11:37 PM |
Is a funky planned community an oxymoron? Someone told me that The Truman Show was filmed here. I looked it up. Seahaven was indeed really Seaside. Makes sense. It is my own personal Disneyland. It has great barbecue and outsider art. And not too many chicken fingers. I know it is the off-season now, and I'm not sure if this will keep up when things get busy. Nevertheless, I love Seaside. And my condo in Watercolor. I think there are other sea- and water- communities but I haven't checked them out yet. First thing this morning, I called David to extend my stay.
Finally dragged my hungover self at 11, but I'm not sure if that's 11 east coast or 11 central time. I know that it'll change over some time soon. Went downstairs to little shop for coffee. Their espresso machine is broken so they don't have lattes. I poured some regular coffee and asked for milk. I hate those little cups of cream stuff, even if they are flavored. Actually I hate flavored anything in my coffee. I drink coffee not milkshakes in the morning. Very nice man opens little bottle of milk from case and doesn't even charge me. This is Tommy. I am still very bad with light, but you have to trust me that Tommy is a good looking man, with a well-groomed white beard. He is a cook not a chef. He can do the chef thing but he likes to be with people. He invented a burger for which he is famous up at the club. He cooks them almost all the way and then dumps into some kind of orange juice concoction and finishes cooking them when you're ready. He's fed these to a hundred golfers at once. I'm going to have one tomorrow. Tommy and I and Jordan are all alone save for a couple who came in for lunch. We have been talking for a long time while my photos upload so the lunchers kinda buzzed in and buzzed out. Tommy has eight children and 14 grandchildren. He had 27 for Thanksgiving and cooked an 18 pound turkey. Injected it with some kind of famous southern chef stuff. It was great. His kids are good cooks but they won't do it at home. Well maybe a little. He works four or five days here and goes home for the rest of the week. He has been married more than 30 years. I have told you before and I will tell you again that the best marriages are the ones where they don't live together all the time. Tommy only parties until 2 a.m. Before he was married and while he is married. He will just tell his date it is time to go. I think that nothing good happens after 2 myself. I asked Tommy about child pageants. They are serious here in the south, especially in Atlanta. The finals are held in the Bahamas. Jordan said the older ones are really pretty.
This is Jordan. He is going to Troy next year. I will not see him tomorrow because he has to go to high school. He has a girlfriend his mother hates. Her mother loves him. Mothers are always right, but in this case, which mother? Jordan is cute and polite. We got to talking about a lot of stuff, Jordan, Tommy and I. As to the lottery, Jordan wouldn't tell anyone. He'd just change his number and leave. Tommy would give a little to some family members and then would be very strong and not give in to business opportunities or old friends or distant family. He would buy the biggest RV he could and travel the country. Of course he would have to get a tutor for his daughter. Tommy's daughter is 6. He adopted her from the time she was 1 week and loves her very much. I am guessing Tommy kept a real family embarrassment from occurring when he did that. He is a good man. We talked about drugs. We didn't have crack and heroin when Tommy and I were that age. We could drink at 18. We didn't go to jail. I bet Jordan does the right thing. Checked my watch to see if it was past noon and I had to avoid real estate guy.
Stirred by the sea-s and water-s, I decided to look at real estate in Seaside
Hungry (as usual) but not quite dinner time. But (as usual) I didn't have lunch. There is a cool row of Airstream trailers (I love Airstreams, but that's another conversation) next to the post office at Seaside. Decided to try the BBQ one even though I'm sure it will, to my high BBQ standards, basically suck. Window has stack of cards begging you to vote for them for Guy Fieri's show. Also had web mini-PC thing so you can do it right there. Whenever anyone asks me to vote for them, I 'm pretty sure it will suck. You shouldn't have to beg. Unbecoming. Asked window girl what was best. No hesitation. Pork sandwich. Pork it is with coleslaw and mac n cheese. There is a little glass gas pump that has sweet tea with vodka in it. When your order is ready, a guy gives it to you out the other window. He has a bull horn. It is fun.
