Carpentry, Geography, History, And Eternal Mysteries

Well, I made it to Georgia with no problems whatsoever. I GPS'ed it and off I went. I took the route that uses the interstate for quite a few miles because that took 59 minutes whereas the backroads-all-the-way-route took 1 hour and 26 minutes and I really do not want to spend any more time in the car than I have to. And besides, there are still some pretty scenic miles after you get off the interstate and into Quincy, Florida, which is just below the Georgia border and in fact, you don't even get a Welcome To Georgia sign on the back roads to the cabin. 
More about Quincy in a minute. 

When I got to the lake house, Glen was outside, working on the truck. As so often happens when people work on vehicles, he was frustrated. He tries to explain the things that are frustrating him and I nod and try to arrange my face in an expression of listening, as an expression of interest would really be asking too much, even of someone with my well-known and highly lauded acting skills. But of course I don't understand a word of what he's saying. I could not tell you where a fuel pump was on a truck anymore than I could tell you where Uzbekistan is on a map. I should be ashamed to admit that but along with a slight case of face blindness I believe I have a rather severe case of map blindness and if this isn't a real and accepted medical diagnosis, it should be. I have absolutely no sense of direction which I discovered about myself when I was still a fairly young child and realized that I could make whatever road we were on seem to be going one way and then, the other, just by thinking about it in different terms. Because of this, I STILL have a huge problem with feeling in my very guts that Vero Beach is north of Roseland whereas no, it is definitely not. It is south. And there is an ocean and a river, both, lying to the east of Roseland that can absolutely prove that point due to where they are located and I KNOW where they are located and could find them blindfolded but still...
The weird thing is, though, I can find my way around that area unbelievably well, sixty years after leaving there, despite the fact that I wasn't even close to driving when we left. 
Conundrum on conundrum on top of conundrum. 

Good Lord, Mary. Rein it in. 

Okay. So Glen gave me the tour of what he's been doing in the house and it is a whole lot. The picture above is of the bedroom downstairs which he has put insulation in. Soon the sheet rock will go over that and we'll chose a color to paint it. 
It already feels like less of a casket and more of a room which is a very good thing, I believe. The bedrooms upstairs are sheet-rocked and the beyond hideous wallpaper in the kitchen and hallway have been painted over. The cabinets are still ugly but I can tolerate that. 
As I told Jessie yesterday, "hideous" seems to be my new word and I swear to you- I doubt I used it once a year before we bought the log cabin. 
No need to elaborate. 

The porch is still beautiful. The lake still has water. And the downstairs bathroom is still gutted. But we discussed the position of where the shower door needs to go today and a few other things and it will eventually be a real bathroom. 

By the time Glen had packed up what he needed to pack up and we got on the road to home, we were both very hungry. It was about 3 o'clock. Quincy, the nearest town and on our way back home, is a very interesting town. It was once the richest town per capita in the United States with sixty-seven millionaires. 

I can't vouch for the complete veracity of this statement but from what I've read in other places and heard forever, it's the truth. Before the Coca Cola years though, Quincy still had quite a bit of wealth due to the growing of tobacco with labor from enslaved people. And that's just the truth and a very common truth in the south, as we all know. As always, white people got the money and the glory for what the Black people actually did and often died doing. 

These days Quincy is not thriving At all. There are still a few gigantic Gone With The Wind mansions in town but over the years, the once thriving and bustling little town has become far from wealthy. 

The economy of Quincy, FL employs 2.36k people. In 2023, the largest industries in Quincy, FL were Administrative & Support & Waste Management Services (375 people), Public Administration (339 people), and Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting (275 people), and the highest paying industries were Utilities ($94,219), Finance & Insurance, & Real Estate & Rental & Leasing ($87,900), and Wholesale Trade ($58,750).

From Data USA

The population is heavily weighted towards Black and Hispanic people and that is fairly evident if you shop, eat, or just open your eyes in Quincy. Recently, since the use of medical marijuana in Florida was legalized, Quincy has acquired several large cultivation and processing facilities which I am certain have helped the economy. But you know- I am no expert on any of this and to me, Quincy is sort of a conundrum of its own. It is the perfect example of the fate of so many southern towns after the Civil War and yet, to me, it seems that there is something about Quincy that sets it apart and I can't even begin to tell you why. 

Back to Glen and me needing to find a place to eat our late lunch. There are ALL the fast food restaurants there (as well as a Walmart, of course) and there are also food trucks, many of them selling tacos. Google gave me the name of some actual restaurants which we have never tried but today we did. I picked out a place called CJ's Kitchen, Bar & Hookah because they were one of the few restaurants whose menu contained some foods that weren't fried. Not a lot, but a few, and a pretty good selection of salads. 

I have no idea about the hookah situation but the place was pretty darn cool. 

There was a full bar and tables, too. Most people, it seemed, were getting to-go orders. But we sat down at a table and it was a really good experience. There were two little girls there who were waiting with their mamas for their food and I so wanted to get a picture of them when they were playing right in front of this wall. 

But I did not. Trust me in that they were darling. 

I ordered a grilled chicken salad and Glen got a pork chop sandwich. The salad was good and his sandwich came exactly as a pork chop sandwich should be made and served. Two pieces of toasted white bread with a fried pork chop between them. This one was fancy with lettuce and tomatoes. My salad had fancy greens, quartered hard boiled eggs, onions, pickled banana peppers, pickled jalapeños,  tomatoes, a whole lot of very fine grilled chicken and probably a few other things I've forgotten. The lady who served us was attentive and friendly and the bar tender who was a a little distance away also kept checking on us. "Y'all all right? Everything okay?"

Oh yes. 

And I bet you that on a Friday or a Saturday night, that place is rocking. There was a whole other section that I didn't even look into plus tables outdoors. If I could be talked into going out on a weekend night it would only be if the destination was a place like CJ's. If I were only younger...

Across the street from the restaurant, bar, and hookah, is a very large mural painted on a brick building. 

If you look to the left that building, you can see the courthouse of the county seat peeking behind the trees. 

Quincy has it's own vibe. Good ones, only, are asked for. And it seems to me Quincy is a place unto itself that is All American, although probably not the way most people would think of an All American city being. 

I surely did not start out to write about Quincy, Florida tonight but once again- here we are. 

I'm glad to have my husband home. Hopefully, Maurice will stop bringing me squirrel parts. I found another almost-half a squirrel this morning on the porch placed directly on a pair of my shoes. 

Jessie and Vergil have made it to the mountain where it is chilly and beautiful and they are so glad to be there. 

And I'm sure Sophie is too, the nightmare of yesterday completely erased by the beautiful smells of the mountain, her best dog friend Maizy, and...the bears! Oh joy! 

Thanks for hanging in there with me for this one. 

Love...Ms. Moon