Paddleboarding, Chapter 2

Dedicated Remlerville readers may recall a recent posting about Davis, Taylor, Nancy, Stephen, and Lawson trying out a paddleboard in Betz Creek. If you happened to miss that one, you can see it here.

The post circulated among the family, and the next thing the Remlers knew, relatives were phoning asking for a visit and requesting a turn on that paddle board. Sabra was the most eager to give it a shot. So Stephen borrowed a paddle board from his good friend Susan, and brought it home.

Unfortunately, when the Neffs and Lawsons arrived, Mother Nature blessed us with a blustery storm, which blew our rocking chairs across the front porch. We were afraid we'd have to put the paddleboarding off until the next day, but the storm only lasted an hour or so, and when it was over, we saw a lovely rainbow to the east.

I was really surprised my camera captured that.

We took that as a water sports sign, so we carried the paddle board down to Kelley's dock for the second installment of our now favorite recreational activity.

Sabra had the first turn, and with Martin's help, she carefully stepped onto the board. In no time she was paddling up and down the creek like a professional.

In fact, she got so good at paddle boarding that she even tried a few tricks! Davis and Lawson joined her in the water and tried to make her nervous, but she would not be swayed.

Do you know what's more fun than paddle boarding? TWO people paddle boarding at the same time! Davis and Lawson especially liked that activity, as it was kind of like king of the mountain, except on water. 

Sabra and I also tried doubling up, but we weren't interested in pushing each other off, as we were fully clothed. Davis and Lawson encouraged the horseplay, but we left that up to them.

So what else happened during our family visit weekend? Well, we had a delicious crab boil. Garrison was especially interested in that. 

While I had a book signing in town, Stephen took our guests to Tybee for an afternoon at the beach. Sydney, Asher, and Garrison played and played. The goal was to wear them out so they'd sleep well. But that idea backfired on Harley. 

When Harley wakes up, we'll have to ask him to share some of his beach photos with us. 

 

Nichole suffered from a case of plantar fasciitis, so we doctored up her heel with aluminum foil. 

Meanwhile, Skippy and Stephen cooked dinner. Because Skippy chopped the broccoli, we shared with her the beloved Dana Carvey tune. Can you believe she'd never heard it? She has now. We never miss an opportunity to enjoy that classic song:

Transparency

Tonight Stephen got a hankering to clean windows. I don't know where that came from, but I'm not complaining. I was busy wiping down the post-dinner counter tops, when Stephen came through the room with a bottle of Windex and a roll of Bounty. Squirt, squirt. Wipe, wipe. He got the first window sparkling clean.

Or so he thought.

Enter Davis Remler, who has spent his whole summer cleaning and detailing boats. "That's no way to clean windows," he said with an air of superiority that everyone loves to hear in an eighteen year-old. "I'll go get my bucket."

No objections there.

So off he went, and after some rumbling and cluttering around in the garage, he emerged with a hose, a bucket, and a bottle of something that smelled like the middle school bathroom right after the janitor got finished mopping it. He also had a brush on a long pole. After filling the bucket and adding his cleaning solution, Davis set about showing Stephen how that window cleaning is done.

Clorox didn't know what to think, and he kept his distance, especially when Davis used that spray nozzle on the hose.

 

I guess he's well trained for swabbing decks at the SUNY Maritime College. I wonder what would happen if I said I was going to clean my bathroom with Windex and paper towels...

Two If By Sea...

Independence Day fell in the middle of the week this year, so the Remler family didn't plan any spectacular celebration (Kelley's family went to Orlando to see the boy band One Direction, which sent Taylor and MacKenzie in a fit of screams, but to find out about that, you'll have to check out Kelley's blog). But as luck would have it, the holiday week turned out to be a double dose of boating fun for the Remlers and for Uncle Bob.

Tybee Island's fireworks show always takes place on July 3rd, so as not to conflict with the fireworks displayed on River Street. We stopped attending the Tybee show several years ago, after we grew tired of viewing thirty minutes of pyrotechnics only to endure three hours of traffic on the way home. This year, we decided to take in the fireworks again, but instead of driving to the beach, we took the boat.