The place is called Bare Foot B-B-Q. I like it. In fact I really like it. There are a bunch of sauces, and thank goodness they do not sauce the pork for you. The sandwich is on kind of texas toast which is really great even on its own. The coleslaw is red cabbage with some fresh pineapple on it. Definitely not the normal southern variety but to die for. Mac n cheese, well two out of three ain't bad. Very Velveeta-y. Pasta nice and firm though. Shells? Oh, well. It's creative re-interpretation. Isn't that the big restaurant thing? I take a lot of floral design classes and am even certified by Longwood Gardens. When someone just isn't getting a particular assignment right, we called it "decorative interpretive." Oh, the sweet tea was disarmingly cold. I've never had sweet tea that cold. I didn't know what to make of it. It's like when Captain Crunch came out with Crunch Berries. I'm sure it was good, but I was a purist. Let my sister eat the Crunch Berries. I think she did. She liked fruity thinks like Froot Loops and strawberry pop tarts. Come to think of it, she also liked Count Chocula. It turned your milk into chocolate milk. So did Cocoa Pops, but you had to be cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. I always liked vegetables but I don't think Captain Crunch with Carrot Stix would go over well.
Murphy was the one with the bull horn. This is Murphy. Turns out Murphy is the owner of Bare Foot B-B-Q. He gave me a tour. The place is amazing and Murphy was working his plan. He thought about buying a restaurant in Seaside but didn't for a number of reasons. He decided to do this instead. He's been there for two years, but others have been there for four. There is turnover now. Cupcakes didn't do it. Sushi didn't do it (Murphy thinks there was some kind of dysfunction there). Juice may be okay. Grilled cheese is there but not open in the off season. Not sure if it will open again. But Murphy is doing great. You know why? He is open til 2 in the morning. He has lines 50 people long. Unbelievably enough, Murphy has 234 seats. But in the fog, like today, he just closes up early. Nobody eats outside in the cold fog. I asked him if he was thinking of expanding, like to other locations. Definitely. Trying to figure out how to do the Airstream thing indoors so he doesn't have to worry about bad weather affecting the business. Smart guy, Murphy is. So here's the deal on his operation. He has a second Airstream for prep. The thing is super tidy and even more hygienic than I require. He smokes his meat over real wood, pecan to be precise because it is local. The guy cuts in the sizes he likes. Murphy likes to buy local, like his peppers and tomatoes and soon his onions. He works a four man line when the business is going, like in the rest of the year from my visit. He always hires pretty girls at the front. Also, everything has to fit in the back door of the Airstream so they have to be careful what they buy. He puts the meat in a sauna after it is cooked. Really. I put my hand in it. Murphy wants me to see Mike's car. When Mike works, the car in in front of the trailer. When I come tomorrow, he will call Mike.
Started walking around shops that are arranged in a horseshoe behind the post office. Went by the furnishings store and stopped at second one, an art gallery. Outsider art. BBQ and outsider art! There are some blues-y things there and some bright acrylics with great movement. Outside was a bit of to-do, as this was there. It is on a japanese motorcycle base. I asked what it was, meaning the motor. He did not answer the question. He said it is a, I don't remember. It is green and you have to take the steering wheel off to get in and it has one giant tire in the back. The driver told the passenger it will be very noisy. She said it was okay because she went to lots of rock concerts in her life. Back to gallery. Great corrugated tin roof fish. Turns out girl watching green thing is the artist. She has just begun showing there. I saw the name in reverse on the glass door, Eileen something, probably Eileen Gallery, but the ei was an eye, so I will now call her Eye-leen. Maybe that's her name really. I don't know. It will still sound the same.
