Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Oops, A Day of Goodbyes

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Where to begin? There is so much I shouldn’t really say, some I can’t and some I don’t want to think about much less write. Lets just say major life changes are afoot. At one point we weren’t really sure if we were staying in Indiana and halting the sale of our house, or if we were staying on the Eastern Shore of Maryland or moving to Delaware, or whatever. It was and is very unsettling. Both the hubster and myself flew back to Indiana last Saturday evening, lock stock and barrel. As you can see by the above picture we travel light. We still aren’t really sure what we are doing but we will figure it out eventually. It goes without saying that something very obviously did happen in Maryland that caused the hubster to leave with me. The company that hired him there had misrepresented themselves and it was a bad situation. He has ended his association with that company.

The last day we were there was a day of goodbyes. The hubster and I went to the cemeteries. He went to the Memorial Gardens to say goodbye to his father and I went to Parsons Cemetery to say goodbye to my grandparents and my grandmothers sister. It’s an interesting story about my grandmothers sister. Nina E. Dykes was born in 1912. She was four years younger than my grandmother, Lottie Mae Dykes. She looked up to my grandmother almost like a mother as it was my grandmothers responsibility to keep an eye on her little sister. When Nina was almost twelve, in 1923, she died of cancer. Nina had bone cancer in her leg. My grandmother told me that when she and Nina was on the way home from school one afternoon someone hit Nina across the leg with a stick. And that began her cancer problem. Now I am not sure if I am not remembering that story correctly or if Grandma wasn’t remembering it correctly, but we all realize that one does not get cancer from being hit across the leg with a switch. She did tell me however (and this memory I am sure is correct in both our minds) that she would hear Nina scream in pain when the doctor would pull the packing out of her leg. She said it broke her heart to hear Nina in such pain and it was almost a relief when she passed away and was out of pain. To be sixteen and hearing your beloved younger sister scream in pain as she is dying must be a horrible thing.


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I remember going to Nina’s grave with my grandmother when I was a little girl. I remembered her grave being on a forgotten side of the cemetery, under a leafy tree by a dirt lane. It was in an area of the cemetery where the old stones were covered with moss, making them hard to read. Some of the head stones were hard to read as they had been worn down over time by weather conditions. I like to think they were worn down by loved ones caring hands tracing the contours of the words on the headstone as their hearts brimmed with love and longing for their dearly departed.

When I went to visit my grandparents graves, when I first arrived on the Shore, I vowed to try and find Nina’s headstone and take her flowers. The first Friday I was there I began my quest armed only with a handful of silk flowers and a vague memory of a mossy stone under a shady tree by a dirt lane. It was as of Nina’s hand was clasped in mine, leading me down the dirt path to her final resting place because I went directly to it. I put flowers by her headstone and promised her I would be back.


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It was an odd thing. In the midst of mossy old fashioned headstones dating from the mid 1800’s to the mid 1900’s, Nina’s headstone looked relatively new. Actually it looked a lot like my grandmothers headstone, both in style and in age. My grandmother had passed away December 5, 1995 but had purchased her headstone in the mid 80’s. I think my grandmother bought Nina a new headstone when she bought her own. What a sweet gift for one sister from another.

So on that last day, after I said my goodbye’s to my grandparents, I went to Nina’s grave. I put a bunch of pretty tulips by her headstone and told her I probably wouldn’t be back. I leaned close to her headstone and whispered “goodbye sweet girl, rest in peace.” Then I left.
 
posted by Daisy Martin at 4:07 PM | Permalink | 6 comments
Monday, May 5, 2008
Oops, I need to barf


I don’t know if it is the constant smell of chicken poop wafting through the air, or if it is the stress of selling the house without having a house to move into yet, but I feel like crap. I woke up feeling fine this morning. But then, when I was at Panera this morning, using their free WiFi, I had to turn the laptop off suddenly and go back to my brother in laws house and lay down all morning. I wasn’t sure if I was nauseous because of my diabetes, or my springtime allergies or the constant smell of chicken crap, but I was definitely ready to barf. My blood sugar was 55 (which isn’t good) so I attributed my sick feeling to that, drank a coke and slept for a couple of hours. Now I am back at Panera and my head is spinning and I think I am going to barf soon. I think I’ll go back to bed for awhile – QUICKLY! Meanwhile, enjoy a picture from our outing on the Boardwalk Saturday night.
 
posted by Daisy Martin at 12:18 PM | Permalink | 6 comments
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Oops, I have to prove myself


Yesterday I decided I would stop playing tourist and start doing the things I flew out here to do. First on the list was getting a Maryland bank account. Greg had gathered the names of the various banks and we had checked them out online. We narrowed it down to a couple. I went in bank #1 yesterday and explained I had questions about their checking accounts. I am led into the office of gal who probably made minimum wage.

Me: Do you charge for debit card usage?

Home-girl: Debits cards are only given after you’ve “proven” yourself.

