A small town American festival ala Hamlet, NC... The Seaboard Festival

Seaboard Festival - October 29, 2011

First off, I'm blowing off the dust from this blog and in doing so, I'm going to knock the cobwebs off of Project Rewire, too by cross posting.  True, that's something, I don't often do.  Yet, it is fitting in this case.  Since I've had a few readers of both blogs contact me wondering what I've been up to this will take care of both spots simultaneously. 

Without getting overly verbose, suffice it say, due to a fairly serious eye injury which occurred on June 4, 2011, I had to step away from photo taking and blogging for a bit.  Make that an extended bit.  Which means my "Project Rewire" rehabbing/therapy efforts took an extended hiatus, too!

On my end, it's been yet another thing to push through daily since the cornea in my viewfinder eye found itself dead center in the way of a wayward tomato stake.   Long story short, I was as close as a person could get to a corneal implant without having to get one.  That close means the healing has been slow going.  But, steady and progressing on schedule.  Thank God!  What a blessing!  It's not been pleasant.  And it has been  challenging and painful at times.  Still is.  But, the what ifs are much much worse and has helped me keep it all in perspective.   I've tried off and on to take photos during my view finder eye's healing process.  However, it honestly hurt like the dickens, and taxed my other eye which has been in an uncomfortable perpetual state of strain since the injury.  Consequently, I've been forced to take it S-L-O-W.  Not push it.   In fact, I even had a new Canon point 'n shoot camera arrive a few days before the injury, that still sits untried out.  Hopefully, it won't for much longer.  

Anyway, what better day to test the waters again, so to speak; pull out my trusty "Brownie" as a dear friend of mine calls it, than Hamlet's Annual Seaboard Festival. I'm still having issues focusing as clearly as I could before, but I found I could actually see through the viewfinder again.  Which is HUGE!

For vendors, locals and visitors along Main Street, Hamlet, and for those of us who had to work during the festival all know, the day began windy, damp, drizzly, and chilly. It would have been the perfect Saturday to hide under the covers since we've yet again gone from Indian Summer like weather in the Sandhills of NC, to oh baby, it is brrrrr-isk outside! Fortunately, the sun finally broke through early afternoon, yet the chill of the wind continued throughout the day.

My husband and I, along with other Board Members and Volunteers of the Hamlet Historic Depot & Museum were lucky in that we got to work inside our beautiful main museum building, which is the former Seaboard Airline Passenger Station, built in 1900, mind you.  Or, our Tornado Building.  Home to the full scale 1892 reproduction of the 1839 Tornado Steam Engine.

The heat wasn't on in either building, but compared to outside our digs and gigs couldn't be beaten. All in all, although our visitor numbers were off from last year (understandably) we had a steady stream of guests to welcome and greet throughout the day. Not one complaint was heard by anyone.  And we met some of the nicest folks who had returned to Hamlet for Hamlet High School's 50+ year reunion.  I'll never tell how many years!  But, for folks 75 years old, they didn't look a day over 50!  ;-)

I worked from 9:00 a.m. until after 5:00 p.m. with only a short break late in afternoon, so I decided to try my viewfinder eye inside upstairs to see if I could capture a few decent shots through a couple our very dense glass windows.  They're in an area upstairs called "Newton's Nook", even though "no relation", the view from those two windows are the best in the house for a bird's eye view of the happenings up and down Main Street, Hamlet, NC.  

I was surprised to capture a few decent shots with no reflection and only slight aberrations, that appear as if a soft focus effect has gone a little haywire.  But, not enough to trash the photos over, thankfully. Meaning, definitely okay enough to post here and share with a few others as a remembrance of the day.  Anyway, everyone who really knows me, knows that I don't claim to be a photographer, or even an amateur photographer. Ironically, too, the aberrations reflect sort of how I see out of that eye now if you up the blur factor just a tadsome.  I'm just a gal who takes pictures to help rewire her brain and I'm *all* about seeing beauty in the imperfections anyway.  Plus, I blog for rehab reasons anyway, why not add my endeavors to take decent photos again to it.   And folks in this case that means, I was literally blind in that eye for several weeks and now... I can see!  If I continue to be unable to focus like I used to, well, I shall figure out a way to work that problem out. 

Just a few simple shots to share of a small town American festival ala Hamlet, NC and mark my return to my "Brownie" and my blogs...

By the way, the Hayden Construction sign is in front of what was once the Historic Landmark Stinson Building, which is being given new life as the Hamlet Visitor's Center and as another annex to the Hamlet Historic Depot & Museum Complex.  Obviously, Hayden Construction was given the contract to rehabilitate the old landmark.  It will be home to exhibits featuring Hamlet artifacts and memorabilia.  So, stay tuned here on All Aboard Hamlet.