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Not too long ago I went to a Sunday service at my UU church congregation where the Chalice Dancers did this routine to The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” while hauling this giant sun puppet. The puppet itself was made from cardboard and sheer fabric and it looked pretty cool. I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures of it.
Tomorrow is one of the most consequential midterm elections in recent U.S. history. Thanks to Donald Trump still holding the Republican Party under his influence despite losing the last election, there are a lot of Trump-style fascists running for public office and many of them are also sympathetic to Vladimir Putin, which really sucks. I hope my fellow Americans do the right thing and vote these thugs out but it’ll be a challenge because many of these Republican lawmakers have made it more difficult for poor low-income people of color to get to the polls. But there are organizations who are trying to circumvent this by getting as many people to the polls as possible. Despite all this, I’m still nervous as hell.
A few weeks ago I made a short video where I encouraged Americans to take a stand against fascism just like people in Ukraine and Iran are doing right now. I uploaded it on to TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.
If there was a day where I can say that it was a very perfect beach day, my last full day in Ocean City, Maryland was it.
My day began when I decided to drive into the neighboring town of Fenwick Island, Delaware where I could go shopping without paying any state sales tax. (That’s right, Delaware does not charge sales tax on anything.) The first thing I did was to purchase some caramel popcorn at Fisher’s Popcorn.
The next thing I did was to go to a two-story building that I attempted to go to on my last visit to the area last year only to find out that it was closed on Wednesdays. This time I went on a Thursday and it was open.
The lower floor of the two-story building houses Sea Shell City, a store where you can purchase all kinds of sea shells along with assorted souvenirs like t-shirts, toys, and decorative items (such as framed art). The upper floor houses the DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum, which specializes in items that were retrieved from actual shipwrecks. I haven’t been there since I was married so I was very happy that I got to visit it again.
Unfortunately the only photo I have to show for it is this one featuring two pirates that are situated at the front entrance to the steps that lead to the museum.
That’s because the museum has rules regarding photography and videography. Shooting video is not allowed. Taking pictures is okay as long as they are for your own personal use. You cannot post any photos you shoot online without permission from the museum.
So I ended up just viewing the exhibits. That museum is just as I remembered it when I last visited it in 2011. It’s so fascinating seeing coins, books, and even china that were retrieved from shipwrecks. My personal favorite is the broken china that had coral growing through it, which made it look like a piece of avant-garde sculpture.
After I finished touring the museum upstairs and checking out the store downstairs, I decided to drive back to Maryland. On the way back I briefly stopped at the Fenwick Island Lighthouse, where I took this picture.
On the way back to the motel I decided to stop at the nearby bagel shop, Shmagels Bagels, where I ate a lunch featuring a bagel with cream cheese, a bag of potato chips, and a diet soda.
After lunch I went back to my motel room where I changed into my swimsuit and walked to the nearby beach. It was the perfect weather. The temperature was in the 90s and it was very humid. But getting into the ocean was totally refreshing and I was able to cool off quickly. On top of it I had sunscreen with me so I had the absolute perfect beach experience. Here is what the beach looked like that day.
For the next couple of hours I alternated between getting in the ocean then going back to my beach towel and read a trashy paperback novel that I had brought with me. (I purchased it at Five Below for only $5. It’s one of those novels that is so bad with cliched dialogue that it’s funny.) Towards the end of my stay at the beach I saw some nasty clouds starting to move in so I decided to return to my motel room where I took a shower and changed clothes.
Since it was my last night in Ocean City, I decided to go to OC Wasabi, which is a sushi restaurant that’s located near the motel. As I parked my car and started to walk to the front door it started to rain. At least I had this excellent dinner that was artfully arranged, as you can see in the next photo.
I decided that—rain or no rain—I was going to spend my final night on the Boardwalk. By the time I reached the parking lot it had stopped raining and I saw the remnants of this rainbow that appeared in the sky. Here are the photos I managed to take before it completely disappeared.
The Boardwalk was incredibly crowded that night. The next photo shows a long line of people waiting to get on the Haunted House ride. I got in line after I took that picture. I enjoyed the ride so much that I wanted to ride it again but I saw that the line was nearly twice as long so I decided to drop that idea. (I once shot a video years ago showing how lame the ride was but that ride has definitely improved since it underwent renovations a few years ago. One of these years I’m going to actually film the ride so I could do a comparison “before and after” video of that ride.)
