Easter Sunday

Elaina and I went to River of Life Church this morning, to the 10:00 service.  It was their third one of the day and they had one more to go.  The parking lot extended onto the grass and the church was packed.

The singing/worship time was contemporary, which I'm used to, and very lively.  The sermon was very good, encouraging and convicting, as it should be.

As I was sitting there among everyone, I couldn't help but think of the multiracial-ness of the people there.  The room was made up of about half caucasian, and half black.  Now mind you, I'm sure there were other nationalities and races present, as well as mixed races, to be sure.  But just to look around you could say it was half and half.

With all the terrible things going on between blacks and whites in other parts of the country, the country could take a lesson from the Christian church in the south.  Specifically in this case North Carolina.  It's been my experience that the races get along very well here, even outside of the church.  I don't understand why there has to be so much of the racial unrest in other parts of the country.  

Well, I know, I'm probably naive. But who would have thought that the SOUTH would be the place where I see more camaraderie between races, than where I'm from originally?

Elaina fixed a nice dinner, I made deviled eggs and baked a banana bread (from a box).  It has rained steadily all day long.  It was a very nice day all in all.

Elaina is off work tomorrow, so if the weather is good, we might go do some exploring.  Happy Easter everyone!

Random Observations

Just more random observations of North Carolina:

1. There is no graffiti here!

2. Speed limit downtown Jacksonville is...20.  Not 25, 20!  The bridge I take to get down there is only 35 mph, but most of roadways are 45 mph.

3. City of Jacksonville has a fountain at city hall called the Freedom Fountain.  They switch the lights on it to coordinate with holidays and special days like this:

75th Anniversary of 2nd Marine Division, USMC

4.  I love yellow blinking left turn arrows!    I don't remember seeing them in California, but maybe they are in some places.

5. Because of the enormous amount of pine trees here, in the spring, the yellow pollen covers everything.  And I mean everything. This is my car windshield. It's actually all over my car.

6. There are so many abandoned farm houses, barns and out buildings (especially in the country) that there are Facebook pages and photographers dedicated to them.  I just found a whole Pinterest board of photos of abandoned houses, etc.

https://www.pinterest.com/oldhouses21/old-houses-in-north-carolina/


Moving to a new place opens your eyes to a lot of neat things!

Southern Hospitality

I had another little adventure today.  I needed a comfortable chair to use in the living room and I had just the right one in the storage unit.

I decided today I would check with the storage place, Autry Self Storage, and see if they would rent a pick-up to me, or if they provided any kind of moving services.

The usual clerk was not in the office, but there was an older gentleman fiddling around in the office.  I asked him if there was any kind of moving help available to move one chair from storage to the house.  He said, "Well, I could take it in my truck..."

Hesitantly, I told him, okay, if you're sure, as he walked out of the office with tools in his hands.  They were having trouble with their automatic gates.  When the usual clerk came in I told her what I was there for.  She told me the older man was the owner.  I asked her if I should take him up on his offer.  She said, "Well, he's not as strong as he thinks he is..."   Uh oh.  What do I do now?

When he was done messing with the gates he asked me where to go.  I thought it might offend him if I said no thanks. So I told him to go down Murrill Hill, turn left on Burgaw, and left on Haws Run but I planned on being right in front of him all the way to direct him to the house.  So he and a teenage boy followed me out the gate toward home.  I drove slowly but somehow I missed him somewhere along the way.  I even pulled over and waited, thinking he was just behind a slow car or something.  I waited and waited.  And waited.  No big black truck.  I drove to the house, thinking I had to have lost him somewhere but I saw a big black truck drive down Haws Run, so I followed for a while thinking that was him and he missed me.  After a few miles I decided it was just not the best solution.   I called the storage office and the clerk told me he had just gotten back there and was looking for me.  Uh oh.  She put him on the phone and I tried to give him directions again.  He said several times, "You're off Dawson Creek Road, right?  Oh gosh.  I don't even know where Dawson Creek Road is.  He put the clerk back on the phone and she said, "Don't worry about it, I'll get him directions." 