This is Steph. She is the fish girl. I asked her if she sells her pieces for ridiculous amounts of money. She does not. I told that I will have to buy many. And I did. One of them is Jamie because it hung in their bathroom and it looks like him. Jamie is her husband. She'll make him a new one. Poor Jamie was getting very bored as we talked for hours, but he did a good job of hanging in there and not showing it. People kept on going through the back door in interesting costumes. One was in a very fetching red satin number. I told her she looked very pretty. She said thank you in an unmistakably masculine voice. I pretended to know that. They are having an Oscar do next door at the theater. Turns out Steph knows Dr. Bob. In fact Dr. Bob lived with her for a time (not that way) and his cooking all that stuff with yellow corn drove her crazy and she had to kick him out. She also knows Leslie from The Attic in Vicksburg. She has a really interesting story to tell and had to get out of Shreveport and married Jamie in May and took off. Before that, she had a broken heart and took a hiatus on her art. She is painting again, and the fish. Her father came on a boat that burned from Italy and it's not so great to be Italian in the delta. They still have the sharecropper's shack with an outhouse. Dad has a bunch of intriguing jobs. She has a friend who started Blade, and he has done stuff for Jewel, the Indigo Girls and some other names I know but I can't remember. His first client was the Stones. I'd love to sit for hours and hours on a porch someplace and talk to Steph. She is older than she looks, and that's a good thing because older people have more perspective and are also much more interesting. When I did Playboy in 1976, the photographer said he didn't think a woman was at all beautiful before she is 30. I took offense then, but understand it now. I also met Franko (or Franco) which is a nickname. He does the bluesy paintings and also will paint a cap for you. And of course I met Eye-leen. She was very nice and replugged in the credit card machine even though it turned out to be later, by much I think, than they usually stay open. It turns out that this is Steph's first day showing at Eye-leens. It is very good karma. I just looked it up. This is Eye-leens place. Go buy Steph's stuff.
As I was starting Woody up to go back to my luscious condo, Kelly and Mike showed up in their Jeep. Mike is the old car guy who works for Murphy. I will see them tomorrow. Forgot to get key for extended stay. Turned around to get it from David. Fog really, really, really bad and Woody's windshield wipers don't work. It's amazing that I can get through 3 days of 6 inches of sleet falling and I can't see a foot ahead of me in the fog. I'm okay when no one is coming at me and it's dark. I am not good in Seaside. Felt my way to expensive inn. Wiped windshield with paper towels. Having a clear windshield made effectively no difference. Terrified going back to condo, but found it. Did wash (!) and watched TV. I haven't done that in forever, but it's a Philips flat screen with a Bose home theater setup. And it is the Oscars. Couldn't find Joan Rivers or that girl whose on the reality thing with her husband and can't get pregnant Juliana to hear dish about red carpet outfits. Plus, My Something Or Other Wedding with David Turturo was on. I liked the girl with the hot pink and black theme. Finally found Oscars. Got to important stuff. Natalie Portman. All the Best Actor nominees. And didn't hear who was best actor. Didn't see best picture movie. Also didn't see documentary which looks very good. Oprah thinks it is. I am howling over Tom Hanks Sexy Baby pageant thing on Jimmy Kimmel. You know my fascination with Toddlers & Tiaras. I need to find out if I can stay another night.
I love Steph (hi, Steph). I love Murphy. I love 30A, the road, not the restaurant. Note to self: liquidate child's college fund and buy house in Seaside.
Finally dragged my hungover self at 11, but I'm not sure if that's 11 east coast or 11 central time. I know that it'll change over some time soon. Went downstairs to little shop for coffee. Their espresso machine is broken so they don't have lattes. I poured some regular coffee and asked for milk. I hate those little cups of cream stuff, even if they are flavored. Actually I hate flavored anything in my coffee. I drink coffee not milkshakes in the morning. Very nice man opens little bottle of milk from case and doesn't even charge me. This is Tommy. I am still very bad with light, but you have to trust me that Tommy is a good looking man, with a well-groomed white beard. He is a cook not a chef. He can do the chef thing but he likes to be with people. He invented a burger for which he is famous up at the club. He cooks them almost all the way and then dumps into some kind of orange juice concoction and finishes cooking them when you're ready. He's fed these to a hundred golfers at once. I'm going to have one tomorrow. Tommy and I and Jordan are all alone save for a couple who came in for lunch. We have been talking for a long time while my photos upload so the lunchers kinda buzzed in and buzzed out. Tommy has eight children and 14 grandchildren. He had 27 for Thanksgiving and cooked an 18 pound turkey. Injected it with some kind of famous southern chef stuff. It was great. His kids are good cooks but they won't do it at home. Well maybe a little. He works four or five days here and goes home for the rest of the week. He has been married more than 30 years. I have told you before and I will tell you again that the best marriages are the ones where they don't live together all the time. Tommy only parties until 2 a.m. Before he was married and while he is married. He will just tell his date it is time to go. I think that nothing good happens after 2 myself. I asked Tommy about child pageants. They are serious here in the south, especially in Atlanta. The finals are held in the Bahamas. Jordan said the older ones are really pretty.
