Cancellation, self-test and nice chat
Good Friday is not a
holiday that is celebrated much in the US, although there are probably some
religious groups that do, but even my otherwise fairly devout and church-going
friends in North Carolina (we are in the so-called Bible Belt) do not. Shops and
museums etc. (with one exception) are not closed, there are no special events in
the churches, etc. So I had planned three activities that day, and only one of
them was in any way connected with Easter. I had arranged to meet my friends
Charlotte and Bill in Statesville and we were to meet Steve Hill in the
Statesville Historical Collection. Charlotte and Bill didn't think Steve would
be there, but I knew better because I had already made an appointment with him.
We were supposed to meet at noon. When I had visited Fort Dobbs a few days
earlier, I had seen that there were tours of the fort's blockhouse at 10.15 on
Fridays (other times on other days), and I had therefore decided that I could
make it before the meeting with my friends. At 5 PM I had to be back at the
house, because I had promised to help Margaret and Dick and their grandchildren
hide eggs for Saturday's children's egg hunt, which was to take place at
Whippoorwill Academy and Village, the small open-air museum right next to the
house. And that was the activity associated with Easter.
After eating breakfast and drinking coffee, I therefore headed for Statesville
and Fort Dobbs. When I got there it turned out that this was the exception that
confirmed the rule that nothing was closed on Good Friday, because there wasn't
a single soul and no cars in the car park, not even in the staff's parking lot.
I thought I had probably come too early, so I drove around a bit in the area,
but when I got back at 10 past 10, it was just as deserted as the first time I
was there, so I abandoned the project. Whether the closure was actually due to
it being Good Friday, or whether there were other reasons, I never found out.
But it was closed. I therefore just drove around the area north of Statesville
and enjoyed the nature there before heading towards downtown Statesville, where
I could see local sights until 12 noon. Along the way, a Messenger message
arrived on my phone, but as I was driving, I couldn't read it at that moment,
and there wasn't a place where I could pull over, so it had to wait. On my way
into the center of town, but still on the outskirts of the city, I then pulled
into a gas station where I actually filled up the the car and got a cup of
coffee, and while I was enjoying that, I got to check my message. It turned out
to be from Margaret, who informed me that they had to cancel both the egg hiding
and Saturday's egg hunt as Dick had been diagnosed with covid-19. She herself
tested negative, but since she had been in close contact with her husband, she
had to self-isolate. It was sad, of course, but there was nothing to be done
about it. Since I had been with Dick on both Sunday and Monday (he had fallen
ill on Wednesday), she thought that I should probably take a self-test, which I
also thought was a good idea.
The
final resting place of Zelotese Walsh and his wife, Lib, whom I only got to meet
once. Due to the covid pandemic, there had not yet been a date for Zelotes'
death written on the stone. The stone are in the Beaver Creek Baptist Church
Cemetery in Beaver Creek, North Carolina - a 10 minute walk from "my house" in
Ferguson.
After drinking the coffee I then continued into the center of town where I found a spot just outside Steve's exhibition. Here there is two-hour parking, but Steve has said on previous occasions that it is never checked, so I was completely calm even though I knew it would be more than that before the car was moved again. In fact, it stayed there from 11 AM. to 6 PM without anything happening - no parking ticket or anything. Just across the street from the Historical Collection, there is a CVS (Pharmacy), so I went over here and bought some hand sanitizer, as what I had brought from Denmark was at home in the Airbnb, and also two kits for the covid-19 self-test. One I took right away and it came back negative. I took the second one a few days later and it was also negative, so I got by without getting covid that time - or anytime else for that matter. Dick's illness meant that my Sunday activities also had to be cancelled, but I will return to that in a later article.
After testing I took a
short walk around downtown and then returned to the car until Steve arrived and
then we went inside. When Charlotte and Bill arrived and parked outside, I went
out to say good morning to them. They hadn't seen me come from inside the
exhibit, so this was when they expressed doubt as to whether Steve would come,
but I was then able to tell them he was already there. Just to be safe, I had
put on a mask and when I explained the reason, they chose to do the same and
Steve followed suit. We went inside and chatted for an hour, and then Charlotte,
Bill and myself left the establishment to have lunch. Since they had to cancel
the dinner on Monday, I wanted to compensate by providing lunch at Twisted Oak,
a restaurant where we have eaten before, diagonally opposite the exhibition.
Steve was of course also invited, he said no thanks as he had to look after the
exhibition.
After the meal we went back to Steve's and then sat and chatted with Steve and
another of the volunteers who works at the exhibit; I have unfortunately
forgotten his name. Later, the cemetery expert Scott also arrived (see the
article
Surprise Interview from
2018), and then we
continued to chat with him as well. Scott had to leave at four o'clock, but the
rest of us chatted on until about a quarter to six PM - as I didn't have to be
home at five PM to hide eggs. On the other hand, Charlotte and Bill had about
100 miles to their home in Matthews, where they live, and I myself had approx.
the same in kilometers back to Ferguson. Once again I stopped at Food Lion and
again bought food that I could warm up in the microwave - this time meat loaf
(and some pre-cut salad). On my way home I visited the Beaver Creek Baptist
Church Cemetery to stand for a while at Zelotese Walsh's grave and remember him.
Zelotese was an acquaintance, very knowledgeable about the local area and its
history (he called himself on his business card "Gatherer and Keeper of Family
History") whom I had visited on two previous trips, where he had been incredibly
helpful. He died in 2020 after a short illness at the age of 96, but when I last
saw him in 2019, he was still as healthy as a sea eagle, and more agile than I
and two other people my own age who were with him on an"excursion"! Back at the
"palace" I cooked and ate the food I had bought and drank coffee on the veranda
before I went inside the house and enjoyed myself until bedtime.