I parked the car out by the main road and stood on the corner to watch for them.  He passed me by briefly but backed up and came to the right place.   His teenage helper carried my chair into the house for me.  I asked the gentleman what I owed him and he said, "Nothin.  Just keep using our storage."  Oh man.  I was so grateful.  I asked him if I could tip his helper and he said, "If you want to."

I think the owner is probably 75 or more (I'll call him Mr. Autry) and possibly has a little Alzheimer's or some degree of dementia possibly.  But, what a kind thing to do!  I'm so grateful to have my chair!  I'll find out from Robin, the clerk, if he has a favorite cookie or something and I'll take him some.

By the way, Mr. Autry told me he lived on Haws Run in the sixties. Oh my.  Now I'm curious where Dawson Creek Road is...

Rack Packs

Yesterday I worked at a Rack Pack Party.  If you don't remember what that is, or didn't read another post about it, here's some info:

https://uso-nc.org/wp-content/uploads/rack_pack.pdf

I think we made about 1000 rack packs and another maybe 500 deployment packs.  Deployment packs have the same items as rack packs with a few extra items added, like prepaid phone cards.

Yesterday was really my first hot, humid day here.  Working in the basement of the USO was a challenge for me, but the director brought us some water bottles on ice.  I gulped mine down about half way through!  We were on our feet moving as quickly as we could in the humidity for two hours.  There was probably 8-10 of us talking, laughing and working on these.  Of course they have to be counted and packed in boxes so when they get a request from a unit, they know exactly how many they are sending.  Everyone cooperates and digs in where they are needed.

I'm finding that many of the people who volunteer at things like this are either current or former military spouses, or former military men or women, so they all "speak" the same language.  My only connection to the military is my daughter, the FRO (Family Readiness Officer).  That's okay.  They won't reject me anytime I want to volunteer!

I have a total of 14.5 hours of volunteering recorded.  

(By the way, they're always looking for donations of the items that go in the rack packs.)

Miscellaneous Thoughts and Facts

      Miscellaneous

1. Walmart Carts all roll smoothly without going clunk, clunk as you head down an aisle! (this is unheard of at Lake Elsinore Walmart)

2. Walmart has reserved parking for Veterans, for Wounded Warriors, and even expectant mothers (also regular handicapped spaces)

3. Between the house and Walmart I pass 6 churches. Many look like they hold 100 people or less.

This is Southwest Primitive Baptist Church

The cemetery dates from 1800's. (Here's a definition of Primitive Baptist: Primitive Baptists draw all of their beliefs directly from the 1611 King James Version of the Bible. If they can't support it with Scripture, they don't follow it. Their services are modeled on the early New Testament church with preaching, praying, and singing without instrumental accompaniment.)  I will come back and take more pictures when the trees are blooming and the grass is green again!

This is Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

(the building extends in the back, not visible in my pic. The porch lights are on all the time)

I like these church buildings because they are beautiful and quaint at the same time. Neither one of these churches have concrete parking lots or driveways.  There's tire tracks that start just off the road, and you drive right over the un-landscaped ground as seen in the foreground of my pics.

There are many, many churches here, some that look like these, and some that are similar to what I'm used to in California.  Even the kind that are held in warehouse or commercial type buildings.

4.  Near us is US Highway 17 North and South, and US Highway 24 East and West.  These highways go across the state and are often divided highways.  It felt strange for a while to stop at a stop sign, wanting to get on the highway and drive across the road to another stop before turning onto the road going the direction I want.  I used to look both ways watching for traffic until I remembered, the cars are only going one way! Silly me.  The speed limit around us on the highways is between 45 and 55 depending on what's around.  Unlike a California freeway, there are homes and businesses right on the highway.

