12.11- Luminary assembly, Part Two

A few of the 3000+ fully assembled luminaries lining the floors of the Town Hall

Volunteers this afternoon assembled the 3000+ luminaries that will line Oriental streets for the Spirit of Christmas Parade coming up on Saturday.

I was not able to get pictures of the assembly in progress today, but all afternoon volunteers filled little plastic bags with sand from a 4 ton pile, placed the sandbags in the pre-folded luminary bags, and inserted the pre-lighted candles. (See Luminary Assembly, Part One in second prior post below, or click here)

Below you can see the meeting room at Town Hall filled with the assembled luminaries (undergoing final inspection by three young volunteers who helped make them)... The bags also overflowed into the Town Hall garage:

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9.25- Why don't you kids go play out in the street?

Kids playing on "boogie boards" in the wind-tide-inundated portion of Hodges Street.

The water is going down today as 94L approaches the South Carolina-North Carolina border and winds down a bit after a night of gusty winds in the 20-40 mph range.

These three kids were enjoying the "Hodges St. Beach"... a foot or more of water has covered the street since yesterday (see yesterday's post, below... even more pictures of the high waters on "The Dinghy Dock" posts for today and yesterday.)

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9.10- Reading on Hodges Street

(click here to view full size picture)

A neighbor and her son enjoyed some time reading today at the artistic bench installed on Hodges Street at South Water, in "Downtown" Oriental.

Today I ran across Janet and Spencer enjoying a cool, if gray, afternoon reading together at the art bench on Hodges Street.

Spencer was looking through a catalog of audio lectures on various academic topics by professors from around the world... seems interested in the Shakespeare course described on the left-hand page.

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8.31- Chicken Dance and Ice Cream at the Tiki deck

As sunset approaches, an accordionist entertains some ice-cream-eating fans with the "Chicken Dance" on the Tiki Bar deck at Oriental Marina & Inn on Raccoon Creek.

These young ladies requested the "Chicken Dance," then danced about 5 seconds before returning to their ice cream (from "The Bean," across the street)... they kept moving to the beat, and seemed pleased with the song, but doing the Chicken Dance does require clapping one's hands too often to be compatible with eating ice-cream.

The Tiki Bar deck is a great place to watch the sun setting over Raccoon Creek and the commercial trawlers tied up at Garland Fulcher Seafood. I'll feature a sunset shot from the Tiki deck sometime soon.

Aliens staying in the hotel or on boats at the marina mix with a good crowd of local regulars, and on summer weekends there are usually a bunch of kids and dogs playing on the grass between the Tiki, the Toucan restaurant and the visiting sail and power pleasure boats tied up at the Oriental Marina & Inn slips.

Sometimes the older (MUCH older) kids play bocce on the lawn, and on most summer weekend nights there is a live band on the deck.

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8.11- Raccoon Creek Shrimp

These kids spent all afternoon fishing from the Dinghy Dock on Oriental Harbor (Raccoon Creek) with their dad.

The kids were happy to show me some of the (still alive) shrimp they had caught in their casting net... I was told that these are "white-tail" shrimp.

Mostly they were catching menhaden minnows with the net, and using them to bait their crab pot as well as their rods.

The youngest pointed out a box of cinnamon donut-holes they had with them, and explained that she had tried to use them as bait, but they tended to fall off the hooks.

I asked what kind of fish could be caught with the donut-holes... "Any fish that likes cinnamon" she explained. Boy, did I feel stupid...

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