Me: “Proven” yourself? How does one “prove” their selves?

Home-girl: You have to go at least 60 days without bouncing a check, and then we “may” consider giving you one.

Me: I haven’t bounced a check in at least 20 years. Isn’t there someway we can forgo the 60 days?

Home-girl: I don’t reckon so. I don’t know of no-body who was able to “prove” their selves before 60 days.

Me: How do you deposit your paychecks after hours then? And what about ATM usage? I just don’t know how I could survive without my ATM debit card.

Home-girl: Oh no, I wouldn’t use the ATM to deposit your check if I was you. It could take 3 or 4 days at least before your check would hit your account if you put it in the ATM. We don’t even check the ATM box everyday.

Me: ATM box? Isn’t it electronic? You mean you hand enter deposits?

Home-girl: We have to verify them before we deposit them to your account. We can’t take your word that the check is good.

Me: Even a weekly payroll check?

Home-girl: Especially a payroll check.

Me: What about free checking?” Do you have that?

Home-girl: Oh it’s not free; you have to deposit a minimum of $50 to open a checking account.

Me: I understand minimum deposits, but are any service fees associated with your checking accounts?

Home-girl: Yes, you have to have a minimum deposit of $50 to open a checking account.

Me: AAGGHHHHH!!!
 
posted by Daisy Martin at 7:36 AM | Permalink | 6 comments
Friday, May 2, 2008
Oops, A Photo Blog

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No, that’s not my new car, it’s my brother in law’s “hobby” car. Doesn’t everyone on the Eastern Shore have one of those? You would be surprised at the numbers of people who do.

Remember that photo blog I promised to put up when I moved to Maryland? Well, although I haven’t moved to Maryland yet, I am visiting this week so why not start the photo blog now. So go to http://terrigrimes.blogspot.com/ to see my photo blog of the Eastern Shore. I can’t promise to update it every day, because I am having to hit free WiFi spots at present, as my brother in law’s house is dial up, not wireless. I wasn’t aware that such a thing existed anymore. Dial up is a scary thing, along with dinosaurs.
 
posted by Daisy Martin at 7:20 AM | Permalink | 3 comments
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Oops, Life on the Shore
The advantage of having your flight arrive fifteen minutes early is that you can call your hubster and tell him not to bother parking, just pick you up in front of the baggage claim area. And if you’ve ever parked at Baltimore Washington International Airport, you know that saved us a bunch of $$$. Hurray for fast planes!

What we made up for in fast planes we lost in Bridge repairs. They decided to work on one of the spans of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tuesday night, thus all traffic had to use the old bridge, turning it into one lane each way. When you are used to having three lanes of traffic going each way, going down to one lane is a major pain in the butt and quite a lengthy delay. But we finally got across the bridge and back to the hubster’s brother’s house, where he has been staying these past two months.


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The hubster couldn’t take any time off while I am here since he is taking off at the end of May to fly back to Indy for closing and moving. So to break up a dull day I decided to walk around my brother in laws property yesterday. He lives in the country and has a lot of property and outbuildings. I walked over to the dog kennel and said hello to Bud the dog. Then I walked over to the peacock kennel and said hello to Bailey the peacock. After that I walked around the property taking pictures of the pretty flowers. At one point I even stopped to smell the white flowering buds on a tree. That’s when IT happened. The biggest, longest, blackest, scariest snake you ever saw rapidly slid in front of me, disappearing into a grove of trees. I gave a blood curdling scream and quickly walked back to the house, locking my self inside. I was so proud of myself for not running. At lunchtime when the hubster called me, I told him about the unwelcome visitor. “Oh, you met my brother’s friend” he said. His brother keeps his “friend” around to keep mice and such off of his property. I would have to say it is probably good for keeping sister in laws off your property too because if I see his “friend” again I’m likely to check into a hotel!


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Yesterday was a special day for me. It was my fourteenth wedding anniversary! It really seems like it should only be the fifth or sixth anniversary. Time really funs when your having flies, eh? So the hubster and I went to Old Mill Crab House for a good old fashioned Eastern Shore crab feast. Between the two of us we ate three dozen steamed crabs, a pound of steamed shrimp, a basket of hush puppies, fried chicken, several ears of corn on the cob, a basket of fried clam strips and a basket of fried shrimp. All in two hours! Yes, bellies were hurting. But it was well worth the pain.


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Today I was out and about at 7am, taking pictures of Salisbury, which is the town that the hubster is working in. I would have liked to have slept in, but since the hubster and I are sharing a car while I am here visiting, I had to drop him off at work at 7am. The only thing I can say about him having to be at work so early is the traffic isn’t bad at 7am. So a walk by the downtown plaza this morning, then free WiFi at Panera. Lunch with the hubster and then this afternoon the Salisbury Zoo I think. Life on the Shore. A much slower pace to be sure.


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posted by Daisy Martin at 6:01 AM | Permalink | 0 comments