5.  You know you live in a small town when...

Albert J. Ellis airport in Jacksonville, agreed to let the USO open a center at the airport, IF, they had volunteers at the airport information desk.  That's right.  During the center hours, there's always a USO volunteer sitting at the information desk for the airport helping to answer questions or directing people to someone who can help them.  This is the same desk the military people come to, to have their I.Ds checked and have access to the USO center.  How many airports would have volunteers running their information desk?   The ladies I worked at the center with introduced me to airport employees from the director's secretary to the housekeeper.  They are all "old buddies" now.  They knew all the ins and outs of working at the airport and the USO center.  Small town.

Birthday Presents and Antiquing

Yesterday was my birthday and Elaina agreed to take me antiquing and out for lunch. We took off for Swansboro in the morning and stopped at a Flea Market on highway 24.  This one was mostly junk with a few decent items, just nothing I was interested in.


We went on to Swansboro where there were several antique stores that we visited.  Elaina bought a beautiful McCoy pottery piece with a succulent in it. At another shop we bought some small pieces of driftwood.  I made a sailboat from one earlier this year and want to make a couple more. 

My first driftwood sail boat

Swansboro is a seaport, founded in 1783.  There are lots of old houses and buildings with historical designation plaques on the wall by the front doors.

The downtown, or seaside front and main streets look much like these buildings in the picture.  There's gift shops and restaurants like the Ice House where we had lunch.  We were overlooking the White Oak River, which empties there into the ocean.  While we were eating, Elaina saw a dolphin in the river.

This was my view right from our table. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining on the water.

We left Swansboro and went into New Bern.  We have a couple of favorite antique stores there.  Poor Charlie's looks like it might have been a warehouse of some kind in the past and it is packed.

Andrea's Attic is a quaint little store manned by a mild-mannered southern gentleman who told us once to let him know if we're looking for something specific, because he "picks" houses and he'll look for what we want.  If you've seen the TV show "American Pickers" don't think  "Mike and Frank" from the show, think southern gentleman going to estate sales and abandoned houses.

We both bought items here. It's the kind of store where you have to look closely because it's kind of packed and you might miss something.  Lots of "smalls."

It was a very nice day and I enjoyed my birthday so much. Thankful that my daughter was willing to spend the day antiquing.

By the way, I bought myself a sewing machine for my birthday.  I used it today for the first time and made an envelope pillow case I found directions for on Pinterest.  I just have to get a pillow form from Hobby Lobby to go in it.  So easy!  I think I'm going to have fun!

Country Drives and Airport Duty

I had a little adventure today.  I drove to the Onslow County Albert J. Ellis airport and helped out at the USO.  As I was driving to the airport I couldn't help but think of all the airports back in California that I'm familiar with. To get to each one of those, there's considerable time spent on the freeway, driving 65-70 miles per hour, and often times only going 10 mph because of stop and go traffic.

To get to the A.J. Ellis airport today, I drove on two-lane roads going 45-50 mph and most of the time, there was not another car in sight.  The drive was through country settings with some homes, some farms, and lots of wide open spaces.  I love the names of the roads around here: the drive took me from the house, to Haws Run, to Burgaw Highway, to Pony Farm Rd, then to Fire Tower Rd (where's there's actually a fire tower) then to Catherine Lake Rd (where there's a lake!) and finally to A.J. Ellis Airport Rd.  A 20 minute drive is all.

It was such a pleasant drive.  No one cutting you off, driving erratically, and no reason to stress or have "road rage."  Now I know how Elaina would feel when she came home to California to visit.  California is a different world when it comes to getting where you need to go.

The USO was quite busy today.  It's a small room with a few recliners, a couple of tables and chairs, and lots of coffee, cookies and easy to fix snacks for the microwave. The room was filled with Marines a lot of the time today, waiting for their flights out to other bases.  One of the airlines had computer trouble so there were many flights that had been cancelled until they got the glitch worked out.  The center is only open until 5 p.m. so those that were waiting for evening flights would have to make themselves comfortable within the airport somewhere. Some had even spent the previous night in the airport.  The TV was running all day but even so, one female was attempting to sleep in a recliner with a blanket over her head.