We started out before dark in our trusty Triton, which Davis loaded up with crab traps to return to his friend Ashley. With three boat seats and a folding chair, we made the boat comfy. Eventually, Lawson took the helm, and Stephen offered tips when needed.

Lawson has to accrue more hours at the helm because when Davis departs for college in August, we'll promote the second son from first mate to captain.

Off we rode, through Bull River, down Oyster Creek, and into the Back River, where we docked our boat at Uncle Bob's house and transferred our gear to his Grady White. Then off we went again, leaving Davis behind to be cool with his peeps. The rest of us anchored in the sound and watched the moon rise, big, round, and orange, over the Atlantic. 

I was still trying to figure out my fancy new camera with all its bells and whistles. 

The darkness made that a challenge, as did the fact that I had brought along the Spanish instruction manual.

In case readers can't tell, this is a photo of a beautiful harvest moon. 

 

It took a while for the fireworks to start. Fortunately, Bob and Stephen had brought along a cooler of refreshing beverages.

  Also fortunate was Lawson's cell phone reception, for as we waited for the show, he could text with his girlfriend, Smiley Riley.

It's easier to be cool when you have a girlfriend.

 

Finally, the fireworks began. What a glorious show! How I wish I could have seen my instruction manual so that I could choose the correct setting to get clearer photos. But then again, English instructions may not have been helpful. It's hard to get those fireworks to be still. 

Readers will just have to trust me that they were lovely.

 

So that was Independence Day Eve. Independence Day was much quieter, but still, by 3:00 that afternoon, we had another hankering to get out on the water. So we packed another cooler of refreshing beverages and loaded up the Triton with our beach chairs. Off we went, with Lawson at the helm again, this time wearing his new Columbia fishing shirt.

We beached at the sand bar across from Tybee Island, and what I thought was cool was that just the night before, that beach had been 10 feet under water, and we had been floating over it watching fireworks.

It's easier to be cool on the beach with a sherbet colored fishing shirt.

 

 

And guess who joined us out there? Uncle Bob! Twice in twenty-four hours, we enjoyed the sand and surf of the back river, watching the tide come in and discussing games we could play with a circle in the sand a two cans filled with mud. And while we relaxed with a cooler of frosty cold ones, the people on Tybee Island wondered how they could get over to where the cool people were.

Not bad for a low-key national holiday.

 

 

 

A Sad Day in Mayberry

Just a few months after the death of TV actor George Lindsey, the star of the beloved TV sitcom, Andy Griffith, died today at the age of 86. It's a sad day for Mayberry.

Although I enjoyed The Andy Griffith Show, especially in black and white (I became disinterested once the show was in color and Opie was a teenager), I also loved other aspects of Andy Griffith's work.

One of his funniest performances was recorded instead of televised. I first heard it on an airplane, via those little radios in the airplane arm rest. I was flying to England in the seventh grade when I first heard "What It Was, Was Football."

 

I thought Griffith was so funny the way he carried on about people tossing around that little pumpkin on that pretty little cow pasture with prisoners running around blowing whistles. For years I looked for other comedy sketches Griffith recorded, but I never found one.

After eight years starring in his eponymous show, Andy Griffith tried playing different roles to break out of that wholesome Andy Taylor character. I believe Matlock was one attempt to do so, but Ben Matlock was also kind of a wholesome character, so I don't know if Griffith felt if he'd succeeded with that attempt or not.  But he sure had a lot of viewers.

Although most people are familiar with his role as Ben Matlock, not as many people are familiar with one of his more recent roles in the 2007 Adrienne Shelly film, Waitress. In the film, Griffith played Old Joe, a crotchety restaurant owner, so picky about his pie that he only let Keri Russell's character serve it to him.

Old Joe was my favorite character in that movie.  I've watched it several times.

But my favorite Griffith role was one of the Ritz Cracker pitch man. At the end of the commercial, Griffith would say, "Mm, mm! Good cracker. Good cracker." Sabra and I used to imitate that a lot. In fact, not too long ago, we talked on the phone about that commercial. I never could imitate that "mm, mm" the same way Andy Griffith could say it.

But then again, I could never whistle the Andy Griffith theme song either.