This is Georgia. For thems folks who know these yoonarted states, that says it all! We now know to say, (knowingly) that we are currently living in 'Jawja!" It is all in the way you say it, and the angle at which you hold your head and mouth while saying the werds!
While this is Jawja!, it is also the Barble Bayelt! We were dealt a friendly reminder of that last night when our neighbors here at the dock, Sooz and Brent invited us to accompany them and a few others from the 'boats' to the Confederate Station.
We were all to follow Jeff and Linda in their van. Well, Jeff needs to concentrate on the driving a bit more, because he missed his turnoff, and we had to go back onto the freeway another couple of miles to get to the next turn-off and back the way we came and you get the picture. It was much further to our destination than we anticipated...no matter. We got there and gave Jeff heaps. He owes us all...5 cars...!!
We found that Confederate Station refers to the BAND that was playing. I guess the venue is their normal performance venue.
$10 each bought us a 'local' dinner (more later) and entertainment destined to put us to sleep, though the occasional light and faster number woke us up. Too bad the majority of the 70+ age group musicians didn't have a fast button!
The venue is a roughly decorated new build hall with 'facilities'. We all sat in long rows at tables on (very) uncomfortable (for some of us) chairs.
We arrived there around 6pm!
Somewhere off to the right of this photo was a high ledge decorated with taxidermied wild foxes, old saddles and...well, you get the picture!
Along with the established band of about 10 members, there was an open microphone section, 2/3 the way through. One of our own kind...Linda...who is a professional Story Teller and Methodist Minister (though she doesn't look like one!) got up to entertain us with her guitar and singing. She sang one of her own pretty ballads. A very nice voice !
A young woman also sang, accompanied by the band who failed miserably and got the timing all wrong, much to her and our frustration.
First up was Rob..(I think that was his name) who is a Pastor by profession. He played guitar beautifully and had a HUGE voice, which he didn't need a microphone for...(I had to put my fingers in my ears to stop the vibrations, and it was just plain deafening. I did go up to him afterwards and tell him what a lovely voice he had AND.".I don't think you need a microphone for that one!!!!" (he obviously didn't get the message, coz he did it again later).
Pastor sang a Jesus song, and then he said Grace before we all lined up to get our food, the smell of which had been rather distracting for the last half hour!!!
Bar-b-q Shredded port...Southern style! Which means there are about 6 sauces to slather over it.
Corn (not the cobb kind), Beans (baked kind), a roll and a small bag of crisps (chips..fritolay). The only beverages available were horrid warm sweet tea and what Waz called 'Swamp Water'....warm plain water. There was ice available, so we put some of that in our cups...him the water, and me to dilute the sweet tea....This IS the Sarth, you know...I was told when I complained about the horrid sweetness.:)
I don't want to complain tooo much....(really!!)
The piece de resistance came with a dear old chap who played his fiddle. I thought to record some of his singing, after I took my fingers out of my ears on account of the fiddle thang.
I Have to say, we came away from the event with a sense of comedic relief. We laughed a lot, sang a lot of country/gospel songs, including Amazing Grace..squirmed with the rest of the audience when Pastor Rob couldn't remember the words to the song he was singing, but over all that, was a sense of community and kindness, amongst the audience. Heaven knows, I didn't and couldn't get up to sing...so bless those who did!
It was good to get out of the boat (air conditioning being necessary to keep sanity) and experience something of the community we find ourselves in. They are generous people! The food was excellent and plenty of it, and we really enjoyed singing the songs we knew and finding that Country isn't too hard to follow...it generally rhymes with the last line of the song! You can kind of make it up as you go along:)
We came back to the boat after the lemon cake dessert, around 8.50pm, and delighted in our own choice of beverage...loose leaf tea!, before reading for a bit, and finally turning in for the night, It was still warm outside, but the air con in the bedroom made it possible to sleep.
Tomorrow we head for Jacksonville. Having never been there before, we will take lots of pics and let you know how it all goes.
We are off to dine with Sooz and Brent next door, tonight. We will enjoy that. They are good neighbors:) Funny how nearly all of our neighbors on this dock are from Wisconsin! Good folks, these northerners!:)
Ciao!
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