It's always encouraging to see these young men and women (and I mean young).  They're polite, respectful and grateful for what you have to offer them at the USO.  We need to continue doing what we can to show our appreciation for what they do.









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Plumbers and Fountain Pens

Our kitchen sink has been plugged up for two full days now. A plumber was here on Monday and couldn't get it cleared.  They had to wait for authorization from the owner to work at it from a different route.  They were supposed to be here at 10 this morning, but it's now 11:30 and they are still not here.  We have dirty dishes sitting around since Monday.  This is not fun!

Anyway, I thought I would write a little about my Etsy shop, PicketfencesVintage.  I have 25 items listed for sale now.  It's not doing very well I have to say.  I have one sale a month which surely doesn't provide me with an income.

Right now I have 4 vintage fountain pens for sale (given to me by my friend Patty Purcell).  Before I received these I had no idea that fountain pens are a collectible item.  I originally had 6 of these, but I sold two of them in the antique store in Murrieta that I had a space in.  They were pens from about the 1930s-1940's and they sold for 

$25 each. 

I had to do some research to find out which brand names were desirable to collectors.  There are fountain pen collectors all over the world apparently.  I have emailed with a few of them hoping to get more information on my pens and what to charge for them. Several helped me identify pen models, but only one suggested prices for mine.  Certain brands/models that are highly valued can go for hundreds of dollars each.

The four that I have left are: Esterbrook, Parker, Southern Pen, and Wearever.  They all are from the 1920's to 1940's.  The Parker model was originally sold in the 1920's. The model is called "Parker DQ Lucky Curve2" and is the most desirable one of the four.

The is the Parker.

I have to use a magnifying glass to read the nib and to see the faint engraving of the Parker DQ name on the barrel.

This is the Southern Pen model.  It's a woman's pen, so it is quite small. The nib is 14k gold-plated and has a mechanical pencil on the other end.

This is the Wearever pen that also has a 14k gold-plated nib and a mechanical pencil on one end. It's a red marbleized barrel. You can see the metal piece on the barrel where the pen is filled with ink.

This one is the Esterbrook.  The base that holds the nib is broken which is unfortunate but it's a pretty pen.

Most collectors want their pens to be in working order, so many that are for sale have been restored so that they are usable.  Mine are only sold "as is" since I am not prepared to have them repaired or checked to see if they would work.  Mine are modestly priced since I don't really know their condition.

 Still, it's been fun learning more about them. 

USO Work Day

Yesterday I volunteered at the USO office, sitting at the front desk. It was my first time doing that assignment.  It was a very slow day, and according to the volunteer coordinator, an "eerily" slow day.  I attributed it to my first day there!   I was hoping it would be quiet.  Maybe had something to do with being "Leap Day" ?

Two or three military men came in to use a computer.  One of them must come often since he seemed to be well known to staff.  It's great that they can come in and get on a computer to work on something for a class they're taking, or even email home.

One visitor almost brought me to tears after he left.  He was an older gentleman, all dressed up in suit and tie.  He said he had a question, but was pretty sure he would be told, "No."   He told me he was a disabled veteran and wanted to know if there was anything available to him from the USO.  

I had to tell him that unfortunately, the USO's mission is to serve active duty military personnel only and they didn't have any services for veterans.  He was not happy about it, but had already assumed the answer was no.  I thanked him for his service (I used USO guidelines for answering veterans' questions)  and told him I was sorry I didn't have something to offer him.

We need to be doing more for our veterans!  North Carolina is home to the third largest military population in the United States. 

We have a candidate for congress, Taylor Griffin, who has made the military and veterans a focus of his campaign. We will be voting for him when the time comes.  Hopefully he wins this election instead of the long-time republican congressman who votes against veterans' issues all the time.