The last time I was on the Boardwalk I didn’t have much energy to do a lot of walking because I had spent the afternoon walking around the Salisbury Zoo. I came up with an idea which enabled me to see more of the Boardwalk. I got on the Boardwalk train where I rode it until it reached The Kite Loft then leisurely walked back until I reached the parking lot where my car was parked. While I was riding it I was treated to a bunch of lovely sunset photos where the clouds turned a variety of very pretty pastel colors.
I finally reached The Kite Loft, which was another store I haven’t been to since 2011. (I didn’t visit that store last year because I had to cut my Boardwalk visit short due to the hurricane remnants that arrived in Ocean City.) As you can guess from the name, The Kite Loft specializes in kites and related products (such as wind socks). Here are a few photos I shot while I was in that store.
As I was walking on the Boardwalk I noticed a Hooters restaurant that wasn’t there the last time I was in that particular part of the Boardwalk back in 2011. Ocean City had long prided itself on having locally-owned mom-and-pop businesses on the Boardwalk and Hooters is a national chain. (I’ve only eaten at Hooters twice and both times I found the food to be not very memorable. I only ate there because I was with guys who wanted to eat there. That’s what happens when the owners focuses more on hiring sexy young women to wear skimpy uniforms so men and boys can ogle them and less on having tasty food that would actually entice people to come back.)
I saw this guy dressed as Batman on the Boardwalk.
There was another store on the Boardwalk that I wanted to visit. Ocean Gallery is an art gallery that has been on the Boardwalk as far back as when I was a child. I remember my parents going there where they purchased two paintings that hung on the living room walls of the house that I grew up in when we lived in Glen Burnie. It was such a fun place with seeing the eclectic outside and the walls literally covered with art. I had looked forward to visiting it again only to find out that it’s no longer open in the evenings, which was a bummer. I don’t know how much the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent Great Resignation had to do with the now-limited hours. It looks like the next time I go to Ocean City I’ll have to go in the daytime. At least I shot some photos of the outside so you can get a general idea of how unique that store is.
For years there have been an artist who makes these giant sand sculptures featuring Christian images. You don’t have to be a Christian to appreciate how amazing these sand sculptures are. This person spends so much time on each sculpture that is destined to eventually melt away by the wind and the rain.
I took a photo of some of the t-shirts that were on sale on the Boardwalk.
Here are a couple of photos of the 9/11 Firefighters Memorial.
Here’s the Esskay Clock. (Esskay was a local Baltimore-area manufacturer of hot dogs and sausages. The face of the clock includes a hot dog graphic. The company has since been taken over by Smithfield Foods and it discontinued the Esskay line. The clock is one of the few Esskay relics that still exists.) When I was a child and my family used to go on vacation with my aunt, uncle, and cousins, we kids were instructed that if we ever get lost while we were on the Boardwalk, we were supposed to wait at the Esskay Clock. I actually got separated from the family once when I was young so I waited by the clock for a few minutes where my mother found me. I remember she praised me for doing what I was instructed to do.
I ended my evening on the Boardwalk with a visit to Dolle’s Candy shop. Dolle’s specializes in making salt water taffy in a variety of flavors, including exotic ones like coconut, peach, and piña colada. I purchased a small bag of taffy in chocolate, vanilla, key lime, lemon, and cinnamon.
The last photos show what I purchased that day. I purchased a the-dye Fenwick Island, Delaware t-shirt from Sunsations that morning.
I also purchased two tiny sea shells from Sea Shell city for only 98 cents each.
They are perfectly scaled for my Disney Nuimos.
Other Posts in My 2022 Beach Vacation Series
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day One: July 25, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Two: July 26, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Three: July 27, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Four: July 28, 2022
A look at a spectacular close-up view of a fiery-throated hummingbird.
If Trump loves America, why does he call our cities “disgusting” and “embarrassing”?
A man spent 36 years in prison because he stole $100 in cash and $4 in food stamps.
Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need.
People in India are now replacing single-use plastics with eco-friendly containers made from leaves.
Ireland’s medieval masterpiece, The Book of Kells, is now digitized and available online.
A hedgehog inadvertently plays a respectable measure of jazz by walking across the piano keys.
