We arrived at Kent Island on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay on Tuesday, beginning to settle into the house we rented for the holiday. A strong wind blew across the water for the next few days, but it was no matter as Ingrid, Geoff, Haile, Tom, Jose, Jens, Ben, Teddy, Margaret, Tony, Christian, Kendall, Rink, Rob, Dan, Vanessa, Chase, Drew, Claudia, and MJ showed up over the next few days. But we in turn traveled back to the western shore of the bay for Thanksgiving Day with Margaret and Tony...enjoying the fresh oysters, the company, the back deck.
Though, of course, this is a holiday of food, wine, and hanging out. Time for catching up and expanding the sense of family. Christian Werge, a cousin from Mexico working now as an architect in Alexandria, joined us (we share the same great-great grandfather) and later again with his girlfriend, MJ. Ingrid and Geoff brought bikes to try out the trails on the island. Teddy was preparing for a trip to the Gambia to do photojournalism for a nonprofit "Riders for Health," combining his interests in motocycles, photography, and exploring the world. So we catch time with one another...no other agenda than to enjoy one another...well and the pies.
So the days slip along like waves across the bayfront. We held a final feast of crabs, oysters and shrimp on Sunday afternoon after the winds had died down and the sun had broken through. A truck had parked down the street with "fresh crabs, fresh oysters" posted on cardboard signs in the morning. And a neighbor lent us a huge kettle for steaming the crabs. So it was a classic Maryland afternoon meal on the deck overlooking the bay.
Before sunset and folks beginning to make their way home.
