TIME OUT FOR CRABS

This phrase of "TIME OUT" has a whole different meaning when you are a grandma.  It is a phrase that means GRAND MA needs a rest to recuperate.  Not that the grand child needs time to think about what they have done wrong.
We have been at Keri's house for exactly 48 hours and grand ma needs a vacation. I love these little guys more than anything but . . .  I AM POOPED! Kaelin has had me playing since we arrived on Thursday and only that her parents will not let her wake us before 8:30 AM I think we would be playing for 18 hours a day.  I am loving every second of it but my body feels like a truck hit and then backed up over me. Finn is not old enough to realize grand ma is a sucker for her grand kids so he just crawls in and out of the play area. But Kaelin has an endless list of things for us to do.

Today was the family celebration of Father's day with Granny, Uncle Johnny and several other family members and friends coming over to PICK CRABS . . .  Southern Maryland style.  This is a ritual that only people from this area can really appreciate. The rest of us just sit and wonder what the fuss is and why the Holy Hell someone would want to spend and ENTIRE day sitting outside at a table filled with smelly crabs that have been cooked in WAY too much Old Bay (a seasoning that only folks from this part of the country seem to like). It takes forever to pick a crab and get enough meat out of it to make a spoon full while the entire time you are battling the hoard of flys that are also interested in feasting on smelly crabs. It is only natural that you drink plenty of alcohol to keep up your stamina and make you forget that you really are still quite hungry because you have only eaten about a 1/2 cup of food in the past 6 hours. But the real point of "pickin' crabs" is the social gathering. Everyone sits at long tables covered with old news paper and whacks away at the crabs with small wooden mallets. The true Marylanders then douse their pickings in small cups of old bay and cider vinegar. (As if the crabs need any more seasoning than they already have.)

But it was a perfect day and everyone had their fill of conversation and crabs. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY STEVE!