricks.com/NettingNeptune.html

Netting Neptune is available at Amazon and other online booksellers.
www.amazon.com/Netting-Neptune-Southern-Cross-Book-ebook/dp/B01FEST0I0

KC Kendricks

Website: http://www.kckendricks.com

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Tybee Island musings

October 9, 2012

Vacationing is grand, but there's truly no place like home. Our trip to Savannah, Georgia went well. Actually, it was FAB and I can't wait to go back! Maybe we will in the spring when my partner's granddaughter graduates. It's difficult to know as June is a long way off. 

Historic Savannah is lovely. Unfortunately, my picture taking wasn't up to the task. I hesitate to say "my photography" because I took snapshots instead of photos, and crappy ones at that. Maybe if we go back in the spring, I'll take a decent camera. 

One of things we did was visit Tybee Island, which is much changed since the 1970's. The drive to Tybee was picturesque, and I'd like to say Tybee is a welcoming little island, but they make you pay for parking, so we didn't. We did pull over long enough for me to snap the Tybee Island Light Station, though. 

The Tybee lighthouse was ordered built by James Oglethorpe, founder of Savannah, in 1732 and has guided ship captains into the Savannah River ever since in spite of having been rebuilt several times following storms.

Tybee Island also seemed to have an overabundance of police cruisers. Hmmm... out of state car.... in the south..... Yep. Made me nervous. I kept hearing Vicki Lawrence singing in my head. So sorry, Tybee business people. I had money to burn but between having to pay for parking and the cops following me around for doing nothing, you didn't get any of it. Sure wish I could have got a few lighthouse castings to give to friends.

Or maybe not. 

Giving trinkets that need to be dusted on a regular basis isn't really a sign of friendship to women in my age group. I should have brought back wine.

KC

Georgia on my mind

October 4, 2012

It’s been many years since my partner and I vacationed – together. His health suffered more than a few blows in the last decade, and leaving home wasn’t something he felt strong enough to do. I took off with girlfriends from time-to-time to save my sanity while he stayed home and held the fort. These days he’s in a good place so here we are in Savannah, Georgia, to visit his son. I’ve already learned a few things.

One: I need some new toys. My old dinosaur laptop is great for writing prose on the patio, but not for much of anything else, like Google Earth.

Two: Savannah sucks for cell signal. I can’t go anywhere around home and LOSE signal and I can’t go anywhere down here and FIND one.

Three: I hate the glare on the screen of my digital camera and phone. Whose “better idea” was it to go from a viewfinder window with NO GLARE to this set up? Someone fixed something that wasn’t broken and Kodak bought into it. No wonder they’ve had difficulties. Surely I can find a digital camera with a screen I can see in any light and at any angle.

Four: Never, ever, never leave home without a stick of Tide-on-the-Go!! Some of us can manage to spill [fill in the blank] all over ourselves. Welcome to the club!

Five: Speed limits are made to be exceeded. I’m in NASCAR country. I don’t really have to explain this one, do I? (No, but I will. I didn’t get a ticket. I did the speed limit and got passed by everyone on the highway. It was embarrassing.) 

Six: I really need to get a Kindle Fire so my honey can have my trusty Kindle2. He needs his own toys. 

But all whining aside, and tongue out of cheek, the trip’s been good so far. Our hotel room is nice, the historic district of Savannah is fascinating and beautiful, and the family is healthy and happy. It’s good to see them face-to-face instead of on facebook.

Tomorrow, while the family is at work and school, we’re going to visit the waterfront and be tourists. I’m looking forward to lunch at the Irish pub and taking my partner’s credit card for a walk. I might even buy him a T-shirt. Maybe we can even find a spot where I can get a cell signal and call home to check on the folks.

And I plan to take lots of inspiration photos for new stories. I’ve got ideas and I can’t wait to get back to work. Good thing I have the dinosaur with me. 

KC

Birthday come, birthday go

June 2, 2012

Birthdays come, birthdays go. I like to celebrate mine with a week of vacation, dinner out with the folks, lots of shopping, and then end the week with a nice quiet dinner for two. Since today is the actual event, it’s dinner out with the parents. Some mothers are capable of developing an at-ti-tude if you don’t visit them on your birthday. Mine likes to throw cash at me and she expects me to show up to receive it. Such are my blessings and bounty.

I had my vacation week all planned. I had visions of marathon writing sessions in the morning, of the muse running free, followed by long afternoon naps to renew and refresh my mind. The day would end with lazy evenings augmented with after dinner alcohol on patio. Aye. Right. That worked out real well - not! But it doesn’t matter because I had fun.

Maybe there’s something magical about turning the double nickel. Gas prices be damned, we hit the road every day and poked into the small, quiet corners found in our two “home” counties. What we found is a renaissance of bygone days out in the country.

Picnic tables, homemade stands and farm carts sit along rural driveways filled with various wares - yard sales on the honor system. One place even had local honey in pint jars with a chunk of the honeycomb left in. Man, did that take me back to my youth and the days of my grandfather’s beekeeping. I'll tell you about that some day.

As my vacation winds down, I find I’m eager to embrace some semblance of routine. Stepping away was good, but now I’ve crossed over the vacation bridge and need to set my mind back to my work. It’s time to dust off a few tools I’ve not used in a while and keep my focus on the plot.

Like Leroy Jethro Gibbs says, it’s time to “gear up.”

KC Kendricks

website at: http://www.kckendricks.com
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