my connection

Well, I pawned my Smith Corona

And I went to meet my man

He hangs out down on Alvarado Street

By the Pioneer Chicken Stand

-Carmelita, by Warren Zevon             

I went to meet my connection yesterday.  He hangs out in a shed behind the farmer's market in Virginia Beach.  When I called him he said he had about six or seven kinds of oysters on hand, with three or four more varieties expected in sometime during the day.

He goes by the name Uncle Chuck, but I think his real name might be Bob or Bill.  I'm not sure.  He is a true locovore who delights in bringing very fresh, very local seafood to his customers.  He is an evangelist on the topic, and if you go to buy from him you had better budget in about 15 extra minutes to hear the virtues of all the shellfish he keeps in the giant 120-gallon coolers stacked around his shed.

I picked up a pint of shucked, unwashed R and C Hog Island oysters.  Unwashed means they come with the oyster liquor in the jar.  Those oysters were wild caught inside the barrier islands on the seaside of the Eastern Shore.  And I also grabbed a handful of the Sewansecott oysters in shell, farm raised by Terry Brothers in Willis Wharf, also on the seaside of the Eastern Shore.  I like the seaside oysters, they are salty and sweet having been raised in the ocean waters that pour in between the barrier islands.

The shucked oysters were enjoyed last night, having been prepared using my friend Dave's recipe.  The oysters in the shell will be enjoyed as snacks over the next couple of days.

A note on the lyrics from Warren Zevon at the top of the post.  He was a great writer and I find it interesting that he mentions pawning what would have been at the time one of his most treasured possessions - his Smith Corona typewriter.  When Linda Ronstadt recorded the song the words were changed from the typewriter, which can be a weapon in the right hands, to a more common weapon - a gun.  Smith Corona became Smith and Wesson.

I've been thinking about writing lately as I have gotten myself involved in a very small writing project.  I only need a few hundred words.  But of all the words out there, which are the right ones to choose?

steve