This is Jordan. He is going to Troy next year. I will not see him tomorrow because he has to go to high school. He has a girlfriend his mother hates. Her mother loves him. Mothers are always right, but in this case, which mother? Jordan is cute and polite. We got to talking about a lot of stuff, Jordan, Tommy and I. As to the lottery, Jordan wouldn't tell anyone. He'd just change his number and leave. Tommy would give a little to some family members and then would be very strong and not give in to business opportunities or old friends or distant family. He would buy the biggest RV he could and travel the country. Of course he would have to get a tutor for his daughter. Tommy's daughter is 6. He adopted her from the time she was 1 week and loves her very much. I am guessing Tommy kept a real family embarrassment from occurring when he did that. He is a good man. We talked about drugs. We didn't have crack and heroin when Tommy and I were that age. We could drink at 18. We didn't go to jail. I bet Jordan does the right thing. Checked my watch to see if it was past noon and I had to avoid real estate guy.
Stirred by the sea-s and water-s, I decided to look at real estate in Seaside
Hungry (as usual) but not quite dinner time. But (as usual) I didn't have lunch. There is a cool row of Airstream trailers (I love Airstreams, but that's another conversation) next to the post office at Seaside. Decided to try the BBQ one even though I'm sure it will, to my high BBQ standards, basically suck. Window has stack of cards begging you to vote for them for Guy Fieri's show. Also had web mini-PC thing so you can do it right there. Whenever anyone asks me to vote for them, I 'm pretty sure it will suck. You shouldn't have to beg. Unbecoming. Asked window girl what was best. No hesitation. Pork sandwich. Pork it is with coleslaw and mac n cheese. There is a little glass gas pump that has sweet tea with vodka in it. When your order is ready, a guy gives it to you out the other window. He has a bull horn. It is fun.
The place is called Bare Foot B-B-Q. I like it. In fact I really like it. There are a bunch of sauces, and thank goodness they do not sauce the pork for you. The sandwich is on kind of texas toast which is really great even on its own. The coleslaw is red cabbage with some fresh pineapple on it. Definitely not the normal southern variety but to die for. Mac n cheese, well two out of three ain't bad. Very Velveeta-y. Pasta nice and firm though. Shells? Oh, well. It's creative re-interpretation. Isn't that the big restaurant thing? I take a lot of floral design classes and am even certified by Longwood Gardens. When someone just isn't getting a particular assignment right, we called it "decorative interpretive." Oh, the sweet tea was disarmingly cold. I've never had sweet tea that cold. I didn't know what to make of it. It's like when Captain Crunch came out with Crunch Berries. I'm sure it was good, but I was a purist. Let my sister eat the Crunch Berries. I think she did. She liked fruity thinks like Froot Loops and strawberry pop tarts. Come to think of it, she also liked Count Chocula. It turned your milk into chocolate milk. So did Cocoa Pops, but you had to be cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. I always liked vegetables but I don't think Captain Crunch with Carrot Stix would go over well.
Murphy was the one with the bull horn. This is Murphy. Turns out Murphy is the owner of Bare Foot B-B-Q. He gave me a tour. The place is amazing and Murphy was working his plan. He thought about buying a restaurant in Seaside but didn't for a number of reasons. He decided to do this instead. He's been there for two years, but others have been there for four. There is turnover now. Cupcakes didn't do it. Sushi didn't do it (Murphy thinks there was some kind of dysfunction there). Juice may be okay. Grilled cheese is there but not open in the off season. Not sure if it will open again. But Murphy is doing great. You know why? He is open til 2 in the morning. He has lines 50 people long. Unbelievably enough, Murphy has 234 seats. But in the fog, like today, he just closes up early. Nobody eats outside in the cold fog. I asked him if he was thinking of expanding, like to other locations. Definitely. Trying to figure out how to do the Airstream thing indoors so he doesn't have to worry about bad weather affecting the business. Smart guy, Murphy is. So here's the deal on his operation. He has a second Airstream for prep. The thing is super tidy and even more hygienic than I require. He smokes his meat over real wood, pecan to be precise because it is local. The guy cuts in the sizes he likes. Murphy likes to buy local, like his peppers and tomatoes and soon his onions. He works a four man line when the business is going, like in the rest of the year from my visit. He always hires pretty girls at the front. Also, everything has to fit in the back door of the Airstream so they have to be careful what they buy. He puts the meat in a sauna after it is cooked. Really. I put my hand in it. Murphy wants me to see Mike's car. When Mike works, the car in in front of the trailer. When I come tomorrow, he will call Mike.