One day my housemate (and sometime partner in crime—LOL!) Phil Shapiro hired me for a few hours to help him with a certain project while he was working his day job at the Takoma Park library. So we decided to carpool together. We stopped off a few places on the way to his job and I took a few photos while I was there.
There are parts of Takoma Park and Silver Spring that have been settled by immigrants from Central America and those areas have some very colorful wall murals and signs.
The one thing I love about going into Latino stores is that sometimes you’ll find one item on sale that mixes kitsch with religion in a bizarre way, such as this baby version of San Miguel (Saint Michael) dominating a baby version of Satan.
Phil recommended that I get a haircut at the Montgomery Beauty School and he even paid for it. As you can guess from the name, it’s a cosmetology school that provides all kinds of beauty services for a fraction of the price of a regular beauty salon. I liked the results so much that I took a selfie afterwards.
We eventually made it to Phil’s workplace where I did the work that he needed done but couldn’t do it during the library’s regular business hours. At one point he sent me out to a nearby Chinese place for lunch (located just a few blocks away from his library job) and I walked past this person updating the sign for Piney Branch Elementary School.
During the weekly Sunday service on January 26, 2020 my church decided to do something a bit experimental. We were each given tiny baskets with the Unitarian Universalist flaming chalice on the side along with some small notecards.
We were instructed to either write or draw positive messages then place them in other people’s baskets. Here are the notes I did before I gave them away to other people.
In exchange I got a bunch of messages in my own basket written by my fellow church members. I got a great haul of notes. It’s so nice when other people care about you.
I spent some time at The Space, a non-profit makerspace and art studio located inside of Beltway Plaza Mall in Greenbelt, Maryland. Unlike Christmas Eves of the past, the shopping malls are no longer totally crowded. Prior to 2018, when I first noticed this trend of fewer shoppers on Christmas Eve, I would make a point of avoiding all shopping malls and shopping centers because they would be so full of cars. Even if I managed to somehow find a parking space and go inside of a store, the checkout lines would be so long that one would have to wait at least 20 minutes or so.
All that is now changed. I know that part of the reason is because of the unstable economy (even though the economy was supposedly booming, most of the jobs I’ve seen available are either gig economy ones or in low-paid jobs like retail). I think another reason is because these days most people prefer to order online through Amazon and have their presents delivered. From my point of view, I no longer have to avoid stepping foot inside of a shopping mall or shopping center on Christmas Eve.
Shortly before Christmas The Space received a donation of a bunch of watches that someone had been collecting as a hobby. Most of them needed new batteries but that was about it. The idea was to install new batteries then sell the watches for $10 each as last-minute Christmas presents. Here’s a photo of The Space founder Shaymar Higgs working on the watches.
Here’s a watch depicting what looks like a cutesy Virgin Mary on a cloud with a cutesy angel inside. (Or so I think. LOL!)
Here’s a cute watch showing Mickey and Minnie Mouse kissing each other.
I think the most unique watch was a snowman where if you press a button, the watch will play “Jingle Bells.” I view this watch as one of those where it would be appropriate to wear in December but the rest of the year it would be out of season. (Can you imagine wearing this watch in—let’s say—August?)
Shaymar was pretty nice to me. He decided to give me one of those watches. All I had to do was to pick one. I ended up choosing this white watch. I still wear it on a regular basis. (Thanks, Shaymar!)
My Unitarian Universalist congregation had a special all-ages service where we made God’s Eyes as part of the worship just a few days before Christmas. We were given small balls of yarn along with a couple of sticks where we started the crafting process.
Here’s a shot of one of the young participants who was making great strides on his God’s Eye.
We were allowed to take our uncompleted God’s Eyes home with us for us to finish them in our own time. I took a second small ball of yarn in a different color and I finished mine. I brought it back to church at a later Sunday service after New Year’s Day to show it off to fellow members.
I decided to draw a flaming chalice, which is a symbol of the Unitarian Universalist faith. This drawing is based on a chalice that my church has. I went to church on my birthday (December 15), which also falls on a Sunday this year. I sat close enough to the front that I was able to draw it during parts of the service where we weren’t singing hymns. I decided to upload this drawing today because today is Sunday and I’m usually at church on Sundays.
Sagittarius Dolly 
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