Today's annual Camden Republican oyster roast was a huge success!

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I just got back from Jim & Ginna Stein's beautiful place on the St. Marys River about a pistol shot west of the I-95 bridge. The scenery on the river was gorgeous; the first hint of autumnal weather absolutely perfect; and, as usual, Jim, Ginna, Jay, and Buddy Holly feted everyone with about as perfect an oyster roast as you could want. This year, so he could circulate more, Jim turned over his oyster roasting duties to some fellows who appeared to be professional oyster roasters - or sure could have been! They were so perfectly roasted that even with my diminished hand strength and my own oyster knife - of course ( I AM from Savannah), I could easily call on years of practice to slip the point into the shell's back door, give her a quick twist of the wrist, then slurp 'em down, juice and all. Come to find out, my beard doubles as an excellent oyster eating bib. (No - it's too easy!) And let me tell you, Jim and Jay have got the art of boiling shrimp down to a science. They start with perfect size shrimp for a boil, about big around as your thumb at the thick end and no bigger. They get the water with the right amount of Zatarains in it to boiling before they put in the shrimp, cook them until they're done perfectly - not overdone - then sprinkle a little of the dry Zatarains on the drained shrimp. Everybody was raving about the shrimp and for good reason. Of course, there were piles of barbecue, baked beans, hot dogs, sausages, and desserts galore, all washed down with your choice of soft drinks, beers, and wines. Man, who wasn't there? At the height of the evening, there had to be somewhere between 80 and 100 people gathered there on the edge of the river. The majority of St. Marys candidates were there. Eskridge, Deloughy, Cyphers, Weaver, Howell, Post, Haney, Rillo. I believe maybe Don Mounsey from Kingsland was there, but I'm not sure what he looks like. I saw some folks with Mounsey buttons, though. Larry Johnson was there, looking as healthy as I've seen him in a while. No sign of Cookie, though. Hope she's okay. There were a lot of state level elected officials and candidates there as well. Georgia's U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, State Rep. Cecilly Hill, some fellow whose name escapes me who is a state senator running for Ag commissioner, I believe it was. Cap Fendig from Brunswick was there, running for the state house or senate, one. The only county commissioner I saw was Katherine Nisi Zell. We had a nice chat. Turns out that in retirement, she travels all over the country as part of a professional team that audits the medical technology programs at colleges and universities for accreditation. I was surprised Chip Keene was not there this year. Other guests included Dr. Jim Burnham, Charles Davis, Robbie Morgan and Mrs. Morgan, Fred Hill and dozens upon dozens I don't know. A special thanks to the several people who came up and introduced themselves and told me how much they enjoy following my blog. Oh, and it was a real pleasure to see my friend, Dave Green, who was my mentoring teacher during student teaching at Camden Middle School. I was pleased to tell him that I am now, indeed, fully certified by the state to teach Middle Grades, Middle Grades Social Studies, Middle Grades Language Arts, and Political Science (6-12). I'm sure I speak to everyone there when I say thank you so much to Jim, Ginna, Jay, and Buddy. We're all looking forward to next year. Update: Link to Senator Isakson's photos.

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