Saturday, January 15, 2005

What Do We Do All Winter?

Not much going on here on the island this time of year -- unless, of course, you live here! Last night I spent a pleasant evening at Leonard & Beverly Meeker's home (the rather large home with the semi-circular roof, just across the "ditch" from the Coast Guard station). Also present were Donna Helen Boor (owner of "Sandy Shores Realty"), Tim Fields (of "Cat Ridge Deli" fame), and Cindy Fiore (local massage therapist and artist).

During dinner Leonard related a wonderful tale from the 1970's when he was assigned as the newest ambassador to Romania. In January Romania's dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, hosted his annual hare & pheasant hunt. In the late afternoon, after returning from the fields & woods, Leonard (who was more comfortable with a camera than with a weapon), was slated for his initiation.

The corpses of the bagged rabbits and pheasants were laid out on the dirt floor of the tent, and Leonard was instructed to prostrate himself on top of them. Directly Ceausescu appeared with a birch switch which he employed to thwack Leonard's behind in perfect cadence with the firing of military rifles.

Somehow I had always envisioned a very different picture of the duties of international ambassadors.

Tonight's entertainment will be quite different. Jubal Creech called about an hour ago and invited me to the Deepwater Theater on School Road for an impromptu "drumming circle." Jubal is an accomplished drummer and undoubtedly will bring an assortment of percussion instruments to share. Let's just hope he's turned the heat on. It's only 46 degrees at the moment, and very windy.

So, there might not be much happening on the island if you're visiting, but life can be varied and much fun if you stay here long enough to meet our eclectic group of islanders.


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