BRUNSWICK STEW

Ah, who doesn't love Brunswick Stew? And everyone has his or her own favorite recipe. Probably not the one that includes squirrels and/or rabbits but certainly more than one meat. Along with the several meats the recipe takes, are several vegetables including but not limited to, lima beans and corn.

No one seems to know quite how Brunswick Stew got invented, but there are some interesting tales. Below is the pot that supposedly first cooked Brunswick Stew on St. Simons Island in 1898.

Why it should be displayed in Brunswick, Georgia rather than on St. Simons is a mystery, but there it is. And notice that there is some ambiguity here. The meaning could be that the first time the stew was made on the island was 1898. Or it could mean that that first time the stew was ever made, was on the island.

In any event, there are other claimants to the title of inventing it. One goes that it was originally made in Brunswick, Germany. Since most of its ingredients are indigenous to the Americas though, I kind of doubt this one is true.

Another one comes from Brunswick, Virginia. According to their marker (below), in 1828 a camp cook stewed some squirrels with onions, butter, stale bread and seasonings.

Since real Brunswick Stew requires several meats and vegetables (and so far as I know, no bread), this seems doubtful to me, too.

The most likely theory to me is the old Indian hunting stews, where bits of meat and whatever vegetables were handy were simmered together in a communal pot and enjoyed by the hunting band.

But despite the claims, there's no clear-cut answer.

My advice, when you come across it, is to enjoy it. Especially from Southern Soul, here on the island. Their stew is reminiscent of the Brunswick Stew my daddy used to go out and bring home when someone he knew in the country was cooking it. And oh, boy! It was good then and it's good now!

CARDINALS

For a few years, we've watched the birds at our back yard feeder. We saw a cardinal couple raise a baby last year and once again this year, they have a baby tagging along with them to the feeder.

I've read that the male feeds the female when they're courting, but I've seen them both feeding the baby, coaxing it up to the feeder.

Here's the daddy at the feeder:

Here are the mother and child:

And this is the squirrel who lurks in the background. He desperately wants to eat, but when he gets on it, his weight pulls the sides down and covers the openings. I see him every day, staring at the feeder as if he's trying to figure out how to get to the seeds. Then he'll shake his tail in frustration and leave!

This squirrel-proof feeder has been a good investment!

BOATS PASSING

Walking down to the pier, we sat enjoying the breeze and watching the water. We thought we saw a ship on the horizon and sure enough, in a few minutes a pilot boat came roaring back over the waves. The seagull on the post paid it little attention.

Then, after ten or fifteen minutes, the ship (pilot onboard) came in. Now there are two birds watching its progress.

It was a big car carrier and they're always fun to watch because they look like they're going to run into the pier. But the channel goes right by our little island pier and arcs around to just miss the Jekyll Pier.

There's always something to see here!

BEACH WALK

The tourists have thinned out a little. Not much, but if we go to the beach early, it isn't crowded.

Our beach has changed a lot during the past ten years. Here we're standing on the beach looking back toward the shore. This beach used to be a sandbar that was unaccessible at high tide. Now it's connected all the time, with several large tidal pools at low tide as seen below.

Where once the river flowed between the sandbar and the beach and back to the sea, has now become the tidal pools. This is the end of the river. If you could walk to the left, you'd come over to the houses.

As I said, a few people were out, including this paddle-boarder.

And a guy playing with his dogs.

And this bird. I don't know what it is but I'm sure someone does. He reminded me of a sandpiper except bigger.

He was a cutie, running in and out of the waves!

MEMORIAL DAY PREPARATIONS

The island is preparing for its Memorial Day weekend. We always have a nice ceremony to honor the memory of those who lost their lives serving our country. Here are a few shots:

This is right after they fixed the flag. I'm not sure what was wrong with it, whether it was hung up on its lines or what, but they worked an hour or so to get it right.

This is the trolley that takes tourists over the island, snapped before its departure scheduled at eleven o'clock. It left a few minutes early today, so it must have filled up fast. The people have already started pouring in.

This is a view of the pier. You can't see her, but an artist is set up behind the two people going onto the pier, with all her paintings laid out for view and purchase.

These are a couple of other people on the pier. The man is playing his harmonica and serenading the lady who's watching her crab baskets.

And we ourselves had guests this week that we really enjoyed. This little girl was one of them!

Hope everyone has a lovely Memorial Day as we remember all those who died for our country!

AERIAL DANCE

Last weekend we went to an aerial/trapeze dance exhibition. Little girls used to take tap and ballet but nowadays they've branched out! This is something you usually see in circuses but now it's found a place in everyday life!

The ones we saw use trapezes and hanging silk ropes. They did some amazing postures and poses, including swinging by their legs and/or feet and falling, only to have the silk catch them.

This duo shared a trapeze and at one point, had one girl supporting the other with her knees, among other difficult feats. Amazing!

Then we come to the silks. They're two long panels of silk that the performer climbs, holding up a loop and putting a foot in it, then repeating until she's in the air. Then she uses brute strength to go through various poses.

Here's another silks performer. I wish the camera could have captured one movement where the silks are wrapped around the body and then the performer suddenly drops several feet. It was quite spectacular!

And this is a group performing on the silks. You can see how the performer has to have upper body strength, lower body strength, and core body strength to do all these stunts.

An amazing show, considering they were all kids who'd only been taking trapeze a few years!

We saw this spring exhibition at the Canopy Studio in Athens, GA, but I learned the founders have moved to the coast near us where they've constructed a large studio and give classes and workshops.

Not that I'll be taking any, thank you very much!

THE USNS BRUNSWICK

Last weekend, our mainland had their Blessing of the Fleet event. Along with the shrimp boats being blessed was the new USNS Brunswick, a cargo ship named for our town. They say the Navy is so pleased with the aluminum transport's overall usefulness in carrying troops and cargo quickly, that they've ordered more.

From the back it kind of looks like a building:

Here's an interesting tidbit: the aluminum is left unpainted since each gallon of paint weighs about twelve pounds, and the thousands of gallons it would take to cover the ship would add extra weight.

Here is the front:

Besides getting itself blessed, the ship offered public tours. Unfortunately, the line was so long we decided against waiting. (Also, we could see little groups of people staggering up flights of stairs and realized we weren't in any shape to do that much climbing!) Here you can see the end of the line after it went around the block:

Kind of neat to have a ship named for us!