This is Steph. She is the fish girl. I asked her if she sells her pieces for ridiculous amounts of money. She does not. I told that I will have to buy many. And I did. One of them is Jamie because it hung in their bathroom and it looks like him. Jamie is her husband. She'll make him a new one. Poor Jamie was getting very bored as we talked for hours, but he did a good job of hanging in there and not showing it. People kept on going through the back door in interesting costumes. One was in a very fetching red satin number. I told her she looked very pretty. She said thank you in an unmistakably masculine voice. I pretended to know that. They are having an Oscar do next door at the theater. Turns out Steph knows Dr. Bob. In fact Dr. Bob lived with her for a time (not that way) and his cooking all that stuff with yellow corn drove her crazy and she had to kick him out. She also knows Leslie from The Attic in Vicksburg. She has a really interesting story to tell and had to get out of Shreveport and married Jamie in May and took off. Before that, she had a broken heart and took a hiatus on her art. She is painting again, and the fish. Her father came on a boat that burned from Italy and it's not so great to be Italian in the delta. They still have the sharecropper's shack with an outhouse. Dad has a bunch of intriguing jobs. She has a friend who started Blade, and he has done stuff for Jewel, the Indigo Girls and some other names I know but I can't remember. His first client was the Stones. I'd love to sit for hours and hours on a porch someplace and talk to Steph. She is older than she looks, and that's a good thing because older people have more perspective and are also much more interesting. When I did Playboy in 1976, the photographer said he didn't think a woman was at all beautiful before she is 30. I took offense then, but understand it now. I also met Franko (or Franco) which is a nickname. He does the bluesy paintings and also will paint a cap for you. And of course I met Eye-leen. She was very nice and replugged in the credit card machine even though it turned out to be later, by much I think, than they usually stay open. It turns out that this is Steph's first day showing at Eye-leens. It is very good karma. I just looked it up. This is Eye-leens place. Go buy Steph's stuff.As I was starting Woody up to go back to my luscious condo, Kelly and Mike showed up in their Jeep. Mike is the old car guy who works for Murphy. I will see them tomorrow. Forgot to get key for extended stay. Turned around to get it from David. Fog really, really, really bad and Woody's windshield wipers don't work. It's amazing that I can get through 3 days of 6 inches of sleet falling and I can't see a foot ahead of me in the fog. I'm okay when no one is coming at me and it's dark. I am not good in Seaside. Felt my way to expensive inn. Wiped windshield with paper towels. Having a clear windshield made effectively no difference. Terrified going back to condo, but found it. Did wash (!) and watched TV. I haven't done that in forever, but it's a Philips flat screen with a Bose home theater setup. And it is the Oscars. Couldn't find Joan Rivers or that girl whose on the reality thing with her husband and can't get pregnant Juliana to hear dish about red carpet outfits. Plus, My Something Or Other Wedding with David Turturo was on. I liked the girl with the hot pink and black theme. Finally found Oscars. Got to important stuff. Natalie Portman. All the Best Actor nominees. And didn't hear who was best actor. Didn't see best picture movie. Also didn't see documentary which looks very good. Oprah thinks it is. I am howling over Tom Hanks Sexy Baby pageant thing on Jimmy Kimmel. You know my fascination with Toddlers & Tiaras. I need to find out if I can stay another night.
I love Steph (hi, Steph). I love Murphy. I love 30A, the road, not the restaurant. Note to self: liquidate child's college fund and buy house in Seaside.