12.22- Land & Sea Cycles

Eclectica on the porch of "Land & Sea Cycles," a store in the old Central Hotel at Hodges St. & Broad St.
(Click on picture or here for full size)

Today brings blue skies and cooler air after several rainy gray, but warmer, days here in oriental.

Need to do some last minute Christmas/Channukah shopping? Try "Land & Sea Cycles" in the old village at the intersection of Hodges St. and Broad St. Plenty of the unusual here.

How about a two-tailed dragon candle-holder ? (the dragon is a symbol of Oriental, of course.)

Located in the old "Central Hotel" building (as the sign says, circa 1903), this place adds a lot of color to the primary intersection in Oriental, Broad St. (NC Hwy. 55) and Hodges St.

Sorry, not much time for discussion of Central Hotel history, as I have been busy on tamales and tomorrow will be driving to Washington D.C. to pick up my older brother who is coming down here for the holidays... More later.

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11.21- Cheap Gas

A man rides his bicycle up Broad Street (NC Hwy. 55) past the "Town and Country" grocery store, where gasoline has just dropped below $2.00 per gallon

I rode my bike up to Town and Country to buy a Coke from the machines outside when an employee came out to change the price sign.

As she was flipping the numbers, several folks asked what the new price was going to be, and cheered when they learned it was just now breaking the $2.00 level.

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11.01- "Marine Consignment of Oriental "

Dinghies on display in front of "Marine Consignment of Oriental"

If you are boating down the ICW and have a list of boat parts you are looking for (a bit redundant, I know), you might want to drop by Oriental and visit "Marine Consignment of Oriental" on Broad Street (Hwy 55).

Outboard motors, hardware, sails, rigging... any parts, big or small... if it attaches to a boat, they probably have it here.

If you have some extra parts to sell, you can sell them here on consignment.

I like the mouse on the bow of this dinghy... I guess it's supposed to be terrified by the frightening speed this rowing/sailing dinghy can achieve.

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10.5- Air supply

Compressed air hose at Village Hardware

Village Hardware, on Broad Street (Hwy. 55) is a great place for such things as nuts, bolts, mosquito control, mulch and boat parts.

Not everyone may know that it is also the place to go to fill your tires with air. Even when the store is closed.

An air hose protrudes from the south side of the building, ready for all your low-tire issues, free of cost. I suggest you bring your own pressure gauge, however, since the built-in one seems to be off by about 10 psi (they always are).

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9.22- Captain's Quarters porch #2

Visitors gab with locals gathered on the porch of the Captain's Quarters Bed & Breakfast around 4:00 this afternoon.

One of Oriental's informal gathering places, the porch of the Captain's Quarters B&B, today saw the B&B guests outnumbered by locals dropping by for conversation and libations.

Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd, particularly on this porch right on the main road through town, Broad Street (Hwy. 55).

From left to right; Patty, Sandy, Robby (all locals), Tom & Linda (visiting from Greenville, SC, home of the "Greenville Daily Photo" blog I visit regularly) and Tory (on last day of extended summer visit from Iowa). Other locals came by, visited and went on their ways during the afternoon, and the porch party was joined by other B&B guests and still going strong at 8:00 pm when I dropped by again.

Yes, I have featured the Captain's Quarters porch before in my posting of August 28 (featuring B&B owner Capt. Roy)... What can I say, it is a popular spot, pure Oriental, and I just didn't feel like hunting for a picture today.

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9.06- Hanna aftermath

Electric Co. vehicles and line workers assembled under clear skies and a half moon in the parking lot at Mac's gas station as the sun sets.

Tropical Storm Hanna came through Oriental as dawn approached this morning, bringing 20-30 mph winds from about 2:00 a.m. through 8:00 a.m.

From about 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 winds were in the 30-40 mph range, with reported gusts near 60 mph. After 10:00 a.m. it became a beautiful clear day with 5-10 mph winds the rest of the day.

No flooding overnight, no storm surge, no heavy rains, and winds similar in strength to common thunderstorms in the area, though the winds persisted at strength for longer periods of time.

The storm did knock out power to the entire town for a few hours this morning, with intermittent power outages throughout the day as "Progress Energy" crews made repairs around town.

All in all, Hanna was a lot of not much around here. Should be a nice day for sailing tomorrow, and I hope to be out, either in the Bauer Classic 10 dinghy or crewing on my neighbor's Catalina 25.

Ike looks to be headed for FL and the Gulf, and Josephine appears to be petering out. It will be nice to not have everyone talking hurricanes 24/7 around here, as they have been for a few days now.

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8.27- Respite from the Rain

Captain Roy (nearest to the street) holds court on the porch of The Captain's Quarters Bed and Breakfast on a rainy day here in Oriental.

Capt. Roy, owner of The Captain's Quarters B&B hosts some friends for wine, cigars, antipasti and conversation on the porch on Broad St. (Hwy. 55) as afternoon rains pass over Oriental. Today's new edition of the weekly "Pamlico News" newspaper rests on the table.

Broad St. is the main thoroughfare through "downtown" Oriental, so while sitting on this porch (at the intersection of Church St.) one can see everyone in town driving, biking or walking by, and many folks wave to Capt. Roy and anyone who happens to be on the porch.

Even a day of rain and thunder doesn't stop the regular appearance of Capt. Roy and guests on the porch... a great place to get out of the rain and enjoy some excellent company... or on sunny days, to get out of the sun and do the same.

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